It’s no big secret that we are finally about to release Personal Historian 2. We know it has been a long time coming. Those of you who have been with us for a long time (back to the old Family Origins days) know that in the past we were able to get major upgrades of our programs out a lot quicker than we have recently. I know we could make a lot of excuses as to why this is, but I hate excuses from companies I buy software from, and I know you feel the same. So I’ll just say we have made some changes in priorities around here that will help us get all the really cool new stuff out to you faster.
We are currently beta testing Personal Historian 2, so for the next couple of weeks on the blog we will be offering a sneak peek at the new features which are coming.
But first, I know a lot of you may not be familiar with Personal Historian, so let me tell you a little bit about it. Personal Historian helps you write… you guessed it… personal histories. It could be your own life story, or the life story of one or both of your parents, or the life story of one of your ancestors. Everyone has a story that needs to be told… in fact… a lot of stories. And that is where Personal Historian comes in. Instead of trying to type all those stories into a big word processor file, Personal Historian lets you add stories, and builds a timeline of those stories, like this:
You can choose which columns you want Personal Historian to display for each story, including the title, date, status, category, or age at which the story occurred. Personal Historian will automatically sort your stories as you add them, so it is easy to find any story you have already written. You can then just double-click any story in the list to edit it in a full featured word processor window.
But Personal Historian is more than just a list of stories. It lets you filter stories any way you can imagine, add historical and other timeline items, provides memory joggers and story organizing tools, and lets you publish all those stories (or any group of those stories) into a complete personal history.
So stay tuned the next couple of weeks as we show you all the cool new features in Personal Historian 2, the easiest way to write a personal history.
It would be very helpful to hear how Personal Historian 2 differs from the previous version. Why would I care to update?
Sounds exciting!
I have Roots Magic UK. Is PH only for the USA version or will it work with UK data too?
It has been a long time coming, but I must say, I’ve never been disappointed in one of your upgrades and expect great things from this one as well. Looking forward to it Bruce and all the buzz that it will create. Good Luck! dca
so looking forward to your Historian 2 I am just now in the process of putting togeather my family history in book form. please keep me informed about this program.
Heather, PH will work with both the US and UK versions of RootsMagic (as well as other genealogy programs as well).
Peggy, Keep watching the blog here. We’ll be showing everything that is new in PH2.
Sounds great. I don’t have this program yet, but I am definitely interested in seeing the final result. Take your time and do it right is what I say.
Even though I am not a PH user I am glad to learn of this upgrade. I had noticed the slowing of RM development to an almost standstill despite New Year Resolution promises to the contrary. At least I know know the reason, glad to learn of “some changes in priorities” and look forward to the “all the really cool new stuff” faster.
I may be wrong but it appears as if ‘Personal Historian 2’ could even be used as a ‘logging’ program for your research logs. Either by family or indiviual, and or country or state. Seems it could have several ways it could be used??
My adult kids have been asking me to document my life and I have hesitated on the excuse that I am too busy with a genealogy. But they are more interested in my personal story . . . I will be monitoring the PH updates and hope to take the plunge with this exciting software when it is ready. Thanks for all RM does!
It will be great to see what improvements you are making to personal historian. I love the program because I don’t have a journal of my g-g-grandfather and so I am getting bits and pieces here an there. By using PH I can add information as I find it (and I am busy so I get info as I can)and your program stores it and then I can put it all together in a journal form to track his history and tell his story. The same goes for my own life story. Bits and pieces as I can remember and have time to add stories. Thanks for your program!
Personal Historian is the only one of your products that I don’t have, but I will buying the new edition. Your free webinars were/are so very helpful – I can’t thank you enough!
We use it to brainstorm for a biography.. NEED to be able to put multiple categories per event.. Depending on PH2 now has this feature or i’m in trouble!!!
I am so anxious for PH 2. I’ve been using PH 1 and I imported my personal history into it but I really want to break it down. When can i expect to have PH 2?
thanks Jean
Hi: I have been away from my research for several years. Expect to carve out time for this in the next couple of months and look forward to taking the Personal Historian for a test drive. Upgrades sound great.
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I like Peggy would like to know how ver.1 is enough different to spend the money for the upgrade. I found ver.1 somewhat difficult to work with.
Eldon, we have a free version (Personal Historian Essentials) that you can download and try. It is much easier to work with than PH1.