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Items to consider in genealogy software:
- What is the program's ability to record sources?
- Data input - in particular, how flexible is the data input? Can you change the format or informationcontained in a data item? Can you have multiple entries for the same item? How does the program handlememos? How does it handle sorting of items?
- Can you assign your own reference number(s) to people/sources/exhibits/etc?
- Output - how nice/useful are charts, tables, etc? How important is web output to you? What other formats does the program export? What will you do with the output?
- Who will you be working with? (Other family members, genealogical society members...) What softwaredo they have?
- How good is file transfer between programs?
- GEDCOM - Genealogical Data COMmunication - 'standard' for exchanging data betweengenealogical programs - straight text files; file extension is .ged
- Some programs have the ability to directly import from other programs' formats; few can export toother program's formats
- Most programs change file format with upgrade
- Some programs put an entire database in one file, many use a number of files. The entire databasein one file is easier to transfer (only one file to copy to a diskette or attach to an e-mail) but tends touse space inefficiently.
- What else comes with the program?
- Many programs come with outside databases - Social Security Death Index, geographic databases, batches of family trees from other users, ...
- Some come with other programs - mapping software, family album builders, cookbook
- Much of the added databases and software are USA-centric
- How big is the user base?
Things to do before you buy
- Most software is available (generally on the web) either as a non-working demo, as a working but in someway crippled demo (file-size limits, 'SAMPLE' printed on reports), as a time-limited demo, or asshareware. Those that aren't available as working demos frequently have money-back guarantees. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
- Talk to the people you'll be sharing data with.
- Note that many people use more than one program - one for data entry, one for producing 'nice' output...
Software for the Macintosh
I don't know enough on the topic to make serious comment, but will make two observations:
- Reunion for the Macintosh seems to be the only viable native Mac software; from user comments I've seen, Family Tree Maker for the Mac is a dated product and doesn't seem to get a lot of support. More information on Reunion is available on the web at http://www.leisterpro.com/
- I've heard of people running several of the packages mentioned here under Windows emulators on a Mac. I've never tried it, but it should work.
| Program |
Current Version |
Website | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Tree Maker | 9 | http://www.familytreemaker.com | Depends; runs $20-80 |
| The Master Genealogist | 4 | http://www.whollygenes.com | about $90 |
| Family Origins | 10 | http://www.familyorigins.com | about $30 |
| Personal Ancestral File | 5 | http://www.familysearch.org | Free |
| Brother's Keeper | 6 | http://brotherskeeper.com/ | $49 to register |
Pros/Cons for specific programs:
Brother's Keeper (BK)
- Reasonable price - shareware
- Doesn't handle sources well
- Clunky user interface
Family Tree Maker (FTM, FTW)
- In wide use - probably most used genealogy software
- Available in a variety of packages
- Software tends to take over genealogical filetypes under windows
- Many of the available CD-ROMs not very useful
- User interface very family-centric
- Frequent expensive upgrades
Personal Ancestral File (PAF)
The windows version of PAF was donated to the LDS Church and is a version of Ancestral Quest.
- Can't beat the price
- Good LDS support
- Good flexibility in entering events, sources
- Fairly new in the market, but seems to be developing a following
Family Origins (FO, FOW)
- Reasonable price
- Good customer support
- Good flexibility in entering events, sources
- Lots of users
The Master Genealogist (TMG)
- Extremely flexible
- Handles sources exceptionally well
- Multiple sources for same event
- Multiple repositories for same source
- Handles 'unusual' situations - conflicting dates for an event, multiple parents (adopted/foster, several possible candidates...)
- Can import most other file types
- Nonstandard user interface
- Steep learning curve
- Most expensive widely-used product
- Has a 90-day money back guarantee
- 'Silver' edition available for less
- Waiting for an upgrade to 32-bit Window