General Chat

According to the Family Tree Maker website (actually Ancestry) it says that FTM 2012 can be used on Windows 8.

Many thanks for your advice. I have a lot of personal details in my tree which I do not want to go public. If you Google for Windows 8 software, they only go up to windows 7 and every copy I have seen in the shops only go to windows 7.
Family Tree Maker does not work on 8.Will have to contact the other manufacturers mentioned to see if they will work as I want them to.

I would personally NOT recommend RootsMagic - I have this (and even bought a book on how to use it)

It is complicated, convoluted and I now a full 'private' trees on Ancestry and then regulalry update via Gedcom to my RootsMagic. When in theory it should be the other way round!!!

For me I find it far easier to update on Ancestry.

The best offline fh software is GRAMPS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRAMPS
http://gramps-project.org/
though it is not the simplest to use. It has an excellent help group.

FTM is also pretty good and ideal for keeping an offline copy of Ancestry with which it is integrated though there is no need to have an Ay account. It is fairly easy to get a copy of a slightly older version for under £ 10. Ay also has a cool Android application (free).

Microsoft have a great free program which is buried in their research site. It has terrific interface and will import GED but exports to XML.

GED is NOT a fail proof way of importing / exporting data. Different programs treat dates in various ways, ditto missing data, cousin marriages and so on. In the context of GRU notes, photos etc are NOT exported and if you import a GED file ALL current data in the tree is lost i.e. import/merge is not possible. That is a feature of GRU not GED.

Many long standing members will agree with me that it is best to keep yr main tree offline using whatever software you like best. Uploading a tree to GRU or whatever from time to time is a good way to get in contact people who are also researching yr tree. If you do come across somebody check out their bona fides carefully before sharing yr tree.

I use Family Tree Maker ... and hope my version works with Windows 8 -

as I have just purchased a new laptop with Windows 8 preinstalled

Family Tree Maker often comes with 3 or 6 months free subscription to a very well known family records site .....

Having tried several some years ago I settled for Family Tree Maker, costs around £20 but can often be found for less if you look around.

Mine is Family Historian, although an earlier version than the current Version 5.

The on-line site says that the current V5 will run with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP (SP3).

You can try before you buy with a (30 day?) trial

http://www.family-historian.co.uk/

Added - it is completely stand alone/offline although there is a facility to create a web site if you so wish.

Quite a few run Family Tree Maker.

If you have a sub with Ancestry you can link your account into the software and use the search facility via FTM.

I have tried free ones and they don't work for me but others may have found tem perfectly usable.

Hopefully you'll get more suggestions.

Sue

Which family tree program do you think is best for Windows 8 to store details Off-line. I have , for the last twenty plus years, used Generations 8 on 98 & XP now I cannot find any that will download on Windows 8 and allow me to keep off-line only.