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Does anyone have a recommendation for private online storage and sharing? I use Family Tree Maker, and would like to be able to share entries/files with a family member in another state.
I'd like to be able to open up the file, make entries, save the info, and then update the file to an online service.
Then, the family member could access the online service and open the file, and have the new updated information.
Basically, I'm seeking having two people being able to access and work on the same genealogy program, online.
Would a private [for pay] online storage service work, like JustCloud? We would need two different computers wanting access (at different times, not at the same moment).
We do not want a publicly shared online genealogy program/service. My family member is very private about family information. And it would need to be compatible with Family Tree Maker, since we've already put in 10 years worth of research into that program's format.
You can make your tree private on Ancestry.com but add your family member as a editor so no one can see the tree but both of you can work on it. I know you say you didn't want an online tree but it can be totally private and it seems to make the most sense since you already have FTM.
If you're still against that idea, yes, any online cloud service should work. You might want to check out a free option like 4shared.com - free file sharing and storage - you get 10GB of space but there's a file cap of 2GB (so each individual file can't be bigger than 2GB). If your tree is under 2GB and you don't plan to use the space for much apart from this, you can do it for free.
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Why not just e-mail each other the latest .FTW file as needed ??
I suspect there are too many large media attachments to the tree, such a photos, which would make the file too big to transfer by email. They could email the gedcom back and forth but that would not include photos or other media. Gmail has a 20MB cap on email attachments and my tree is 461MB with even just low res photos included so I could not do it. Some email servers have an even smaller cap on file attachments.
I'd say a private tree on Ancestry is a great solution. You both might need to subscribe. Not sure of that.
One downside to it is, to my work, you can't re-upload it to the same file. But you can keep uploading a new file, and then delete the old one. You can download the file that exists on Ancestry as a GEDCOM, though. And, as PA2UK said, you can both actively edit the online version.
One of the genealogists is in her 80s. I give her 100% credit for hanging in there with computer programs, but trying to accomplish the online sharing has to be un-confusing. EnricoV, what do you mean "you can't re-upload to the same file". I'm not in my 80s, but am far from being a techie of any sort, and I AM already confused ......
I'm only familiar with a few sites that I've uploaded data to.
RootsWeb is one. In that database, you can't edit the information that's there, but you can continually update it with a new GEDCOM from your computer. It will just write the new info over the top of the old info.
Ancestry is the one I use all the time. Once you upload a GEDCOM, the only way you can change the info is to manually enter the information. You can't upload an updated GEDCOM and have it replace the earlier. You can enter it as a new database, with a new name, which is something I've seen people do. I don't. For me, having my database linked to Ancestry's records is my main purpose. And if I were to upload a new GEDCOM, it'd wipe out all those links. So I guess it's okay that I can't. But ... being a lazy genealogist, I find that I do a really bad job of making the database on my computer match the one at Ancestry. In otherwords ... I enter something in one without adding it to the other. Not good. I should be more careful. I'm not crazy about having to enter data in Ancestry manually, as it's much more labor intensive to do than it is in my regular program.
I'm sorry that sounds as confusing as I think it does ... not sure if I can explain it more clearly.
"Family photos uploaded to your family site can use our face recognition technology for genealogy. By sharing millions of facial templates among users, it helps you find photos of your ancestors in other users' photo albums, identify mystery people in your photos, and find relatives based on facial similarities."
Yikes, now I know why I have not accomplished setting something up yet! I'm totally lost. gedcom? .FTW? beta?
If I cannot even understand your generously offered comments, I'll never pull the online sharing off.
I don't know much about Genealogy but thankfully most of these programs use a standard set of data, as such it can be shared amongst different programs.
If you wanted to set up total privacy and have it available online only to people you choose take the third parties out of the loop. There is going to be learning curve here and if you want to take the time proabaly well worth the effort. I'll just go over some basic directions, there is going to be some reading involved if you want to take this further.
That software is open source, you would download and install it on your own server/hosting plan. The cost of these plans start around $5 per month. I've used this script before but as mentioned do not have much experience in the genealogy field so I don't know how it compares to other programs. This software uses authentication with logins, you'd be able to set it up completely private using both the authentication methods in the script and extend that by password protecting directories through the server. Both are quite robust and compromise of the data is unlikely. There is also going to be permisssions sets so you can set different levels of access and what people can do. I believe it also does revisions so what changes were made and who made them are logged.
If you wanted to try and get your feet wet you can use this locally. You would first need download and install XAMPP which is basic Apache server and includes everything you need to run PhpGedView.
As I said this is not a simple path but if you're looking for privacy but want the ability to share this with a select few this is the ultimate solution because you and only you has control of the data.
Coalman, I think the OP would probably do better using something that is specifically keyed to sharing genealogical data. That would mean that the basic framework is in place and OP would not have to start from scratch. There is a standardized format called GEDCOM that enables people to share genealogy files. The genealogy sharing sites allow you to upload the GEDCOM, and all the genealogy programs can generate those.
The sites I mentioned do have privacy features built in, and you can decide with some of them whether to also make some of your info public.
One of the neat things about genealogy research is how many people are willing to share what they have found with other people. I would have not gotten very far if that had not been true. You do have to verify with other sources, though.
Most researchers do not post info about living people in sites that are publicly available, like ancestry.com. For example, a listing for a child might just say "Living Jones." The sharing sites allow family members to log in and see that "Living" is really Janet Elizabeth Jones and see her birth date and other info and pictures.
If you do share info, it is courteous to give credit to the person who shared it with you.
Edited to add: The biggest concern I would have is that the file sharing site might go out of business. Anyone that uses one should not use the site as the only repository for his data.
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