See where, when your ancestors lived with RootsMagic 5

RootsMagic has updated its popular family history software  to version 5.0. RootsMagic 5, which can be road-tested as a cut-down Essentials version, adds a number of new features for those who purchase the full version. These include media tagging, a research manager and timeline view.

The software also benefits from around 80 non-specified improvements, a selection of which apply to RootsMagic Essentials 5 package too.

All of the new features are restricted to the full version of RootsMagic 5 only, which can be unlocked by purchasing a registration code and inputting it into RootsMagic Essentials. These include a new Timeline View, which allows individual lives to be seen in the context of their family members. CountyCheck is a new feature designed to help establish whether states, counties or even countries were in existence, and what their geographical boundaries were, when a selected ancestor was alive.

RootsMagic 5 also supports media tagging for the first time, allowing you to tag a single photo or document with multiple people, families, sources or places. There’s a Research Manager designed to help focus the user’s mind on specific tasks that need completing, and an “On This Day” list, which provides historical context for selected dates in history.

Also added to the full version is a database management tool, capable of testing the research file’s integrity as well as providing index rebuilding features and the ability to strip out deleted records to compress the file.

RootsMagic 5 also benefits from 80 other enhancements and features. Again, many are restricted to the full version of the program, but there are several notable improvements that work in RootsMagic 5 Essentials too.

These include a streamlined Edit Person window, which makes it easier to review and edit a person’s details in a single window. The ability to add unlimited facts, notes, sources, people and more has also been implemented in version 5 while both Places List and Descendant List views have also been improved, along with the process of adding source documentation to individuals, families or places.

RootsMagic 5 Essentials is a free download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later. The full version of RootsMagic 5 can be unlocked from within RootsMagic Essentials for $29.95 ($19.95 if upgrading from an earlier version), and includes many other additional features to those added in version 5.

Photo Credit: Dirk Ercken/Shutterstock