When starting your journey into the whole realm of family history, somehow paperwork seems to miraculously multiply around you. I have never quite worked out how it happens, but it does. And if you’re not to this stage of your research yet … expect it!! It will come.

This paperwork is your research, and as such contains, names, dates, notes, mini pedigrees, contact details of distant cousins who might have family photos etc. So all extremely important stuff. But to really make sense of it all, and to keep a track of the info that you already have, you really need to put in into a genealogy program.

There’s several things to note when looking for a genealogy program. Choose a program that is right for YOU. They are all a little different, and one may well be better suited to you than another. Recommendations from others are great, but nothing beats being able to try a program out for yourself.

So below is a listing of the genealogy software we sell, together with a little about each, the price, and the publisher’s websites .

ANCESTRAL QUEST

Ancestral Quest 12.1 – $49.50
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.ancquest.com
download the demo

Ancestral Quest (AQ) family tree software is an easy-to-use and versatile genealogy program for Windows. Its format is perfect for the beginner and yet powerful enough for the most advanced genealogist. Easy data entry, keyboard shortcuts, scrapbooking, professional printouts, and excellent sourcing capabilities are just some of this genealogy software program’s wonderful, award-winning features. The publishers offer a fully-functional version for 60 days, which gives you plenty of time to work out if this is the program for you.

FAMILY HISTORIAN

Family Historian 4 UK Edition – $99.95
Win 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
Family Historian 4 Aus/NZ Edition – $99.95Win XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.family-historian.co.uk
download the demo

This is a very different looking program, as it is a person based program, in preference to most which are family based. Apart from that it does have a number of unique features that others don’t, mostly in the way you view information, but also in its ability to view charts on screen. There is a demo available, so have a look at it if you wish. This came out at top choice in the ‘Choice’ Magazine’s genealogy software overviews in 2010.

FAMILY TREE MAKER

Family Tree Maker 2010 Aus/NZ Platinum Edition – $99.95
Family Tree Maker 2010 Aus/NZ Deluxe Edition – $59.95
Win XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.familytreemaker.com

The best known of all programs, this has been around the longest, and is owned by Ancestry.com, the world’s largest genealogy company. For many people it is their program of choice, while others won’t go near it – so it is really a personal opinion. This new 2010 edition has been added to from 2008’s total rewrite. There is no demo of FTM, but the publishers have put a slideshow as well as a video tutorial on their website which you can look at.

LEGACY FAMILY TREE

Legacy Family Tree 7.0 Deluxe – $59.50
Legacy Family Tree 7.0 Platinum Aus/NZ Edition- $79.95
Win 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com
download the demo

You can download the “Standard” edition of Legacy for free. This is not a trial or demo version, and can be used for as long as you like. The difference between the standard and the Deluxe editions is that you don’t get the program CD, the printed manual, the licence code and some features have been disabled. The difference between the Deluxe edition, and the Platinum Aus/NZ Edition is that the Aus/NZ one comes with extra data CDs, a 3 month subscription to WorldVitalRecords.com and some gift vouchers. The program in both versions is identical.

ROOTSMAGIC

RootsMagic 4 - $49.50
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.rootsmagic.com
download the demo

This is a good quality program that is continually gaining support through new users. Easy to use, and well supported, with good reports and charting capability, this is a good program for those wishing to start adding their family tree data to a genealogy program. There is a free version called “RootsMagic Essentials”, which is a functional program, with some features that are in the full program disabled but if nothing else it is an excellent way to assess the program.

THE MASTER GENEALOGIST

The Master Genealogist Version 7 Gold – $82.00 (program on CD)
$69.50 (program as a download) or $112.00 (program & manual)
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.whollygenes.com
download the demo

This is at the top of end of programs, but it is way too much for many in relation to what it can offer. If you’re wanting ‘a nice easy program to use just to add names, dates etc’ this program probably isn’t for you. It is so different from the other programs in so many ways, such as visually, its terminology, and its charting capability. The publishers offer a fully functional (allows import, export, printing, saving etc) 30 day trial of the program. After that, the demo is viewable, but not useable.

iFAMILY FOR LEOPARD

iFamily for Leopard – $44.00 (download only)
Apple Mac OSX 10.4 or later (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard)
http://ifamilyforleopard.com
download the demo

iFamily for Leopard is a relatively new genealogy program specifically for the latest Macintosh with Leopard. It is a genealogy application for people who think differently. There is a demo available, so feel free to have a look.

