Rootsmagic 3.0

Rootsmagic 3.0 has a simple intuitive interface with three tabbed views available - pedigree (where you view individual's ancestors in a tree like chart), family (where you can view a couple with their children together) and descendant view. Great advantage of Rootsmagic is that you can open several genealogy files in the same window, so you can view, copy and drag and drop between multiple databases. This feature is handy if you download ancestral files from the LDS website or from your fellow researchers.

Double-clicking on an individual brings up General Info tab where you can edit or add details about the person. Rootsmagic has 60 predefined fact types, such as birth, marriage and occupation, with a note space for each fact, however, you can also define your own custom facts. Each fact can have media added to it, so you can append your census images and scanned birth certificates to the actual event in the life of the individual. You can also add images to whole family which is handy for family portraits. With each individual you can fill out a To-Do List which is a useful feature for any genealogist, as it is easy to forget what you haven't done yet, once you move your research on to another branch in the family.

To start your genealogy file with Rootsmagic you have to create a new Rootsmagic file, into which you can add individuals, or you can directly import from your Family Origins (version 4+), Personal Ancestral File (version 2+) or Family Tree Maker File. GEDCOM import can be sometimes problematic, however, the range of direct imports in Roosmagic makes migrating from other genealogy software easy.

Pedigree view

What is most impressive about Rootsmagic is its Publishing Centre. A number of graphical chart options, including box charts, hourglass charts and wall charts, is available as well as multiple report options are available and the ability to create custom reports. Pedigree charts, family group sheets, 6 styles of narrative reports, numerous lists, mailing labels, calendars, relationship charts, individual summaries, photo tree and blank charts can be printed out. One of great features of Rootsmagic is its capability of creating narrative reports, where you can customize what phrase to introduce facts, so the result is more than just names and dates.

Rootsmagic can also generate professional looking web sites automatically from your data, in narrative format, pedigree chart format, family group sheet format, or a combination pedigree/ family group sheet format. The pages can be easily customized and You can create sharable CDs or let friends and relatives view a read-only form of RootsMagic. You can also create complete family history books with narrative, charts, photos, index, table of contents and bibliography.

UK edition of Rootsmagic has three versions. The Basic version costs £16.95 which according to the Rootsmagic website contains cut-down version without any bonus content. Standard version which contains Bartholemew's 1898 Royal Atlas of England & Wales and 6 million name index costs £34.95. Platinum version with extra features and content costs £49.95. You can download a free trial, however, it is only a trial - you can't print out your reports as they have watermarks and many features are disabled such as website creation.