Macintosh

10 Jul 2015

Islands in Reunion 11 Genealogy Software

Today’s post is about Islands in Reunion 11 Genealogy Software. It’s quite the best new feature of this recent version upgrade of the venerable Mac genealogy software from Leisterpro.

The new Islands sidebar, seen at right, is located in the pulldown menu on the upper right of the main screen. This new function locates “islands” in your family file — groups of people linked to each other, but not linked to people in your main tree.

Previously in Reunion, you could only search for single entries who had no links to anyone else. So the new Islands feature identifies these branches or fragments in your family tree and makes it easy to see and edit/repair/delete them.

Reunion 11 found 18 (!) of these islands in my tree, when I would have predicted three. Island 1 is my main tree with 10,425 and 27 generations. And Islands 2 and 3 were deliberately created by me while working on a brick […]

6 Jun 2015

iPad and Mac Diacritical Marks

Today’s topic is iPad and Mac diacritical marks. If you’re using your iPad (or Mac) for genealogy, you probably need to add diacritical marks to names and places. If you’re a native English speaker like me, getting your keyboard to produce these characters may be an unfamiliar process.

A diacritical mark is a glyph (mark) added to a letter that changes how words are pronounced. These marks may appear above, below, within a letter, or in some cases between two letters. Ø, ü, è, ñ, ß, ÿ, ī, å are all examples of diacritical marks added to letters.

There are several ways to add diacriticals to individual letters on your iPhone, iPad, and/or Mac.

Press lightly and hold the keys any vowel or C, L, N, S, Y and Z, then select the accented versions from the menu. (Shortcuts to legal and financial symbols appear by pressing and holding characters on the numerical keyboard.)
Visit […]

17 Jan 2015

Choosing Image Management Software

My good friend and fellow genealogist Judy Webster has started the new year with some resolutions about organizing her research using a “source-based incremental fix,” rather than a giant do-over approach. Makes sense to me!

One of her steps is choosing image management software to better organize her family photos. This is an essential step, and one that I cover in more detail in my e-book, Cataloging Family Photographs & Records.

But let’s take a look in this blog post as some of the software options.

Image management software is used by genealogists to:

Create high-resolution master scans
Edit photos to resize, crop, and alter master digital files
Make changes to many photos with a batch edit
Add information to digital images using metadata
Search for images and retrieve them using keywords
Use special functions, such as creating albums, employing facial recognition or adding GPS linking

Adobe Photoshop is the leader in this category, but it’s extremely expensive and complex to use. It also has a lot of sophisticated features geared to graphic designers that genealogists will probably never need or learn to use. So an alternative to Photoshop is a good idea.

Fortunately there are several lower-cost image management applications available that are easier to use. Alternatives to Photoshop include:

Photoshop Elements ($80-$100) – think of it as Photoshop Lite. Has powerful image editing capabilities, including GPS and facial recognition; easier to use than Photoshop but still has a learning curve. Many free tutorials available. Also has scanning feature. Mac or Windows. A 30-day demo is available for download by clicking here. Tip: Adobe releases a new version of Photoshop Elements every year, usually with only small changes between versions. The current version of the software is 13. Earlier versions are available for sale online at big discounts.

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7 Feb 2014

My Favorite Genealogy Things

These are a few of my favorite genealogy things (no, I’m not going to sing and you don’t want me to) from my presentation at Rootstech 2014 this morning on using Macs and iPads for genealogy.
Dashlane

Dashlane is the password manager that I recommend. But it’s so much more than that. It’s available in an iPhone and iPad app and on your desktop. The Dashlane app also:

Stores your passwords using military-grade encryption
Syncs them automatically across all your devices regardless of platform
Notifies you when a website has been compromised
Creates online purchase receipts
Shares passwords with other designated users through encrypted email
Generates strong passwords

The Dashlane Security Dashboard evaluates how safe you are online, based on passwords that are weak, used across multiple sites, or from a site that’s been hacked.

If you want to take Dashlane for a spin, use this link to download and get the first six months of Premium free courtesy of Sassy Jane.
Sassy Jane Genealogy Guides
Using Macs and iPads for Genealogy helps you choose, organize, and use applications for your family history research. Learn how to master the great features of Macs, iPads, and iPhones to streamline your research and find new ancestors.

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