List of Databases
Note: This manual assumes that you have a working knowledge of Windows Mobile (also known as Pocket PC), including launching applications, using menus, using tap-and-hold, etc. Please see the documentation that came with your handheld for help with these types of questions.
Please consult the My Roots FAQ for any questions you might have before emailing technical support.
My Roots is actually made up of two components:
To install the My Roots handheld application, download and run the installer .exe file. Once it's installed on your handheld, you can run it by going to Start Menu, Programs, and tapping on My Roots.
One time, you'll need to run My Roots, select Register from the menu, and enter your registration code at the Registration screen. This will convert the trial version into the registered version. For complete details, please see the Getting Started page on our website.
To install the My Roots Conversion Utility desktop application, download and run the installer .exe file. Once it's installed on your desktop computer, you can run it by selecting the "My Roots Conversion Utility for Pocket PC" from the Start Menu.
The following sections contain detailed information on using the My Roots handheld application.
When you run My Roots on your handheld, the first screen you see depends on how many databases you currently have:
A few general notes about My Roots:
In this manual, screen images are always shown without the keyboard, in order to make them less cluttered. However, on those screens where there are editable fields, My Roots will automatically display the keyboard.
List of DatabasesThe list shows the name of each database you have, along with an approximate size of the database and the number of people it contains.
Tapping on a database name will let open that database and take you to the List of People.
Tapping the New button will let you create a new database. Tapping the Refresh button will update the list of databases. This is useful if you've run the My Roots Conversion Utility on your desktop computer and imported data while My Roots was open on your handheld.
Doing a tap-and-hold on a database name will pop up a menu containing the following items:
Tapping on the ok button will exit My Roots.
List of PeopleThis list shows the people in the current database, whose name is displayed at the top. To the right of the database name is the number of people currently being displayed. If there are currently any active filters, the number displayed might not be the same as the total number of people in the database, and the filter indicator "F" is displayed in the top right corner. Tapping the filter indicator will clear all active filters and update the list.
The list sorted by surname and then given names. For each person, the birth and death dates are displayed if they are known (???? is displayed if the year is not known).
If there are more people than will fit on the screen, you can scroll through this list in the following ways:
You can see the Person Detail screen for an individual by tapping the name or the birth/death dates. Tapping the New button will let you create a new person at the New Person screen. Tapping the Filter button will let you set up filters for this database. See Filtering for more information.
Tapping on the ok button will return you to the List of Databases.
New
PersonThis screen lets you add a new person to the current database. If you got to this screen via the Add Child or Add Sibling function, the Surname field will default to the father's surname, if the father is known. If you are using a keyboard to enter data, the TAB key will move you between fields on this and other input screens.
The ? button for the sex is used for a person whose sex is not known. If you are at this screen to create a new person for a role in an event, and the role requires a specific sex (e.g., the Wife in a Marriage event must be Female), the sex will automatically be set to the correct value. Otherwise it is set to Male.
See Date Types for information about the date types supported by My Roots. The date fields and separators that are displayed depend on the date format you have selected in Start Menu, Settings, System, Regional Settings, Date.
Tapping the ok button will save the new person and return you to the List of People. Tapping the Cancel button will discard this information and return you to the List of People. Tapping the Go To button will save the new person and immediately display the Person Detail screen.
Person DetailThe person's name is displayed at the top. If the person's father and mother are known, their names are displayed as well. As much of each name is displayed as will fit on that line. The person's sex is also displayed. Tapping on the person's name lets you edit the name at the Edit Name screen.
The word "Siblings:" followed by the number of siblings is also displayed. Anybody (other than the current person) who shares one or both parents will appear on the siblings list, including adopted siblings. Setting or clearing parental links will update the siblings list.
If the person has any associated source citations, the "S" button will appear to the right of the siblings information. Tapping on the "S" button will let you edit the source citations at the Edit Source Citation screen. If a source citation does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Sources from the Tools menu.
If the person has any associated notes, the "N" button will appear to the right of the siblings information. Tapping on the "N" button will let you edit the notes at the Edit Notes screen. If a note does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Notes from the Tools menu.
