Update on Ancestral Quest 12.1

I must admit that my first impressions of Ancestral Quest 12.1 were rather negative. But, after looking extensively at the program and working through all of Incline Software's online tutorials, I a majorly impressed with the program. I would be glad to recommend it to anyone, and especially, to those who have access to New FamilySearch.

The program tutorials are excellent and easy to follow. With the information from the tutorials, I was able to obtain a more accurate view of how the program was supposed to work and why. Initially, I thought the the interface with New FamilySearch was somewhat cumbersome, but have completely changed my mind. It does take some effort to understand, but the implementation of the program is very solid and had a real relationship to how you will have to clean up your files with New FamilySearch.

One real benefit of the process of synchronization is the fact that you also regularize and clean up your own database. Although for some, the mass of information, accurate and inaccurate, in New FamilySearch can be overwhelming. Ancestral Quest 12.1 gives the user a consistent and rational interface allowing the user to stand back from the New FamilySearch data and actually get something accomplished.

My perception is that the search engine used in the program is more efficient than any of the other options. I found many more hits on possible duplicates in New FamilySearch than I had previously seen or found.

The program itself, apart from the synchronization with New FamilySearch, has a very familiar feel given Incline Software's roots in the development of Personal Ancestral File. Although there the comparison stops. The features of Ancestral Quest go way beyond those limited features in Personal Ancestral File.

Overall, this a program that bears serious consideration as a contender for your personal use. I am supposed to teach this program, beginning on Monday, March 2, 2009 at the Mesa (Arizona) Regional Family History Center and it is a good thing that I got way into the program before I began teaching, in more ways than one.

New FamilySearch Affiliate Ancestral Quest

Incline Software, LC, dating from 1994, is one of the oldest genealogical software companies still publishing under the same name. It currently produces two premier tools, Ancestral Quest, one of the first Windows genealogy programs available, and PAFWiz, an add-on utility for Personal Ancestral File 5 (PAF), which is one of the family tree programs derived from earlier versions of Ancestral Quest. This direct relationship between Ancestral Quest and Personal Ancestral File, Version 5 makes for an easy transition from PAF to a much newer and more useful program. To quote from their company history:

Over the years, Incline Software™ has aligned itself with various other companies in an effort to market Ancestral Quest. From fall of 1995 through fall of 1997, Ancestral Quest was also sold by Infobases, Inc. (and later by an affiliate of Infobases, Ancestry, Inc.) From the fall of 1998 to the fall of 2000, Incline Software partnered itself with The Hope Foundation.In 1999, with some strategic help from The Hope Foundation, Incline Software helped The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints develop its Windows version of Personal Ancestral File® (PAF). Ancestral Quest, (including programs derived from Ancestral Quest), has become the most widely used genealogy software program in the world.

Importantly, Ancestral Quest Version 12.1 is the first complete data base program to synchronize data with the Family Tree of New FamilySearch. As such, Ancestral Quest is certified by the FamilySearch to access and update the Family Tree database of new.FamilySearch.org. To further quote their Web site, "it is also a FamilySearch certified PAF add-in, which means that a user of PAF 5 can use AQ 12.1 to synchronize his/her local PAF database with the Family Tree of new FamilySearch. So whether you use AQ by itself, or want to use PAF with AQ as an add-in, you will be able to synchronize your data with new FamilySearch." What is more important, the working released version of the program is available right now in December, 2008.

Like many genealogy programs, Incline Software's Ancestral Quest has a free trial offer. The free download is fully functional for 60 days and then will revert into a "Viewer" mode until you purchase a registration key.

One interesting feature of Ancestral Quest is that the program automatically looks up information available in Ancestry.com and shows you the number of related records available. Of course, if you don't have a subscription to Ancestry.com, this feature is some what useless. What is probably most important about the program is that it has the "look and feel" of Personal Ancestral File and if you are moving into a new program and have little experience with other lineage linked data base programs, Ancestral Quest can provide one of the least painful transitions to much more useful program.

New FamilySearch Affiliate RootsMagic

New FamilySearch has recently made public an affiliate program allowing third-party software developers to write programs that work in conjunction with New FamilySearch. There has been some measure of uncertainty as to whether or not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS) was going to continue to support its free software program Personal Ancestral File (PAF). The PAF program has not been updated since version 5.2. With the introduction of New FamilySearch affiliates, it certainly appears that there are no plans to upgrade PAF, although there continues to be substantial support for the product.

One of the recommended products in the affiliate program is RootsMagic. I usually purchase and install all of the serious genealogy software on my computer and use it to determine if it is truly useful or not. I am pleased to report that nearly all the software I use is very useful and RootsMagic is no exception. It comes particularly highly recommended for its implementation of citations.

In looking into the history of the product, quoting directly from the RootsMagic Web site:

Founded in 1986, RootsMagic, Inc. is a publisher of family oriented software, with headquarters in Springville, Utah. RootsMagic’s product line includes its flagship genealogy software RootsMagic, Family Reunion Organizer, and Daily Journal which is sold under the Broderbund label. In addition, RootsMagic, Inc. also hosts Family-Reunion.com, the world’s most popular family reunion planning website.

The current version of RootsMagic available is 3.2.6. The features of the program implementing its connection to New FamilySearch are not available in the currently sold version of the program but are planned for version 4.0. At a recent genealogy conference at which the RootsMagic company representatives were present, I asked them about introduction of Version 4.0 and they did not yet have a release date. In going to their Web site, it still appears that Version 4.0 is yet to be released. At the computer conference, RootsMagic was selling Version 3.0 with a free upgrade to Version 4.0 when it is released.

Like many of the more useful genealogical database programs, RootsMagic offers a free Demo version of their program. I would strongly suggest that you demo any program you are interested in purchasing, before you put all of you information into the program. If you are presently using PAF, you may wish to consider RootsMagic as one of your choices.