Genealogy Software Reviews - The Master Genealogist
Monday April 24, 2006
The Master Genealogist is arguably the most powerful and flexible genealogy software
program on the market. The downside of all this flexibility is that some genealogists find all of the options overwhelming. The most recent version of TMG does, however, offer a special interface for beginners to make the program more user-friendly. What do you think about The Master Genealogist Click "comments" below to share your thoughts with other genealogists!
Comments
In the past I have been intimidated by TMG. But would be willing to look at the new edition with help. I currently use PAF because the earlier programs I used all went out of business. I don’t think the Morman Church is going out of business!
I really like TMG. It was a little unfamiliar at the beginning, but there’s a great and very active message list that answers questions for everyone, no matter how simple or complex - I signed up for it and got all my questions answered. Plus there’s a sample database, which I played with to really understand the program before I started entering my data. Plus there’s a very smart support staff that’s always available, online chats, a support website, etc.
I love TMG because I can enter and keep all my data there, in one spot - and all my thoughts and possibilites - everything I’ve learned and where I learned it. If I have conflicting birth or death dates, they’re all recorded, not in a NOTES section, but in tags right next to each other. And I can create as many tags as I want for anything I want and name them whatever I want. And flags, too.
I have almost 2000 names in my database now, and with TMG, I can quickly pick up from where I left off a year ago and know exactly what I was thinking and researching at the time. I keep all my notes in tags that I’ve named “Researcher notes” under every person.
Keeping source info is great - and as complete and thorough as I want it to be.
Every so often I check out updated and new programs, but none has ever compared to this - it allows me to do anything and everything I want to do - and I can add more or change things whenever I want. I know there’s a lot that the program will do that I don’t even take advantage of, but who knows, maybe in a few years I will want to.
So in conclusion, TMG is well worth learning.
I started out with Family Treemaker in 1997 and absolutely hated the lack of flexibility & limited info available from the database. When I heard about TMG & that you could see a demo, I immediately checked it out. It was much more to my computer ‘geek’ taste and I bought my first copy I think in 1999 and have used it happily ever since.
I teach seminars on how to use it plus have a TMG User Group here in Victoria BC Canada.
It is a superb program with the best support I’ve run across in a software program.
Quite simply, it does all that I ask of it and I love it!
This is worlds greatest genealogy program. The only thing that needs improving - I wish it would run on a Linux system. This program is the only reason I still have a windows box.