Below this information, the Person Detail screen displays a table containing either events, facts, or siblings. To switch between these modes, tap on the Events, Facts, or Siblings tab below the table. The Person Detail screen always starts in Event mode. In all modes, tapping on the New button will create a new item to be displayed in the table. The following describes what is displayed in the table in each mode.
A list of the person's events (e.g., birth, marriage, children, etc.) is displayed. For each event, the event abbreviation (e.g., "Born", "Marr", etc.) is displayed, along with the date of the event, if known. The format in which dates are displayed depends on the date format you have selected in Start Menu, Settings, System, Regional Settings, Date. See Date Types for information about the date types supported by My Roots. If the event is linked to at least one person (e.g., for a marriage event, the spouse is the linked person), that person's name is displayed. If there are no known linked people, the location of the event is displayed, if known. Tapping on an event will display the Event Detail screen for that event.
Fact ModeA list of the person's facts (e.g., description, education, occupation, etc.) is displayed. For each fact, the fact abbreviation (e.g., "Dscr", "Educ", "Occu") is displayed, along with the value associated with the fact. This example shows that Abraham Lincoln's first occupation was Lawyer. Tapping on any column will display the Fact Detail screen for the fact in that row.
Sibling ModeA list of the person's siblings is displayed. The first column displays one of the following:
The second column shows the birth or adoption date of the person, and the third column shows the person's name. Tapping on any column will display the Person Detail for the sibling in that row.
If there are more items than will fit on the screen, you can scroll through this list in the following ways:
Tapping any other person's name will save any changes you've made and then display the Person Detail screen for that person. This applies to:
Tapping the ok button will return you to the List of People.
If the
person's father or mother is not known, a Select
button will be displayed instead of
his or her name. Tapping on Select will display the
Select
Person screen, at which you
can choose an existing person or create a new person as the parent.
If you
need to change a person's father or mother (e.g., if you've it set to the wrong person),
tap-and-hold on the name of the parent. This will pop up a menu, which
contains:
Event
DetailThis screen edits an event.
If the event has any associated source citations, the "S" button will appear to the right of the event name. Tapping on the "S" button will let you edit the source citations at the Edit Source Citation screen. If a source citation does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Sources from the Tools menu.
If the event has any associated notes, the "N" button will appear to the right of the event name. Tapping on the "N" button will let you edit the notes at the Edit Source Citation screen. If a note does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Notes from the Tools menu.
Tapping the ok button will save any changes you've made and return you to the Person Detail screen in Event mode.
Fact
DetailThis screen edits a new or existing fact. The maximum length of the value depends on the fact type, as shown in the Fact Types section.
If the fact has any associated source citations, the "S" button will appear to the right of the fact name. Tapping on the "S" button will let you edit the source citations at the Edit Source Citation screen. If a source citation does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Sources from the Tools menu.
If the fact has any associated notes, the "N" button will appear to the right of the fact name. Tapping on the "N" button will let you edit the notes at the Edit Source Citation screen. If a note does not already exist, you can create one by selecting Edit Notes from the Tools menu.
Tapping the ok button will save any changes you've made and return you to the Person Detail screen in Fact mode.
Family GroupThis screen consists of three sections. The top section contains information about the two people whose family group is being displayed. The left side shows the male, and the right side shows the female. For each one, the following information is displayed:
Tapping on a name displays the Person Detail screen for that person. Tapping on the spouse button will pop up a list of spouses for that person. Selecting a spouse from the popup list will update the display to show information for the current person and the newly selected spouse. Please note that although the word "spouse" is used here, it does not necessarily mean that the two people were ever married. For example, a couple who were engaged but never married are still considered a family, as are a couple who had children but never married. Tapping on an up arrow updates the display to show that person's parents' family group.
The middle section of the screen contains family events (e.g., engagement, marriage, divorce, etc.) Tapping on an event will display the Event Detail screen for the event in that row.
The bottom section of the screen contains the couple's children, both biological and adopted. The first column contains the child's name, and the second column contains the child's birth or adoption date. Tapping on the name updates the display to show that child's family group. Tapping on the date will display the Event Detail screen for the child's birth or adoption event.
