{"id":3426,"date":"2025-08-01T19:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T19:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2025-08-01T19:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T19:33:13","slug":"the-summer-of-my-genealogical-discontent-lesson-5-software-shuffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3426","title":{"rendered":"The Summer of My Genealogical Discontent Lesson 5 – Software Shuffle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AI Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Welcome to another installment in my continuing series on genealogical misadventures! Today\u2019s topic: my long, bumpy road with technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always embraced tech\u2014but it didn\u2019t always embrace me back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in college, I took a programming course in PLC. The professor told us to throw out the textbook and \u201cgo with our gut.\u201d Let\u2019s just say… my gut wasn\u2019t fluent in code. I had signed up for the course because my then-boyfriend (now husband) raved about it. Mid semester, I switched to a new instructor\u2014Dr. Birkin, a kind man with a charming British accent who actually used the textbook. I passed the class, but the experience left me scarred. We were still programming with punch cards back then, and one typo could bring the whole system down. I managed to do exactly that once\u2014and earned a full hour of death stares from the engineering students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when software for genealogy came along, I dove in eagerly\u2014because at least I wasn\u2019t programming it myself! But it turns out software has its own kind of drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My big misstep? Relying on just one platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, I uploaded everything\u2014sources, photos, notes\u2014into Ancestry.com. It was easy. It was convenient. It was also incredibly risky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because here\u2019s the thing: if Ancestry ever disappears (and nothing digital is forever), so does everything I\u2019ve painstakingly added. Paranoia, in genealogy, can be a healthy survival strategy. And that means backing up your work in multiple places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Family Tree Maker (FTM) was integrated with Ancestry in its early years, I jumped onboard. But then the sync stopped working. Ancestry blamed FTM. FTM blamed Ancestry. I spent a year caught in the crossfire, and finally gave up. So did Ancestry\u2014they ditched FTM and partnered with RootsMagic instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gave RootsMagic a try. I liked it\u2014until it came time to update my records. One. At. A. Time. It was tedious, and I let it slide. Eventually, that program stopped cooperating too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also dabbled with Legacy Family Tree. I appreciated its features, but the downside? It doesn\u2019t sync with Ancestry. My sources were preserved\u2014but not my photos or documents. Still, it remains part of my backup plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, about three years ago, Family Tree Maker came back around with an offer. After a helpful chat with their support team, I gave them another shot. The sync worked again\u2014thankfully\u2014just as RootsMagic had failed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what have I learned from this revolving door of software?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay current. Stay flexible. And never trust your entire tree to a single platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test new tools. Keep your programs updated. And most importantly, store your research in more than one place<\/strong>\u2014cloud, external drive, software, even printed backups. Because when one system crashes (and eventually, it will), you\u2019ll have something to fall back on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think you\u2019re immune to tech mishaps, I\u2019ll leave you with this: the only thing more painful than lost records\u2026 is knowing you had them, once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another installment in my continuing series on genealogical misadventures! Today\u2019s topic: my long, bumpy road with technology. I\u2019ve always embraced tech\u2014but it didn\u2019t always embrace me back. Back in college, I took a programming course in PLC. The professor told us to throw out the textbook and \u201cgo with our gut.\u201d Let\u2019s just … Continue reading “The Summer of My Genealogical Discontent Lesson 5 – Software Shuffle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[32,1297,214,434,1298],"class_list":["post-3426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-ancestry-com","tag-family-tree-makers","tag-legacy-family-tree","tag-rootsmagic","tag-software"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3426"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3510,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions\/3510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}