Created by Julie Goucher, using word cloud, 2020

This continues the process from Advent 17, where I talked about how to create the database. This post is about where to put the database – which genealogy software?

The most frequently used software by those with One-Name Studies, and many other projects are these (listed in alphabetical order).

• Family Historian
• Family Tree Maker
• Legacy
• Roots Magic

The first software listed is very much used by researchers in the UK, the others are US focused. The reality is regardless where you are living, and where your research is centred, the most important factor in software is which one do you find the most intuitive to use? If you have taken a Pharos course with me, then you will have likely heard my story with software.

In short, I used Family Origins starting with version 4 and updating to the final version, number 10. I then switched to Roots Magic. The relationship I had with the software up to this point was a love-hate relationship. It worked, doing just what I set out in the Advent 17 post, but there was something that was not intuitive to me, and I could not put my finger on what the something was. Over the years I had taken trials with Family Historian and I could not get to grips with it, no idea why that was the case.

Then Family Historian released version 7, I was drawn to take another trial, which I did. I have no idea what happened, only that I began to feel more in tune with Family Historian. I purchased the software and purchased the manual which focuses on version 6, but if I got stuck then I prefer to be able to open a book to find the answer, rather than trawl through help in the program itself. 

I then extracted the Gedcom from Roots Magic and imported it into Family Historian. There was no issues with the data transfer, but I did, and still need to do some sorting with data, sources and repositories within the program.

We do explore software as part of the Introduction to One-Name Studies course, and more so in the Practicalities of a One-Name Studies course. The important message though is this – take the time to explore the software, create a test database, add a source and some basic data. Don’t take hours adding information at this point, instead spend the time on checking the functionality of the software. Does it feel comfortable to use?  Is entering data feeling like a hassle or a joy? Whilst you won’t spend enormous amounts of time entering endless data into your software, what time you do invest in your study needs to be spent wisely and with ease.

There is other software out there, and I would suggest think about the following:

• What are the aims of your study?
  • If you want to have a Guild hosted website for your registered study and to use TNG then using software that does not enable you to meet those aims might not be a good idea.
• Does the software produce a Gedcom?
• Is the software available to purchase or free?
• Consider the longevity of free software?
• Is the software maintained by the developer?
  • Update to the latest version to keep your program in tip-top order

In the Pharos courses we discuss these things and more.