Ancestral Quest 12.1

One excellent genealogy program that doesn't seem to gather much publicity is Ancestral Quest, a Windows genealogy program produced by Incline Software. For some time, this program was promoted as a replacement product for the defunct Personal Ancestral File (PAF) program that was developed by the Mormon Church. (The PAF program of the LDS church was based on an older version of Ancestral Quest.) Ancestral Quest does everything that PAF ever did and quite a bit more besides.

However, developer Gaylon Findlay has not been resting on his laurels. He continues to develop new features. He has now announced the release of Ancestral Quest 12.1 which contains leading-edge features not yet available in any other genealogy program. Specifically, Ancestral Quest 12.1 adds the capability to compare and synchronize local databases with the Family Tree database of new.FamilySearch.org. I believe this is the first genealogy program to offer such a capability.

Here is the official announcement:

Salt Lake City, Utah – Incline Software, LC announced the full release of Ancestral Quest 12.1. AQ 12.1 has been released in phases since July, 2008, when AQ 12.1 entered the first phase of a roll-out, wherein it was made available to a limited number of users of both AQ and PAF. As of today, AQ 12.1 is available to all users.

All of the new features introduced in Ancestral Quest version 12.1 are designed to aid a user in comparing and synchronizing local databases with the Family Tree database of new.FamilySearch.org, a system being developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The Family Tree database claims to have roughly 500 million lineage-linked records, and these records become directly accessible to users of AQ 12.1 through these new features. An adjustment has also been made to the way a new user can try Ancestral Quest. AQ 12.1 now provides a 60-day free trial of the program with all features fully unlocked.

Because new.FamilySearch.org is still being developed and tested by members of the LDS church, its Family Tree is currently only available to a relatively small number of people. The new features of AQ 12.1 require access to the FamilySearch system through their secure system, and therefore can only be used by those who have access to new.FamilySearch.org. In the coming weeks and months, as new.FamilySearch.org is made available to a growing number of individuals, those users will also be able to use the new features of AQ 12.1. Incline Software understands that the Family Tree feature of new.FamilySearch.org will eventually be available to the general public, and therefore that the new features of AQ 12.1 will eventually be functional for all users.

These new features benefit not only users of Ancestral Quest, but also users of Personal Ancestral File (PAF), because the PAF program of the LDS church is based on an older version of AQ. AQ 12.1 is a FamilySearch certified PAF add-in. It will allow a PAF user to synchronize his/her local PAF data with the Family Tree of new.FamilySearch.org. Once installed Ancestral Quest will appear on the Tools menu of PAF 5.2, and the PAF user merely needs to click on that menu item to start AQ 12.1 to synchronize their PAF data with FamilySearch.

The new features to access new.FamilySearch.org require an ID and password that must be obtained from new.FamilySearch.org. If a user can obtain an ID and password for new.FamilySearch.org, he/she can take advantage of these new features in AQ 12.1. Otherwise he/she will still enjoy all the features of AQ 12.0.

Users of AQ 12.0 can download AQ 12.1 for free. Users of older versions of AQ will be able to download an upgrade for $19.95, or upgrade on a CD for $22.95 plus s/h. New users can download the 60-day trial for free, then purchase an activation code for $29.95 or order the software on CD for $34.95 plus s/h.

To find out more about Ancestral Quest or Incline Software, visit the web site www.ancquest.com.

Comments

[Minnie Lasalle]

You stated:
"Ancestral Quest 12.1 adds the capability to compare and synchronize local databases with the Family Tree database of new.FamilySearch.org"

Have you tested this? As far as I know, the Mormons do not allow others to use New Family Search.

[Zinnchick]

Your question is answered in the story itself. Did you read it all??
"Incline Software understands that the Family Tree feature of new.FamilySearch.org will eventually be available to the general public, and therefore that the new features of AQ 12.1 will eventually be functional for all users."
The users in Utah will be the last to be able to access new.familysearch.org due to the large numbers of users there, and the need to work out major "bugs" before the program is released to such a large group at once. The last word I heard (from the Family History Library employees) was that it may be next September before Utah sees the rollout of that program, but many places in the US and the world have it now, with many more coming online as the weeks go by.

