Heritage Album

recomend a free family tree program?

im lookin for a free family history program i can download, compatible with GEDCOM. one with a good interface.

Public Comments

1. The one I like most that is free is Legacy Family Tree 7.0. It has many excellent features and if you decide to upgrade later it's not expensive. Another reason for my recommendation is that Legacy is about to launch Legacy 7.5 which will still have a standard free version and a deluxe upgrade that for which you would have to pay. In this new version, Legacy will be integrated with FamilySearch.org like FamilyTree Maker is integrated with Ancestry.com. http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ If you want a simple program without all the bells and whistles you could alway download PAF from FamilySearch.org at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
2. I have used PAF (personal ancestral file) from www.familysearch.org for ... uh... over 20 yrs. yes, that means with newer versions. Oldie but goodie (one of the originals). If you find out that you want more, then upgrade to a pay program.
3. You said "Free", but - if you get serious you're going to be using it 2 - 4 hours a night, 1 - 7 days a week, for years, so you might want to spend a little and get more features. The makers of FTM, RM and others could not sell their products if the free ones had everything a person could ever want. I like Roots Magic, $29, from rootsmagic.com The Mormons will give you PAF for free. Go to http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp look for "Free PAF Family History Software" Family Tree Maker is the market leader in the USA. Just Google it. Prices vary with how many extras you buy. You can also Google "Genealogy Software Comparison" or "Genealogy Software reviews" to see professionals' opinions. Any genealogy program worthy of the name will import and export a GEDCOM, pretty much the way any make of passenger automobile will have four tires. "Interface" depends on what you want to interface with. I have tried PAF, FTM and Roots Magic. IMHO, RM is the easiest to use.
4. These programs are only for the beginners. If you have any sort of luck at all, the program will soon crash. Your best bet is to use word processing and type it up. That way, you can make all the back up copies you desire. All of those GEDCOM programs allow only one installation onto your harddrive; if your harddrive crashes, all your data is lost. It not only happened to me when I first started and had only a few hundred names, but to many others, as well. Of course, you could upload it; but, remember, anything on the net is open to any of the 7 Billion persons on the planet that have internet access, currently more than 1 Billion persons.
5. All genealogy programs work with GEDCOM files, it's the industry standard. As far as beginners are concerned, the Mormons will let you download their PAF (Personal Ancestral File) for free, and that's as good as any. (www.familysearch.org) Personally I recommend Family Tree Maker, but that isn't free.