This is the landing page for The Family Tree Software Alternatives series, which reviews 14 major Mac and Windows applications for recording family trees. The focus is on compliance with the GEDCOM standard, both for importing and exporting files, but other aspects, including usability and major features, are addressed as well. Some of the information is now out of date, since some of the applications have released newer versions, but most of the points still hold true.
Legacy Family Tree
Why All Genealogy Apps Should Support GEDCOM 5.5.1 (Updated 12 Dec 2021)
Readers who have been following this series will know that I believe genealogy apps should support GEDCOM 5.5.1. There are two versions of GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data Communication) reported in GEDCOM files by most genealogy software today: versions 5.5 and 5.5.1. The last “official” version dated 1996 from the Family History Department (today known as FamilySearch) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was [Read more…] about Why All Genealogy Apps Should Support GEDCOM 5.5.1 (Updated 12 Dec 2021)
Family Tree Maker to GEDCOM to Other Apps Crosswalk (Updated 4 Apr 2022)
The table below maps most of the fields in Family Tree Maker to their GEDCOM 5.5.1 tag (at least how FTM exports them). As I complete my testing of each app, I’ll update the table. You can use it as a quick reference and as a checklist of fields that might require corrective action before or after you export your family tree to a GEDCOM. If you click the image below, it will open in Dropbox, where you can download it to your device. Items highlighted in red are missing or handled incorrectly; if the field name is highlighted, then it’s imported incorrectly into the app, while if the GEDCOM tag is highlighted, then it’s exported incorrectly to GEDCOM. Items in yellow are custom fields, which may be problematic for some applications. Please let us know in the Comments if you find any errors.
[Read more…] about Family Tree Maker to GEDCOM to Other Apps Crosswalk (Updated 4 Apr 2022)Family Tree Software Alternatives, Part 11: Legacy Family Tree 8 (Updated 20 Aug 2016)
Details about Legacy Family Tree 8*
Application: Legacy Family Tree
Current Version: 9
Supported OS: Windows
Mobile Apps: None
Price: Free (standard edition), $29.85 (deluxe edition)
Publisher: Millenia Corp.
Website: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com
GenSoftReviews: 2.97 stars out of 5
The Perils of Following the GEDCOM Standard (Updated 28 Apr 2016)
After testing a few desktop genealogy applications for how well they handled GEDCOM files, it occurred to me that I should write an article about my testing philosophy and methodology, as well as some of the problems with complying with the GEDCOM standard. Take a moment to ponder that: this series was motivated by the problem of genealogy software like Family Tree Maker (FTM) not complying with the GEDCOM standard. But there may be unintended consequences, both for users and software publishers, of following the standard. [Read more…] about The Perils of Following the GEDCOM Standard (Updated 28 Apr 2016)