I recently posted information about how I create descendancy reports in RootsMagic. That post was based on RootsMagic version 7. Since I have the ability to work with a preview version of RootsMagic version 8, I thought I would create a similar post for the newer software.
As in RootsMagic 7, the easiest way to start creating this report is to select or highlight the individual who is the focus of the report. That means I’m starting on the PEOPLE screen. My current default view is the pedigree view. On this view, I simply clicked to go to the next generation on my father’s side of the tree to locate and click on the Hiram M. Currey I want to use for the report. When I selected him, his information appeared in the pane to the upper left of the pedigree. In the pane to the lower left of the pedigree is a search box, which I could have used to locate him instead of the pedigree.
The next step is to switch from the PEOPLE screen tot he PUBLISH screen. This screen is where I can access a variety of ways to publish or share data from my tree. The top line of options are the reports. The icons showing on this screen will change as I work with reports. The four icons shown are for the four report types I’ve recently used.
If the report that I want to use isn’t displayed on the PUBLISH screen, I can click on ALL REPORTS AND CHARTS which will open the list of available reports.
To begin creating a Descendancy Report, I can either click on the DESCENDANT LIST icon that is currently visible on my PUBLISH screen or click on the report name in the list of all reports. This opens the Report window. This window is divided vertically into two sections. The left side of the window are the various options for the report. The right side of the window is a preview of the report.
Most of the settings for this report are relatively obvious. This would include configuring the number of generations and whether leading dots and color coding are used. What currently isn’t obvious is the ability to change the LIST FORMAT. Clicking on the LIST FORMAT shown opens a drop down menu revealing various options for the format.
Once the desired settings are selected, click on the GENERATE REPORT button at the bottom of the left panel. This opens a preview of the report on the right. The report shown below is using the Name (birth date-death date) format.
The icons above the report allow for navigating thru the report, zooming in and out, adjusting the fit of the report, printing and saving the report. The options available on the ‘SAVE’ window have recently expanded to include saving as a Word document or as a text file.
Format Options
Name (birth date-death date)
Name/Birth/Death in columns
Name/BMD Date/Place
Name (birth year – death year)
Name/BMD Date/Place wordwrap
The ability to preview the report along side of the settings is one of the new features in RootsMagic 8. This makes it very easy to see how changes to settings impact the report.