[Dick Eastman]

---> As far as I know, the Mormons do not allow others to use New Family Search.

The Mormons DO allow non-Mormons to use New Family Search and eventually will open up to everyone in the world. The plan is to de-bug the software now using a smaller group. Once it is ready, it will be open to all.

- Dick Eastman

[Urien]

How about Mac compatibility?

[Dick Eastman]

Ancestral Quest is a Windows program. You could run it on a Mac if you use Parallels, VMware Fusion, or Sun Microsystems' virtualBox. Or you can find more information about Macintosh genealogy programs at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/09/genealogy-progr.html

[Kathy Meyer]

" As far as I know, the Mormons do not allow others to use New Family Search."

The "old" family search is still available and has the same information as the new one; it's just in a different format; the new one has lots of new functions but as stated is still working out the bugs.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has always shared freely with the public and that has not changed. In addition, all of the records that are being indexed are available for free to everyone as well, not just to members of the LDS Church.

[Peter Donlan]

Dick Eastman wrote
"The Mormons DO allow non-Mormons to use New Family Search"

and Kathy Meyer wrote:
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has always shared freely with the public and that has not changed."

Huh, did either of you check their site?
Kathy is right. It says right there that you have to be paying member of their Church to get access.

Dick, maybe you are Mormon, but 99.99 % of the World is not, and we are not allowed access.

[Peter Donlan]

Oops, edit mistake there, and I cant correct it.
t meant to say Minnie is right.

[Carl Spaeth]

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church. May I respectfully correct those of you that have written "that you have to be a paying member of their church to get access". Access to new.family search.org is simply accomplished by entering one's record or membership number and the date you were confirmed a member of the Church. There's no requirement that you "pay" to have access. Further, the Church is utilizing the experience of it's members to "work out" any possible shortcomings in the program before releasing it to the general public. There is no attempt to make it forever exclusive to church members only. So please be patient. It's a learning experience for those involved to be sure everything will work as programmed.

[Dave]

I really am not worried about the link-up with new.familysearch.org--I just know the program in version 12 is excellent.

[Minnie Lasalle]

Dick Eastman wrote:
"The Mormons DO allow non-Mormons to use New Family Search"
No Dick, they do not.

That you could test the program reveals that you are a Mormon.
The rest of the world does NOT have access.

By the way, the real problem with FamilySearch is not the restriction to paying member.
The real problem is the infamous low quality of the data in the trees they collect.
Programs should not be supporting this at all.

[Dave]

There are *NO* restrictions to "paying members" to access Family Search.

The "new" Family Search is not the same as the currently-available format. The LDS church and the GSU are working very hard to help improve documentation and access to sources of information in submissions to the database.

For those who have written off Family Search, I encourage you to be patient. The new stuff they're working on is really very interesting and useful.

And no, I'm not a member of the church. I'm just someone who has made extensive use of the collections both on-site and through the local branch FHC.

[Peter Donlan]

Anyone who tries to use NFS will immediately discover that it is NOT available unless you are paying member of the LDS...

[Carl Spaeth]

AGAIN, for the benefit of the "the rest of the world (that) does NOT have access" and still believes in the 'restriction to paying member", may I repeat what I had previously posted. Getting access to new.familysearch.org is gained by providing one's record or membership number and date of confirmation as a member of the church. That's all. There is NO pay requirement. Please read my previous post and understand what I said. As for "the infamous low quality of the data in the trees THEY collect", I thought this website was devoted to a higher standard of comment instead of slamming one's efforts at family history. Let's hope that when new.familysearh.org is released to the world we can all work together in the spirit of cooperation to correct the "low quality of data" because that's exactly what the program was deigned to accomplish.

[Peter Donlan]

Carl Spaeth confirmed:

"Getting access to new.familysearch.org is gained by providing one's record or membership number ... "

In other words: by being a paying member.
Sigh.

I don't understand why some people want to deny that fact?
Why? Is it wrong for the church to do so?

[Dave]

Perhaps the better way of putting it: new.familysearch.org is not yet publicly available. It is expected to be widely available, soon. In the meantime, familysearch.org is the public website.

[Polly]

Golly, am I confused now.

