Do I need to buy software?

[BraisherT]

OK, so when I decided to look into the family history, I shelled out (gulp) for the ancestry membership with access to parish records etc. I plan to get as much info as I can in the year, then maybe switch to a site with 1911 census data, or go offline (depending on finances!). Now I'm thinking about how to store all the info I am collecting on ancestry on my own computer, so I can work with it after my subscription runs out.

I don't want to pay for flash software if I don't have to...I really just want to be able to view and print out each individual or family's information (names, dates, places) and a tree. I'm working on a Mac (and it will imitate windows, but I prefer it not to if it isn't necessary). What would you recommend?

[nainmaddie]

Hi BraisherT

My Family Tree magazine arrived this morning and guess what I read? An article on Apple Mac and easy to use programmes.

There are4 possibles
1) Reunion got the highest rating from Which magazine. I have used that in the past and I enjoyed using it. Available from www.genealogysupplies.com

2)MacFamily Tree 5. which did not rate very well.

3)Genealogy Pro.

4)Gene.

I have just realised that you are over the water !! I do not know where you get your supplies from. Any problems post again

Maddie

[DaveHam9]

Hello BraisherT,


Have a look at the list here:

http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm#Mac


I use Windows XP so I've not used any Mac software.

Regards,

Dave

[BraisherT]

Thanks Dave and Maddie. Cyndi's list is a bit daunting in terms of amount of info, I must say - so very useful to have some remarks about popularity from 'My Family Tree'. Reunion actually sounds great - I'll have to think about affording it - at 65 quid it's not cheap! Maybe I'll just use Windows and get the LDS programme instead!

[DaveHam9]

Hello BraisherT,

I use PAF5 and find it stable and sufficient for holding the data. It can import and export gedcom files. The free add-on print option is ok for making charts. It has a 'print to file' option which I use. I then keep the charts as .rtf files. There is also a better version for printing charts that is not free.

Regards,

Dave

[woodlander]

Try this before buying :-

http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/

I have the de luxe version of Legacy but only because it was gifted - the standard free download is sufficient for most needs.
I also have a tree on Tribal Pages where I store photos etc - if you look at photo albums section on my tree you'll see it's useful to store census images etc. without using up your own computer memory.

http://tribalpages.com/

My ref is: - bkch955.tribalpages.com named Audrey's Lanky Roots and the password to look around is Pilky [no security issues, the site witholds private info and living relatives]

[BraisherT]

That's great - looks like I have a couple of options now. Thanks so much! It makes all the difference knowing that other people have tried things and are not driven up the wall by them (my experience with 'free trials' of software before has been that so many features were disabled it was nearly unusable)! Cheers,
Tamsin