Tapping the ok button will return you to the previous screen. Tapping the Add Event button will let you create a new family event for the current family. Tapping the Add Child button will let you create a new person whose parents are automatically set to the current couple.
Select
PersonThis screen lets you select a person as someone's parent or as one who fulfills a specific role in an event. For example, in a marriage event, the role of Husband or Wife.
If the person you wish to select is not in the database, you can tap the New button, and you will be taken to the New Person screen. Once the new person has been created, simply tap the name to select that person.
Tapping the ok button returns you to the previous screen without selecting anyone.
If there are more people than will fit on the screen, you can scroll through this list in the following ways:
Find PersonThis screen, invoked from the menus on the List of People and Select Person screens, lets you quickly find any individual in your family tree. This is especially useful for people with very large databases. You must enter at least the first letter of the person's surname. If you wish to enter one or more letters of the person's given name, you must enter the entire surname. When you tap the ok button, the list being displayed is scrolled to the first person who matches the criteria. This search is not case sensitive.
Tapping on the Cancel button returns you to the previous screen.
FilteringMy Roots offers two types of filtering:
Both types of filters are displayed at the List of Filters screen.
The All and Living buttons controls the first type of filter. The default is to display all people. If you tap on Living, only those people who do NOT have a death event are displayed when you return to the List of People. For this function to be truly useful, you should create a death event for all people known to be deceased, even if the date of death is not known.
Tapping the Set button (or tapping the name of the field of an existing filter) lets you edit the filter.
Edit FilterFiltering based on data is controlled by the three filters you can specify. There are two types of field-based filtering:
The following are the fields for which string type filtering is available:
For string type filtering, the following types of matching are available:
String comparisons allow you to enter a string to match of up to 20 characters, and are not case-sensitive. The "Any Location" filter checks ALL of a person's events and facts for a match. If any of them match the given value, the person passes the filter. Since all of a person's events and facts have to be checked, using this filter will be slower than the others.
The following are the fields for which date type filtering is available:
For date type filtering, the following types of matching are available:
Date comparisons allow you to enter a year of up to 4 digits.
Date comparisons are complicated by the use of the date modifiers. My Roots includes only those events whose dates are KNOWN to match the filter criteria. For example, if a filter specifies a date before 1900, an event whose date is after 1890 will NOT be included, since an event after 1890 may or may not have been before 1900. On the other hand, an event whose date is before 1890 WILL be included, because it is definitely before 1900. Since it is never possible to be sure about an event whose date is About, Estimated, or Calculated to be a certain year, those events are NEVER included in a filter on that date. Dates whose events are Between/And or From/To two known dates, are included only if the entire range meets the criteria. For example, if the filter is before 1900, an event Between 1890 And 1900 would be included, but an event From 1895 To 1905 would not be included.
Tapping the ok button returns you to the List of People. Only those people who match ALL of the current filters will appear in the list.
Filters stay in effect until they are cleared. Filters can be cleared in the following ways:
Ancestor ChartsAn Ancestor Chart displays a given person's ancestors.
For each person, the birth and death dates are displayed if they are known. Each prior generation is indented from the subsequent one for easy visibility. In this example, Abraham Lincoln's parents are Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. Since they are at the same level of indentation, they are the parents. Abraham Lincoln's 4 grandparents (Abraham Lincoln, Bethsheba Herring, Joseph Hanks, and Nancy Shipley) are indented another level. For a given person, up to 3 generations of ancestors are displayed, if they are known.
Tapping on a name will display an ancestor chart for that person.
Tapping on a "+" or "-" box to the left of a person's name will expand or collapse that portion of the ancestors chart.
Tapping the ok button will return you to the Person Detail screen for the person whose ancestors are listed. Tapping on a range of dates will return you to the Person Detail screen for that person. Tapping on the Up/Down arrow in the top right corner will display a Descendant Chart for the current person.
Descendant ChartsA Descendant Chart displays a given person's descendants.
For each person, the birth and death dates are displayed if they are known. Each subsequent generation is indented from the prior one for easy visibility. In this example, Thomas Lincoln's 3 children are Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas. Since they are at the same level of indentation, they are siblings. Abraham Lincoln's 4 children (Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas) are indented another level. Siblings are listed by the order of their birth. For a given person, up to 3 generations of descendants are displayed, if they are known. At most 100 descendants can be displayed.
