Tree Maker programs?

[Dubonnet lady]

I've looked at previous posts on this question, but have now decided I really must get a Family Tree program that stands on it's own. I've got a tree on GR, but find it frustrating to use and/or amend as I find new information: I've got a Gedcom file from it.

I've seen people recommend Family Tree Maker and others who've spoken of Legacyfamilytree.com/

Myheritage.com/family-tree-builder and Rootsmagic.com/Essentials

In your opinions which is the easiest to use. Is there another not mentioned above?

I have no prospect of having access to or getting any photos to add, so that facility is not essential.

Thanks for your help

[Uncle John]

You can quite often find Family Tree Maker on offer in some shops. And I wouldn't be worried about it not being the latest version.

[Janet]

Family Historian 4 is a very good programme. TWR computing sell at a very reasonable price and will give gelp when you have trouble. Bought this November 2009 and very easy to learn how to use. Try the website below for more details:

http://www.twrcomputing.co.uk/store/Family_Historian_Software.html

I am very happy with the programme as it is so easy to use and you link all docs and photos you want to each person as well as obtaining person reports. I also like the way it links photos.

Sorry, I see you are not interested in photo links although you can link certs and census etc not just photos and you may change your mind later about linking photos.

Janet

[Canadian Cousin]

... I've seen people recommend Family Tree Maker and others who've spoken of Legacyfamilytree.com ...

Hi Dorothy,

Are you aware that the Standard Edition of Legacy is free? It's not a time-limited trial version nor does it limit the number of individuals you can have in your tree. It doesn't have all of the 'bells and whistles' that come with the Deluxe Edition - e.g., mapping (similar to GR's), DNA records, large wall charts, etc... - but it certainly does all of the essentials (searches, sourcing, reports, etc...) very well.

I used Legacy Standard Edition for 2 or 3 years before I finally decided to upgrade and personally found it very easy to learn (incidently, the user interface is the same for the Standard and Deluxe versions, the only difference is that not all options work in the Standard Edition). You may or may not find it to your liking, but at least you can decide for yourself before spending any money.

Good luck whatever you decide -

Tim

[Sunny Kate]

Another free program is Personal Ancestral File which can be downloaded from Family Search.org. It's reasonably easy to use and there's good advice here in FTF for tips & troubleshooting. Last year I bought Family Tree Maker 2009 thinking it would be a better program but have never really come to grips with it and find myself always returning to PAF.

It really comes down to what you feel comfortable with and how it suits your needs. Good luck.

[Guy]

I use Brothers Keeper as my main program.

Like many I have spoken to I also use other programs to manipulate the data contained in Brothers Keeper.

http://www.bkwin.net/index.html

These include other family tree programs, Word, Photoshop and various others.

I would also encourage the use of Calisto the free, accurate calendar program.

http://homepages.tesco.net/~jk.calisto/calisto/index.htm

Cheers
Guy

[Elderflower]

Like you, I do not store photos in my Tree software. I use a very old version of TMG (The Master Genealogist) and have never felt the need to upgrade to a more recent edition. Works very well for me. It is very flexible, no limit to number of people and the report system is very flexible. Never had any problems enetering data that is a bit unusual either. Don't see it mentioned on here very often but there is a user's forum.

[zilkens]

Hi Dorothy,

Are you aware that the Standard Edition of Legacy is free? It's not a time-limited trial version nor does it limit the number of individuals you can have in your tree. It doesn't have all of the 'bells and whistles' that come with the Deluxe Edition - e.g., mapping (similar to GR's), DNA records, large wall charts, etc... - but it certainly does all of the essentials (searches, sourcing, reports, etc...) very well.

I used Legacy Standard Edition for 2 or 3 years before I finally decided to upgrade and personally found it very easy to learn (incidently, the user interface is the same for the Standard and Deluxe versions, the only difference is that not all options work in the Standard Edition). You may or may not find it to your liking, but at least you can decide for yourself before spending any money.

Good luck whatever you decide -

Tim

I thought that I would try Legacy but find that I cannot import my Family Tree Maker 2010 onto it, so have given up.

[Elaine ..Spain]

I would have thought that if you export your FTM 2010 as a GEDCOM file, then you would be able to import it into Legacy without problem.

[Mike Fisher]

does your FTM 2010 not do GEDCOM standard export , my copy gives the option of export to FTM, FTM 2008/9, GEDCOM 5.5 and GEDCOM for FTM 16

[Dubonnet lady]

Thank you all very much for your comments - there's some there that I've not heard mentioned before, so I shall certainly have a look

However, If I can't import my Gedom from GR into Legacy perhaps that eliminates that one

Any more suggestion are welcome.

[Peppie]

Thank you all very much for your comments - there's some there that I've not heard mentioned before, so I shall certainly have a look

However, If I can't import my Gedom from GR into Legacy perhaps that eliminates that one

Any more suggestion are welcome.

You can import any GEDcom into Legacy. I was able to combine GEDs from Genes, Ancestry and Tribal pages into it, then gave me an option to check silly mistakes when combining it. It's a great programme both the free and paid for version.

[Dubonnet lady]

Thanks peppie, that's encouraging

[Canadian Cousin]

I thought that I would try Legacy but find that I cannot import my Family Tree Maker 2010 onto it, so have given up.

Ken -

As Elaine mentioned, there should be no problem reading your FTM 2010 data into Legacy as long as you export it in GEDCOM format (go to this page and scroll about halfway down for instructions). This should bring over all your information on individuals, marriages, other events, sources, notes, etc... However, if I understand correctly, FTM includes your photos and other documents/media files as part of one humongous family file - Legacy, on the other hand, keeps images et al in separate folders, and just stores links (pointers) to these as appropriate. I'm sure there are advantages to FTM's approach (you only have one file to copy), on the other hand you can maintain several different family files in Legacy (e.g., for different branches or locations) without duplicating those large media files.

HTH -

Tim