Using a Macintosh for genealogy - a look at the leading Macintosh genealogy programs of today

1. Using a Mac for
Genealogy
Dick Eastman
June 7, 2014

2. Today’s slides may be found
at:
http://www.eogn.com/handouts/usingamac

3. The Macintosh is the second
most popular personal computer
but it isn’t peanuts!
A total of 80 million Macs are in use worldwide.
At an average of $1,334 per system, that is more than
$100 Billion in sales!

4. Yet the Mac has relatively (!)
few genealogy programs
I can count six significant, full-featured programs for
the Mac and several other, less powerful programs:

5. The full-featured Macintosh genealogy programs are
(in alphabetical order):
Family Tree Maker for Macintosh
Gramps
Heredis
MacFamilyTree
Personal Ancestry Writer II (also called PAW2U)
Reunion

8. Family Tree Maker for
Macintosh
TreeSync™ gives you the freedom to access and
update your tree no matter where you are. All you
need is an Internet connection.
Capture photos using your iSight or built-in
camera and import it directly into Family Tree
Maker.
$29.99

9. GRAMPS
Free and Open Source
Originally developed for Linux and UNIX, later
ported to Macintosh and Windows
Requires moderate technical expertise to install
and configure

10. GRAMPS

11. Heredis
Created in France
Very popular in Europe and many other
countries, available in many languages
Available for Macintosh, Windows, and iOS
$59.99 in the App Store, a free trial version is
also available

12. Heredis

13. Heredis

14. Heredis

15. Heredis
Available in the App Store

16. Mac Family Tree

17. Mac Family Tree
Created in Germany
Very popular in Europe and many other
countries, available in many languages
Available for Macintosh and iOS
$49.99 in the App Store, a free trial version is
also available

18. Mac Family Tree

19. Mac Family Tree

20. Mac Family Tree

21. Mac Family Tree

22. Mac Family Tree

23. Mac Family Tree

24. Mac Family Tree

25. Personal Ancestry Writer
II
Often abbreviated as: PAW2U
FREE!
Modeled upon the now discontinued Personal Ancestral
File program (PAF) for Macintosh
Additional features that generate web pages (in HTML),
word processing files (in RTF for, e.g., AppleWorks) and
desktop publishing files (in MML for FrameMaker).

26. Personal Ancestry Writer
II
Quote for the PAW2U web site:
“PAWriter is not meant to have the bells and
whistles that are in the current crop of
genealogical programs. The emphasis is on
maintaining a genealogical database from which
the user can write books and/or post web pages
about a family.”

27. Personal Ancestry Writer
II

28. Personal Ancestry Writer
II
Available free of charge at
http://www.lanopalera.net

29. Reunion

30. Reunion
Probably the most popular Macintosh genealogy program in North
America
Highest rated mobile genealogy apps on the iTunes App Store.
Has an excellent companion app for iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod
Touch)
$99
A free demo version is available, limited to 50 people in the
database with no import or export capabilities

31. Reunion
Very easy to use
Excellent support of images and videos
One of the best iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch apps
Automatically builds reports that you can upload to
your web site with all the necessary files, images, and
graphics are generated and linked for you

32. Reunion

33. Reunion

34. Reunion

35. Reunion

36. Reunion

37. MySuggestions:
Take your time! You will spend hours with the
program of your choice.
Try the free demos
Will it work with your handheld device?

38. Today’s slides may be found
at:
http://www.eogn.com/handouts/usingamac

39. Now let’s try a few programs!