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Hey - my sister and I have tinkered casually for awhile with tracing family history. We are ready to take a more formal approach and are considering using RootsMagic to organize our work. Since we live several hundred miles apart, we will be working separately and relatively independently. Will RootsMagic (or any other software) allow us to periodically sync our separate research into a single tree/database? I tried to work thru their website's FAQ, but never felt like I found an answer to that question. Any other good solutions for building a single product from separate research? Thanks very much for your help.
Ancestry.com might be the best platform if you both want to be able to work on the same database. You do not have to make your tree public if you do not wish to.
I use RootsMagic and I do not know any way you could both work on it except by using a remote access system like GoToMyPC. One person could load it on a PC and the other access that PC via the internet.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into FamilyTree, I appreciate the tip. I'm not sure about Ancestry.com. I'm sure we'll try a few months on there, but I'm not sure we want to make a long term commitment by choosing their platform to build the tree.
If we both had the same software (whichever we choose), could we jointly work on the same database by saving the software files to a cloud server such as DropBox? Has anyone ever tried that approach?
The way people commonly exchange information is though a system called GEDcom. It is standardized, so it does not matter which software program you use to generate it. You can create a GEDcom for part of your data or all of it.
The way people commonly exchange information is though a system called GEDcom. It is standardized, so it does not matter which software program you use to generate it. You can create a GEDcom for part of your data or all of it.
Gedcom is great for swapping info but they will not sync. The right software should be able to merge two gedcoms but in my experience it can be complicated and take a long time on big trees. The best option for collaborative work is definitely something in the cloud, like ancestry.com.
Thanks for your comments. Seems like this would be a common situation with a good solution, but apparently not. I contacted RootsMagic support, and they don't recommend working directly from files in DropBox. According to them, the interaction between DropBox and RM will quickly lead to corrupted files. They offered a few workarounds, including the FamilySearch feature within RM, but they were all messy. It's disappointing, because we would both like to be able to maintain a single database/tree, and cost keeps ancestry.com from being a good option. We plan to use ancestry.com at our local libraries, but a subscription is probably not going to happen. Oh well, the search goes on... Thanks for your help.
It's disappointing, because we would both like to be able to maintain a single database/tree, and cost keeps ancestry.com from being a good option.
You don't need to pay for Ancestry.com to use the tree feature, you only pay for access to the records, but I can understand if you're planning to use the library to do record searches on Ancestry.com so you wouldn't be able to directly attach records to your tree. But that would be the case if you didn't use Ancestry.com for your tree anyway.
There are other free online tree options, like at FamilySearch.org - I've just never used it so can't recommend it.
You don't need to pay for Ancestry.com to use the tree feature, you only pay for access to the records...
Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks. If I start with the "Start a new tree link" and keep going, the info I enter will be saved online regardless of whether I have an account?
At this stage, I'm struggling to understand all that ancestry.com has to offer. Just about everything I click on takes me to the screen to enroll for the free trial, and I'm not ready to give them my cc.
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I'll look into FamilyTree, I appreciate the tip. I'm not sure about Ancestry.com. I'm sure we'll try a few months on there, but I'm not sure we want to make a long term commitment by choosing their platform to build the tree.
