I have had a couple of goes at these things but never found it easy or any good, I used one with the computer that came with it ages ago, rubbish, and I brought a while ago Family Tree Genealogy Suite, now I tried to install it today and it said sorry I have to close cant do this installation there is a problem, I have e mailed them but they are not there till next week. I would like an easy to use one with nice layouts, ie boxes with names on and the choice to make it all look nice.Any suggestions please.:D
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Patti,
I think the four most popular programs at the moment are Family Tree Maker, Family Historian, Personal Ancestral File (PAF) and Legacy, the latter two being free to download from the internet.
Why not give one or both of them a try - just click on the links above this post and it will take you to the PAF and Legacy pages in the wiki, where you will find links to external sites where you can download the programs.Elaine
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I've noticed a couple of threads around the internet in the last day or two on the same sort of subject.
It's a bit like buying anything else, you need to ask yourself a few questions to help decide which may or may not be suitable.
Is it just to keep a basic tree offline and have the safety of backup options?
Do you want to add images?
Do you want to create tree charts for the entire file or just ancestor/descendant trees.
Do you want to create family group reports or similiar?
A "wish list" of features you want might reveal some programmes are too simple whilst others with all the bells and whistles may be excessive but it's worth going for something that seems a bit beyond what you initially think you need, better to have a feature you don't use than lack something you do.http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/
Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid
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Hi,
PAF is good for sharing, ie. passing info to people who do not want to purchase software. (You can use the program to import files too.
Family Tree Maker 2005 is good because of its variety of file formats for saving, and options for printing trees in styles. also for exporting to a file that can be used in word processors and so can be edited to include extra information or notes for specific individuals or colour text for direct family lines etc. It makes checking that you have not doubled up spouses or children very easily when seen as simple text in generations.
It starts off easy and you can prevent silly errors by having a check ongoing for dates entered; it spots obvious mistakes and typos. It produces lovely geneology reports etc. However, when it comes to cousins marrying and then cousins from their off-spring, it does find it hard to produce reports! The merge tool, for importing others' trees is powerful but takes a bit of clear thinking. You have to make one double entry to merge the trees together and then merge the double into a single entry, I have found. You can save the files as ged, (IE. non program specific and so upload them to sites or pass them to others.) Deleting or detaching spouses or children seems difficult but it boils down to using the "Fix relationship" menu option to detach and re-attach or just leave out, individuals mistakenly entered.
I have found the support team really helpful and patient. (I tried upgrading from my original copy of FTM., and the code that they originally gave me, andcopied to a file as advised, would not work after I had re-formatted my hard drive. They were great!)
There are loads of trial programs on the disks that come with Family History Magazines. I have never felt the need to try any of them. I have been doing family history seriously for over five years. As ever, it is horses for courses and no beginner would even guess where their research would take them so starting cheap and simple seems a good move until you know what you want to do with your information. JBLast edited by Guest; 06-04-09, 15:36.
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