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- Average user rating: stars out of 28 votes Back to product review
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
4 stars
Version: Family Tree Builder 1 build 536
"Contains more features than I would expect from freeware."
Pros: This is incredibly powerful software which continues to amaze me with its functionality (I've been using it for about three months now). What I especially like (but didn't discover for a month or two after I started with it) is that you can "associate" jpg or pdf files (containing census data, birth certificates, etc.) with anyone in your family tree. You just "add the record," select "associate," and then start double-clicking to your heart's delight on records in your tree which you want to associate with the document. It's a real lifesaver for answering those questions like, "Do I really have a record proving that Uncle John was married five times?" You just click on Uncle John and browse through the records associated with him.
Cons: As far as I can tell, importing GEDCOM data just creates a new database. There's no way to merge it with an existing family tree. Also, you must change a setting in the "preferences - options" portion of the program if you want to change where the data is stored. Finally, it comes with free storage to the web of up to 1,000 records so, at that point, I'm probably going to need to pay, but, heck, with that much time invested in the project, off-site storage is probably a worthwhile investment.
- 1 reply to this review
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In my review, I said GEDCOM files could not be merged with an existing database, but I was wrong. When you start to import a GEDCOM file, Family Tree Builder announces that it must close the database you are working on (this gave me the impression that it would not merge into my existing database). In subsequent steps, however, it asks you if you want to combine the data with another data file. When I tried importing GEDCOM data exported from Family Tree Maker and Roots Magic, the import worked very well.
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