Review: Family Historian 3 genealogy software

Family Historian 3 is a very powerful genealogy program that will organise information about your ancestors as well as any media files you may have, such as photos, audio and video.

Family Historian 3 uses the industry standard file format, called GEDCOM, for storing all information. It's therefore possible to import GEDCOM files from other genealogy programs.

Starting Family Historian 3 for the first time reveals its only big flaw; it can appear a little intimidating at first. In fact, this genealogy program is very easy to use once a few basic options and tools have been learned.

Every individual entered into the program has its own window of information. Spouses and parents can also be added to create a link between relations. If you've got all the necessary family information to hand - birth, death, marriage dates - the data entry part of creating a family tree is very fast.

Once a decent amount of family members are added, views of the tree can focus on a specific individual, a limited number of their ancestors or descendants, or the entire family.

Family genealogy reports can also be created and can be posted on the internet or put on a CD to be shared with other people. However, anyone considering this method of public viewing should be careful to mark some records (especially mother's maiden name) as private to avoid the possibility of identity theft.

Multimedia files can also be linked to one or more individuals in the family tree. It's even possible to associate and link areas of group photos with individuals, which avoids adding endless lists of names to wedding photos or suchlike.

By default, multimedia files are only linked to the family tree rather than being embedded in the Family Historian 3 program. This keeps the size of the family tree file to a minimum, but could lead to problems if the original files are moved or deleted from the computer.

Thankfully there's a tool to copy all photos to a folder within Family Historian 3 without losing any links.

As aforementioned, moving your current family tree to Family Historian is easy, given it's adherence to the GEDCOM standard. It's also useful if a relation gives you a section of their family tree to fill in some gaps. Family Historian 3 also has a feature to export sections of any family tree to return the favour.

In all, this is one of the easiest and most versatile genealogy programs we've come across. And at under £40, it represents great value for money.

Related reviews 
Family Tree Maker 2006 Collector's Edition 
Verdict: Almost twice as expensive but includes some parish records on CD and a 400 page manual
Rating: 5
Price: £70