Tech Tuesday: Research Tools in RootsMagic

Last week, I attended the webinar "Research Tools in RootsMagic." I have been using the RootsMagic genealogy software for about two years and, although I knew there were probably features I was not familiar with in the software, I contemplated whether an hour-long webinar would be beneficial to me. Before long I said out loud "they did not charge me enough for this software!" Here are a few of the features I learned more about.

• Fact List: This allows you to run a query for certain fact criteria, such as facts without sources, facts of a certain quality, or missing facts. This is a useful tool in helping to determine what research needs to be done or where should focus your research time and efforts.
• To Do List: This is a feature I was under-utilizing. I was deleting items after I completed them instead of marking them as complete. By marking them complete, I can keep track of negative results (or research that did not yield a result), which should eliminate duplicating my research.
• Web Search: With the click of a button, you can search numerous sites, such as Ancestry, Find A Grave, Family Search, or Google, for a highlighted individual using the information you have already entered. RootsMagic will even remember your passwords for subscription sites.
• GenSmarts: They saved this for last, and quickly had me sold on the $24.95 add-on program. GenSmarts can be run with a single click on any person in your database. It analyzes that person's information and makes suggestions on specific resources to research and why, as well as where the resource can be found. You can even load the suggestions into your To Do List for the future, making that feature even more powerful.

The hour-long webinar was free and was recorded for playback and posted to the RootsMagic website at the link below. There are twelve webinars so far and another two coming up this month. Whether your are already a RootsMagic user or are shopping for new software, I highly recommend watching a few of these webinars. The hour I spent last week has already proven beneficial in my research.

http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/