In the top right corner, 3 buttons display the number of descendants at each generation. In this example, Thomas Lincoln has 3 children, 4 grandchildren, and 0 great-grandchildren. Tapping on a button will display only that generation or higher. In this example, tapping on "3" would display only the 3 children in the first generation.
Tapping on a name will display a descendant chart for that person. Tapping the Father or Mother button will display a descendant chart for the current person's father or mother. Each of these buttons is enabled only if the parent is known.
Tapping on a "+" or "-" box to the left of a person's name will expand or collapse that portion of the descendant chart.
Tapping the ok button will return you to the Person Detail screen for the person whose descendants are listed. Tapping on a range of dates will return you to the Person Detail screen for that person. Tapping the Up/Down arrow in the top right corner will display an Ancestor Chart for the current person.
Relationship
CalculatorThis screen is used to calculate the relationship between two people. This example shows the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Tallman. In order to get to this screen, you would:
At the top, a textual description of the relationship is displayed. Below that is shown a graphical representation of the relationship. This is much easier to understand, and more informative, because it shows the people through which they are related. In this example, we see that Abraham Lincoln is a great-great-grandson of Mordecai Lincoln and Hannah Salter. Since Benjamin Tallman is a grandson of theirs, the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Tallman is 1st Cousin 2 times removed.
The relationship calculator searches up to 10 generations to find a relationship, and will find only blood relatives.
The following table shows the possible results of a relationship calculation:
| Relationship Type | Textual Description |
| Direct ancestor |
|
| Direct descendant |
|
| Cousin |
|
| Uncle / Aunt |
|
| Nephew / Niece |
|
| None | No relationship within 10 generations |
Tapping on the ok button returns you to the previous screen. Tapping on the To... button allows you to pick a new person with which to calculate a relationship.
An event is anything that happens to a person that you want to record (e.g., birth, marriage, death, etc.) A complete list of supported event types can be found in Event Types. You create an event from the Person Detail screen (when in Event mode) by tapping the New button. This will bring up a list of the common built-in event types. You can also create family events (e.g., engagement, marriage, etc.) from the Family screen.
The first time you are shown the Select Event
screen, the category control in the top right corner will be set to Common.
Selecting another event category will display only those events in the category.
The next time you are shown this screen, the category that you last selected
will be displayed. To create a new event, simply tap the name of the event you wish to
create. Tapping the ok button will
return you to the previous screen without creating a new event.
Once
you've selected an event type, the Edit Event screen is
displayed.
For all events, you can enter the date and location of the event. The format in which dates are displayed depends on the date format you have selected in Start Menu, Settings, System, Regional Settings, Date. See Date Types for information about the date types supported by My Roots.
There are three kinds of events:
For events which have links, you will be shown the name of each role and a Select trigger. For example, in a marriage event, the 1 linked person's role is Husband or Wife. For the birth event, the 2 linked roles are Father and Mother. Tapping the Select trigger will take you to the Select Person screen from which you can choose or create the person who fills this role for this event.
When you are done entering this information, tapping the ok button saves any changes you've made and returns you to the previous screen.
Creating
a New FactA fact is a piece of information related to a person that you want to record. A complete list of supported fact types can be found in Fact Types. You create a fact from the Person Detail screen (when in Fact mode) by tapping the New button. This will bring up a list of fact types.
Once
you've selected a fact type, the Edit Fact screen is
displayed.
For all facts, you can enter a date and location associated with the fact. The format in which dates are displayed depends on the date format you have selected in Start Menu, Settings, System, Regional Settings, Date. See Date Types for information about the date types supported by My Roots.
Facts differ from events in that they also have a value. The maximum length of the value you can enter depends on the fact type, as shown in the Fact Types section.
When you are done entering this information, tapping the ok button saves any changes you've made and returns you to the previous screen.
Edit
NameThis screen lets you edit a person's name. The Soundex value of the surname is also displayed, and is automatically updated as you modify the contents of the Surname field.
