Goodbye, new.FamilySearch.org. Hello, FamilySearch Family Tree!


We have some bad news, some good news, and some great news.

Bad News, Good News

The bad news is that FamilySearch will be shutting-off the ability to make changes to their (old) new.FamilySearch.org website on Sunday, June 30, 2013.  This means that previous releases of RootsMagic (4, 5, and pre-6.1) will no longer be able to write data to new.FamilySearch.org after this date.

The good news is that the latest update to RootsMagic (6.1) already works with new.FamilySearch.org’s replacement- FamilySearch Family Tree!  In fact, RootsMagic is the first software certified to share data with FamilySearch Family Tree.

The first software certified to share with FamilySearch Family Tree

How will this affect me?

If you use RootsMagic 4, 5, or 6.0 to work with new.FamilySearch.org, beginning Sunday, June 30, 2013 any attempt to make changes to data on new.FamilySearch.org will give an error message.  This is not due to any bug or breakage in RootsMagic. It is simply because FamilySearch is shutting off that capability as they replace new.FamilySearch.org with FamilySearch Family Tree.  Note: This does not affect any other features in RootsMagic 4 or 5. Only new.FamilySearch.org features are affected.

What should I do?

If you are using RootsMagic 6.1 or RootsMagic Essentials 6.1, you don’t have to do anything. RootsMagic 6.1 does not work with new.FamilySearch.org. It works directly with FamilySearch Family Tree, the replacement for new.FamilySearch.org.

If you are using RootsMagic 6.0, simply download the free update to RootsMagic 6.1 by choosing Help > Check for Updates from the main menu of RootsMagic or download the update from our website.

If you are using RootsMagic 4 or 5 and you want to continue interfacing with FamilySearch, you’ll need to upgrade to RootsMagic 6 or download the free RootsMagic Essentials 6.

What is FamilySearch Family Tree?

FamilySearch Family Tree is a new way to organize and record your genealogy online. It is free, is available to everyone, and provides an easy way to discover your place in history with free tools to help you preserve and share your family’s story for generations to come.

With RootsMagic, you can search FamilySearch Family Tree for matches for people in your file. Once you have found a match, you can copy any data that FamilySearch has about that person into your own file. You can also copy any data that you have into the FamilySearch system. You have full control over what data is copied in each direction.

RootsMagic is the first software certified to share data with FamilySearch Family Tree and won the awards for “Easiest to Sync”, “Best Dashboard”, and “Trailblazer” from FamilySearch.

Wait- what’s the “great news”?

Hmm- we better save that for another day. We don’t want to overwhelm you all at once. Stay tuned for an exciting new announcement in the very near future!

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June 13th, 2013
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Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
elaine Wade
Posted on:
June 13, 2013 at 2:15 pm

I am hoping to better work with family tree and make corrections..

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Eleanor
Posted on:
June 13, 2013 at 2:47 pm

I have connected many of my relatives with the Family Search and have learn many things that I did not previously know.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Barry Boyer
Posted on:
June 13, 2013 at 3:34 pm

I want to know the great news NOW!

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Ray Osterberg
Posted on:
June 14, 2013 at 11:25 am

Roots Magic has been “magic” for me and I look forward to even greater possibilities. Thank You!

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Gordon Bosley
Posted on:
June 14, 2013 at 8:47 pm

Have some concerns with Family Tree, it appears to me (and I hope I am wrong)to be like Wickapedia everyone can change records and that will be about all they will be worth. I did a bit of looking a couple of weeks ago and found someone had changed my work and given me a GG Grandmother that died as a child?? and was going forward with work for her. I know this is not your problem and I am happy to see Roots keeping ahead of the changes, keep up the good work.

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Sue
Posted on:
June 14, 2013 at 9:39 pm

I hope the next announcement is about syncing sources!

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Andrew Palmer
Posted on:
June 15, 2013 at 7:04 am

I’m still a novice with Family History, but one thing I know for sure: RootsMagic Rocks! It’s easy to use, does everything I want/need it to, and a bunch more that always causes me to think, “oh that’s neat” (ex: different chart lists).

RootsMagic was personally recommended to me by a very knowledgeable (and high-ranking member of the LDS genealogical community. I’m so very glad I went and asked him how I should start!

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Linda Wright
Posted on:
June 15, 2013 at 8:15 pm

I hope RootsMagic will now be able to transfer Notes and Sources between RootsMagic and FamilyTree. I get sick of having to type all the information in twice.

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Anonymous
Posted on:
June 15, 2013 at 10:08 pm

You’re a tease, Bruce!

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Dan Woolley
Posted on:
June 16, 2013 at 9:35 am

Thank you for creating such a powerful tool.

