What's your opinion of the best genealogy software?

chellers

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This weekend it seems they are all running discounts.

I did most of my research 40 years ago, with typewriter, pencil, paper, and snail mail so I don't have a clue about what to look for in software. I use Windows 8.1, IE, PC.

I want to start from scratch on my husband's line.

Any recommendations appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

as member
 
I use the Family Tree Maker that I downloaded from Ancestry. I like it since it syncs with the tree on Ancestry and you also have mobile apps for it which are handy if you are traveling and doing research on the go and don't want to drag around your laptop. Also a nice bonus is if you are running in Windows and switch to a Mac (which I did recently) all the files converted perfectly!

http://www.ancestry.com/cs/apps/P-5194
 
I use Family Tree Maker also. In addition to what Anna pointed out it also has really good publishing and report functions so you can do things like print descendant charts or family group sheets or search for errors and do group fixes. The earlier versions (mine) only had a horizontal format when looking at a family chart on the screen but the new versions also have the vertical view like what you see when using Ancestry.

If you get Tree Maker I recommend also buying the book Beyond The Basics as it explains how to use the software in detail. Maybe I'm just not that good at on-line stuff but I wasn't able to get the same directions elsewhere; plus, I just find actual books easier to use and you can make notes in the pages. Anyway, it's not expensive.
 
I was with Family Tree Maker before Ancestry bought them... I'm still of two minds about that; there are pluses and minuses. In practical terms, Ancestry is the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of genealogical software/cloudware/netware; many things about it are suboptimal, but the huge amount of information on it and the huge numbers of people who use it make it almost a must-use. (If you'd rather not give them your money, I find that many public libraries have subscriptions, so you can Ancestry for free.)

On the free side, the Mormons have really improved their online stuff (familysearch.org) in recent years, to where it's starting to rival Ancestry; and it has the benefit of being checked and edited, so some of the wilder and unsupported stuff one tends to get on Ancestry gets filtered out, at least eventually. I keep a tree on both familysearch and Ancestry, and use the two to complement each other.
 
I'm a Master Genealogist loyalist having purchased my first version from Bob Velke in the early 90s at a genealogy fair. I was drawn by TMG's ability to track sources, then not well done by other programs. Bob has had to withdraw from the business, but his program attracted many happy researchers over the years. That said, I migrated to the Mac several years ago and have to use Bootcamp, the Windows side of a Mac machine, for my genealogy work. I still keep my research there while having migrated, imperfectly, my work to Family Tree Maker. I have not had the time or patience to tinker with 3500 individuals to make it all look right.

I'm an evidence nut and insist on documenting the sources for events and relationships. I did all my work before the World Wide Web and with little help from email. There is so much stuff out there purporting to be genealogy research and a casual researcher can be led into fraudulent and spurious connections.
 
I use the Family Tree Maker that I downloaded from Ancestry. I like it since it syncs with the tree on Ancestry and you also have mobile apps for it which are handy if you are traveling and doing research on the go and don't want to drag around your laptop. Also a nice bonus is if you are running in Windows and switch to a Mac (which I did recently) all the files converted perfectly!

http://www.ancestry.com/cs/apps/P-5194
I use Family Tree Maker also. In addition to what Anna pointed out it also has really good publishing and report functions so you can do things like print descendant charts or family group sheets or search for errors and do group fixes. The earlier versions (mine) only had a horizontal format when looking at a family chart on the screen but the new versions also have the vertical view like what you see when using Ancestry.

If you get Tree Maker I recommend also buying the book Beyond The Basics as it explains how to use the software in detail. Maybe I'm just not that good at on-line stuff but I wasn't able to get the same directions elsewhere; plus, I just find actual books easier to use and you can make notes in the pages. Anyway, it's not expensive.
I was with Family Tree Maker before Ancestry bought them... I'm still of two minds about that; there are pluses and minuses. In practical terms, Ancestry is the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of genealogical software/cloudware/netware; many things about it are suboptimal, but the huge amount of information on it and the huge numbers of people who use it make it almost a must-use. (If you'd rather not give them your money, I find that many public libraries have subscriptions, so you can Ancestry for free.)