For more information regarding Soundex, see the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration web page at:
Tapping the ok button returns you to the previous screen.
The following sections describe the support provided for Sources and Source Citations.
List of SourcesThis screen displays a list of the titles of the sources that have been defined for the current database. Tapping the New button will let you create a new source at the Edit Source screen.
There are two ways in which you can arrive at this screen:
Edit SourceThis screen lets you edit the information related to a source. The following is a list of the fields that comprise a source, along with the maximum length of the field as defined by the GEDCOM specification:
You can switch between the various fields by tapping on the desired tab near the bottom.
Tapping the ok button returns you to the List of Sources screen. Tapping the Delete button lets you delete the source (after confirmation). If you delete a source, the source citations that are linked to that source are NOT deleted. Only the link between the source and the source citations are removed.
Editing Source CitationsThis screen lets you edit the source citations associated with a person, event, or fact. Source citations are limited to 32k, and the number of source citations is limited only by the amount of free memory on your handheld.
If the person, event, or fact has more than one source citation, tapping on the left and right arrows will switch to the previous or next one. In addition, two numbers are displayed at the top, separated by a slash. In this example, the current record has 2 source citations, and we are currently editing the 1st one.
Tapping on the ok button will save any changes you've made and return you to the previous screen. Tapping on the New button will create a new source citation, which is always inserted at the end of the list. Tapping on the Details button will display the Source Citation Details screen.
Source Citation DetailsOn this screen you can set the details for a source citation. If the source from which the current source citation was obtained has been set, the source's title is displayed at the top. Otherwise, a Select trigger is shown, and tapping on it allows you to select a source on the List of Sources screen.
If you need to change a citation's source (e.g., if you've it set to the wrong source), you can tap-and-hold on the title, which will pop up a menu, that contains:
A Date field contains the date on which
the cited information was added to the source. A Quality field is used to
measure the credibility of a piece of information. Tap on "?" to indicate
that you have not evaluated the credibility of this citation. The other options, 0 to 3, are the
standard values described in the GEDCOM specification. For more information on
what these values mean, tap on the 
to the right of the Quality
values. The Page field contains information on where within the
source the cited information was found.
Tapping on the ok button saves any changes you've made and returns you to the previous screen.
Editing
NotesThis screen lets you edit the notes associated with a person, event, or fact. Notes are limited to 32k, and the number of notes is limited only by the amount of free memory on your handheld.
If the person, event, or fact has more than one note, tapping on the left and right arrows will switch to the previous or next one. In addition, two numbers are displayed at the top, separated by a slash. In this example, the current record has 2 notes, and we are currently editing the 1st one.
Tapping on the ok button will save any changes you've made and return you to the previous screen. Tapping on the New button will create a new note, which is always inserted at the end of the list.
Soundex CalculatorThis screen lets you calculate the Soundex code for any surname. The Soundex code that is displayed is automatically updated with each letter that you enter. For more information regarding Soundex, see the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration web page at:
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/census/soundex.html
Tapping the ok button will return you to the List of People screen.
PreferencesThis screen allows you to set preferences for My Roots. The following preferences are available:
Start view - This option controls what happens when you tap on a name at the List of People. If Person is selected, you are taken to the Person Detail screen. If Family is selected, you are taken to the Family screen.
Tapping the ok button will save your changes and return you to the prior screen.
RegistrationThis screen displays your Owner Name and prompts you to enter your registration code. Make sure to enter all 10 digits of the registration code, including leading zeros, if any. Even though you only have to enter your registration code once, make sure to save it in case you ever need to re-install the application.
Registration codes are based on your Owner Name. Therefore, if the Owner Name you entered when you purchased My Roots does not exactly match what is displayed on this screen, the registration code you were sent will not work. In this case, send an email to technical support. Make sure to include the Owner Name EXACTLY as it is displayed on this screen.
Tapping the ok button will validate the registration code you entered, and you will be shown a message letting you know whether or not it was accepted. Tapping the Cancel button will return you to the previous screen.
