Genealogy Chat

I am considering building a more detailed family tree using one of the packaged products available. This will allow me to choose who I show/give it to & will enable me to add a lot of the relevant history details I have for each ancestor.
There are quite a few to choose from & I would appreciate feedback & recommendations from those that use them. At the moment I quite like the look of Family Tree builder.

Specific comments welcome.
Thanks
Lois :-)

I tried a couple of programs many year back but settled on Family tree Maker (FTM) which I have used now for over ten years, upgrading along the way as new versions were released. The latest version FTM 2012 is due to be released shortly.

Have a look at this site which sells most popular tree programs.

http://www.twrcomputing.co.uk/index.html

FTM is my preferred choice. The current one, version 2011 is very shortly to be replaced by version 2012. What this means is that 2011 will almost certainly be offered at a good discount and included time limited Ancestry membership included.

I'm a Family Historian person, the programme being a gift. It is designed with the 'techi' in mind but can be used as a basic programme by the more inexperienced and you then 'grow' into it as you get more confident.

It has a 'help' site run for free by users. www.fhug.org.uk. They will answer any question, even the most basic without making you feel like an idiot. Some users also create downloads to work along side it, available for free on FHUG (donation welcome but not enforced)

A version can be downloaded for free for a 30 day trial
www.family-historian.co.uk

Calico Pie ( the producers) also issue free upgrades to download.

it isn't as cheap as FTM, but if you don't like the idea of one programme cornering the market, well worth considering.

Thank you all three of you for your replies. Your suggestions & reasons are a big help.
Unfortunately Jonesey Ancestry is not so generous to those of us overseas & the limited time membership is only for the locals.
We have limited access to these programmes in NZ & the markups are huge so thanks very much for the website links. They will certainly be a big help.

I have used Family Historian for nearly 10 years and love it.

Jenny

Jenny,

Thanks for your recommendation. I'm going to have to look at tracking this one down I reckon.

Lois

See if you can obtain FTM 2011 as this includes 6-months Ancestry membership whereas 2012 only includes 1-month.

And then buy the upgrade that they are offering for £19.99 which will save you money.

Mark

Hello,
I have used a free download of Legacy for 8 years but am thinking of FTM. My reason is that I think, please tell me if I am wrong, that you can keep census scans, photos etc so they come up with the person onscreen. Legacy has places for photos and notes but I don't find it so easy to use now I have more stuff.

thank you Mark & Countrymouse.

Both your suggestions have strong appeal & could be combined if I can pick up an FTM 2011 quickly. I learned the basics of genealogy at a local SeniorNet branch class. Legacy is easy to use for many things but when your family & all its related data keeps growing rapidly the usable space isn't enough without paying quite a lot for the higher level programmes.At the moment I keep printouts etc (done on acid free paper) in acid free black foolscap envelopes & pen drive backups - a suggestion from a family member working in advanced R & D who says at least one of the storage methods should survive the ravages of time & technological advances