Today’s sneak preview is going to be short and sweet (and no screen shot on top of that).  But don’t worry, we still have plenty of new screen shots left to go.

While website creation in RootsMagic 4 is very similar to that in version 3, there is one big difference.  RootsMagic 4 uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) when creating a website.  If you don’t create websites, or don’t know what CSS is, you probably won’t find this very exciting.

However, if you have ever had to modify fonts, colors or other settings in a RootsMagic generated website, I can hear you saying “yes” all the way from here.  No more having to modify hundreds of individual html files.  Just edit the single .CSS file and all your pages will use the modified styles.

So for all you html’ers, this one’s for you.  For everyone else, we’ll be right back with more cool screenshots and features.

Media Album

An old adage says that a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are 3000 words worth of pictures about RootsMagic 4’s new multimedia features. As in previous versions of RootsMagic, you can add pictures or other media to people, families, sources, citations, events, or places. Here’s what the new Media Album looks like (click the image if you want to see it without squinting):

The first thing long time RootsMagic users will notice is that you aren’t limited to viewing 6 pictures at a time for a person. Not only can you scroll to view all the pictures for a person, you can also adjust the size of the thumbnails by simply (1) dragging the slider at the bottom of the album.

If you’ve ever added a family picture to each member of the family, and had to re-enter that nice detailed description over and over, you’ll love the new RootsMagic 4 Media Gallery. Every time you add a picture to a person (or other item) RootsMagic 4 keeps track of the photo so that you can re-use the same picture along with its caption, description, and other information. When adding a new picture to a person, just click “Add from gallery” (2) to re-use an existing media item.

Selecting a media item will display its details (caption, description, file name, etc) in the (3) live edit panel.

Media Gallery

If you want to see all the pictures you have added, just bring up the master Media Gallery.

Not only can you see all your media, but you can also click the “Show usage” button to get a list of every place in your file that the highlighted media is referenced.

I’m on my way to Indianapolis for my third conference in 3 weeks (which I will attempt to pass off as my excuse for not spilling the beans as quickly as I would like). I will try to pick up the pace a bit. We still have a ton of cool new features to cover.

By the way, if you have a friend you’ve been trying to convert to RootsMagic, let them know about our blog. We’ll help you out with that <g>.

People? Mark Tucker’s guess sure sounded a lot more exciting.

But even if the People tab can’t automatically do all your genealogy for you, it will help you quickly and easily analyze your data in ways that used to require tedious creating and printing custom reports.

So let’s take a look at this People page. Click on the screen shot below so you can actually see what it looks like.

At first glance the People page looks like just another list. There are a couple of differences though, the first being the “Customize this view” button. When you click the Customize button RootsMagic will let you select which columns you want to display in the list.

Select the column you want in the left list, then click the “Add to view” button (you can also just double click on a field to move it over). You can add up to 50 columns to the view, and you can change them anytime you want. Once you have selected the columns you want, just drag and drop them into the order you want them in the view.

Then comes the fun part. Any column you add to the People view is fully sortable. Want to see your people grouped by birth place? Just click the birth place header and your wish is RootsMagic’s command. Want to see everyone in death date order? Just click the death date column (just make sure you added that column first). Here’s an example of the People view sorted by birth place.

Oh, and if you do add 50 columns, RootsMagic will let you scroll to see them all (obviously), and will even keep the person’s name (in the first column) frozen on the screen so you don’t lose track of what information belongs to who.

Well, back to programming. I’ve been hearing rumors that some users want us to get this released.

Another quicky while I’m at the BYU genealogy conference.

We all know how important it is to add sources for the information we enter. When adding a source in RootsMagic, we’ve always been able to enter the “quality” of the citation. But it has been limited to “primary”, “secondary”, “questionable”, and “unreliable”. Until now.

As you can see, RootsMagic 4 now follows approved standards for evidence analysis in an easy to understand format.

To learn more about evaluating your genealogy sources, visit:

http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld085.html

And our friend Mark Tucker over at ThinkGenealogy.com has put together a Genealogy Research Map that covers the full research process (including assessing the quality of a citation). You can download it for free from:

http://www.thinkgenealogy.com/2008/07/31/genealogy-research-process-map-version-2/

This isn’t the only new source enhancement coming in RootsMagic, but we’re saving the best for later. Stay tuned.

I am at the BYU Family History Conference all week. But here’s a quicky for you.

If you’ve done much merging, you know that most of your time is spent staring at the screen comparing names, dates, and places. In RootsMagic 4 it is color to the rescue…

If you noticed all the green on the two possible duplicates on this merge screen, you may have realized that green means the fields match on the two records. So if you see a bunch of green, it means to don’t have to spend as much time comparing every field of the two records before making a decision whether to merge them. Now take a look at this one…

These possible duplicates have some yellow fields and a red field. Yellow indicates that the fields are close but not exactly the same, and red indicates they aren’t the same at all. So if you are seeing red, it means don’t waste your time comparing all those fields.

