Genealogy Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

genealogy software

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Lorraine

Lorraine Report 19 Dec 2015 18:50

Hi can anyone recommend a good software package to buy?. I've only used genesreunited so far to store my data, but would like it on my pc too.
I was looking at family tree maker but see its being stopped after December 2015.
Thanks in advance
Lorraine :-)

+++DetEcTive+++

+++DetEcTive+++ Report 19 Dec 2015 19:38

Have a look here, but disregard FTM. From what users have said, it will be supported for another 12 months.

http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Many of the programmes have a free trial download you can try before you commit. My offline tree software package is Family Historian. I've owned the package for a number of years and am still discovering the more indepth aspects of it. It also works well at a basic level.
Although the link says it gives Web Hints, those are to the subsciption site MyHistory. There easy enough to ignore or to turn off. One thing that appeals to me is that depth of knowledge of the user-led support group. They create free add-on programmes to run along side as well as answer 'stupid' questions. ;-)

Lorraine

Lorraine Report 19 Dec 2015 20:09

great, thanks for your help

Jenpen

Jenpen Report 20 Dec 2015 14:14

I have also used family historian for many years and I have found it great for any level of use

Jenny

Lorraine

Lorraine Report 20 Dec 2015 17:17

thanks :-)

Inky1

Inky1 Report 21 Dec 2015 12:16

You state "store".
Do you mean just that? ie backup storage. In which case gedcom file exports will suffice. But are otherwise not of much use.
Or do you want something free/cheap that has limited functionality, but which will enable you to view/print offline?
Or something more? ie good/current software?

Lorraine

Lorraine Report 21 Dec 2015 13:57

sorry for not being clear...........
yes I'm looking for a decent software package, not too difficult to use.

SuffolkVera

SuffolkVera Report 21 Dec 2015 15:55

I like Family Historian as well. I've had it for a number of years and haven't yet got to grips with all it can do but it is easy to use at the basic level.

Andysmum

Andysmum Report 21 Dec 2015 16:33

Unless you are particularly keen on being able to link to Ancestry, I would go for FTM. As it will no longer be "supported" you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand copy. You will still be able to do all the things you want, except sync with Ancestry.

Lorraine

Lorraine Report 21 Dec 2015 17:58

thanks for the help everyone

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 22 Dec 2015 16:04

Or, as an alternative -

I use Roots Magic, and am happy with it.

BrianW

BrianW Report 28 Dec 2015 21:22

I have used PAF (Personal Ancestry File) from the Familysearch website (Church of Latter Day Saints) for years.
It's free and does everything you would expect (except some of the bells and whistles found on the paid-for packages) including accounting for cousins marrying, multiple partners, divorces etc.

Kense

Kense Report 29 Dec 2015 09:27

I understand that PAF support was discontinued a couple of years ago.

Can it still be obtained? Does it work on Windows 10?

Ken2

Ken2 Report 29 Dec 2015 10:26

Kense/BrianW
.
PAF was discontinued in July 2013 and I don't think it can still be obtained.

See https://familysearch.org/paf

Inky1

Inky1 Report 30 Dec 2015 12:11

I have PAF on my old XP pc. Kept as a back-up pc, though never connected to the internet since Microsoft stopped support for XP.
I have PAF5 on my 2014 machine.
Yes, there is no support. But so what? As BrianW indicates; it is a simple stable database without bells&whistles. In my opinion the printing options are good. And you can send to either a printer or to a .rtf file. I use the latter if I want to forward just a part of my tree to someone else.
My prime tree is on here. When I download a .ged I open a new .paf and import the .ged.
Yes, it does work on Windows10.

Pamela

Pamela Report 30 Dec 2015 23:25

I've been using Legacy for quite a few years and found it easy to use. You can download the standard version from their website for free. The deluxe version costs about $20. They also have a very good facebook group where questions get answered.