Sunday, August 30, 2009

RootsMagic vs. Legacy - Part III

I just discovered one template in RootsMagic that may be missing. It is the template for a state-level registration that is an online image. There is a template for state-level vital records that are online derivatives, and there is a template for state-level certificates that are online images. Neither one of these quite fits what I'm looking for. I'm looking at the Michigan state-level birth registers that are digitized at FamilySearchLabs. The state-level certificates, online images template doesn't work because there is not a field to put the volume number in the source detail. Since the registrations I'm looking at are actual images and not just derivatives, the derivatives template won't work either. Hmmm....time to experiment with creating a new template. That may have to wait until tomorrow, as it seems like a daunting task, and it is getting late. I am printing out all of the instructions for creating a new template. At first glance, I think I will copy the vital record state-level certificate online image template and add a field for the volume number and alternate fields for the county and year, as sometimes FamilySearchLabs does not reference the volume number.

Another thing I noticed is that if I import my family tree directly out of Legacy 7.0, the sources get all jumbled up in the import. It seems like a pretty major problem. This may be what prevents me from switching to RootsMagic. I will have to reformat just about all my sources in RootsMagic. As much as I like all the features of RootsMagic, I'm not sure if I like them enough to reformat 99% of my sources. I have a feeling that importing a GEDCOM will have the same result because I had major problems with the source format when uploading a GEDCOM exported from Legacy 7.0 to Rootsweb's WorldConnect. I think it has something to do with the format of Legacy's source templates more than it has to do with RootsMagic or Rootsweb. Hmm...something to think about.

I'll let you all know how creating the source template goes!

1 comment:

  1. I changed over from Legacy myself and it definitely messed up my sources. It's going to be a long process.

    One thing I look about RM4 source templates...they're easy to fill out. Very descriptive and both source and detail are on one screen which makes it loads easy!

    Now for the change. Ugh!

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