[Ruth]

For Peter Dolan and those who think as he does please let me clarify. As a convert and member of the LDS church for 55 years I am in the position to know that baptism and confirmation are FREE. Immediately upon completion of those ordinances the new church member receives their membership and confirmation numbers which is all that is required to access new family search and has nothing to do with whether or not the member pays tithes and offerings. Please understand that I submit these comments without animosity or negative feelings for anyone.

[Dorothy Sargent]

There is definitely a very select group of persons who are NOT members of the LDS church who do have access to newFamilySearch.org. They are the NON-MEMBER VOLUNTEERS in local Family History Centers who have been approved to have access to the website. They pay nothing for this privilege. They are given special numbers that they use in lieu of membership record numbers. It is quite correct that the new site is still being tested by those members willing to put up with the bugs and shortcomings. The site is being updated about every three months with the new additions and corrections. Anyone, member or not, may go to the site and read the "News and Updates" section without being registered. Just go into the site, bypass registration, and go to the right side of the page. click and read to your hearts content.

[Wyver Salmon]

"They are the NON-MEMBER VOLUNTEERS in local Family History Centers who have been approved to have access to the website. "

"approved"? As in judged and selected?
By Who? By what standard?

This sounds like discrimination!
Has this doubtful practice been reported to anti-discrimination organizations yet?
Is it considered discrimination and why (not)?

[Stewart Millar]

What a strange vitriolic attitude some people have towards the LDS church and its provision of free access to family history records.
I am a member of the LDS Church. new FamilySearch (nFS) is still in a beta version (ver 0.94) and is being rolled out region by region around the world to church members and other non-member library staff.

It is quite usual for new software to be tested by a selected group of beta testers before general release - and that is exactly what is happening. If you are not a member of the church and already do volunteer work in an LDS family history library in an area covered by the beta roll out, your family history director can arrange for you to be enrolled as a user/tester/trainer for the the system.

As to the derogatory comments about the quality of LDS family history records - like any collection of such records, they come from two principal sources, namely - extracted and transcribed from original records (high quality) and from submitted data from members and non-members (variable quality) - and in many cases the data is duplicated from multiple sources giving rise to conflicting data. You will, I hope, be pleased to know that while nFS starts from a single database that combines its own church membership records, the IGI, the Ancestral File and the Pedigree Rosource File amongst the objectives for "new FamilySearch" is the ability to correct data (that you have submitted), append notes and sources to data and dispute someone else's data; communicate (email) with other submitters of common ancestors; combine duplicated submissions without losing any of the duplicated submitted data; and whereas the old IGI was a record of single events (christenings & marriages) the nFS is family tree based, starting with yourself and where it crosses/merges with other peoples family trees the common ancestors can be combined together to form a "joined-up" family tree.

It is "beta" and I am personally following up some problems that I have registered.

I have been doing family history for over 25 years, have worked with IT systems for 35 years - and I realise that no IT system will ever satisfy 100% of users 100% of the time - I can predict that when released to the public it will blow your mind!

best wishes,
Stewart Millar

[Minnie Lasalle]

"I can predict that when released to the public it will blow your mind!"

That sounds rather condescending.
Perhaps you should stick facts instead of your opinion.
Just a tip. Social skills matter you know.

[Enos]

While I use the computer for financial data, I still document the generations, past and present, on paper. I keep the originals in a fire-proof safe on the compound and send xerox copies to the Temple for sealing.

I do not want my family history displayed online for the benefit of the gentile population, thus I will never use new.familysearch.org

[Stewart Millar]

I know this is totally the wrong platform for this debate and comments - but the last post by "Enos" indicates that he/she urgently needs some education by their nearest LDS family history consultant and is given in the hope that they check back to this site.

The issue being that that all "sealings" at LDS temples are automatically entered in new (and "old") family search for anyone to find and view - the advantage of new.familysearch is the opportunity to have them organised into a family tree and to correlate and correct entries with other related contributors; and whilst in the past the temple could deal with paper submissions (latterly, paper submissions converted to floppy disk via TempleReady software at an LDS Family History Centre) as and when the roll out of new.familysearch covers the particular temple used, the submissions can only be made via new.familysearch.