I’ve been working on the 2024 genealogy software comparison and have hit 130 entries, ranging from full database/genealogy data management programs down to web browser extensions that do one or two things, and I still have several dozen more to add (if you notice something missing, contact me and I’ll add it, but I still have plenty to add).
Somebody asked that since I’m adding in recently-updated Family Historian plugins, would I be tracking Gramps plug-ins/add-ons and gramplets? The short answer is “it depends”. Just as with the Family Historian genealogy program, plugins are one of Gramps’ biggest strengths. Users have the ability to make add-ons that can adjust a few small things or change (or add) some functionally that you currently aren’t happy about or don’t even have. Gramps and FH probably have the most robust plugin systems around.
I don’t use Gramps genealogy software enough, nor do I use many plugins, to be considered any kind of authority on the software, other than I know it seems to run well on my computers (both Mac and PC), it’s open-source, cross-platform, is popular, and I actually do recommend it occasionally. With that said, I should mention a definition or two and if I’m wrong, please correct me, but hopefully you’ll understand how I see the plugin/addon situation:
- Gramps plugins and addons (the Gramps team seems to prefer those terms over “plug-ins” and “add-ons”) extend the functionality of Gramps, and the two words seem to be interchangeable, both being used in the same sentence in the official documentation. HOWEVER! The Gramps team seems to refer to plugins as those “extensions” that come with Gramps, while Gramps addons are plugins written by third-parties. All addons are plugins, not all plugins are addons. Still, I see the two terms being used interchangeabley. I even see “extension” being used to describe plugins by those not familiar with it.
- Built-ins/builtins are core plugins. Again, all built-ins are plugins, not all plugins are built-ins (and I see “built-in” more often than “builtin”).
- Gramplets are a subtype/subcategory of Gramps plugin that are focused on adding to or changing the interface section/view section. All Gramplets are plugins, not all plugins are Gramplets. I’ve seen “widgets” used by some people, but gramplet is the better term to use, and it’s what’s added to the Gramps dashboard..
The list of types of plugins (not list of plugins, but types of plugins) has been stable for a while, although in Gramps 5.1 or 5.2, citation plugins were added I believe.
To further confuse things, there are two categories of Gramps plugins (link and another link for reference), and included below are the formal names/shortcuts (link):
- User Plugins: They are the plugins you use that affect how you use Gramps (you see the results of their actions). The User Plugin types include:
- DOCGEN – Doc Creators – report writing
- EXPORT – Exporters – How do you want to export your data?
- GRAMPLET – Gramplets – Small plugins that go in the Dashboard View (or other areas)
- VIEW – Gramps Views – Plugins that affect the main Gramps window
- IMPORT – Importers – importing from various formats
- MAPSERVICE – Map Service – Interact with internet map services
- QUICKREPORT – Quickreport – reports within Quick Views
- REPORT – Reports – Text/graphical reports that Gramps can generate
- SIDEBAR – Sidebar
- TOOL – Tools – Plugins accessed through the Tools menu
- System Plugins: Used internally within Gramps (normally you don’t see them in action – they are kicked off by Gramps). The System Plugin types include:
- DATABASE – Database – support for alternate database types (Gramps supports several)
- GENERAL – General Plugin Libs – Libraries that give “extra functionality”
- RECALC – Relationships – relationship calculators
- RULE – Rule – Rules for custom filters
- CITE – Citation formatter
- THUMBNAILER – Thumbnailer – thumbnail generation for various forms of media.
Most (all?) User Plugins can be managed through the built-in Addon Manager (it’s the green puzzle piece-looking icon in the menu bar). There are other addon managers I believe, but I use the one that comes with it.
If you go to the main Plugin Category listing on the Gramps Wiki, you’re greeting with over 400 entries (going back to Gramps’ earlier versions):
https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Plugins
If you drill down to just Gramps 5.2 plugins/addons, you have the “built-ins” (ironically this page is under construction):
https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/5.2_Builtins
And then the main Gramps 5.2 Addons:
https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/5.2_Addons
As you can see, there are several dozen, maybe 100+ addons there, ranging from a simple “This Day in Family History” Gramplet for your Gramps Dashboard, to a PostgreSQL addon that lets you change the back-end database that Gramps uses for its genealogy data storage from SQLite to PostgreSQL (SQLite became the default in Gramps 5.0 or Gramps 5.1, but I remember in the early days it used XML).
And by the way, if you are a Gramps user, while you can use the built-in addon manager to see what’s available, check the 5.2 Addons page above – they include comprehensive details about the types of addons as well as a screenshot in every entry, making it very easy for you to see just what those addons bring to Gramps.
So…going back to the question of if I would track them and whether there is a difference with Family Historian plugins, and the answer to the FH plugins is that with Family Historian plugins, there is an easy way to see which plugins were recently updated:
Family Historian 7 Plugin Store
And the FH7 plugins are divided into three categories – Standard, Data Entry Assistant Plugins, and Report Plugins, as well as Language Packs. So I can go to one page on a website and instantly see which plugins were recently updated. With Gramps, it’s a lot harder to see which were updated recently, without downloading them or looking through the code repository.
With that said, maybe there is a page on the Gramps website I am missing that has a listing of recently updated plugins, in which case, I’d be happy to add that information in. But if it runs to a hundred+ plugins, I will most likely have the Gramps plugins be their own page (or child page off of the main comparison page), and I may do this for Family Historian 7 as well, because I don’t want that table overwhelmed by plugins for one or two genealogy programs. I plan on expanding the functionality of the table once I lock it down as it is.
Long answer: If there is an important, must-have plugin, I would like to know about it, and would be happy to list it in the software comparison table (or a separate Gramps table), as long as I can easily keep track of the version and release date of updates. I maybe narrowing down my 2024 genealogy software comparison page to 2021 – 2024 as it is (from the current 2020-2024) because it looks like it will hit 200 entries.
And I actually plan on taking a look at Gramps plugins in the future and picking out the must-haves, because there are some very unique ones that have been created. Gramps users – feel free to contact me with your own list if you’d like.