There are a several other areas where RootsMagic 4 uses colors like this, but we’ll let you have the fun of discovering those for yourself.

We’ve made a few minor enhancements to working with files (aside from the new file extension that Jon mentioned in a comment to an earlier post… we’ll talk about what that means in a future post).

Creating a New File

We’ve created a new “New File” form to simplify creating a new database and getting started.

To create a new database just type in a file name and click OK, and RootsMagic will create the new database in the default folder you have selected. The “New File” form also gives you a couple of options for what to do after the new file has been created.

Opening a File

One of the most common tech support issues we get is from users who can’t find a file they created. Earlier versions of RootsMagic have had a “Search for files” command, but it was a separate command and not really available when you actually needed it. In RootsMagic 4 we bring the “Search for files” feature front and center. For example, when you choose to open an existing database (File > Open from the menu), you’ll see this screen.

Hopefully it is self-explanatory (or if not, please let us know what wording *would* be). So whether you know where all your files are, or are less than comfortable with the Windows file dialog, we’ve got you covered.

Searching for Files

If you select “Search for a file” from the form above, RootsMagic will immediately open this screen and begin searching. You can pause the search any time and select any file found up to that point and open it directly from the search results.

This search screen is also available from other places in RootsMagic 4, like when you are importing data from another program, or searching for a backup to restore.

And of course it is still available directly from the menu.

Rename Can Now Move

Yes, the File > Rename command has put on its dancing shoes. In earlier versions of RootsMagic the Rename command simply changed the name of the database you were working on. The database had a new name but stayed in the same folder.

In RootsMagic 4 you can still do a simple file renaming, but now you can also choose a new folder and have RootsMagic move the database to that new folder. For those of you who have tried to move a RootsMagic database before, you know you like this feature.

Hopefully you aren’t getting bored by these sneak peeks (see, I spelled it right this time) at some of the fun little things we have added in RootsMagic 4. Hang in there though. The big stuff is just around the corner.

Time for a sneak peak at a couple more of the small features coming in RootsMagic 4. I promise the big features are on their way. Just want to give the little ones their time in the sun.

Live Spell Checking

While RootsMagic has always offered spell checking, version 4 now offers “Live” spell checking. You know, those annoying little squiggly red lines that show what a lousy speller you are without you even having to ask for it (click the image below to see them in their full glory).

The nice thing about live spell checking is that you can just right click on the misspelled word and RootsMagic will display a menu with suggested spellings (and other options). And yes, those who are allergic to squiggly red lines can turn off this option and continue to use the old fashioned spell checking.

Auto Correct

Don’t you get tired of typing “teh” instead of “the” all the time? RootsMagic 4 can now automatically fix that for you. If you type “teh”, RootsMagic will automatically correct it to “the” as soon as you enter the space.

If “teh” isn’t your weakness, you can add your own problem areas for RootsMagic to correct. I personally use this feature to change “rm” into “RootsMagic” (yes, I really am that lazy).

Thesaurus

At a loss for words? Or just tired of using the same words over and over?

RootsMagic 4 comes with an updated version of Roget’s Thesaurus, making it easy to look up synonyms (words that mean the same thing) for any selected word. And if the thesaurus suggests a word you find more appealing than your own, RootsMagic can replace your boring old word with the new one.

So keep it tuned here as we continue to unwrap RootsMagic 4. The best is yet to come.

It looks like Mark Tucker over at ThinkGenealogy has gotten in on trying to figure out the hints on the new features I didn’t talk about in my first “unveiling”. I can’t believe he figured out our biggest new feature… the reversed note icon on the toolbar. Actually, we have no idea why it is reversed from version 3, but it really doesn’t mean anything. I will confirm his suspicion that the little arrow on the “Add Person” button means that the same menu as in version 3 will drop down there. As for the other items he picked out, we’ll just have to see what those are in future entries. There are still at least two other hints from those screens that nobody has mentioned, but that’s ok because they are probably harder to spot than Waldo.

Speaking of adding a new person, let’s show a new little feature we added in that area. This is what the RootsMagic 4 “Add New Person” screen looks like (or at least if you click on that thumbnail you will see what it looks like).

There are 2 changes that RootsMagic users will notice. The first is that we have added a cause of death field. The second (and much more exciting) new feature is that little link that the arrow is pointing to. Clicking that link will bring up this customize screen.

You will now be able to create your own custom “Add person” form by selecting the fact types you want displayed on that form. Choose which fact types and what order you want them displayed. Once you are happy with your selections, click OK and RootsMagic will return to your newly customized “Add Person” form.

You can even have multiple copies of the same fact type if you want. That’s useful if you tend to add multiple census, occupation, or residence facts for people. You can have up to 50 facts on the add person screen, and RootsMagic will add a scrollbar if necessary to see them all.

Oh, and just a little “clarification” for readers who aren’t already using RootsMagic. What I’ve shown here isn’t the full-blown edit screen for a person (wait until you see all the cool stuff we added there). This is a “quick add” form that lets you enter basic details on the person before the full edit screen appears (which has no limitations on the amount of data).

