Genealogy software

[Arborbridge]

I run some software called "Genopro" but it's a little naff and was looking for something better which I can use and recommend to my children. My daughter has a free trial with ancestry, but I don't think she will want to continue due to cost. Meanwhile, I have already collected much data which I can share with her, but I'm trying to settle on software first.

What do people use these days? Genopro came out of the Ark and wouldn't strike a "modern person" as easy to use if they hadn't grown up with it.


Arb.

[DrFfybes]

My wife uses Family Historian, she used to use Generations but now only available for Apple apparently.

I would say she's a bitmore than a 'hobbiest' though, her tree goes back to 1570, although she spends so much time at the records office one of the new staff asked what she wanted for the Xmas meal thought she worked there.

Paul

[staffordian]

I have used Legacy Family Tree* for twenty years plus, through several versions and upgrades. It's not entirely intuitive to use but it is extremely comprehensive and has a very active and helpful Facebook group with users who are very willing to help out with any queries or problems.

The basic version is free to download and use unconditionally. Many users never pay for the Deluxe version and are happy with it, but buying the Deluxe version unlocks more features and can be enabled at any time; it doesn't involve anything more than entering your supplied password into the free version.

Happy to answer any queries if you have any.

Staffordian

* Link below...

https://legacyfamilytree.com/

Edited to add: It will only run on a Windows PC. There's no Apple version though I understand it can run on an Apple if some sort of Windows emulator is installed.

[tjh290633]

I used a freebie program from the Times for many years, but it wouldn't work on a 32 bit computer when my old one expired. I changed to Legacy, which as the post above says, works fine. They have had several upgrades since I got it, none of which I have taken up.

Legacy does everything that I need. It probably does lots that I don't need. Family trees are easily produced, as PDFs which can be printed on A1 if needed. You can store relevant documents with a person's entry quite easily.

TJH

[stewamax]

My tree was built using Family Tree Maker (FTM).
FTM was bought by Ancestry who later apparently decided that cloud subscription services were the way to go and brokered it off toSoftware MacKiev.
There is a 2019 64-bit version of FTM at around £90 and it can synch with an equivalent Ancestry tree.
Its benefit to me is that it doesn't try to add lots of unwanted garbage about then-current events and so on.

[Arborbridge]

Thanks for the responses and I'll take a look at each in turn.

Interesting that no one has responded saying they've used Genopro - I obviously strayed into a backwater when I downloaded that one! It has been my staple for decades, but I can see it isn't easy to use or format, so my "kids" wouldn't bother.

I didn't reply yesterday because I was on a mission to Tower Hamlets archive, where I had the excitement of seeing a original document naming my 3xgreat grandfather on a mortgage for property in London. I hadn't known until last week that he was ever in such a position.
To a first timer, it was quite something to see a document dated 1858 with an ancestor's signature on it. It was a huge document written in classic legalise - one of those interminable sentences in which you forget the sense of the beginning before you reach the end! However, I understand he raised £200 on a parcel land and property as part of a consortium, to be paid back by 1870. What happened next, there seems no clue, and the maps they had there did not show the required period. I'm guessing it could have been some sort of building project, but without further records I'm at a dead end. Unfortunately, there wasn't the plan showing the land area which was referred to in the document, though I do know the probably address from other searches.

Anyhow, it was an intriguing find which happened almost by chance when I was faced with a search box and typed in his name, not expecting anything to come up.

Arb.