I mentioned in my post “A Week of Unexpected BSOs” that Family Historian 6 genealogy software was a new-to-me choice for my family tree records. I think I also mentioned that although I was aware of, and owned, RootsMagic 7, Legacy 8 and Heredis 2015, that there was something about Family Historian 6 that captured my eye and drew me in. With the 20% discount being offered to current Family Tree Maker users, I decided to purchase it – $37.20 U.S. – and downloaded it. I also joined the FH6 users’ group and downloaded the PDF users’ manual.
I also stated in the BSOs post that I wasn’t going to be reviewing my four possible FTM replacements because others do that very well. However, I’ve decided to write about my learning curve with Family Historian 6 because it is still very much drawing me in. Please don’t expect this to be a conventional review, as I won’t be making any recommendations about purchasing.
I do think it’s important to share the aspects of Family Historian 6 that made me want to try it out.
Before I get into explaining my first steps with the program, if like me, you had never heard of Family Historian, there is professional 2016 software review that compared features available in various programs. (Google “genealogy software top ten reviews 2016”). You might also want to visit the Family Historian website at some time, before, during or after my posts, for more information. There is a 30 day trial version available for Family Historian 6.
Family Historian Home Page
These posts will be relatively short because when I read this kind of stuff, my own brain gets overloaded quickly.
Okay, what was the first thing that caught my attention? I watched the 16 minute video tour and, right away, it felt familiar because the screen layout is very similar to that of Family Tree Maker. One new capability of Family Historian 6 that I have not seen in any other software program is the ability to label people in photos by creating boxes around their faces. Here is what it looks like in the video tour:
Young man at far left
It’s hard to see without enlarging the image, but the young man seated at the far left has a gray box around his head. That is how people in photos are identified and linked to the media. I will definitely be trying this out!
Yet another interesting feature was the ability within the program to select a person or persons and have a marked map appear showing all the places they lived.
Lastly, this program even has the capability to be used to create a personal family history website.
Has any of this captured your imagination? If so, then I hope you’ll be following my posts as I learn more about Family Historian 6.
Now, for my first venture into the program – opening it up and creating a new project. When you open the program, this is the first screen that appears: (Click to enlarge any images)
Create a Project
The gray menu box gives the option of creating a new project from scratch or by importing a GEDCOM or other family tree file. I assume the other file might be a currently existing project already in Family Historian.
New Project Choices
There was already a sample project included in the project box, but you can see that I not only imported two GEDCOMs, I also started a small tree from scratch. No manual was needed for any of this. Choices and directions were clear and easy, but don’t mistake that for a sign that this program is too simple or lacking in power! I’ve already discovered that that is definitely not the case. I might have already thrown my computer out the window if not for the help of two very knowledgeable Family Historian users.
That’s as far as we are going for today. In my next post, I will add some people and media to my tree from scratch. I might also try to add a source citation. The users’ manual will be open for sure.
Why don’t you download the 30 day trial version, learn along with me and leave comments and suggestions? It would be much appreciated.