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Lisa Huntsman
Posted on:
June 16, 2013 at 4:41 pm

I lover Roots Magic and refer it all the time to people I help with their family history. However, I have MAC users that I wish could use it too. I hope that’s the new exciting announcement you have! A MAC based version of Roots Magic.

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
Art
Posted on:
June 17, 2013 at 6:43 pm

Good News – YES!!! I am impatiently waiting for the Great News. :-(

Comment Number:
13
Written by:
walr
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 1:25 am

Been volunteering with roots magic for a long time, Love the work they do, and hope they stay around so that some body can finish this tree after I go. Have been a Family Historian devotee for many years, but, Roots seem to have got the jump on them

Comment Number:
14
Written by:
walr
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 1:26 am

Been volunteering with Family Search for a long time, Love the work they do, and hope they stay around so that some body can finish this tree after I go. Have been a Family Historian devotee for many years, but, Roots seem to have got the jump on them

Comment Number:
15
Written by:
Joseph Burdett
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 4:39 am

I’ve used many Family Tree softwares in my 50 years of genealogy – but I must say that I’m most impressed with Roots Magic. It has served me well over the last five years, and only wish I’d known of it sooner!
Roots Magic is a MUST for all genealogists.

Comment Number:
16
Written by:
Curtis Magnuson
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 11:02 am

Love Rootsmagic, I have great success in getting more data from Family Tree. It is GTREAT to share data freely between programs.

Comment Number:
17
Written by:
Ron Barker
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 11:59 am

Could your GREAT news be that you now support either MAC OS or Linux? That would be awesome.

Comment Number:
18
Written by:
Connie Barnum
Posted on:
June 18, 2013 at 7:39 pm

I am hoping against hope that the GREAT news is the ability to sync notes and especially sources!

Comment Number:
19
Written by:
Pat W
Posted on:
June 19, 2013 at 12:22 pm

Thanks for keeping up to date. As Mr Bosley commented, I too have concerns for Family Tree. Someone came in and changed something (didn’t show what the changes were, just that they were changed–with no reason given) and that replaced my contact name so that anyone researching that tree would never know to contact me, the direct-line descendant–the person who made the change is not even a relative and if anyone contacted him, he would not have the information I have.

Also submitter names from new FamilySearch are not going to be migrated over to Family Tree–that’s a GREAT LOSS!

Comment Number:
20
Written by:
Laralee
Posted on:
June 20, 2013 at 7:26 pm

One main purpose to Family Tree is to allow ‘we is better than me’. Family Tree lets anyone make changes, and anyone can revert it back if it’s wrong. It also expects reason statements for everything you do and strongly encourages sources to validate your conclusions. For most changes you’ll see a history that lets you know not just the latest change but all changes since the data was moved from nFS.

Open details and check history for those who have concerns. Also use discussions to collaborate. If you think someone is abusing the system contact FamilySearch support about it, and above all – don’t be one that just ‘wings it’ when making changes. :)

Comment Number:
21
Written by:
freya violet
Posted on:
June 21, 2013 at 3:36 am

i am absolutly loving the update for roots magic, its a vast improvement on the last version which i wasn’t so keen on. however i would like the ability to be able to web clip, like the family tree maker program, and also to import information directly from the igi not just from other peoples entries, as they can get quite confused and innaccurate.
but all in all, a brilliant program for a small price (or free lite version) that seems very solid and reliable.

Comment Number:
22
Written by:
Lynn Johnson
Posted on:
June 21, 2013 at 10:46 am

THANK YOU SO MUCH, I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR A MORE USER FRIENDLY VERSION AND YOU FINALLY CAME THROUGH ! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!!

Comment Number:
23
Written by:
Wanda M. Drake
Posted on:
June 21, 2013 at 3:46 pm

I am just getting into the Family Tree and hopoe to find it user friendly. I have worked a long time on Roots Magic and newfamilysearch. Thanks so much for all you do to make our search easier. WD.

Comment Number:
24
Written by:
Antonio
Posted on:
June 23, 2013 at 3:12 am

I started to use rootsmagic, and I`m exited about it. I hope to keep going using rootsmagic a lot forever.

Comment Number:
25
Written by:
Jewel Gholson
Posted on:
June 25, 2013 at 6:05 am

I am very new to Roots Magic.I have been doing genealogy for over 30 years. I have worked in the nFS and Family Tree every since it was established. When the announcement came that they were stopping PAF I was horrified. Not wanting change. However after a friend and I discussed the situation we decided to use Roots Magic. I am so glad we did. I am so excited about it. It seems to be user friendly. Happy about that. Transferring from Roots Magic to the Family Tree is wonderful. I still have a LOT to learn. I will master this program so that I can help others in working with the Tree. Thank you for supporting the Family Tree. Can’t wait to learn more about your program.
JG