# Recommend some family tree software **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-family-tree-software/281001 "2004-12-21T17:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-family-tree-software/281001/1 "2004-12-21T17:04:43Z")
I’m not seriously into geneaology, but I thought it would be nice to have something to log all the various bits of family information, and present them in a graphical, easy-to-use format. Someplace to keep track of the usual questions, like “how many kids does Cousin Berenice have”; or “which ancestor was the horse-thief and how am I related”; or “when did Great Grandma come over from the Old Country”. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-family-tree-software/281001/2 "2004-12-21T17:34:47Z")
Fire up your favorite search engine and feed it the keywords \ and you’ll get more hits than you can shake a forest of sticks at (which is why I’ve decided not to suggest any particular site - too much to sift through). Since you’re a “casual” genealogist, I suspect _any_ software will be adequate for your needs. Course, there’s always the risk of your interest becoming more than casual, as some of us can attest. (Gee, all I wanted to do was find out for Dad where his paternal grandmother was buried - now you can’t keep me away from a genie library!) ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-family-tree-software/281001/3 "2004-12-21T17:57:16Z")
For PCs, I believe Family Tree Maker is sort of “standard.” You can download it either for free or for darn close to free. (My definition of cheap software: anything under $30 = “darn close to free”) I have a Mac and highly recommend Reunion, for which I believe they also make a PC version. I have eight generations to track on both sides, so you may not require such a pricey bit of software for your purposes. On the other hand, if you ever do develop a serious geneology obsession, you won’t have to upgrade. You’ll have the good software already. I like Reunion because it allows me to dump photos I took at family gatherings into the entry for a given person’s name – so you can see Grampa’s face while you’re lookin’ up all his cousins names. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-family-tree-software/281001/4 "2004-12-21T20:16:21Z")
Since you’re looking for opinions more than hard facts, I’ll move this thread to the IMHO forum. bibliophage moderator GQ