Genealogy Chat

I'm quite new to all this - have been building my tree on GC for the past few months - still a long way to go. Eventually want to compile it all into a 'gift' for my grandchildren. To this end, can anyone suggest a good software package that will allow transfer of information from GC and allow me to either to download onto a CD or a package from which I can print a variety of charts. I would particularly like to be able to print a chart showing ALL ancestors.

i would also like to do this so need advice aswell lou

I use the Personal Ancestry File or PAF, It is an excellent programme and can be freely downloaded from the LDS site. I have been using it for over a year now. Jim

I use 'Legacy' ver 4.0 which can be downloaded online I believe for a charge, although I bought my CD from abroad (I think its American) Its great easy to use and you can print 'books' from the perspective of individuals showing ancestors or descendants. It has the capacity to record photo and sound data. Penny

Hi, I use Family Tree Maker which can do all the things you say you want. I don't know of any way of downloading information from GC into a software package. Gwynne

I also use Personal Ancestral File (PAF) which I downloaded free of charge from LDS Family Search. You could try this, and then if you are not happy, buy one. My friend bought Family Tree, neither she nor myself could get to grips with it, we kept getting names entered twice although we had only entered them once. Now I use PAF, its very versatile, even I can use it. June,Nr.Preston.Lan

I have tried many different programmes but the tree printing always seems lacking. PAF5 seems as good as any. The pedigree (ancestral) prints are good. Bob

I use Cumberland Family Tree - never tried to printout but just took a look at the manual and a print preview - seems good enough with plenty of options

I have Family Tree, but as June says, entering data can be tricky. Although it gives nice coloured tree diagrams I don't think my version includes an all relatives diagram. I have since bought Family Historian. I have version 2.1.6 - the latest is 2.1.8 which is not substantially different. It is really easy to use and will give the kind of diagram you want. It costs more than some programs, but you can do more with it. All the results are saved as GEDCOM files. I don't think GC is designed for downloading - rather for uploading from another GEDCOM program. I started from GC, so I felt I had to enter all my data a second time. I would be interested to know if GC data is capable of being downloaded, as I should like to add people from my contacts trees to my own tree without having to re-type the data. Stan

I downloaded PAF last week and I am quite impressed so far (Especially since it was free)

Thanks for all the advice. I've downloaded a free trial of Family Historian and will give this a try.

Jennifer You can't transfer data from GC to a family tree program, you will have to type it out again. What you can do is upload a gedcom from your family tree program into GC not the other way round. Margaret