GENEALOGY COMPUTER SOFTWARE

What I believe to be an integral part of anyone's genealogy tool box, is a computer genealogy software program to build, save and maintain your hard work. Ever since I got my first computer, in 1995 running Windows 95, I've had a genealogy program. I have always used Family Tree maker. At that time, Family Tree Maker (FTM) was made by Broderbund. It has gone through several owners since then including Ancestry.com. The original program was not internet based but allowed you to enter both basic and detailed information on your family, create research journals, create and display trees and charts, and to save a limited number of photos within the program. This program also allowed you to create your own homepage on which you can display your tree. I believe I may still have a tree out there on that site which I believe was a genealogy.com site.

Two benefits of this older program was that it came with various CDs, and you could purchase others, that had census, marriage, birth and other such records for the various states. They also published World Family Trees that allowed you to search for family members and others through family trees created by other users of this software. This is not unlike what most sites like ancestry.com do now. The other major benefit is that it came with a user's manual that walked you through what you needed to know to successfully use the software and build your tree.

I used several versions of this program through the years and am currently using Family Tree Maker 2014. There are several advantages to this incarnation of the program. First of all is that it is very web based and is interactive with ancestry.com. The FTM tree and the online tree through ancestry.com will sync to each other so that they are always  mirror images of  each other., This includes photos, documents, notes, whatever. Further, there is no limit to the number of trees you can create and maintain on this program. The advantage of this connection with ancestry.com is that the little green leaf that indicates hints on ancestry.com, also show up in FTM. You can click on them and are taken to ancestry.com and to that hint. Further, FTM has a built in browser where you can enter and connect to an unlimited number of sites within the program which makes searching and connecting much easier. The program still does much of the same things as previous versions, but without limits such as for photos, notes, documents, stories, etc. Another major advantage is that adding documents through ancestry.com automatically documents the source of the information so that you don't have to do it manually. A real plus. Also this version, much as older versions, will assist in creating your own family book and readying it for publishing.

There are three disadvantages of the newer program. One is that it no longer comes with an owners manual. You can purchase one separately or you can use the online help within the program. For me, this just isn't as convenient as having a manual. I believe all things should come with a manual but I am likely a vanishing breed as nothing comes with a manual anymore. If you are lucky, you may get a cd that acts as the manual. Another disadvantage is that the program no longer supports the old CDs that were an integral part of the older versions. Hence, I have installed an old version of FTM solely to play these old CDs. Overall though, a very good program. Finally, it no longer supports an online web site where you can post your family tree for others to access outside of ancestry.com.

Recently I purchased a new computer based genealogy program. I purchased Roots Magic 7, and yes, the separate manual, through Amazon for $39.95. This was a saving of $5.00 from buying the two separately. The reason is that FTM has again been sold and it is not clear that the support and improvements going forward will be of the same level as that of the past. Roots also allows you to create CDs for parts of your tree to share with family and others. It supposedly syncs also with ancestry.com and it has an web page for users to post their trees much as FTM did in the past. In fact I have two trees posted there now of which you can find links to them in the side bar of the blog. heck it out and let me know what you think. I have just started using this program but found it very easy to import my trees from FTM into Roots with all content and no problems. I look forward to getting more familiar with it and will review it in the future once I become more adept at it.