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In a Hurry?
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Introduction
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Genealogy software provides a method for recording the subjects of our research, e.g. their names, relationships, and events of their lives. Evidence (citations and sources) should be recorded to support the conclusions reached. They also print the reports and charts to show off the results of our labor. This article reviews stand alone programs which run on your PC. If you are interested in web based applications please see my companion review at Best Free Online Genealogy / Family Tree Applications. Several free genealogy programs will do a reasonable job for the novice or advanced genealogist. Unless otherwise noted:
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Discussion
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I love the lack of gender constraints, e.g. I can add both of my grandchild's same sex parents without resorting to tricks such as changing the gender of one of the parents. Both members of marriages are referred to as partner's. (There is a warning that the couple is the same sex.) I wish other genealogy programs would adopt this standard. Can document a Sex Change. ScionPC has exceptional date format support, e.g. Circa, Before, After, Estimated, and Date Range modifiers as well as Georgian, Julian, Hebrew, French Revolutionary, Islamic, Persian, Indian National, Coptic, User Defined and Unknown calendars. I like the pop up calendar for use when entering dates. The program creates a complete web site for upload. Supports CSS. Only one source citation is permitted per event. Only one source format. No book print function. |
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You can attach photos or any other type of document. The source templates are well structured. The location field is unstructured but the Master Location List can help keep the locations consistent. The merge feature for people, places, sources, repositories, etc. is easy to use. You can select specific individuals, families and entire family lines for export or reports by placing them in a Focus Group. Strong report generator supports many general report types including citation and to do lists. Legacy can print narrative book style reports using generic sentence templates. Creates stunning graphical charts, ancestor, descendant, fan, hourglass, and bow tie charts. Cannot save some reports to RTF (Rich Text Format); however, text format (ASCII) is supported. Saving reports to PDF format is not supported. The program provides Internet Search links and a To Do List. Legacy creates good looking web pages. Supports photos and CSS. Same sex couples are not supported either as parents or marriage. Polygamous and sequential multiple marriages and incestuous relationships are supported. Multiple parental relationships such as including adoptive parents or guardians are supported. Supports multiple names. Many menu items when selected display a nagging message that the feature is available only in the Deluxe Edition. Greying out and disabling the unavailable options would have been less obtrusive. |
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Related Products and Links
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Horizontal pedigree chart with individual and family displays that can shown at the right side. Displays, adds, and edits individuals and events. Easy to search by name. Can add photos to the tree. With internet connection, edits are posted to Ancestry.com, locations are prompted, and Ancestry.com can be searched. Location aware devices can also supply current city for event location. Does not support sources. No descendant, people, or place list view. No bookmarks or history list of viewed people. Requires (free or paid) Ancestry.com registration. |
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Requires internet connection. |
Gramps
ScionPC
Legacy Standard
MyHeritage Family Tree Builder
RootsMagic Essentials
Brother's Keeper
Ancestral Quest Basics
Ancestry
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Editor
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| This software category is maintained by volunteer editor okrick. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here. |
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Tags
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free genealogy, best free genealogy, free genealogy programs, free genealogy program, genealogy software, free genealogy software, genealogy program free, genealogy programs, genealogy, free family tree, best free family tree, free family tree programs, free family tree program, family tree software, free family tree software, family tree program free, family tree programs, family tree |
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Comments
Wow. Very helpful, but I am SO confused.
I just got several pages of geneology from a cousin and want to put them in a program.
HOWEVER, I want to keep from doing a lot of unnecessary typing - oops I don't like THAT program, THIS one is better, starting from scratch.
So I thought I would put data in an EXCEL worksheet and import into a program. Then if I decide to change programs, be able to do the same thing.
So I'm looking for a program with import/export capability.
HOWEVER, since many of the comments here look like Greek, I may be way over my head.
SO, can anyone tell me best program to use with data import feature?
and please remember, I am techno-challenged.
Thanks!
Every genealogy propgram will import and export to a GEDCOM file. I imported my dad's Roots Magic GEDCOM file into Gramps and it worked great.
You will run into trouble if you start saving data that isn't included in the GEDCOM scheme. Proprietary formats could include sources, images, recordings. Those are fine as long as the company stays in business and you want to pay what they ask, but if you share the data with someone else they probably won't have the same program. If you use Excel (or the open source LibreOffice Calc) you will have your own format to sort out.
Gramps seems to be the only real open source genealogy program. It is better than the old PAF from the Mormons, and has a ton of capabilities. I back it up in their format, but also back up occasionally in GEDCOM.
Thanks for yours & Vandamme's prompt replies. I hope he sees this as well.
Looking around, I started putting information into a free account at FamilySearch.org. I ASSUME since they have access to LDS data, that would be most helpful, and I have found several ancestors already listed.