REUNION FOR MACINTOSH

Reunion for Macintosh 9 – $149.50
Apple Mac OSX 10.3 or later (Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard)

http://www.leisterpro.com

download the demo

Reunion has been the best Macintosh program available for a long time now, and it continues to holds its place. It is a well-written, well-supported program, and is very easy to use, and does have powerful charting capability. There is a demo available if you wish to try before buying.

This is in no way intended to be a comprehensive list of all genealogy software that is currently available, but rather a good range of them. As each of them a little bit different, it is good for you to take the time to work out which program is going to suit you the best.

If you would like to read up some more before making your decision, here’s some great places to do so:
Genealogy Software Reviews
Choice Magazine

Having worked in the genealogy industry for many years now, I come across many people who have often heard of ‘GEDCOM’, but really don’t know what it is, how it works or understand the importance of it.

Firstly what is GEDCOM?
GEDCOM is an abbreviation that stands for GEnealogy Data COMmunications. In short,it is the language (file format) by which different genealogy software talk to one another. All recent genealogy software supports GEDCOM imports and exports.

Why do I need to know about it?
Can you imagine spending years and years typing in thousands of names, dates, places, and citations, only to find out that when you upgrade your trusty five-year-old desktop computer to a new swish little laptop you have to update your genealogy software too? Then you find out, your genealogy program won’t work on Windows 7 (or has since been discontinued) … what do you do? Would you consider starting all over again? If you have your files saved into GEDCOM you won’t have to!!

If this happens to you, the first step to do, is to save your current files into GEDCOM, because if your files are in this format you can then bring them into ANY current genealogy software. Then secondly look for another program (I won’t go into that here as that’s post for another day – but we do sell a range of genealogy software).

Another reason to know about GEDCOM, is that if you wish to send copies of your genealogy data to your reli’s who are also researching the family, there is a good chance that they may not be using the same program as you, so to be sure they can read it – the saftest way is to save your file as a .GED, and send that.

Another thing you will need to you know about GEDCOM is that it is good, but not perfect. Not all the data fields in a genealogy program are specified precisely in GEDCOM. Or your present genealogy program might be perfectly happy with a birth date listed as, “after 1847 but before 1852″. However once that information is exported to a GEDCOM file and then imported into a family tree program, the birth date may say something else, or typically is left blank. Despite all the shortcomings, GEDCOM is still a simple and somewhat effective method of transferring genealogy data from one program to another. Most of the data will transfer properly, and then there are easy ways of reviewing the data to look for errors.

Generally names, dates, places and relationships do transfer without a problem, text, events, notes and source citations may not always work perfectly. The exact problems encountered will depend upon the two genealogy programs involved. But for a family tree of 1000’s using GEDCOM to transfer your data still saves a lot of work, although retyping from scratch also does have its merits too.

How do I save my file into GEDCOM?
Without going into the specifics of each program, if you are wanting to save your file into a .GED format to send to a relative (or just for your own backup of course), this is usually done by going to the top bar of your program, click on File, then scroll down to something like ‘Export to’ or ‘Save As’ (programs do vary their wording, but they’re generally all pretty similar), then follow the prompts. If it isn’t obvious, press the F1 (Help) key, and search for GEDCOM.

When saving your GEDCOM file, the really important thing to know is “where” you are saving your file, as you will need to access that file sometime, so you will need to find it.

When should I save my file?
This is entirely up to you, as it also depends on how much work you do on your tree. Personally I backup my file into GEDCOM format everytime I do any work on it, some would suggest once a week, others once a month. I’ve also heard a number of bad news/good news stories of people who’s computer crashed and lost all data, only to then be able to recover most of it from recent backups or GEDCOM files. So it really does pay to take to extra time to have good backups.

Hopefully this gives you a brief introduction, and underlines the importance of having your file backed up in both your genealogy program’s normal format, and also GEDCOM.

Happy researching!!

So it is finally going to happen …

Ancestry.com have made the announcement at the NGS Conference today that they are planning a Macintosh version of Family Tree Maker due for release later this year.

While I’m not a Mac user myself, I do know that the Mac market is definately a growing one, and will no doubt make many previously-PC Family Tree Maker users happy, as they can continue to use their fav program on a Mac.

