Free Family Tree Software

Free genealogy tools

Personal Ancestral File 5.2 (free download or *est. $8.25 CD-ROM with Personal Ancestral File Companion, see below) was created and is maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), which runs the world's largest genealogy repository, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Reviewers say that Personal Ancestral File is straightforward and uncluttered. About.com's Kimberly Powell notes that it's "perfect for novice computer users and genealogists."

Personal Ancestral File 5.2 does all the basics well. It has efficient data entry, well-designed family group sheets and pedigree charts, and good source documentation. The program also imports and exports GEDCOMs with the best of them. The latest version allows the creation of templates for customized data entry and print reports in a variety of languages.

To create fancy charts, however, you'll need the add-on Personal Ancestral File Companion (*est. $7 download, or included on the Personal Ancestral File CD-ROM). There is also a free "evaluation" version of the Personal Ancestral File Companion that lets you evaluate its features, but limits the number of reports you can generate and disables some program functions. Compared to other highly rated genealogy programs, Personal Ancestral File falls short in the multimedia category. It doesn't have book publishing or website publishing features, and there are limitations to the number of photo and audio files you can attach. But if you want a basic family tree maker for recording and organizing your data, Personal Ancestral File is an excellent choice.

Family Tree Legends 5.0 (free download), from the creators of the popular GenForum (http://genforum.genealogy.com) and GenCircles.com websites, gets good reviews for its friendly interface and easy navigation. Like other software, it is GEDCOM compatible. It can also save your work in HTML for possible uploading to a personal website. About.com's Kimberly Powell writes, "Where it really shines is in its tight Internet integration, making it easy to backup your database, look for and download matches from other family trees, and publish your family tree online with just a few clicks." You can also back up your data on CD or DVD. Family Tree Magazine loves its interface: "Uncluttered screens, attractive graphics and a refreshing pastel color scheme make Family Tree Legends the most attractive genealogy software you'll find."

One unique feature is that Family Tree Legends automatically backs up data on secure servers. It can even publish that information on the web without any effort on your part. Family Tree Legends also has a unique SmartMatching feature. The program will compare the names in your family file to those in the GenCircles pedigree database, so you can add new branches to your tree. Dick Eastman of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter raves about this feature: "In my case, it was 100 percent accurate. Every single person listed is, indeed, an ancestor of mine. I have never seen that degree of accuracy on any other online data matching service that I have ever used." Once the program has displayed a match, you can either merge all the data into an individual's record or merge one fact at a time. One drawback is that Legends doesn't attempt to look for data-entry errors on its own.