Family Tree Software

I am often asked about the best family history software packages. There are many commercial packages, plus some freely available online. Genealogy Today recently published a comparison of 49 software packages to help genealogists evaluate dozens of family tree software solutions at http://familytreesoftware.genealogytoday.com/

However there was one they missed and that is the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) from FamilySearch. This is a free desktop genealogy and family history program for Windows. It allows you to quickly and easily collect, organise and share your family information. It is found at:  https://familysearch.org/products . I have been using this program for some time, but new products are always coming out. FamilySearch has quite a few new programs on their products page, including Ancestral Quest (AQ). I have not used this program as yet, but it is supposed to be a fully-featured family tree program. The windows versions of PAF were created from an earlier version of AQ, so it is an easy transition to using the screens, reports and other functions in AQ if you have been using PAF. The new AQ includes features not found in PAF and FamilySearch considers it an upgrade to PAF.

Happy recording.