MAC SOFTWARE
Genealogy on the Mac is now slicker than ever
Map your genealogy, draw on a digital canvas, go on an adventure with Lara Croft, and more
Synium has rolled out a cascade of free updates, dramatically improving performance
£54.99 FROM Synium Software, syniumsoftware.com needs OS X 10.10 or later
When it comes to Mac apps for tracing your genealogy, nobody does it better than Synium. As evidence, we submit the latest release of MacFamilyTree 8, which has added so many new features over the last two years that the developer could have easily christened it 9.0 and charged accordingly for a whole new version.
Thankfully, it chose to roll out all of this in a series of free updates, culminating with version 8.3, which dramatically improves the software’s performance, especially while working with the Interactive Tree. This feature is our favourite way to edit a family tree, and the adoption of Metal 2 – graphics acceleration software built in to High Sierra – allows for smoother animation and improved text rendering.
Graphically rich
The Interactive Tree benefits from other improvements, notably the ability to hide the sidebar for viewing across the entire window width. Generation separator options make it easier than ever to see who’s related at a glance, while new Camera settings offer control over lighting and shadows over images. At last, you can even print out this graphically rich overview of your family tree.
While the Interactive Tree benefits the most, visuals have been improved across the board without losing the app’s look and feel. Bloodline and indirect relationship paths including adoptions have been added as display options, along with six Timeline styles that offer a fresh look at tree data in a single click. Other new features include duplicate detection and merging two different GEDCOM or MacFamilyTree databases with full control over the results.
All this slickness comes at a price in terms of system support – you’ll need a recent Mac, capable of running High Sierra. If you’re stuck on an older system version, you’re left stranded on the previous version of the app.
Likewise, Sierra or later is required for CloudTree support, which allows real-time collaboration with an unlimited number of family members and devices. This sharing method is more robust than the former version’s ability to sync using iCloud Drive, although that option remains.