What kind of software programs can you download for genealogy?

Answer 1

There are a number of genealogy programs out there, but there are drawbacks to all of them. A recommendation would depend on what your ultimate goal is. Do you wish to print out a full genealogical chart? Are your desires to make a photobook with the information? Do you want to import or export your tree to your computer? What kind of variability are you looking for.

All genealogical sites offer you a way to build a family tree as part of your membership, but it's their program and not yours. It's quite nice because it allows you to attach copies of original documentation as well as your own research papers. In order to do this, you have to pay a monthly membership fee. Importantly, you CANNOT export your tree either as a "family" view or as a "pedigree" view--only as simple text. Even more importantly, once your subscription lapses, your family tree and documentation belong to the site, not to you. As long as you have the subscription, you can access your tree.

So, importing or exporting your tree is really important. You can export your basic tree it to your computer, but it comes as a pure text file that is very difficult to decipher. In fact, it's called a gedcom file. It mean GEnealogical Database COMmunity file. It's a proprietary specification for exchanging genealogy data between different genealogy softwares. As I said, it comes to you as a text file with nothing else. To have better options, then, you're required to buy an upgraded version of a tree builder.

I've not tried any of these upgraded programs, but you do have to sync them to your paid subscription database on your paid family tree site. The syncing process can take hours. Then, you still have many of the same limitations you began with.

Of particular note, the photobook options, at least for the site where I have my membership, limit you to printing five generations of relatives from the home person (you or your parents). You don't get any more levels no matter how you try to finagle it. It's a proprietary database limitation that is preset by the proprietor. The photobook then concentrates on the people in the five levels by adding all the site documentation, but no stories that you may have uploaded to make your ancestor personal or provide documentation and arguments for why this person is your ancestor.

I'd urge you to check out all the reviews, particularly the negative reviews on these products. Then go look at samples of what they produce and see if it's something that strikes your fancy. It's very easy to do by googling "family tree makers" or genealogical databases" or anything that you can think of.

Now, what I ultimately did was go to a different program altogether. I found a program called Smartdraw. It's a drawing program with just about unlimited options and it serves a lot more functions than just genealogy. But within the program are flowcharts--one that is easily adaptable to a family tree. It is set up for pages so you have to break your family tree out per page. It's impossible to print on one page a genealogy that contains thousands and thousands of ancestors. In its electronic form, you can attach documentation. When you print it out, the documentation doesn't print with it. But the beauty of the program is the ability to design incredible, unique backdrops and layouts for your genealogy, and insert family pictures. You can input as much or not of your genealogy into the pages. The big drawbacks are that it's not a database and that you must manually input all of your genealogical information. With a concentrated effort, I think that could easily be done in a week's time for a genealogy with several thousand people in it. With this program, you own it; whatever you put into it, it's yours forever and you can make it look exactly like you want it to look with unlimited visuals and options. It can import Word, Adobe, html, jpeg, tif, and other files, as well as export them to exceedingly high quality pages that are as clear and crisp as you could ever imagine.

That's really not a sales pitch--those are the reasons that I chose to go with the SmartDraw program. It wouldn't be for everyone. Definitely, you must decide what your needs are first and exactly how much time you want to spend on meeting those needs. That's your absolute first step. Then go search for a program that meets most, if not all, of them. If you can't find one, the answer may lie in a genealogical site membership in combination with your own computer program.

There's no perfect pill out there for everyone and everyone has different needs.