AboutThis screen displays the version number of My Roots that you have installed. If you've entered the correct registration code for your Owner Name at the Registration screen, the second line will say "Registered Version". Otherwise, it will say "Trial Version", and a Register button will be available. Tapping the Register button will display the Registration screen, where you can enter your registration code.
Tapping the ok button will return you to the previous screen.
The following sections contain detailed information on using the My Roots Conversion Utility desktop application.
My Roots allows you to import data from a GED file, or export data to a GED file. Most desktop-based genealogy applications let you import and export data in GED format. Consult your program's documentation for details on how this is done. Make sure to check the My Roots FAQ at:
for information specific to the desktop genealogy program you are using regarding how to create a GED file that can be imported into My Roots.
The conversion utility can be downloaded for free from:
Scroll down and follow a link to a download site.
To run the conversion utility, select the "My Roots Conversion Utility for Pocket PC" from the Start Menu.
Some important notes regarding importing and exporting:
Not all data maintained in your desktop program gets imported into My Roots, and only parts of certain data get imported. See Importing Data for more information.
While My Roots can export all of its data to a GED file, the capabilities of your desktop program will determine what you can then do with this file.
Always back up your data before importing, and remember:
See the next section for things you can do to minimize this problem.
Probably the best approach is to think of your desktop-based program as your "home base" for your genealogy data, and to think of My Roots as your on-the-go data collection and editing mechanism. Newly collected data in My Roots needs to be put into your desktop program either via merging (if your program does it nicely) or via copy and paste otherwise.
The My Roots Conversion Utility is installed into the directory you specify. The default location is:
C:\Program Files\My Roots Conversion Utility for Pocket PC
and it is recommended that you use this directory.
If you are upgrading from an earlier version of the My Roots Conversion Utility, you'll need to first remove the old one by going to Start Menu, Settings, Control Panels, Add/Remove Programs, and deleting all occurrences of the "My Roots Conversion Utility".
This section describes all aspects of the import process.
The My Roots Conversion Utility runs on your desktop computer. It uses the information in a GED file to create a new My Roots database on your handheld. The first step is to export data from your desktop application in GED format, and remember where you saved it. Before importing data, you should always connect your handheld device. If My Roots is running on your handheld device, and you are going to replace an existing database, make sure the database is closed. You can do this by either exiting My Roots, or tapping on the ok button until you are at the List of Databases screen.
The following image shows what you see when you run the My Roots Conversion Utility:
Clicking on the Import button displays the following screen:
The new database will appear in My Roots the next time it is run. If My Roots was open when you did the Import, go to the List of Databases and tap on the Refresh button in order to show the newly imported database. If you have a large database of several thousand people, it might take several minutes to import. Please be patient and let the process finish.
Clicking on the Help button will show the above steps as a reminder. Clicking on the Cancel button will return you to the main screen, and clicking on the Exit button will close the My Roots Conversion Utility.
Clicking on the Options button will display the following screen:
The Import Options section contains information on using these options. They stay in effect until you change them (i.e., you do not have to set them each time you import from a GED file). When you are finished setting the options, click on the OK button to save your changes and return to the main screen. Clicking on the Cancel button returns you to the main screen without saving the changes you've made.
Insert a space between CONC tags
Unfortunately, the GEDCOM specification has some ambiguities. Due to these ambiguities, the GED files created by various genealogy applications are not always the same. One problem area is the way CONC tags are used in notes, source citations, etc. Without getting into too much detail, some genealogy applications produce GED files that assume a space will be inserted between the data in CONC tags while others assume a space will not be inserted. The problem is that My Roots has no way of knowing which assumption was made by the creator of a given GED file. So, this option is used to tell the conversion utility how to handle CONC tags. All you really need to do is:
In either case, just run the conversion utility again, click on the Options button, check or uncheck this option, and import again. The notes should then be correct in My Roots.
The default value for this option is On. Once this option has been set correctly, you shouldn't need to change it again unless you import a GED file created by a different genealogy application or a new version of the one you were using.
Create Marriage events for all Family Groups
My Roots creates marriage events for family groups only if it is explicitly stated in the GED file that the couple are in fact married. For some reason, many desktop genealogy applications include the marriage event only if there is additional related information (e.g., a date, place, note, or source). These applications assume that a marriage events exists. There is no way for My Roots to know whether or not this assumption was made when the GED file was created. Therefore:
In either case, just run the conversion utility again, click on the Options button, check or uncheck this option, and import again. The marriage events should then be correct in My Roots.
