Genealogy Chat

Hi Carole I used a number of free Family Tree makers but in the end went for Family Tree Maker 2006. Its very esay to use but comprehensive with lots of charts and other things available to print. Gerry :-))

Can anyone recommend good family research/tree software? I'm only using this site at the moment, but reading some of the postings, I think I would like to buy some proper software. Carole

If you go to the LDS site you can download Software paf (Personal Ancestral File) 77062998-S Personal Ancestral File 4.0 User's Guide (English) (1.10 MB) http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/default.asp click on order/download products Roy

Family Tree Maker will do everything you want and also gives you the ability to have a free website with your tree, photographs etc. It is one of (if not the) most popular programme amongst most GR members and if you check a few sites you can buy it online from around £12-13. Glen

Hi! It depends how much you want to spend. From my research, Reunion, is one of the best programmes out there as it can handle 100's of names etc. But it costs around 70-80 pounds. Rebecca

Hi Carole I'd certainly recommend Family Tree Maker. It's very user-friendly but has lots of facilities. You might be able to get it at a good price packaged under the 'Who Do You Think You Are' heading (the BBC tv programme). Mandy :)

Rebecca, Reunion has not been available fpr PCs, for a long time now it is only been for Macs, Generations is the programme with the same fascilities for PCs, a superb programme, but not cheap. Jennifer

You can also try building your own site thru' Tribal Pages. Either Google for Tribalpages or type in www2.tribalpages(.)com in the address bar and away to go. (Remove Brackets) I find it an excellent facility for building the family tree and it can be kept private and you control who get's an invitation to see the family tree. I've restricted access to mine to immediate family because of all the personal information and photo's on it. With the Tribal page site and say, GR or Ancestry site, you have a minimum of three family tree's the latter two which can be viewed by others and built upon by Hot Matches etc and the Tribal for personal use.

Question. What is the point of using ''Tribal Pages'' if you then keep your information private? The whole point of the Internet, surely, is to share information with the rest of the world.?

In answer to your question Peter, there are in my case two reasons why I and thousands more like me have a Tribal Page website. My first reason is the use of a tree which includes all personal family details which is shared with my family across the world, they can see the tree grow as and when I've entered the facts. Note I mention fact's. Those fact's have been double checked, cross referred etc so there is absolutely no chance for errors. THE TREE IS FOR ME AND MY FAMILY ONLY! The second reason is that I can use the excellent facilities of GR & Ancestry for the non personal tree which other researchers can have access to and we can communicate with each other to establish if and what facts appertaining to our trees are correct. These trees do not have to have all the personal details, just enough detail to confirm matches or provide leads etc. I certainly ask questions before I even allow access to those public trees, don't you ? Too often I've had requests to allow someone access to my tree without even any hint of who they may be looking for, NO, sod off you're not looking at my tree just because you're bleeding nosy or too lazy to do the groundwork yourself. Ah well, rant over. Night night ! Edit: Oops, I've sent this message under my wifes name. This is Merv sending and signing out xx

A very interesting discussion for a beginner like me, who is thinking of getting their own program as well. Kerry from Oz

UPDATE Hello everyone, Sorrry for not thanking you all earlier. had major problems. Don't know if it was the computer to blame or GR, but I couldn't find this thread!!! I wasn't being ignorant by not joining in!!! I have since posting this thread, joined up with Tribal. I'm finding it much easier to use than this site, but will still have my tree here as well. I've heard a lot of people on here slating the hot matches facility on GR, but I think its fantastic. Over the last couple of weeks my mum and I have made contact with two relatives we had no idea about.One of whom is my Great Aunt through marriage. My mum had a long phone conversation with her and has found out a huge amount of family info that we had no knowledge of and she also confirmed 2 family horror stories. I wouldn't like to give up the hot matches! I think I still will buy some software as well though. Carole x