Integration with RootsMagic?

+7 votes
688 views
This may be a dumb question, but I'm wondering if there is some method of integrating RootsMagic 7 (or the upcoming 8 due in February) with WikiTree. I really like both tools and use several for different reporting features. RootsMagic seems to handle the GEDCOM files the best from what I know (that isn't much!). The best reports I can generate with MacFamillyTree but that's about all I use it for anymore.

I think this form of integration would greatly simplify the ability to add sources and media to WikiTree, as well as to download the same from WikiTree into something I can keep on my system.

Sorry - I'm going to keep asking dumb questions for a while. I'm a relative newbie who is starting to take this hobby much more seriously.
in WikiTree Tech by Billy Dunn G2G6 (9.4k points)
retagged by Ellen Smith

3 Answers

+8 votes
 
Best answer

There is currently no integration options available for standalone software. This would be hard to implement as well, considering how different each piece of software can be, and how it is ultimately implemented by the users. As an example, RootsMagic can support custom field (fact) types that are entirely user-defined and may not be understood by other software or services.

The current way to interact between different software and services is through the use of GEDCOMs.Even though GEDCOMs are a genealogical 'standard', they are not 'standardized' across platforms and services. So using the custom field (fact) example again, how would WikiTree understand and process a field that was created in RootsMagic labeled "SSP-ID" that stores free-text values?

The easiest way to handle data between multiple applications is through the use of GEDCOMs. WikiTree has the ability to upload GEDCOMs into the GEDCOMpare tool, and also has the ability to make limited GEDCOM exports. So transferring information between software and service is possible, just not through a true integration or one-touch solution like you may envision.

by Steven Harris G2G6 Pilot (748k points)
selected by Billy Dunn
+6 votes

I imagine that some standalone genealogy software programs would allow you to link to a Web address for an ancestor’s ancestral tree.  So if your ancestor in your standalone software was https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bryan-778 then his ancestral tree would be https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Bryan-778/5 or you could use https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bryan-778

by Peter Roberts G2G6 Pilot (705k points)
+5 votes
Another easy way to load data from your software program is to generate a narrative report from your software, including source citations, then copy/paste the text and citations into the appropriate parts of the WT profile's Biography and Sources sections. I now only use gedcom to help match up people to avoid duplications before adding data from the narrative report. You may still need to do a little bit of formatting and cleanup, but I find it's much cleaner than what needs to be done after a gedcom import, especially if you've done some sentence customizations in your software. I usually generate the citations as end-notes, and after pasting them into the profile I convert them to Wiki-style in-line citations (altho not always immediately).

This is especially helpful when creating new profiles. Existing profiles need a little extra care to incorporate your data with whatever is pre-existing in the profile. It also doesn't update the data fields, which needs to be a manual process. There is no way to integrate the two automatically, but that is probably not desirable anyway.

As I match up [or add] a person in my genealogy database to a WikiTree profile, I copy the profile's ID into a field in my software for reference. That helps me track which people I've loaded in WikiTree, and which ones still need review.
by Joyce Rivette G2G6 Pilot (179k points)
Gedcom only matched 1 person in 4000+

so no help at all for me

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