Search This Blog

Translate

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Cool App and Software Issues

I found another app that I like.  It is called Oganizer HD, and it closely resembles the paper organizer that I gave up to go digital.  There are also lots of bells and whistles that allow for maps, pictures, and voice memos to be added to your daily dairy.  The program also syncs with google calendar and my calendar that is from the iPad attached to my home server.  Still playing with it, but so far I really like it.

Being a thirty-something that is not tech savvy feels like a disgrace.  My husband is the techie in the family and I constantly ask him for help with some piece of software or program I am interested in.  The one thing that is all mine is my family history software.  He did help me set it up, but I have been proud at how much I have done on my own.  That is, up until recently.  Over the last month I have more than once wanted to throw my computer out a window over the frustration it has caused. 

I started using Family Tree Maker through Ancestry right after I began doing research last year.  Everything has been grand, right up to the point where I updated the software so I could sync all of my trees (online, iPad, and desktop).  In December I even spent 3 hours (no kidding) on the phone with tech support trying to figure out what in the worled was going on.  Thought I had it all solved too.

Yesterday I discovered that half of my image files were no longer in my database.  There was an odd thumbnail instead and a link broken message.  I found them, luckily, in an old back up (ALWAYS back-up) and now have to go through the process of fixing it all.  So while I am at it, I may as well make sure everything is correct and up-to-date.  I feel a large project coming on...

If anyone has any tricks, tips or advice about using the program I would love to hear it.  Sometimes I get very frustrated with the way it wants me to use their source citation prompts if anyone has any clues on exactly how to make that less scary I would be grateful.

*Image from Clipart Pal, eve picking from the tree of knowledge

3 comments:

  1. I'm with you Shannon. I spent my entire day yesterday trying to update my 2012 FTM on my new laptop. The laptop that I have everything on is starting to go . . . so on my newer laptop I did have 2011 FTM with some data and upgraded to 2012. I had more data on my old laptop and needed to bring the new laptop up to the same number of people. I put it on a thumbdrive and then was going to add it on the new . . . didn't work and still can't get it to work. So I am going to be calling FTM support to see how I get this done. Then I want to use the sync option. I am not tech savvy and it really scares me! I hope you get your issues resolved . . . it's so very frustrating and all we really want to do is find our ancestors! Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The sync option, once you get it working, is fantastic. I don't have to worry about updating my computer when I get home from the library, or while browsing on my iPad. Still have to fix the broken link problem I am having... but that is just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I, too, was intrigued by the sync option in FTM 2012, and installed it on a separate machine to test, just downloading my current Ancestry tree. I seem to have the opposite problem - there are over 1000 more images in my Media directory than the program knows about. :) Some of these come from deleting duplicates - for the most part, Ancestry.com does not let you share source citations across people, and so duplicates each per person, which I clean up in FTM to use a single source across multiple people. I'm not sure that it always "recycles" the associated image files when removing sources. And a whole pile of images that I renamed (the default names downloaded for commonly used resources, such as 1930 United States Federal Census-73.jpg, are not helpful in identifying record images) have old copies hanging around in there. I'm not entirely convinced that the delayed background media sync does everything it should. :-/ But I have backups of all the files on multiple computers - backups are GOOD!

    ReplyDelete