The default value for this option is Off. Once this option has been set correctly, you shouldn't need to change it again unless you import a GED file created by a different genealogy application or a new version of the one you were using.
Create a log file for debugging
During the import process, the conversion utility can create a log file as it processes each line in your GED file. Turning on this option will cause a log file to be created. The default value for this option is Off, and you should leave it that way unless you are asked to change it by technical support.
If you have an existing My Roots database, and you import with the "To Database" set to the same name, it will overwrite the database, so be careful to use the same name only if you want to REPLACE your current data. Otherwise, specify a new database name.
My Roots is based on version 5.5 of the GEDCOM definition. More information can be found at:
The GED format contains many information "tags". Some of these would be impractical to implement in a handheld application, given its limited processing power and memory. There is a tradeoff for each tag between its functionality and the memory and processing power required to implement the tag. That is, My Roots tries to implement as many tags as possible without being too demanding to run on a handheld. These were difficult decisions, and surely different choices could have been made.
Due to these limitations, My Roots implements only a subset of GED tags:
Individual Record
Family Record
Source Record
Note Record
For events and attributes (as listed in Event Types and Fact Types), the following fields are imported:
For source citations, the following fields are imported:
For LDS events, if a location is not specified but a temple code is, the temple code will be placed into the location field.
There is no limit on the number of notes that can be associated with a person, event, fact, or source citation. A source can also have one note.
The following limits are also placed on individual fields:
Only a surname, 3 given names, and a suffix are used by My Roots. Nicknames enclosed in parenthesis and prefixes such as "Dr." are not imported. Therefore, a name like:
Dr. William (Bill) Robert Steven Daniel Michael /Jones/ Jr.
will appear in My Roots as "William Robert Steven Jones Jr." Surnames are not automatically capitalized because capital letters take up more room, and handheld screens are so small.
For dates, the following restrictions apply
My Roots itself does not impose any maximum on the number of records (people and events) that you can create, and is highly optimized in its use of memory. However, due to the limitations of a handheld's processor, My Roots will start to run somewhat slowly if you create more than a few thousand people, depending on your handheld. Each user will have to determine how many people can be loaded into My Roots and still have acceptable speed. Frequent use of very long notes will naturally take up a lot of memory.
The unregistered version of My Roots does provide the import function. It is important that a user be able to verify that the import function correctly handles his/her GED file BEFORE the software is purchased. However, only 50 records (each person and event counts as one record) may be imported into the unregistered version. This should be sufficient to ensure that importing works as expected. If your family tree data is larger than this, as it probably is, check your desktop application's documentation for the ability to export only a subset of your data. For example, many programs will let you "mark" some records and then export only the marked ones.
Finally, each program that exports GED files creates them in slightly different formats. If you are successful in importing your program's GED file into My Roots, please send us a note telling us what program (and version) you are using. This will let us inform other users of your software that My Roots ought to work for them, too. If you are unsuccessful, send us the GED file you are having problems with, and we might be able to make a small modification that will fix your problem. It is our hope that we can accommodate all of the commonly used applications' GED files. However, this cannot be guaranteed. For a list of software known to be compatible with My Roots, please see the My Roots FAQ.
This section describes all aspects of the export process.
The My Roots Conversion Utility runs on your desktop computer. It uses the information in a My Roots database on your handheld to create a new GED file on your desktop computer. Before exporting data, you should always connect your handheld device. The following image shows what you see when you run the My Roots Conversion Utility:
Clicking on the Export button displays the following screen:
Tapping on the Help button will show the above steps as a reminder. Clicking on the Cancel button will return you to the main screen, and clicking on the Exit button will close the My Roots Conversion Utility.
There are currently no export options, so the Options button will always be disabled. This is included for possible use in future versions.
Always back up your desktop-based data before importing records back into it from a GED file created by My Roots, and please remember this warning.
