Genealogy Chat

Interesting thread. So I'll give it a shove

Hi All! Glad to see such a good repsonse on my query! Havent been on the pc for a day or so, then realise I have a whole night of catching up on boards to do! LOL! Anyway, just to let you know that Martin emailed me directly to say that he was unable to export his data to HTML with FTM. However, I think that we are going to give FTM a go as I think the only uploading to the net I will do will be to GC. Martin did also say that he was talking about some time ago, and maybe the newer versions will aloow for this anyway. I'll let you all know how we get on with FTM! Regards Sally, Coventry

Just thought I'd give this a nudge up so's it gets another airing; Besides - I would like to know what Martin didn't like about FTM and what Legacy can do better. Martin- come in please!

Thanks for that Mary, i now know what to ask for at Christmas, lol. Yvette

Yvette, Ftm has this facility it also gives extra marriages.you have to set it to show which spouse you want to show as the main one you can also hide the info or show.The options that it gives doesn't mention the word illegitimate. Click on box family page go to person reguired click the box along from it 'More' Box at right hand side of screen click Linage. It will then show Mother and father relationship to that person the options are:- Natural Adopted Foster unknown Step Family member Private You can also put in the persons aka Maybe someone else can tell you about the other packages. Mary

With regards to which software is best, do any of them allow you to add illegitimate births where either the mother, or the father, are unknown? I have several instances of this in my family tree and have yet to find a package that allows for this sort of entry. For instance i have a greataunt that had an illegitimate daughter, then married twice and each marriage provided a son, however it is really hard to get all three children to show up when doing a family line on her. Any advice welcome on how to get round this. Thanks Yvette

Thanks Mary, I have learnt something today! I think that there a lot of functions on FTM that I haven't got round to looking at yet. I had found the errors one before. Thanks again Regards Margaret

Sally I have used family tree maker for about 4 years and I find it really good, it is very easy to use. The reason I went for this one was that it was recommended in a magazine,although I know there are others on the market. Margaret You can privatize this product. Click on file scroll to preferences scroll to privitize tick click OK The back ground will change colour. You can also check for errors There is a box at the top 'Reports' click on box then click on format scroll to report format scroll to Data errors Print report Hope this helps Mary

Thanks for the advice everyone! I was going to plump for Family Tree Maker until i read Martins comments! I wonder, Martin, could you tell me what was the downside of FTM? Many Thanks Sally, Coventry

I used to use Family Tree Maker but there were several things that I wanted to do that I could not do with it. Been now using LEGACY for several years and very happy with it. There is a very active mailing list and the software company take part and listen to user's suggestions. There are frequent free updates and a new version is due out sometime soon. I think I saw an offer of free upgrade if you buy the current version now. You can download it from their WWW site and run free but with some things disabled. Registration enables these features. There is a privacy option to remove details of living persons or to change all their names to "LIVING". You can also make parts of notes private by enclosing in brackets i.e. [[ something like this ]]. Martin

i also use family tree maker.its brilliant!! even added photo's

I've got FTM v10, v11 is now out found TWR computing the cheapest, there are plenty out there, most with an American bias, it all depends on what you get used to. The privacy bit just applies to the dates and places, not the actual names, so you may have to edit them once they are on the genes site. Ros

Thought I'd give it a push, as I would like to know the feed-back from this message as well!

Hi sally, I use Family Tree Maker and it covers all of the things that you mentioned. Not sure about the privacy bit? I find it to be very versatile. It costs about £30 and I ordered it through S & N Genealogy Supplies. It arrived in a few days. Regards Margaret

Just a quick nudge before this disappears into oblivion! Sally, Coventry

Expert advice wanted! My cousin and I are researching our tree. We have until now used the free PAF download, but are now finding that we need more functionality and are looking to invest some pennies! We want to buy a good package that will allow us to print lovely reports and diagrams, attach photos, create Gedcoms and to show off all our hard work to the rest of our disinterested family! I have seen people mention Family Tree Maker, Legacy and Family Historian, and would welcome any comments as to which one to go for, and where to buy it? We have approximately 900 names at present, but lots are living, so we would also need a 'privacy on living' option for loading our tree to Genes. Comments please! Sally, Coventry