Family Tree Maker 10

Version 10 of Family Tree Maker contains some nice new touches but although it's a powerful program, it is heavily geared towards users in the US. Information and search facilities online are of less use to us than our colonial cousins, especially as the software is tightly linked to the Genealogy.com website. Data isn't exclusively US-centric but we did have difficulty connecting to the website which made our investigation for UK data limiting.

Entering data is simple and like Family Historian, if you have data from another program, this can be imported with the GEDCOM import facility. GEDCOM is the industry format that lets you upload previously recorded data to new programs.

The program's interface is clear and easy to use, with information displayed on-screen as the 'tabbed notebook'. Clicking on each of the links brings up your required data, including births, deaths and marriages. Additional information can be accessed via other icons in the Toolbar.

New features include Family Tree Templates, which produce smart-looking family trees and reports. It also lets you save them as files to be uploaded to a personal web page. The software also boasts enhanced photo-editing capabilities and a Date Calculator that makes it easy to work out an ancestor's birth date. Simply enter the information you know, such as marriage, death or other events, and Family Tree Maker automatically calculates the date for you.

The software is in no way daunting but you will need a powerful computer with plenty of memory to do it justice. Some space can be saved by not installing the manual.

Contact: Genealogy.com 00 1 720 374 3987
www.familytreemaker.com