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Thursday, November 20, 2014

Beaut software is even better

It's hard for me to contain my excitement when I find something fantastic but I have exercised considerable restraint while Beta testing Version 6 of Family Historian software. As a Beta tester I committed to keeping mum about the new version and its features but now that the developer Calico Pie has announced the product's imminent release and discussed some of its new features I feel I can open my mouth. Here is a snip from the company's recent newsletter:

Family Historian 6 is due for release on December 9th. It will be a big and exciting release, packed with enhancements and great new features. There are far too many features to cover in a single bulletin (and in any case, we want to keep some surprises for the day), but just to whet your appetites, we are including a sneak preview of a just a couple of new features below – Map Windows and Witnesses.

As a tester I can confirm that it is big and exciting. When  I moved over from The Master Genealogist to Family Historian a couple of years ago I was delighted with FH except on a couple of  counts. The major one being that I lost all the witnesses to events that I had created. There was a work around in version 5 of FH but I couldn't be bothered with it. 

I was delighted when I found that a witness function had been added to Version 6. During the testing I put this through its paces on a copy of my database and it worked a treat. Now I will be able to reinstate all the ministers/priests who BMDed family members, all the guests at various family events, godparents, bridesmaids and so on. Calico Pie suggest:"For example, you could use it to record the fact that a group of people all lived together, if you wanted to. The practical effect is to provide richer and more fleshed-out reports, and a richer experience when browsing, because witness details can be accessed when viewing an event from the point-of-view of any of the participants."
Jane Taubman teaching FH 2014

If you are into maps then the new mapping facility is fantastic. There aare some other new features that really struck a chord with me but I must keep them under wraps for the moment.

Santa Jill will be delivering my update by download as soon as the package is released on December 9. I just need to find out how to place an advance order!

You may know that I recently undertook two days of Family Historian training with Family Historian guru, Jane Taubman. Jane and I are intending to show off FH version 6 in a Google Hangout in early January. I will share details when I have a time and date.

BTW. The only perk I receive from Calico Pie is the opportunity to test and comment on the beta version of their new release. I just happen to lke their product.


5 comments:

  1. Jill

    Gould Genealogy stock Family Historian in Australia:

    http://www.gould.com.au/Genealogy-Software-s/1283.htm

    I would hope that they will have the new FH in stock for release day.

    MyHistory are one of the stockists in the UK and they are already advertising Version 6 on their website:

    http://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Family_Historian.html

    I didn't have time to participate in the beta testing but I'm very much looking forward to the new release. I've been using Family Historian since it's very early days. It keeps on getting better and better. Jane is a real star in the Family Historian community.

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  2. Hi Jill - I think event based family history is really important. It was one of the real strengths of Relatively Yours 3 (RY3), an Australian program which I used for a number of years. I look forward to hearing more about the features of Family Historian. How are the statistics functions? See for example Pauleen Cass's recent post https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/ancestral-marital-longevity/ - she used RY3 for the statistics. It was one of its strengths.
    Regards
    Anne

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  3. As a Legacy Family Tree user for years, I'm thinking now, should I jump ship, or stay on board with the one I know, after reading how excited you are. Will "all" my data, and certainly all the events, notes etc., I've created in Legacy, export over without a hitch? I'll be watching out for your hangout to see if I can be convinced. I might see if there's a trial version and have a play.

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  4. Oh that is good to know, I have been using TMG's witness facility to track whole communities and don't want to lose all those connections.

    Now if only FH will let me colour code everything like TMG does

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  5. Not sure about stats Anne. Sharon I'm a bit monochrome but know that some people colourise their FH stuff.

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