So keep checking back. We haven’t even scratched the tip of the iceberg.

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Another little sneak preview of things to come. Let’s see a couple of the teeny things we’ve added to the fact edit screen in version 4. I’m just going to show the fields themselves, because I’m saving the actual edit screen for later.

Dates

We’ve completely rewritten the date handling in RootsMagic 4, adding built-in support for Quaker dates, quarter dates, and even more flexible regular dates.

• Quaker Dates – In version 4 you will be able to directly enter those Quaker dates (the ones that look like 19 da 6 mo 1748). And no, that date isn’t June 19, 1748. If you want to know more about Quaker dates, try this link.
• Quarter Dates – You will also be able to enter quarter dates as found in UK BMD registrations. So if you enter Q 1 1847, 1st Quarter 1847, 1st Q 1847, March Quarter 1847, Mar Q 1847 or any other quarter format, RootsMagic 4 will understand what you mean.
• More flexible regular dates – RootsMagic 4 will let you combine more of the modifiers in a single date. In the past you could have dates like “before 1900” or “about 1900”, but not “before about 1900”. Now you can.

And what about those times when you enter an invalid date or a date that RootsMagic doesn’t understand? You know, the ones like February 30th, or the ones that keep sorting to the bottom of the person’s fact list.

If you enter a date that is illegal or that RootsMagic 4 doesn’t understand, RootsMagic will change the background of the date field to yellow. So you can still have plain old text dates, but now you will know when that is the case.

Place Details

One of the more common little items we get asked is “where should I put the name of the hospital, cemetery, residence, etc?”. In the past you could put it either as part of the place name, or throw it into the notes for that fact. There is now a third option.

RootsMagic 4 adds a new “Place Details” field where you can put cemeteries, hospitals, street addresses and more. Place details can even have their own latitude and longitude for specific pinpointing of a location.

Latitude and Longitude

And speaking of latitudes and longitudes… are you tired of having to enter latitudes and longitudes in a rigid set of fields, using a rigid set of rules? RootsMagic 4 now supports intelligent fields where you can enter the latitude and longitude in the format most comfortable to you. Enter 35o 5′ 3.98″, 35 d 5 m 3.98 s, or 35.0844400. Decimal degrees or DMS… the choice is yours, and RootsMagic 4 will figure out what you mean.

Proof

Here’s a little goody RootsMagic 4 will provide when you enter a fact for a person.

You will now be able to specify (optionally) whether the fact has been proven, disproven, or disputed. The new proof field isn’t just limited to events either. You can also assign a proof value to relationships like spouse, father, and mother.

You might have noticed one other “little” item in that last screen shot. RootsMagic 4 will now let you specify the child / parent relationship separately for the father and mother.

So there we are… another batch of tiny new features as we count down to the coolest new features coming in RootsMagic 4.

Well, maybe just a little unveiled. As I promised, it’s time to start pulling the covers off of RootsMagic 4, but just a little at a time. So let’s start with the teeny tiny new features, and we’ll work our way to the super-duper new features in the coming weeks. Today I’m just going to show you the main screens in RootsMagic 4. There aren’t a lot of differences because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But there are a couple of small things we’ve added to simplify things a bit.

So if you clicked on the screenshot above so you could actually see it, you noticed 2 small changes. Number (1) is a slider to let you switch between 5 and 6 generations on the pedigree chart. Now we’ve let you do that in the past, but a lot of users never knew it because it was buried down on the status bar. And number (2) is a feature a lot of users (especially beginning ones) have asked for. I think it is probably self-explanatory.

Oh, and by the way, you should probably ignore that little blurred out tab next to the Descendants tab. It’s too cool for this early in the show (I told you I was a tease).

We have updated the little info area to the left of the highlighted person’s name. Now when you click on the Spouses button you not only see the spouses and children, but you can also 1) add a new spouse, 2) add a new child to a family, or 3) rearrange the spouses or children. Yes, you have always been able to do these things in RootsMagic, but now it’s a little easier.

On to the Family View. Once again, little additions to make navigation and adding / editing data easier. Now you can always see exactly how many spouses each parent has (1), and clicking the button will let you switch spouses or add a new one. As in the pedigree view, you can add a new person (2) by clicking right where the person will go. Number (3) brings to the screen one of the most hidden features in version 3 (yes, we know it was hard to figure how to sort those kids). Just click the little sort arrows and you can immediately rearrange the children in the family. And finally (4), we heard you and have added the birth and death places, as well as optionally showing each child’s relationship to their parents.

The descendant view looks and works just like in version 3, with the addition of the generation slider (1) and the addition of the birth and death place (2) columns.

So there you have it.  The tiniest enhancements we made in RootsMagic 4.  But those with eagle eyes might spot several hints of other changes on the main screen that we didn’t talk about.  So keep checking back.  It only gets cooler from here.

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