Software Review of:
Legacy Family Tree 

Every time that Legacy Family Tree is opened a ‘Tips Window’ pops up. Although this window can be checked not to open every time, I let it open because it provides a lot of additional information. This would create wonderful name tags for a family reunion. One tip in particular is that with this program you can print mailing labels and name tags. The name tags can include pictures and 3 generation pedigree charts. Another tip that popped up was the tip that you are not required to use the identifiers that the program uses. If husband and wife do not suit you, you may change it to male and female or child or whatever term seems appropriate. Another thing that Legacy does is to offer the opportunity to back-up files every time that you close the program. This is a very good reminder that also has the option to be skipped.

The Legacy window has the usual menu bar and tool bar. The main window can be viewed in family view or in pedigree view. The program is easiest to work with in family view where it has two small windows for the primary couple, two smaller windows for their parents and two lists for children. The two primary windows have icons at the bottom that make working with this program very easy. The icons are from left to right: husband’s (or wife’s) spouses, siblings, notes, pictures and sound, other events, research, other name spellings, parents, addresses, to do list and temple. The icons provide lists that are especially useful when working family situations in which a person had more than one spouse and thus more than one set of grandparents. The menu bar is also extensive. Some options that are not always available in other programs include file maintenance that enables you to check/repair files, do master list cleanup and compact family files. The Import menu permits you to import GEDCOM files as well as Legacy and Ancestral Quest files. It also contains an ‘Import Wizard’. The View menu has all types of lists including name, marriage, spouse, children, parents, siblings, addresses, To Do, master, history, Tree finder and still others. The Reports menu has multiple types of reports and blank forms. The blank forms were most intriguing to me. They include census forms for the US, Canada, Great Britian and Ireland; relationship form which shows different relationships without using any names; a questionnaire; and a research log. I have seen blank forms in other genealogy software but have never seen the questionnaire or research log before. The research log is something that the genealogist can take with him/her and record the date of search, location, description and comments. What I really, really like though is the Questionnaire which is a form that you can customize, add a paragraph top and bottom and print out and send to others who might have information about your family members. This can be mailed to others living at a distance or it can be taken by someone who will be in a specific area and is willing to try to get some information. Another item in the menu bar is Internet, which enable you to click to create web pages, click to the Legacy Home page, click to Genealogy lessons and other areas of interest online.

I started out inputting information about Karl and myself. Information was easy to input and it is easy to get to the other family members such as parents, children, siblings, etc. I was puzzled for a long time because some information that I think is important is not listed (such as occupation) and I could not find where to place this information. I found ‘events’ but not all things fall under events. When I started checking on the icons beneath the names I found the 'notes’ icon, clicked on it and found the place to put all that other information.

Since I have reviewed some other genealogy software in the past I have created files in other formats. This program stressed how easy it is to import family information from other programs and so I decided to check it out. I went to file>import>paf from ancestral quest and told the program what drive to look in. A file was found almost instantly; however, it only brought up the file titled Saenger and not another file in the same format under a different surname. I had hoped that it would bring up both files. Throughout Legacy, they recommend that when importing data, you create a new file so as not to corrupt the information that you already have in your file. Import does a back up of the existing file so that you can back out of the import if it presents problems. This back up self-destructs when closing the program. I followed their recommendation and opened a new file, however it did not open as I expected. So I went to ‘edit>undo’, deleted the import and imported again this time adding the PAF information to the existing file. I then went through manual merge and was mostly pleased with the way that the two files presented themselves to be merged. I was able to keep the file numbers that I had created in Legacy and with a couple of exception combine the two files. There was one time when all of the information did not merge but I quickly updated the information and all was well.

I was curious about the online lessons and so while I was connected online, I went to the Internet menu and clicked on Genealogy Lessons. This took me to Genealogy Research Associates, Inc, which has a wealth of information for genealogists. The free online lessons are broken up into 9 courses and each course is composed of multiple lessons. This is a site for everyone to visit.

The manual that accompanies the deluxe edition of Legacy is worth every penny of the cost. It starts out with the reasons to use a computer for family research and continues with over 300 pages of information and illustrations. It includes six different tutorials – basic, intermediate, advanced, reports, sources, and pictures and multimedia. It tells you how to fix mistakes and has information on everything that can be done with the program. Legacy strongly supports your use of technical support. Although a phone call would be a toll call, there is an e-mail address to seek support via e-mail.

Legacy Family Tree is a good, user friendly software program for genealogy and especially for the newbie. The information that is available, the online lessons and the ease of use make it an ideal program for the person just starting out with tracing their family roots.

I checked at Sam’s Club and CompUSA but neither retailer had this software. It is available on the Web. You can download the basic edition free of charge or the deluxe edition for $19.95. You can order the deluxe edition with a manual for $24.95. You can order a manual to go with the basic edition for $14.95 and they have a training video available for $14.95. Shipping charges are $5.00. In addition to ordering over the Internet you can also order by phone 1-800-753-3453 or by mail 

Millennia Corp.
PO Box 1800
Duvall, WA 98019.