It is said that … “it will be built on the functionality of Family Tree Maker 2010 and constructed from the bottom up to take full advantage of the Mac platform in terms of technology and user experience”.

So what do you think? Are you excited for a Mac version?

Stay tuned for more … we’ll let you know as we hear more details.

This post was recently put on the Legacy Family Tree Blog and as it answers a question that we do get from time to time, felt that it was useful to pass this on to our customer and blog readers.

——

The question from Tim was: “Can I use Legacy to trace more than one set of parents without creating two different family files?”

Legacy answer: Yes Tim. Here’s how…

First, notice in the image below (click to enlarge), that John Brown’s parents are Charles and Sally Carter Brown. Let’s assume that these are his biological parents.

To add a second set of parents (such as adding his adoptive parents) follow these steps:

1) Click on John’s “Parents” icon.

The “Parents of John Brown” screen appears. In the “Relationship to Father” and “Relationship to Mother” fields, you should enter how John is related to each parent.

2) Click on the “Add New Parents” button.

This adds the second set of parents (displayed as “Unknown & Unknown):

3) Click on “Unknown & Unknown”, and then click on the “Add Father” button.

Add the information for the father and click Save. Do the same with the “Add Mother” button. Add her information and click Save.

4) Enter how John is related to the second set of parents in the “Relationship to Father/Mother” fields.

Done!

When you click on the Select button to return to the Family View, you’ll notice that John’s second set of parents appear above him, and John’s Parents icon now has the number 2 next to it, indicating that he has two sets of parents. When you want to navigate between the parents, just click on this icon and select the other set of parents.

I think this should answer your question Tim. Do others have experience in researching/recording two sets of parents? Do you have other suggestions?

——

You can find more information on Legacy Deluxe or Platinum here
To visit the publisher’s website click here

How do I activate my free Ancestry subscription that came with my Family Tree Maker program?
We do get asked this question reasonably regularly, so feel that it is useful to put it as a blog post. The answer can be found on the Family Tree Maker website, but you do have to know where to look for it, as it’s not that that easy to find. The answer below applies to activating the Ancestry subscription in Family Tree Maker 2009 and Family Tree Maker 2010 versions.

The steps to follow are:
1. Open your Family Tree Maker program.
2. Click Help > Activate Ancestry Subscription. The Welcome window opens.
3. Click Activate Subscription.
4. Enter the name and email address you use for your Ancestry membership and click Continue.
5. If you have more than one Ancestry account, you will need to choose the account you want to use.
6. Enter the password associated with your Ancestry account and click Continue.
7. Click Finish to complete the activation.

Bob Velke, the creator of The Master Genealogist will be the featured speaker at the Dec 12th meeting of the Roots Users Group of Arlington, Virginia.  If you’re in the area, you’ll want to attend because Bob will use that occasion to make the first public demonstration of The Master Genealogist v8!  This upcoming new release includes a new report writer engine (including support for 64-bit operating systems) and many other exciting new features.

Following the meeting, a feature list and screen shots will be made available through the company’s website.  A release date for TMG v8 has not yet been announced.

There was an announcement a couple of days ago in the Ancestry.com blog that there was an update to Family Tree Maker 2010 imminent … this is now available for download to current Family Tree Maker 2010 users.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Improved Relationship Calculator. Direct-line relationships now take precedence over less direct lines.
2. Greater control over hinting. A new option lets you turn tree hints off, so you can get hints from records only. See the new check box in the Options dialog. Also, the program will stop hinting on trees owned by the logged in user, as well as not hinting records that have been downloaded with a tree from Ancestry.com.
3. Improved data and formatting in a number of reports.
4. Improved support for GEDCOM, PAF and Legacy import.
5. Many other small changes throughout the program to help it run more smoothly.

You can read the full details of the announcement including where to download the update from, on the Ancestry.com blog.

The publishers of RootsMagic have just released a new update to RootsMagic 4 (version 4.0.6.0).  This update is available to those that have version 4, and it adds several new features, plus returns several reports (such as the blank forms) which didn’t make it from version 3.

If you have the RootsMagic News screen come up when you start RootsMagic, it may have already notified you of this update.  If not, you can do “Help > Check for Updates” from the RootsMagic menu to download and install this update.

You can also download the update from the RootsMagic website.

The RootsMagic blog details the full new and fixed features on this update.