Forgive a really basic question but this oldie is obviously missing the ‘bleedin obvious’!
So I want to use RootsMagic tools on an Ancestry tree. I create a new file in RM (with a new name) and download the tree. I do my edits in RM but how do I then upload the new tree back to Ancestry? Please give a step by step method because none of my researched methods work and some require changing links in tools that don’t seem to exist! (eg I cannot find ‘File Options’).
Downloading the tree from Ancestry to a RootsMagic file created a link between the trees through TreeShare. To update your changes back to Ancestry you continue to use the TreeShare function. It is not a full sync between the trees but a one-by-one review and update the changes. In the page menu, a link to TreeShare is provided at the bottom (it’s the Ancestry logo) to re-open and begin the update process. There is information for TreeShare in the online help (use F1 to access) or use this link [Ancestry TreeShare-Online Features] (Ancestry TreeShare)
There is also a very old video that will help. Although RootsMagic has updated many versions since the video was made and the screens will look different, the TreeShare process has not changed. That video is found here: RootsMagic TV aka YouTube
In RootsMagic, go to the Home Page and review the section “Help and Support.” In addition to this community, and the Facebook community, RootsMagic provides videos, and online help to help you. Good luck!
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In addition to the one by one review and one by one update, you also could upload your RM tree back to a different Ancestry tree that starts out being new and empty. That way, there is no one by one review and one by one update that is required. However, there are enough differences in the data model used by Ancestry and the data model used by RM that sometimes there is data that doesn’t make the round trip successfully. So you would need to play with the round trip method to see if it meets your needs. If it doesn’t, the just delete the new Ancestry tree you just made and proceed with the one by one review and one by one update method between RM and your original Ancestry tree.
Good idea, but I don’t understand the process. When I press the ‘Ancestry’ button I don’t get any other options. I am assuming this is because the RM file is still ‘linked’ to the original Ancestry tree. I am led to believe I can unlink this in ‘File Options’ but I cannot find this in any ‘Tool’ functions.
Since your RM db is already linked to an ancestry tree, Treeshare will collect new changes and then present you with a side by side comparison of people so that you can choose the specific items to upload or download.
If you want to take Jerry’s suggestion and upload your entire RM db to a new ancestry tree then I suggest the following:
- Make a copy of your Rm db (from the OS or from RM’s File/Tools menu option)
- In the new RM db copy go to Settings, Webhint Settings and select “Disconnect from Ancestry Tree”
- Click on the Ancestry icon and Treeshare will launch with a workflow to upload to a new tree.
Uploading the new Ancestry tree from a db copy requires an extra step but it has some benefits. The disconnect treeshare step is not reversible (unless you restore an older backup from before the disconnect happened). There are some valid reasons to keep your main RM db connected to the existing ancestry tree rather than connecting it to a new one. For example, if you use Ancestry’s hints. The new tree will start collecting hints all over again. This approach will avoid loosing all of your existing processed hints.
For simplicity, I make the ancestry tree connected to my main RM db private in ancestry’s settings (it is essentially my research tree) and I mark the new uploaded tree public. The process can be repeated periodically as desired.
One downside to this approach is if you allow others to edit your ancestry tree, then you’ll need to give them access to the new tree with each subsequent upload and alert them to the change.
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Thanks Kevin - that all works for me. What you say makes sense but if I don’t disconnect the link then I cannot upload the RM tree. I have clearly missed a step somewhere. I am not likely to be using Ancestry Hints in RM so maybe it is not important for me.
Cheers from a thankful old fart in UK!
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The idea is to make a copy of your database file so that you have two identical files. In one you disconnect from the Ancestry Tree so that allows you to upload to a new Ancestry Tree. The other file remains connected to the Ancestry Tree.
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Great answers from Kevin and Tom.
The approach that’s surely the most intuitive and obvious is to have one Ancestry tree and one RM database and to keep them synced at all times. If you are going to be a regular TreeShare user, it’s a good idea to learn how to do that, even if you decide in the long run that that is not the approach for you.
The problem with this intuitive and obvious approach is that after the first upload from RM to a new and empty Ancestry tree, or after the first download from Ancestry to a new and empty RM database, the subsequent “sync” operations are not an automatic sync. Indeed, many or most RM users are loathe to call it a “sync” at all.
Rather, TreeShare shows you where your RM data and your Ancestry data differ, and you can choose whether to try to make them the same by copying the data. And you can choose which direction to copy the data. By doing that work, you and not TreeShare are doing a manual sync. TreeShare is assisting you by finding where the data is different between RM and Ancestry.
Messages to this RM forum as well as to the RM forum on Facebook suggest to me that many TreeShare users adopt this approach. But messages on the RM forums also suggest to me that many TreeShare users adopt the approach of only doing complete uploads or complete downloads, and they forego the “manual sync” process. I have no idea which strategy is most common among TreeShare users.
I recommend becoming fluent with TreeShare, trying it both ways, and adopting whichever strategy best meets your needs. Neither strategy is particular better than other other, except in the sense that one or the other best meets your needs.
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