On the free side, the Mormons have really improved their online stuff (familysearch.org) in recent years, to where it's starting to rival Ancestry; and it has the benefit of being checked and edited, so some of the wilder and unsupported stuff one tends to get on Ancestry gets filtered out, at least eventually. I keep a tree on both familysearch and Ancestry, and use the two to complement each other.
I'm a Master Genealogist loyalist having purchased my first version from Bob Velke in the early 90s at a genealogy fair. I was drawn by TMG's ability to track sources, then not well done by other programs. Bob has had to withdraw from the business, but his program attracted many happy researchers over the years. That said, I migrated to the Mac several years ago and have to use Bootcamp, the Windows side of a Mac machine, for my genealogy work. I still keep my research there while having migrated, imperfectly, my work to Family Tree Maker. I have not had the time or patience to tinker with 3500 individuals to make it all look right.

I'm an evidence nut and insist on documenting the sources for events and relationships. I did all my work before the World Wide Web and with little help from email. There is so much stuff out there purporting to be genealogy research and a casual researcher can be led into fraudulent and spurious connections.
Thanks very much Anna, John, Mark, and Dave, for taking time to reply. In reading your comments, in general, it seems like Family Tree Maker may be the way to go. None will ever be perfect, so the best I can do is go with the consensus of moderately satisfied users.

Anna, you're right. A mobile app would be quite handy, and certainly an attribute to consider.

John, thanks for mentioning Beyond the Basics. Pretty sure that would be helpful.

Mark, that's a good suggestion to use the library for Ancestry. I hadn't considered that. Though I spent hours, nay weeks, researching in the Mormon Library, I hadn't thought about what they may have online.

Dave, I'm with you on evidence. I must have at least a copy of the evidence, in addition to a corroborating source, to deem it factual.

Y'all have been tremendously helpful to my decision-making process. I can't thank you enough.

Sincerely,
Chellers

as member
 
None will ever be perfect, so the best I can do is go with the consensus of moderately satisfied users.
You are benefitting from the competition that pushed ahead each developer. The main thing is get a program that allows as many reports as possible and to export in as many formats as possible. All the modern programs do much the same thing.

A word of caution: do your own research, be cautious of other compilations.

Microfilm forever!
 
Thanks very much Anna, John, Mark, and Dave, for taking time to reply. In reading your comments, in general, it seems like Family Tree Maker may be the way to go. None will ever be perfect, so the best I can do is go with the consensus of moderately satisfied users.

Anna, you're right. A mobile app would be quite handy, and certainly an attribute to consider.

John, thanks for mentioning Beyond the Basics. Pretty sure that would be helpful.

Mark, that's a good suggestion to use the library for Ancestry. I hadn't considered that. Though I spent hours, nay weeks, researching in the Mormon Library, I hadn't thought about what they may have online.

Dave, I'm with you on evidence. I must have at least a copy of the evidence, in addition to a corroborating source, to deem it factual.

Y'all have been tremendously helpful to my decision-making process. I can't thank you enough.

Sincerely,
Chellers

as member

The Mormon database online is much better than it was even a few years ago when I started my research. I think they add to the online collection constantly, so it's always great getting as much research in before you travel to do research in person. Also, you can do the microfilm loan now with Mormon library providing there's a local research center in your area. I haven't done it yet, but am considering it for a particular avenue of research instead of traveling to the other side of the country.

Also the nice thing about the Family Tree Maker is the interface is very user friendly. Though I did also read "Beyond the Basics" and found it helpful and I'm fairly tech savvy, but when dealing with any type of software that is completely unfamiliar to you a guide is always helpful. When in a pinch or when something quirky happens with the tree maker I do a quick Google search to troubleshoot and always found an answer to assist.
 
If I had a single answer as an one size fits all to this question, my answer would be some sort of a database software that preferably has some user friendly templates, like Microsoft Access or MySQL for this.

