I recently wrote about Reviews of Genealogy software by Kessler, and while not a review, Richard Wilson has charts and information comparing Windows Genealogy Software Programs which makes the two resources a fascinating study in what is available, what people are saying about it, and how the various features compare.

In Wilson’s genealogy software program comparison, he compares the various features offered by Ancestral Quest, Family Tree Legends, Family Tree Maker, GenBox, Legacy, Personal Ancestral File, Roots Magic, and The Master Genealogist. The page was updated last year and some of these programs have updates which may include features not found in past versions, but the charts do give you an interesting “want list” of features worth considering.

For example, if you are into making family trees and charts, especially ones that include photographs, Family Tree Maker, Roots Magic and The Master Genealogist allow family trees with photographs and the rest don’t. If you want to directly scan in photos, you can with Family Tree Maker, Legacy, Roots Magic, and The Master Genealogist, but not with the others. All the programs compared allow editing of photographs from within the program except for GenBox.

All except Roots Magic allow you to add some level of medical information about your ancestors to the records. And all allow the user to create web pages, but Family Tree Legends and Family Tree Maker only allow you to make web pages for their websites, not for your own.

Did you know that most of the genealogy programs have a 100-120 character limit in any field, including surname? The Master Genealogist has no limits. If your family has long surnames, this is something worth considering. Family Tree Legends has no calendar or date calculator, an important feature for estimating dates and ages, and the rest of the programs do.

This is important information to know when choosing the right genealogy program for yourself and your family. This list might not be completely up-to-date, as the software may have recently been upgraded to include these features, so I recommend printing out the charts and making your own check off list when genealogy software shopping. You might not need 120+ characters for a last name of your ancestor, but you might.