Which family tree software is the best?

Question

I am looking for a way to organise all the information I have about relatives but would also look for more information about my ancestors. I have seen a few family tree maker software packages but would like opinions on which is best.
So far, I am leaning towards Family Tree Maker 2006 which comes with all sorts of records on disc.

Answer 1

Family Tree Maker 2006 is one of, if not the best i suppose you could call it the grandaddy of family tree software, i use 2005 at the moment but i am considering upgrading as 2006 has many improvements, best prices i have seen have been on Ebay. hope this helps

Answer 2

Would like to recommend www.familysearch.org where you can search online databases and also download Personal Ancestral File 5, free of charge. This simple to use software programme is made available by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to their Church members and non-Church members. You can also download again free, an evaluation of their Personal Ancestral file Companion programme, that enables you to produce all sorts of extras. The programme is well used worldwide and favoured by many genealogists.

On the site you can also find research helps and guidance, access the Family History Library Catalog to see what records are available that you can view at a local Family History Centre. You can find the nearest Centre to you online at the website. There is no charge for use of the facilities at the Centre and a small nominal charge should you need to order any films or fiche but most centres do have a collections available anyway that you do not have to pay for. They also have access to some other online databases.

You can download forms from the site such as Family Group sheets and Pedigree Charts.

If you haven't been there do suggest that you go take a look. The Church do have the largest collection of resources in the world and are very generous with the help that they provide those that are researching their Family Tree, which is great fun and rewarding.

Good Luck with your research and do hope this helps.

Answer 3

I haven't tried FTM but I absolutely love my Heritage Family Tree Deluxe. It is so much easier than some of the others I have tried. Mine came with a Social Security Death Index and a Photographic Index of photographs of popular places. I also love the fact that there are tons of places to put pictures, which really helps if there are many people in the family with similar names. It was also a lot cheaper than the Family Tree Makers I looked at.

To get this you can buy it from the maker's website (http://www.individualsoftware.com/products/genealogy_family_trees/) or you can try getting it from amazon.com or other similar site.

Answer 4

I use Roots Magic, which has a much smaller advertising budget than FTM. I tried both and like RM much better.

http://www.rootsmagic.com

Here are some raves from the site:

"RootsMagic is arguably the best genealogy program we’ve seen." - Smart Computing Magazine

"My favorite for the best all-around program" - Kimberly Powell, About.com Genealogy Guide

"Editor's Choice" - Heritage Quest Magazine

"The most comprehensive, yet easy to use genealogy software available anywhere." - Bill Dollarhide, Genealogy Bulletin

"RootsMagic earns our highest recommendation." - Family Tree Magazine

"There's no better genealogy package for the money." - PC Format Magazine

"It's still the top of the genealogy tree." - Computer Active Magazine

"All in all, RootsMagic is a winner." - Dick Eastman

"This is the ideal program for recording your family history." - Your Family Tree Magazine

"Highly recommended." - Family History Monthly Magazine

Answer 5

I use Family Tree Maker. One of the great things about the new version is it's ability to save files and reports in a PDF format. Good luck.

Answer 6

I've been using the PAF 4.0 from familysearch.org for about 10 years now and find it is very easy to use and find your way around the different generations of your family and full report capabilities. I also use Legacy 5.0 for doing mass corrections and finding simple mistakes in my data. This is something that PAF has as well but is limited in it's capability for finding errors. The draw back with Legacy is to use the full program you have to buy it, but the free version is also a very good program. Brother's Keeper ís also a good free program. Family Tree maker is also a good program, but I find it a little harder to work with i.e. you can't save ancestory reports etc. to your hard drive, which you can with the PAF program (using 'print to file'). Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Family Tree Maker is a great way to start. I now use Legacy as my main program because it has some advanced features, but I still use both for different tasks and reports.

Answer 8

A little late, but Legacy is the only tree software I've used for years. I tried others and Legacy is it. The deluxe edition is well worth the upgrade. 16,500 people on my tree and it hasn't given me a problem.

Answer 9

I concur with the family tree maker (FTM).. I started with version 3.. (many years ago) I've upgraded over the years as newer version have come out.. I'm currently running FTM-2005, I'm considering upgrading to 2006.

Answer 10

I concur with Family Tree Maker. I've used it for over ten years in its various forms.

Other than it tends to get rather large files if you start putting lots of stuff in them, the All In One print out isn't duplicated anywhere else.

I don't like the constant reminders to send your data to them, and I don't (What if I'm wrong? I don't want to see all the bad data that is coming back from them already getting promulgated).

But I was even able to use the features to create a custom layout in French for one of my daughter's school projects.