Rooty: Thanks for the feedback. I think I will fully investigate FTM and make the leap if we are stuck "in limbo" with RM.

You could always try RM7 under the full version of CrossOver. I’ve been running that for several years and it is absolutely rock solid for me with the current highest versions of everything. I do not use the Ancestry function but am a very heavy user of the Family Search interface. I just leave RM running for days, with my iMac sleeping when I’m not using it. When I switch to RM, it just continues and any use of FS just continues from where it was. No need to re-login or anything like that. I’m not sure when I last had to kill (force shut) RM, but it has moved over the years from not that infrequently to very very infrequently.

Yes, Crossover costs money, but worth the pleasure I get out of the genealogy hunt.

PS Yes, it is still a 32bit application in Mac terms, so won’t run on Catalina as is. One has to assume that they will fix that or they will no longer have a Mac market. So, if you were to go that way, there would be an interesting race between a Crossover update, RM8, and your possible desire to get on to Catalina. You have to decide whether an interim extra cost is a price worth paying.

What does this mean?

What does this mean in the blog?: "And of course, there is one more thing that should make our fans of fruit happy:" There is a picture below that statement, but I cannot figure out what "fruit" is displayed on the picture. It seems to be an exact same picture of the first picture, but blurrier.

It just means that the RM window looks exactly like a Mac window should look like - i.e. a standard Mac appearance. The fruit is just referring to Apple.

Edit: And the one more thing was a standard Steve Jobs way of closing a major Apple announcement event, and this is still used by Tim Cook in a much less charismatic way at the end dog such events to introduce a surprise announcement. Apple fans know all about this, the rest can just yawn (but I do recommend watching a Jobs show on YouTube, particularly the original iPhone announcement which is recognised as a masterpiece in how to do technical announcements.)

Your message implies to me that the problem you see is the "convoluted way to open a database with RM Essentials on an apple device". What is it that seems so convoluted that it would deter the mildly interested (the disinterested are a lost cause)?

Do you mean on an iPhone or iPad? Or on a Mac? Please make clear to what variety of Apple device you are referring.

The directions may be found at https://www.rootsmagic.com/App/FAQ/  This says you have to use either Dropbox or iTunes. I have a vague recollection that the iTunes technique no longer works due to changes in iTunes, but if so then I haven't been able to find that announcement. Maybe iTunes still works. Except for once in the beginning where I did it with iTunes just to see how it works, I have always done it with Dropbox. Maybe someone else on this forum who has done it more with iTunes can speak to the iTunes approach.

If iTunes still works, that might be the easiest way to do it because all your relatives with iPhones and iPads are probably already using iTunes with their device. I went the Dropbox route in the first place because I was already a Dropbox user. I have the RM app on both my iPad and my iPhone, but I use it mostly on my iPhone despite the small screen simply because that's the device I always have handy.

If you have to do it with Dropbox, you will have to create an account. A basic free Dropbox account should be plenty big enough for your RM database.

 

Jerry

 

Things have moved on in Apple land and once one upgrades MacOS to Catalina, iTunes is no more. If you are on an earlier version of MacOS, then the iTunes method should work.

 

On Catalina, the function has moved to the Finder app, and it is still possible to use this to transfer an RM data file - not a backup file - to the RM app on iOS or iPadOS.

 

The first thing that is required is to ensure the Finder view options include the display of iOS devices. (I had to enable that.) Connect the device - you probably need to attach it via cable the first time, but WiFi attached should/will probably work subsequently. Select the device in the left hand column and one can view considerable detail about the device. Selection of the Files tab shows all the apps that support file transfer - RootsMagic appears in this list and it shows any files that have already been transferred to the device. The way to transfer a new file is not as flexible as before as there doesn’t seem to be a Browse option to select a file to be transferred. Instead one has to drag a file over the RootsMagic entry in the list of apps that support file transfer and the transfer just happens. (I pasted a copy of the file I wanted to transfer onto the desktop and then dragged that across to the Finder window and over the RootsMagic entry. I find drag and drop from a Finder window to another Finder window somewhat troublesome with a trackpad, so use a simple approach even if it requires an extra step.) If one displays the list of files that have been transferred to the RM app, the only action you can initiate from the list is to delete a selected file.

 

So, still possible, but in a different place, and a little less flexible (in my opinion)

I run the regular RM 7 on my Mac with Parallels.  Does that mean updating to Catalina won't affect me?

Correct, provided your version of Parallels is supported / will work on Catalina.

I'm not a Mac user but I have read that Crossover now supports 32bit Windows apps in Catalina. https://m.facebook.c...276443932543150

Yes, but we need to be a little cautious as a look at their forums shows that some nasty and unexpected side effects are now showing up now it is GA, such as anti-virus products quarantining chuncks of their code. There seems to be more for them to sort. I for one will be holding off for now, particular as I am still on Mohave and RM7 is running just fine (admittedly under full Crossover), Faimily Search and all.