I did NOT check on their export options, but I think this is most helpful for my needs.
My question had to do with Excel, that I have most experience in, would be best way to enter data and give me most flexibility in whatever program(s) I might discover later. And being tech dangerous, I don't know anything about GEDCOM at all.
I think I am going to continue with FamilySearch. If you or anyone has comments on going that direction, I would welcome input.
As to my original question, after your comments, I did a quick search and http://orba-design.com/ged.php offers a method to import excel to GEDCOM format.
I did NOT explore at this time, and only put it here in case someone is looking for ways to follow my approach using Excel.
Thanks again for you help.
I went to the Orba Design site and opened up their template with LibreOffice Calc, and it worked fine. But I didn't try their converter.
I found out that GEDCOM was started by the LDS and just kind of grew from there, with some companies making extensions to it for various things.GEDCOM is text based, but others like Excel and LO spreadsheets and Gramps's are XML. There's no standard, or official sanctioning entity to evaluate new formats or features and make them standard. Us engineers have the IEEE, which is why your wireless card works with your router.
I sent in a minor bug report to Gramps and they came right back replying that they fixed that bug in the latest version. So they are moving quick and actively developing and polishing.
And it runs natively on Linux for when you outgrow Windows... ;-)
I used the Legacy one. I did not have any virus protection at the time. I now have virus protection and I scanned my laptop for viruses and when it was done I no longer had my family tree. It was full of viruses so I lost everything I had put in. I am going to try to find a different one to use.
Gramps is up to version 4.1.1. I found some bugs in ver.3 and I see they've been fixed.It's in the repositories of openSUSE and Ubuntu so install is quick & EZ in Linux.
Gramps: Kaspersky flagged as containing PDM:Trojan.Win32Bazona.a on download.
You have to watch where you get software when you run Windows. Get it right from the Gramps Project, not a "freeware site". And antivirus programs have a lot of false positives.
I run Linux, and usually get apps right from the distro repositories so I know they're clean.
Gramps is probably the only open source genealogy program, so deserves support. It runs great in openSUSE (KDE based) and Mint (Debian/Ubuntu/Gnome3 based). No fooling around with Wine or VM.
I have used MyHeritage Family Tree Builder for years. I HATE the nag "Feature" that I can't seem to turn off. I NEVER want to publish to the web.
I'm looking to replace FTB because now I can no longer create a book report. Not unless I buy a third party software package. What part of FREE doesn't MyHeritage understand. FREE MEANS I DON'T HAVE TO PAY TO USE!!!!!
Looks like I will have to try Legacy Standard. I hope I can export/import my data.
I use Legacy but when using the Individual report Legacy is not consistent with the numbering system. For example I use the d'Aboville numbering. When printing Individual reports for a random person, Legacy allocates number 1 against that individual and not the relevant d'Aboville number. Any suggestions? Is there a program out there that overcomes this?
Thank you very much for this review (and all other reviews).
One thing that is missed in this review is multiple language support for data entry. I need to enter non-Western encoded characters (Chinese in my case). I was very excited to try Legacy because of all the features, only to find out the characters entered all translate to "??" marks. This rendered the application useless for me. I tried Gramps next and it did beautifully with Chinese entry. It even took me to the right place in "OpenStreetMap" based on a location which was entered in Chinese. I haven't tried other applications down the line yet as I'll work with Gramps now to see how it goes. I will miss Legacy's intuitive interface but the lack of the language feature was a deal breaker for me.
Perhaps an update to the Pros and Cons about languages supported for each software would help others.
Hello, I have an update about double byte character entry for a couple of the software. In my previous post, I said that Gramps allows Chinese character entry. This is still accurate for the software GUI, however I found out that the reports produced do not render the Chinese characters (I tried the PDF reports). I have moved down the list to MyHeritage Family Tree Builder, and that both allows Chinese character entry and generates reports with the Chinese characters intact.
Regarding the nag factor of MyHeritage Family Tree Builder, I recently found that there is a way to turn off the opening of the website at program start. With the application open, go to Tools -> Options -> General. Here, there are options to set "Show splash screen" and "Show My Sites page on startup" to 'No'. I hope that helps.
Sadly Personal Ancestral File is no longer available from the LDS Familysearch site. It is still available elsewhere as is the (essential) PAF Companion, but the latter no longer seems to accept the security PIN.
I have been using Legacy Family Tree for the past 5 years. It does support same sex marriage and same sex parents. You just have to turn off the 'warning' of this 'error' in the Customize menu.
[Commercial version feature comment removed]
Thanks for the reply, okrick. I am using IE 10 as my browser, and when I click on the Quick Selection Guide link, I am only taken as far down as the ScionPC discussion. Also, please note that I'm not sure from the discussion which free program gets the highest rating or which programs work well with the 64 bit version of Windows.
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