* Useful in US?

[Jeffntez04]

Hello,
I've been bitten by the genealogy bug and I'll ready to purchase software. I have tried researching but everyone claims to be the best; I really like the looks of FH but I lack a few simple answers such as will it work great as I do my US research? And how does it rival RootMagic which seems to be the most popular. It seems to get hints from MyHeritage and Find my past. Any others like Ancestry or Family Search? RM also lists soon useful features like telling me if a county existed for a certain date I may enter or a date calculator. I wish you created a list similar to RM for better comparison. Thank you for your time and hope to hear from you soon as I plan to buy asap. Is purchasing easy with US credit card?

Jeff

[tatewise]

Jeff, welcome to the Family Historian Users Group (FHUG).

Can I first make it clear that this website is run by the FH User Group completely independently from Calico Pie who are the commercial developers of Family Historian. See http://www.family-historian.co.uk/.

Family Historian is used all over the world and there are many FHUG members based in the USA. So it is probably better that they respond with how useful it is to USA researchers.

However, FH has no bias to any particular country except that it only fully supports the English language.

Yes, FH offers hints for MyHeritage and FindMyPast, but not any other research websites at present.

Any comparison table by a developer will inevitably be biassed towards their own product, so I suggest you search out independent reviews:
http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.gensoftreviews.com/

[ronk]

Mike,

Thanks for posting the comprehensive review links of Genealogy Software. Nice to see both FH and TNG rated well.

[tatewise]

Ron, could you give Jeff your assessment of FH from the perspective of a USA user.

BTW: Jeff, I forgot to mention all the free resources available for you to assess FH.
See our how_to:index|> Family Historian wiki, especially the how_to:family_historian_documentation|> Family Historian Documentation with links to the FH 30-day Free Trial and the Video Tour of its features.

[ronk]

Ok, since Mike asked, here's some feedback from a USA user. As a longtime Legacy Family Tree (LFT) user for data input, and with a web presence with The Next Generation (TNG), I was becoming somewhat disenchanted with the speed and clunkiness of media handling in LFT. I searched about various review sites and came upon Family Historian (FH). Downloaded the trial and immediately noticed how nimble the software was, particularly with media files.

I assumed a UK product would fit OK being English and all, and next had some important migration questions answered quickly by members (particularly Mike Tate aka Tatewise) of the FHUG. I also noticed the growing Knowledge Base of articles as well. I purchased the product, with Paypal (much easier and safer IMO). I next discovered the power of FH plugins, which were able to fix any need I had to export from LFT to FH , make it my data input platform, and then export back to LFT (for its very good reporting), and also export to TNG (for excellent website exposure). Within a mere 2-3 weeks, I was fully converted,...all data preserved, my TNG website data presentation even improved in some ways, and able to backfill to LFT as well. The other great advantage, I found, is that this product has no SQL db, just a gedcom which is completely read into memory, resulting in program speed, as well as the nice flexibility to do quick one-time gedcom editing as needed.

BTW...the ability to have multiple instances of FH, even to the same gedcom, is a powerful feature not available in LFT.

Now, as to research capabilities, having only just migrated a mere 7 weeks ago, I confess have not done too much with that yet. However, as noted, the two connections giving hints, My Heritage, and Find My Past, are both subscription products. As a longtime subscriber to Ancestry USA, I have no interest in more expense at this time. I have little or no UK ancestry, and I believe Find My Past's strong suit is UK.

That said, if you're purchasing genealogy software primarily as a research gathering too, one advantage of LFT from a research perspective is it gives more hints, giving them from both Family Search and Ancestry and others. Hopefully FH will add that along the way. But for data input with full featured accessibility, sourcing, and import/export capability, FH fit my needs perfectly.

So useful in the US? Using the UK based Family Historian vs. any USA genealogy software didn't impact me adversely in the least. Quite the contrary, from my perspective, I found the helpful user group FHUG and the powerful plugins put this product at the top without peer in the USA products.

[BobWard]

Another U.S. user here from Arizona. I did the free trial versions for all the top rated genealogy programs before selecting Family Historian. After spending a few weeks comparing all the programs, FH was the winner beyond any doubt. I have been using it for over 2 years now and am very happy with the software, not to mention the great forum we have here for getting help.

[zoomdoggies]

Although Calico Pie is based in the UK, I don't think there's anything about the software that would make it cumbersome to record information about people from elsewhere in the world. Most of my research involves records in Michigan, Ohio, New York (in English), and Québec (in French). Family Historian works fine for any of it.

I don't know about Internet hints – I don't use them, so I'm no help there. To me, Family Historian's real strength is its customizability. I can configure just about any aspect of the user interface to suit my preference, I can enter my data in a way that makes sense to me, and I can customize queries and reports to return the information to me in a way that helps me figure out what I know, and what I still need to find out.

I'd have to say the user forum is a mixed blessing. On one hand, there's a lot of activity, and the participants are very knowledgeable and helpful. On the other hand, I keep finding solutions to problems I didn't know I had!