Genealogy Software

Many people have asked me for recommendations on genealogy software packages. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Note that these are my personal comments. I am not affiliated with any of these products except as noted.

The first question you have to answer is: "What will you be doing with your genealogy information?" Some details:

• Do you want to build a website? Most packages will allow you to generate a website. Some generate html which you upload to your website; others build and upload the entire site for you.
• Do you want to share your data with others or import other people's data into your records? All software shares records using the "GEDCOM" format. Most proprietary software stores record in its own proprietary format. If you are using a proprietary package, it will likely lose data when you export to gedcom.
• Will you just store text information or will you be storing multi-media as well? While gedcom 5.5 supports external (and internal) multi-media information, many software packages lose this information when you transfer from one system to another.
• Are you doing specifically Jewish genealogy? If so, it is nice to be able to enter Hebrew and Yiddish names in Hebrew rather than in transliteration. It's also nice to have software that supports a Hebrew calendar and Yahrzeit dates.

I use Family Tree Maker for my records which is probably the "industry standard" best software for starting out. It's easy to use and has a nice "build a website" functionality. It's also relatively inexpensive -- ~$35 or so.

• Upside:
  • inexpensive, easy to use, intuitive
  • builds, uploads, and hosts a website for you
  • allows import and export of gedcom
  • good support for multi-media -- pictures, sound, video, etc.
• Downside:
  • hosting is done on FTM's own website, which means your users have to see their advertisements, pop-ups, etc. (That's the cost of this "free" service.)
  • Made by the Mormons, so it includes Mormon-specific information like fields for Baptism dates which you can't get rid of. No support for anything Jewish, though you can add your own fields like "Hebrew name." Importing and exporting with gedcom loses some of the proprietary information. Note that you can prevent this by only using gedcom-compliant features, but there is no list of them so you need to figure out for yourself what to avoid. Also, that takes away the advantage of all the proprietary features.

If you are highly computer savy, there are lots of free packages available from SourceForge. Most either store in gedcom or MySql.

• Upside:
  • The dollar price is right, and since you are highly technical and this is all opensource, you can add whatever features you want.
• Downside:
  • little or no support

An excellent and supported free package is called "PAF" or "Personal Ancestral File." You can download it for free from http://www.ldscatalog.com. (If that direct link is broken, go to http://www.ldscatalog.com and click on "Software Downlaods - Free".) It is not quite as fully functional as FTM, but the price is right and it is quite good. Also, you don't need to be highly technical to use it.

• Upside:
  • free, easy to use, intuitive
  • builds a website for you, but you need to upload it and host it (Your ISP probably provides you with the space to do this if you know how to use it.)
  • allows import and export of gedcom (I don't know if it does multi-media or not.)
• Downside:
  • You need to be able to upload and host the website.
  • Like FTM, it's made by the Mormons, so it includes Mormon-specific information like fields for Baptism dates. I am told there is some way to get rid of them.
  • No support for anything Jewish.

If you are doing Jewish genealogy, DoroTree is the Jewish genealogy software. I haven't used it so I can't review it.

• Upside:
  • does calendar conversions and Yahrzeits for you
  • allows Hebrew data entry
• Downside: unknown. I haven't used it.

For your information, my web pages were generated with PhpGedView, an opensource project that I am helping to develop. I am also the owner of GendorBendor. I believe that PhpGedView is the best software out there for making a website out of your gedom file and that GendorBendor will make it even better.

• Upside:
  • both are free and are easy to download and use
• Downside:
  • you need to host it and do it yourself

For further information, I suggest reading comments from the soc.genealogy.jewish newsgroup and the FAQ on JewishGen.

If you have questions, you can reach me at david@bendory.com. Good luck!