#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER FOR FREE#
#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER SOFTWARE#
#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER TRIAL#

I will be keeping the products up with the latest fixes from the three companies. For reference, I am using the latest versions of each, which as of today is: I will also create a running comparison table, which will grow as I take up each new feature or challenge for the three products.įor simplicity, let’s refer to the three products by their initials: “RM” (RootsMagic), “FTM” (Family Tree Maker), and “LFT” (Legacy Family Tree). I will blog about my experience, feature by feature. That said, all three of these appear very reasonably priced for their value.įor the benefit of us all, I plan to begin rebuilding my family tree on all three platforms - the same data on all three. And I will expect the company I pay to fix bugs and keep the product up with technology changes. I’m not willing to work under the “It ain’t perfect, but it’s cheap” frame of logic. And all respect to the cheap and free products, but I don’t want my hands tied. I want a product I can stick with.įurther, a lesser product will likely limit what I can capture from the treasures of genealogy I am digging up. And so far, every GEDCOM transfer I have ever done has been imperfect. Once I have done my family tree with excellence, as I plan to do, I am not willing to lose one sentence or even one word to an imperfect GEDCOM transfer. “Oh,” you may say, “I can just move a GEDCOM from my free product to a better one down the road.”Īnd I reply, “What are you willing to lose in the translation?” The product must keep pace with the changes in our technology for several decades to come. We are choosing the infrastructure that will house, secure, organize, and report on tens of thousands of hours of meticulous work. But we’re not looking for a quick-fix utility.

#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER FOR FREE#

Let me say of those, thank you, but absolutely not for me. If I’m looking for a quick utility program to accomplish a specific task, I look for free options with the best of them. I realize, also, that there are free options. I am most likely to find my strongest basket from these, so they will be my short list. Given what I hear from the field, genealogy has its Big Three: Family Tree Maker®, Legacy® Family Tree, and RootsMagic®. Choose the product most likely to be here in twenty years. But my years in the computer industry taught me to put my eggs in the strongest basket.

#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER SOFTWARE#

I realize, of course, that there are more than three genealogy desktop software programs. And I want to do it with right software for me.

#LEGACY FAMILY TREE VS FAMILY TREE MAKER TRIAL#

I am starting from scratch, applying all I’ve learned from trial and error, self-teaching, and formal training.

I have packed out of sight decades of research and tree climbing, because too much of it was done before I knew how. I find myself in a peculiarly good position to take up the challenge of analyzing the three top genealogy desktop software programs side by side. Seeking the right genealogy desktop software What genealogy desktop software can best support decades of intricate research and documentation? RootsMagic™? Family Tree Maker®? Legacy® Family Tree? I will begin to examine the “Big Three” products, feature by feature, until the best path becomes clear. If I want to do it right this time, I must have the right tools.

Legacy family tree vs family tree maker