Have you tried the free version of MS Word?  Available online with a free OneDrive account, I've not tested it myself but perhaps worth a try?

I have commented before that it would be nice to see ODT as an option for report output, could be use with Libra or Open Office, I gather even MS Word  supports it now.

JP wrote:-

The other issue I have come across is related to sites like Ancestry that have country specific variations - US, UK, Australia, etc - to which individual accounts are tied. In my case (UK based), it’s no use coming across a UK census source, say, on Family Search with a URL tied to Ancestry.com when I can only access it via Ancestry.co.uk. Yes, I can edit the “com” to “co.uk” and then see the source, but that soon gets very tedious. So, URLs are a problem from several or many angles.

I am subscribed to Ancestry.co.uk but can sign in and use the .com site with my 'uk' sign in - I have world subscription, wonder if access might not be the same with all levels?

I also share the view that specific url's are too transient to be of long term use. As others have said I think a copy of the document linked to the database is the best option but mindful of copyright I will be pleased to see an option in RM8 to select if an image is exported or private - very disappointed if its missing!

Some (or perhaps just 1?) of us are hoping RM8, when it appears, will have moved closer to the GEDCOM standard but reading these posts I have to wonder how these sorts of issues might be handled? I can  appreciate there would be many unhappy users if previously entered data was lost or  just kicked into the 'long grass' - I hope Bruce has a good plan :-)

 Perhaps he could try viewing your gedcom with the online Topola viewer at https://pewu.github.io/topola-viewer/#/ 

Nothing to install, its fairly basic but perhaps enough to get him started?

 What about using html output to share your research? Nothing is 100% secure but html not very easy to import into a family history programme for editing? Once happy with the result just copy all the files to which ever media you prefer.

RM7 still has option to output html website, although I use  3rd party software to generate the files I routinely share with family this way and most people find it easy to use a simple 'website on CD or USB stick' even if they know nothing about family history.

For England & Wales grants of probate, 1858 or later, a copy of the will can be ordered via - https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills  £1.50 per will.

Note:-  a grant of administration only will not usually include a will unless one is mentioned in the index entry.

Lots of good advice above!

Perhaps a thought for the future, is it possible you will want publish your research, perhaps on a website?  The current version of RM does not allow you to mark any media as 'private' (excluding it from output) - hopefully changed in RM8! - but for the meantime if there is copyright media you do not have permission to publish or even would not wish to be published you might want to think carefully before linking to your database.

As I discovered, it can be a lot of work searching through each piece of media checking if you want (or are allowed to put it)  on your website! I also keep a record of any permissions I receive to publish documents or photos including the filename I have used so I can check easily.

You can of course keep a personal copy in your files and extract / transcribe the details to include as evidence.

Your checklist makes very interesting reading Jerry! While I'm trying to keep a bit of an open mind about RM8 its hard not to wonder about what we might see!

I must admit a possible change to the structure of RTF output had not occurred to  me but I had wondered if as well as RTF we might see Open Document Format as an option given its now a native format in Word as well as the open source office suites.

Very high on my checklist though is how RM8 will handle Gedcoms!

How do you do a print screen in roots magic 7 and windows 10,  I keep trying to use the print screen button and it does not seem to work right.

I think you need to hold down the shift key and then press printscreen key to get a copy of the screen in your clipboard for pasting elsewhere.

Alternatively and perhaps better as it copies just the  area of the screen you want you might try try the Windows Snipping Tool - from the start menu select Windows Accessories and snipping tool is in that list. You can drag across just the area of the screen you want to copy and then save the resulting image to disc or paste it into a word processing document etc.

 

 

 

.  When you suggest network to share between my old and new laptop, do you mean just connect them via a USB cable???

Assuming you have both of your laptops connected to a broadband router at home (via network cables or wifi) you already have a 'home network' with both devices connected to it, sharing files across your network requires changing settings on the laptop you want  to copy files from - google can help with this - share folders on win 10  brings up lots of hits.

If as suggested above you already have access to the files you need via OneDrive it would seem easier to follow the suggestions others have made above.

Good luck!

Muppet81 wrote:-

I would love to go back to my old laptop. which is working fine, albeit neither my mouse nor any of the USB ports work since MS forced its recent update on me.  I would like to perhaps make a new backup, this time with data.  I can't as I cannot connect my external drive due to the USB ports not working.  

I don't have either a Dropbox or a Google Drive account.  

Feeling sick at the thought of having lost so many years of family research.  Now totally out of my depth and scared.

Most of the online storage accounts are free  up to a point (MS onedrive for example offers 5gb of free storage) so you might open an account with one of them and use that to copy between your 2 laptops or alternatively perhaps 'share' your old laptops hard drive (or relevant folders) on your home network so you can access them from your new laptop and copy the files you need - google turns lots of sites with instructions on how to share a folder in win 10

Good luck!

I've never had a facebook account and don't see that changing in the near future.

Much prefer this type of forum for RM and peer support.