Comments on: RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – Supercharged SourceWizard

By: Bruce Buzbee

Bruce Buzbee — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:24:52 +0000

1. Yes, the fields are retained in RM4.

2. RM3 sources will import as “free-form”, which means they will be in the footnote, short footnote, and bibliography format just like they are in RM3.

By: Nancy Wehner

Nancy Wehner — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:48:32 +0000

I love the extent of the new SourceWizard, but I do have two questions.

1) In RMT3, I sometimes had a source that I didn’t have full information for so I filled it out using the Wizard for what I had. Later I would come back with the additional information to complete the source, but when you hit the SourceWizard button to take you to the fields, all of the information that was previous entered disappears. Please tell me that RMT4 will allow you to go in and will still be showing all the previous information in the fields, so that you’re not having to retype all of it from scratch?

2) When those of us on RMT3 upgrade to RMT4, what will the default mapping of our existing sources be versus all of these new possibilities?

By: Noel Schmidt

Noel Schmidt — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:38:51 +0000

What capability does RM4 provide to manage/utilize the “Source File #” and “Details File #” fields? Are they (like RM3′s: “Personal File #”, “Multimedia Reference #”, and “Call Number”) simply fields that the researcher can use to enter a unidirectional cross-reference to physical files? If so, I’ve got some ideas on how to improve the program by making better use of such fields. For example, the program ought to be able to sort the source list on these fields and select records and create reports using them.

I’ve owned every version of FO/RM you’ve created. Thank you for your carefully constructed products.

By: C. Rodosta

C. Rodosta — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:20:05 +0000

It all sounds great! Will RootsMagic4 work smoothly with Vista? I was afraid to install RootsMagic3 on my Vista-Run computer after reading that it required some tweeking. Instead I’ve been using RootsMagic2 on my Windows XP laptop. Will somebody please e-mail a response?

By: Bruce Buzbee

Bruce Buzbee — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:32:01 +0000

Jeff, yes, source text/comments and detail text/comments will both appear on that right side like in RM3.

By: Jeff Hodge

Jeff Hodge — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:02:19 +0000

I’ve found that RM3 seemed unique in that you could easily scoll thru your sources for a particular fact and as you do, the citation text and comments that had been entered would display. This made it very handy to quickly compare your sources for that fact. (e.g. Source A says 24 years old in 1900, Source B says 33 years old in 1910.) In your example in this post for the new Source/citation capabilities, in the window entitled “Birth sources for John Rostron Booth-123″ in the left pane is “Smith Family Bible”; in the right pane Quality, Source Type, Footnote, Bibliography. If you had entered citation comment and text, would it appear in that right pane as well? I hope so. I would not want to lose that functionality. I would want my citation text to display on the right as I scrolled down my Birth fact sources on the left.

By: Romer

Romer — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:25:20 +0000

As I find sourcing/citing to be a pain, I’d been hoping this improved Source Wizard feature would be implemented, and it looks terrific.

I certainly wasn’t expecting all the different source type options, but they’re a pleasant surprise. They’ll allow us wide flexibility (including free-form if they wish to bypass them).

I also noticed that helpful comments are included for the various fields, which should be a real benefit in deciding what information might be appropriate to enter.

My only concern relates to the “More” drop-down box. I’m afraid that source text, comments, and media could be overlooked since it appears as though they can only be accessed by clicking this box. Once you realize that they’re there, however, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Overall, I think this should be an incredibly helpful and useful addition to the program, and I very much look forward to using it and getting my sources/citations in order!

By: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:45:52 +0000

This looks great, Bruce. I’m really anxious to get my hands on this new version, but I also understand how much work it is–I’m also a software developer. Just out of curiosity, what kind of development environment/language is this being developed in? It sure looks sharp!

Jeff Smith
Oklahoma City, OK

By: Bruce Buzbee

Bruce Buzbee — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:27:31 +0000

Mike, yes you can scan pictures, documents, etc and link to them from RM.

By: mike harger

mike harger — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:56:33 +0000

can we scan photocopies of birth certs. etc. and link to it within RM. Mike