Hello, again,
At our September meeting
we talked at length about family tree software and why you would want to use
desktop in addition to online trees. It
boils down to having control over your tree, being responsible for your own
tree, and not being thrown for a loop when the businesses make capricious
changes. As we know some websites are
owned by equity companies and driven by the bottom line while others are owned
by genealogists and are more responsive to genealogists.
The top three desktop
software packages are Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, and Legacy and we have
members using each of them. In our group
a number are using FTM current and older versions while fewer are using
RootsMagic and Legacy. During our
meetings we can break out into small groups to share information.
The best article I have
seen is a Family Tree Magazine online premium article called “Online Tree or
Genealogy software? Deciding Where to Keep Your Data”. It’s here. I was able to read it without a premium
subscription but you may need to seek out the print version at your library or
on Zinio. It’s called “Tree-Keeping” in
the Oct-Nov 2017 Family Tree Magazine on page 48.
One consideration is which
websites the software syncs with. Sync
is short for synchronize. This feature
allows you to update one tree and then automatically update the other to keep
them the same, or in sync. For example,
Family Tree Maker (FTM) can sync with Ancestry.com. If you make a change in FTM it is moved to
Ancestry.com and vice versa. That is, if you make a change in Ancestry.com the
change is moved to FTM.
Family Tree Maker syncs with Ancestry.com and also costs twice as much as the
others. You can find this information in
the articles.
RootsMagic
syncs with Ancestry.com and Family Search.
Also has a free trial version.
Legacy syncs
with Family Search and the Legacy version 10 will sync with MyHeritage. Also has a free trial version.
Bottom line: All three,
FTM, RootsMagic and Legacy are comprehensive packages and the selection comes
down to personal preference.
I have included this information on a blog page in the left
sidebar called Family Tree Desktop Software so you will always be able to find
it.
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