Why bother with crossover any more if Bruce is really within a few months of RM8. The wrapper has been nothing but trouble for mac users.

Well, maybe the wrapper is a mixed blessing but full CrossOver has been wonderful for me for many months now. I leave RM open for days, and when I return to it, it just picks up with FS without blinking. I would certainly welcome a 64-bit version of (full) CrossOver if we don’t have a relatively stable version of the Mac variety of RM8 by, say, February or March next year. It could be an interesting race.

CATALINA KILLS ROOTSMAGIC 7! Catalina does not allow any 32-bit programs to operate any longer when you upgrade to Catalina. Done deal. 
 
Your option at this point since RM currently has no 64-bit version for the Mac? Supposeldy run an older version fo Mac OS in Virtual Mode and store RM7 there or put the Mac OS older version on a thumb drive and load RM7 on the same unit. 
 
Virtual Box does not function fully under Catalina. Does the latest CrossOver?
 
Feel like McGyver yet?

A quote from a CrossOver forum responding on this topic - dated 26 June.

-

Maintaining support for 32-bit applications on macOS 10.15 Catalina continues to be a top priority for us. We appreciate that September is right around the corner and that macOS users are eager for a solution - we are confident that this support will be available when Catalina is released.

CrossOver 19 will move to beta later this summer. I invite all who are interested in the latest CrossOver development updates and are willing to provide feedback on pre-release versions of CrossOver to join here: https://www.codeweav...patibility/beta

-

It would seem that work has been on-going for some time, but as is often the case for software companies, they aim new functionality for GA availability rather than beta availability of new OS levels.

This has begun to worry me a little, too. I normally update my OS fairly soon after a new version has been released, so I wouldn't want to have to wait too long before doing so.
 
An added complication is that I am considering changing my iMac this year, and if RM8 is going to be very late, I would clearly have to do so *before* the new 10.15 is released, otherwise my RM (probably) wouldn't run on it. This means I would have to update the OS separately later, which is no big deal, but even so, irritating to haver to do so.

And, of course, if you end up with a new new model of iMac (which may or may not happen, of course), it may only run 10.15. In that case, you won’t be able to run RM for Mac at all. Ugh! (I suppose that is what you were saying.)

Renee;

 

When the new wrapper is released, is it intended to be a universal replacement for the current one or just intended to work on Catalina? If it is not a universal wrapper, I trust it tests the O/S version prior to trying to install. Based on what I've read, I hope it will also halt installation, if there is an existing installation of the wrapper.

Just to put a slightly different perspective on this. I use the full version of Crossover, and updated to V19, which is the 64-bit version, a month or so ago whilst still on High Sierra. RM7 worked just fine on that for me, which involves very heavy use of the Family Search interface. I have left RM running for many days, with my Mac sleeping at times, particularly overnight, but the FS interface picks up every time when I return to it. At the beginning of this week, I finally decided to update to Catalina, and RM has worked just fine since then. That suggests to me that the new wrapper should work equally well on previous versions of MacOS, not just Catalina.

The current wrapper to allow RM to run on a Mac will not work on the next version of MacOS, Catalina. That is because Catalina will not allow the execution of 32-bit applications, only 64-bit applications, and the current wrapper is a 32-bit application. (It does not matter whether the application running under the wrapper, such as RM, is 32-bit or 64-bit.)

The wrapper is a stripped down version of a product called CrossOver that allows Windows programs to run on the Mac. Users of the full version of CrossOver are expecting a 64-bit version to be available around the time that Catalina becomes generally available, so in the next month or two.

Whether RM will be prepared to pay whatever the cost is for a matching updated version of the wrapper is a question for them, but if RM8 becomes available in a similar timeframe, or a little longer given our expectations are for sometime in 2019, then maybe it wouldnt be sensible for them to pay that cost.

That might leave some RM for Mac users with the issue of whether to delay implementing Catalina until RM8 becomes acceptably reliable. I can foresee interesting times ahead.

(Windows users might consider such concerns as rather academic, but many Mac users tend to update to new versions of the OS rather more enthusiastically and promptly than Windows ones.)

Now that CrossOver has shipped a 64-bit version that supports - or purports to support - Windows applications on MacOS Catalina, is anyone successfully using RootsMagic under the full version of CrossOver running on Catalina?

 

I have been hesitating to make the leap, so would be interested in any experience others have had, good or bad.

 

I had been hoping RM8 would have made the above migration unnecessary, but time is rather passing.

Tom, Thanks for posting those images - those of us who avoid Facebook like the plague appreciate it.

One thing that struck me as odd is that the colours are generally on the left but on the right in the Info panel. At first glance, this seems rather inconsistent.