What softwear do you use for your famimly tree?

Question:I was thinking about purchasing Family Tree Maker. My friend uses the Master Geneologist (but that looks way to confusing) What do you use and what do you like and dislike about the program?

Thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I was thinking about purchasing Family Tree Maker. My friend uses the Master Geneologist (but that looks way to confusing) What do you use and what do you like and dislike about the program?

Thanks!

I am not a professional, and have not tried many programs out there; but I have the Family Tree Maker and I like it. I got the Family Tree Maker Version 16, Collectors Edition from my husband for Christmas. It was about $80, easy to install, easy to use. It also comes with a one-year free subscription to Ancestry.com US Deluxe Membership (you will need to call ancestry to set up the membership). If you don't already know, Ancestry normally charges $150 a year for that specific membership, so it is quite a deal, and if you spend a lot of time at it, you can really get the most for your money in that one year. I started out with a $10 version of Family Tree Maker that would allow me to build my family tree, but that was about it. All the really cool tools and features were locked on that version. Considering the $150 value of the free one-year membership to Ancestry.com, I would say my husband really got his money's worth on the $80 program.

I use Family Tree Maker and I really like it. I like all the chart and tree options it has. I like the way you can search for any text in your records (although I don't like it that they call it Search by Name -- that's confusing!) I like their "Relationship Calculator" -- choose two people and it will tell you how they are related (like second cousins twice removed.) I like the way you can easily add photos to your trees. I like the way you can save files in different formats. It really has so many features that I don't think you could ask for anything more in a genealogy program! (Nope, I don't work for them! :) )

Family Tree Maker, PAF and Roots Magic are the best choices for a beginner. TMG has a steep learning curve, from what I have read.

I use Roots Magic. I had both FTM and RM's predecessor, Family Origins For Windows, back with Windows 3.1. FOW was easier and more powerful. Among other things, with FOW/RM you only have to enter a place name once, and it then "suggests" that place again.

If you have, for instance, already entered two places:

Carmel, Monterey, California
Chico, Butte, California

The next time you enter "C" in a place fact, RM will type
Carmel, Monterey, California
for you, with everything from the "armel" onward highlighted. If that is what you mean, you press ENTER and have saved that much time. If you then type an "h", it will change the suggestion to Chico, Butte, California. Again, if that is what you mean, you have just saved a pile of keystrokes. If you mean "Chicago, Cook, Illinois", you keep typing, and when you get to the "a" in "Chicago", it will stop suggesting.

It has a good error checking routine. It lets you export custom and "canned" reports to text, RTF or PDF files.

You can Google "Genealogy Software comparisons" and get dozens of other opinions.

RM will let you try it for free for either 14 or 30 days; I have forgotten which.

www.rootsmagic.com
www.familytreemaker.com

PAF is on the Mormon site under "Product Download". It is free. RM is $29, FTM comes bundled with Ancestry packages; the better the package, the more it costs.