Legacy Family Tree is
genealogy software
Genealogy software is computer software used to record, organize, and publish genealogical data.
Features
At a minimum, genealogy software collects the date and place of an individual's birth, marriage, and death, and stores the relationships ...
for Windows that assists family historians in tracking, organizing, printing, and sharing
family history
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
. The software is distributed as
freeware
Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...
, with no restrictions, only requiring registration on the company's web site to download the software.
Previous versions (prior to 10.x) had a free edition with limited features; users had to pay a
product activation
Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary software programs. Product activation prevents unlimited free use of copied or replicated software. Unactivated software refuses to fully function until it ''determi ...
fee to "unlock" the full suite of features.
Legacy's developer, Millennia Corporation, was purchased by
MyHeritage
MyHeritage is an online genealogy platform with web, mobile, and Genealogy software, software products and services, introduced by the Israeli company MyHeritage in 2003. Users of the platform can obtain their family trees, upload and browse thro ...
in 2017.
Features
Features
[Legacy Features](_blank)
/ref> of the software allow groups of people to coordinate their work and track each other's changes. When two files are open, entire lines can be dragged and dropped from one to the other. Multimedia support includes pictures, sound clips, and videos; images can be displayed individually, in slide shows, or as screen savers. The program imports and exports standard GEDCOM
FamilySearch GEDCOM, or simply GEDCOM ( , acronym of ''Genealogical Data Communication''), is an open file format and the de facto standard specification for storing genealogical data. It was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
files and files from Personal Ancestral File
Personal Ancestral File (PAF) was a free genealogy software program provided by FamilySearch, a website operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was first released in 1983, last updated in 2002, and formally discontinued in ...
(PAF). Links to the Internet allow searching online databases for any person in the family file.
Other features include ''search and replace'', spell checking of all notes, source documentation features, and relationship calculation. For users entering U.S. information, the program issues a warning if the county entered did not exist at the time of the event. TempleReady reports can be produced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
.
The deluxe edition (7.0) includes Legacy Charting. Legacy Charting locates all Legacy files on a hard drive, allows the creation of charts from any Legacy file, and uses a ''Chart Creation Wizard'' to help the user create a chart and customize the charts' appearance. They include large-scale wall charts, including drop-down descendancies, fan charts, hourglass charts and DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
charts. Locations where a person's ancestors lived can be automatically mapped.[ ]
Legacy's underlying database engine is stored using the Access Database Engine
The Access Database Engine (also Office Access Connectivity Engine or ACE and formerly Microsoft Jet Database Engine, ''Microsoft JET Engine'' or simply ''Jet'') is a database engine on which several Microsoft products have been built. The fir ...
(ACE/JET): the Legacy database (* .fdb) can be opened in Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational database, relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsof ...
.
Languages available
A printed manual and tutorial videos are available in English; the program and the help files are available in several languages, referred to as international releases.[International releases](_blank)
/ref> In addition to English (Australian, Canadian, UK and US versions), the Danish, Dutch, French, German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
, Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish and Faroese versions have been released. Teams of volunteers are, in 2012, working on translations to Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
, Chinese, Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
, Finnish, Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
, and Portuguese.
History
After three years of development starting in 1995 by Ken McGinnis and Dave Berdan.[Downloads for Legacy Family Tree 6.0 or Earlier]
/ref>
* Legacy version 3.0 was released on 14 Dec 2000 as a free demo version from Legacy's website
* Legacy version 3.0 was released in 2001 as an official release.
Genealogy Reviews
* Legacy version 8.0 was released on 26 Nov 2013.
* Legacy version 9.0 was released on 17 Apr 2017.
* Legacy version 10.0 was released on 3 June 2024.
Reception
Writing for ''Family Tree'' magazine, reviewer Rick Crume gave a positive review to Legacy Family Tree 8.0, stating that "This upgrade’s modern look, tools for organizing photos and integration with FamilySearch
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the Church's Family History Department (FHD). The Fami ...
Family Tree maintain Legacy’s position among the best genealogy programs."PCMag
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues .
Overview
''PC Magaz ...
'', reviewer Molly McLaughlin praised Legacy Family Tree 8.0's assortment of features in the free version, along with its comprehensive user guide, but she said that its interface is outdated.
References
External links
*
Legacy charting
{{Genealogy software
Windows-only freeware
Windows-only genealogy software
Free genealogy software