Ideally, we would like to be able to export data from our desktops, import it into My Roots, make some changes, export back out to a GED file, and import that file back into our desktop genealogy program with no loss of data and no duplication. For this process to be possible, your desktop program needs to be able to do three things:
My Roots saves the REFN tags it finds in a GED file being imported, and writes them back out when data is being exported to a GED file. Therefore, if your particular genealogy software is capable of doing the 3 things listed above, keeping your data synchronized should be fairly easy. If you have success using this process, please send us an e-mail containing:
We can then make this information available to other users who might make use of it in selecting a desktop genealogy program.
My Roots supports the following built-in event types:
| Category | Name | Abbreviation | Links |
Linked Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Adoption | Adpd | 2 | Father and Mother |
| Common | Birth | Born | 2 | Father and Mother |
| Common | Died | Deat | 0 | |
| Common | Divorce | Div | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Common | Engagement | Enga | 1 | Fiancé or Fiancée |
| Common | Graduation | Grad | 0 | |
| Common | Marriage | Marr | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Common | Retirement | Reti | 0 | |
| Religious | Baptism | Bapm | 0 | |
| Religious | Bar Mitzvah | Barm | 0 | |
| Religious | Bas Mitzvah | Basm | 0 | |
| Religious | Blessing | Bles | 0 | |
| Religious | Christening (Child) | Chr | 0 | |
| Religious | Christening (Adult) | Chra | 0 | |
| Religious | Confirmation | Conf | 0 | |
| Religious | First Communion | Fcom | 0 | |
| Religious | Marriage Banns | Marb | 1 | Fiancé or Fiancée |
| Religious | Ordination | OrdN | 0 | |
| LDS | LDS-Baptism | Bapl | 0 | |
| LDS | LDS-Confirmation | Conl | 0 | |
| LDS | LDS-Endowment | Endl | 0 | |
| LDS | LDS-Sealing Child | Slgc | 2 | Father and Mother |
| LDS | LDS-Sealing Spouse | Slgs | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | Annulment | Anul | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | File for Divorce | Divf | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | Marriage Contract | Marc | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | Marriage License | Marl | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | Marriage Settlement | Mars | 1 | Husband or Wife |
| Legal | Probate | Prob | 0 | |
| Legal | Will | Will | 0 | |
| Other | Burial | Buri | 0 | |
| Other | Census | CENS | 0 | |
| Other | Cremation | Crem | 0 | |
| Other | Emigration | Emig | 0 | |
| Other | Immigration | Immi | 0 | |
| Other | Naturalization | Natu | 0 | |
| Other | Publication | Publ | 0 | |
| Other | Residence | Resi | 0 |
Note: An adoption event is abbreviated ADPD when looking at the record of the person being adopted. It is abbreviated ADPT when looking at the record of the parent doing the adopting.
Events can have a date, location, and note associated with them.
My Roots supports the following fact types:
| Name | Abbreviation | Maximum Value Length |
|---|---|---|
| Caste | CAST | 90 |
| Description | DSCR | 248 |
| Education | EDUC | 248 |
| Identification Number | IDNO | 30 |
| Nationality | NATI | 120 |
| Occupation | OCCU | 90 |
| Property | PROP | 248 |
| Religion | RELI | 90 |
| Social Security Number | SSN | 11 |
| Title | TITL | 120 |
Facts can have a value, date, location, and note associated with them.
The date types that are supported in My Roots are summarized in the table below:
| Date Type | Meaning | Indicator |
|---|---|---|
| On | An event occurred on this exact date (this is the default date type) | (none) |
| Before | An event is known to have occurred before this date | < |
| After | An event is known to have occurred after this date | > |
| About | An event occurred sometime near this date | ~ |
| Estimated (Est.) | The date of this event has been estimated based on an algorithm from another event | ~ |
| Calculated (Calc.) | The date of this event has been calculated (e.g., from the person's age at another event) | ~ |
| Between (Betw.) / And | An event occurred sometime during two known dates | ... |
| From / To | An event occurred throughout a range of two known dates | ... |
The Indicator column above shows the letter that is used on the Person Detail screen next to the event or fact date. A second set of date fields is displayed only if the Between/And or From/To date type is selected.