Using a Mac for Genealogy

Dick EastmanJune 7, 2014

Today’s slides may be found at:

http://www.eogn.com/handouts/usingamac

The Macintosh is the second most popular

personal computer but it isn’t peanuts!

A total of 80 million Macs are in use worldwide.

At an average of $1,334 per system, that is more than $100 Billion in sales!

Yet the Mac has relatively (!) few

genealogy programs

I can count six significant, full-featured programs for the Mac and several other, less

powerful programs:

The full-featured Macintosh genealogy programs are (in alphabetical order):

Family Tree Maker for MacintoshGrampsHeredisMacFamilyTreePersonal Ancestry Writer II (also called

PAW2U)Reunion

Family Tree Maker for Macintosh

TreeSync™ gives you the freedom to access and update your tree no matter where you are. All you need is an Internet connection.

Capture photos using your iSight or built-in camera and import it directly into Family Tree Maker.

$29.99

GRAMPS

Free and Open Source

Originally developed for Linux and UNIX, later ported to Macintosh and Windows

Requires moderate technical expertise to install and configure

GRAMPS

Heredis

Created in France

Very popular in Europe and many other countries, available in many languages

Available for Macintosh, Windows, and iOS

$59.99 in the App Store, a free trial version is also available

Heredis

Heredis

Heredis

Heredis

Available in the App Store

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Created in Germany

Very popular in Europe and many other countries, available in many languages

Available for Macintosh and iOS

$49.99 in the App Store, a free trial version is also available

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Mac Family Tree

Personal Ancestry Writer II

Often abbreviated as: PAW2U

FREE!

Modeled upon the now discontinued Personal Ancestral File program (PAF) for Macintosh

Additional features that generate web pages (in HTML), word processing files (in RTF for, e.g., AppleWorks) and desktop publishing files (in MML for FrameMaker).

Personal Ancestry Writer IIQuote for the PAW2U web site:

“PAWriter is not meant to have the bells and whistles that are in the current crop of genealogical programs. The emphasis is on maintaining a genealogical database from which the user can write books and/or post web pages about a family.”

Personal Ancestry Writer II

Personal Ancestry Writer II

Available free of charge at

http://www.lanopalera.net

Reunion

Reunion

Probably the most popular Macintosh genealogy program in North America

Highest rated mobile genealogy apps on the iTunes App Store.

Has an excellent companion app for iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch)

$99

A free demo version is available, limited to 50 people in the database with no import or export capabilities

Reunion

Very easy to use

Excellent support of images and videos

One of the best iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch apps

Automatically builds reports that you can upload to your web site with all the necessary files, images, and graphics are generated and linked for you

Reunion

Reunion

Reunion

Reunion

Reunion

MySuggestions:

Take your time! You will spend hours with the program of your choice.

Try the free demos

Will it work with your handheld device?

Today’s slides may be found at:

http://www.eogn.com/handouts/usingamac

Now let’s try a few programs!