Family History Software

The time has come. I have decided to change my genealogy software from Family Historian to Family Tree Maker.

When I first started my family history journey, I bought Family Tree Maker as it seemed the logical choice due to the syncing with Ancestry but this came with many pitfalls (as explained a previous blog post). 

Everything was easy and lots of information was available, but as the years progressed I realized that I had made loads of mistakes, connecting wrong people and sources.  So, after some thought I decided I needed a software programme that didn’t connect to these websites quite so easily.  (Yes I know that this feature can be switched off, but its too tempting to keep it on, and I didn’t want the same mistakes again). 

My first choice was Legacy, but after a while I found it to complicated to use and the mapping feature doesn’t work, and the work area was very old fashioned, but it does offer great options for reports and charts. 

I then tried Roots Magic, but it just wasn’t for me, not sure why but I didn’t enjoy the work area or how you input the information, I think it looks slightly dated, even after the recent updates.

Heredis was my next option,  and while it is every easy to use, and it does offer a personal website, I wasn’t a fan of the main work area, it is very busy with a lot of information on one screen.  It does offer new features each year with an update, but unfortunately you have to pay for and can be quite costly over time.

So, I finally settled on Family Historian, and what great software it is.  Love all the report options there are and very easy to use.  The reports and charts are well laid out and very customisable.  My only problem was how can I share all the information with everyone else, I know, build a website! And that is what I did.  Bought a domain name and off I went.

Now everything is going great, but I am finding that I am wasting a lot of time running 3 options – my private genealogy software, my website (selected information, photo’s and documents), and still keeping a basic tree on Ancestry.  The traffic through the website has been very slow with not much response and that is after nearly 2 years, and its not a cheap option to run.  Could the money be put to better use?, I do think it can.

Fast forward to the beginning of this month!  The decision has been made and I have started the process of moving everything back to Family Tree Maker.  I used a basic GEDCOM file with no sources or media, and am working my way back through each person adding necessary information.  This is an easy process as I still have Family Historian running at the same time, and working with Ancestry (now I know all the pitfalls) does have a lot of advantages.  This is also a good way to double check for any errors.

Certain documents and photographs will be kept private, but I am always willing to share with anyone who is related.

Through this blog I will share stories (which can be linked back to Ancestry) and regular updates will be posted as my tree grows and family expands.

My domain name and website are due for renewal in June, so it will be time to say goodbye!  It’s been fun, but I won’t miss learning all the HTML codes which took up a lot of my time, time which can be spent searching for all those missing family members.

If anyone has any hints or recommendations of any other family history software please let me know, thank you.

So here’s to the future ….   Watch this space!!