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General => Technical Help => Family History Programs, Tree Organisation, Presentation => Topic started by: Ploppy123 on Saturday 10 June 23 10:48 BST (UK)
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Good morning, I started looking at my family tree about 4 mnths ago and recently joined the Guild on One name studies.
About 3 months ago i purchased Brothers keeper for storing the information on my family tree and other trees i am looking at and find it very helpful and easy to use.
Now The Guild are suggesting i get a genealogy software package to record and store my one name study, They suggest Family Historian, Legacy and Roots Magic. Are these the same product as Brothers keeper? If not can anyone advise which one is the best to choose. Many thanks John
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Unfortunately you will find that there are as many differing opinions on the "best" software as there are programs.
The programs you have mentioned have differences in the way they operate and it may be best if you try them out beforehand. Family Historian (my recommendation) is used by a number of One Named Studiers and the fulll program is available as a 30 day trial for free.
However that said it may be of some benefit to try the others to see which suits you personally (its better to get a program to work the way you want to work than having to change your systems to suit a piece of software)
https://fhug.org.uk/ Family Historian Users Group
https://www.family-historian.co.uk/ FH home page (download availablel via links)
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Many thanks RJ its just that I have already paid for Brother s keeper and put a fair amount of information in it. If I went for Family Historian, which i was leaning towards could i transfer all my information from Brothers Kepper in a "oner"? Kind regards John
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I have been using Brothers Keeper for about twenty years. I like it's simplicity. I would just say that if you are doing your own family tree as well as a one name study do keep them in separate sets of data. I didn't, and splitting the database later, as I wanted, was a bit trying. (Your descendants will probably be in both datafiles but that shouldn't be enough individuals to be a problem.)
Yes, you can shift the entire content of one program into another when you are ready. All the major family history programs, including Brother's Keeper and those you mention above, use 'gedcom' to transfer all or part of the database between programs. There are sometimes minor inconsistencies but it mostly works quite smoothly.
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Family Historian is based upon the gedcom format which many programs use to transfer information.
and exporting your information in this format from Brothers Keeper should enable you to start a new project on FH.
A lot depends on what you intend to do with your research - if its purely personal research (ie your own family) the Brothers keeper may be all you need but as you mentioned the Guild of One Name Studies this may mean that you need a more database driven program such as FH
I would suggest trying the Free trial and having a look at the user Group Forum where there is quite a bit of advice about using FH for One name Studies
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Many thanks will sign up for free trial tomorrow. John
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May I put in a vote for Family Historian. I’ve been using it for 20plus years and I’m still finding useful features! I have a very large and complex family on it and although it needs work and perseverance to get to grips with it, that pays dividends in the long run. There is also a very healthy support forum with masses of help.
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Whatever software you decide on, ensure that it can cope with different names for the same person.
Lots of US companies don't think that a person can change their name.
In an ONS, changes of name are commonplace. Recording the date when the name was written as "Lee" rather than "Leigh" can help your research further down the line.
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I've been using RootsMagic for some time.
They have a free "cut-down" version -RootsMagic Essentials.
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A word of warning. Whichever software you end up choosing, stick with it.
While GEDCOM is designed to transfer family trees between different software programs, not one of those programs is 100% GEDCOM compliant. This means that, in transferring data, you would probably lose some of that valuable data, the amount depending on how compliant are the programs you're moving from and to.
The first of a series of 20 articles--a little dated now but still invaluable--on this complicated subject can be accessed here https://genealogytools.com/replacing-family-tree-maker-part-1-how-to-scrub-your-data/ (https://genealogytools.com/replacing-family-tree-maker-part-1-how-to-scrub-your-data/)
So, bottom line, choose carefully then stick with it.
Peter
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Many thanks for the input. I finished up with Ancestry and FTM and make sure that both files are compatible each time i visit. Ploppy
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I've been using FTM for 15 years. If you ever need any help just post on here and someone (possibly me) will be able to help.
Unfortunately there is no longer a FTM user group or forum as far as I know. Except on facebook - which I don't use.
Martin
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Good afternoon Martin, thanks very much for the advice and offer. Luckily I have a mentor who runs the "Cornwell project" who is a an absolute life saver. As this is my first year
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While GEDCOM is designed to transfer family trees between different software programs, not one of those programs is 100% GEDCOM compliant.
Although Family Historian 7 is designed and implemented as 100% GEDCOM compliant and stores it's data as such.
Simon