Disclaimer: If one is of an Anglo-Saxon background, ancestry and their related stuff is the way to go. Got that side of my kids down to about 600ish AD. My side is still at -3 :wink:
 
If I had a single answer as an one size fits all to this question, my answer would be some sort of a database software that preferably has some user friendly templates, like Microsoft Access or MySQL for this.

Disclaimer: If one is of an Anglo-Saxon background, ancestry and their related stuff is the way to go. Got that side of my kids down to about 600ish AD. My side is still at -3 :wink:
I've managed to cross the pond on a few lines but not much prior to the 1500s.
 
A few more reasons I chose Tree Maker:

If you have an Ancestry membership and a tree there (which I did for a number of years while I was actively researching) and you link your home tree then you will get all the media (e.g. census records, sources, photos, notes, stories) downloaded to your home machine in addition to just the facts;

It has a good export function so you can share your tree with anybody else who has comparable software. You can export in the classic GEDCOM format or as a Tree Maker file which is a GEDCOM that also has all the media files.

I have to say that while Ancestry has lot's of junk trees and I don't like the new format much it's really the best way to go at first because they've got so many documents and source materials and you can contact others. As they now own FindAGrave all those records are automatically linked too which is a big plus. If you know the basics of genealogy it's not hard to evaluate trees and hints and separate the junk from the useful. I got in touch with a number of lost relatives and as a result not only learned a lot about the family but also discovered photos, letters, and other memorabilia these relatives possessed.

The software isn't really very expensive so I don't know why one wouldn't purchase something if not Tree Maker. Frankly, simple database programs just don't have the capabilities or functions of genealogy software.
 
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A few more reasons I chose Tree Maker:

If you have an Ancestry membership and a tree there (which I did for a number of years while I was actively researching) and you link your home tree then you will get all the media (e.g. census records, sources, photos, notes, stories) downloaded to your home machine in addition to just the facts;

It has a good export function so you can share your tree with anybody else who has comparable software. You can export in the classic GEDCOM format or as a Tree Maker file which is a GEDCOM that also has all the media files.

I have to say that while Ancestry has lot's of junk trees and I don't like the new format much it's really the best way to go at first because they've got so many documents and source materials and you can contact others. As they now own FindAGrave all those records are automatically linked too which is a big plus. If you know the basics of genealogy it's not hard to evaluate trees and hints and separate the junk from the useful. I got in touch with a number of lost relatives and as a result not only learned a lot about the family but also discovered photos, letters, and other memorabilia these relatives possessed.

The software isn't really very expensive so I don't know why one wouldn't purchase something if not Tree Maker. Frankly, simple database programs just don't have the capabilities or functions of genealogy software.
Sounds good to me, John. I do so appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Thank you.
 
For anybody who might stumble on this thread I have an update:

Ancestry has decided to quit selling Tree Maker as of Dec. 31, 2015 and will only guarantee they'll support it until 2017.

Whoda thunk ?

Thanks for sharing! Hadn't heard this yet. I'm very surprised to be honest not unless they are making their own software over at Ancestry so they can make more money :O o:
 
Thanks for sharing! Hadn't heard this yet. I'm very surprised to be honest not unless they are making their own software over at Ancestry so they can make more money :O o:

Tree Maker is their software. Here's what they said:


Dear Family Tree Maker™ community,

Ancestry is proud to have made a significant investment this year to bring valuable new content and records to the Ancestry site. In 2015, we’ve made 220 million searchable historical records from Mexico available, more than 170 million pages from the largest collection of U.S. will and probate records, among others. We’ve also introduced new features such as Ancestry Academy, and major advancements for AncestryDNA.

As we strive to provide our customers with the best experience possible, we are constantly evaluating our services and product offerings. True to this focus, we’ve taken a hard look at the declining desktop software market and the impact this has on being able to continue to provide new content, product enhancements and support that our users need. With that, we’ve made the tough decision to stop selling Family Tree Maker as of December 31, 2015.

We will continue to support existing Family Tree Maker owners at least through January 1, 2017. During this time, all features of the software, including TreeSync™ will continue to work. Our Member Services team will also remain available to assist with questions or issues you may have.

These changes are never easy. But by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry
 
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