The Bottom Line
Ancestral Quest isn't the prettiest or most intuitive genealogy software program on the market, but it does offer features that make it stand out from the crowd. The powerful source citation and search tools are a definite plus, while unique Web collaboration makes it easy for multiple researchers to view and update a single master file via the Internet. Ancestral Quest is a well-rounded program for all genealogists, but an especially good choice for PAF users looking for additional features.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Web collaboration features for sharing family tree research
- GEDCOM and PAF 5.0 compatible
- Advanced search and filtering capabilities
- Excellent source citation tools and features
Cons
- Only available for Windows
- Interface is not intuitive at first glance
- Charts, books and Web pages aren't as nice as in some other programs
- Some features disabled in free demo mode
Description
- Individual, 5-generation Pedigree and Family views offer three ways to look at the family tree.
- True database compatibility with PAF 3, 4 and 5
- Advanced source documentation capabilities include ability to attach a source to individual facts.
- True sources database allows a source to be entered once and reused for unlimited facts and events.
- Standard charts and reports included, plus custom reports and ability to output to text or PDF.
- Full TempleReady capabilities and LDS options, including ability to update records from TempleReady.
- Full scrapbooking capability, including the option to export scrapbook items into GEDCOM files.
- Web page and family history book publishing tools.
- Research Manager to organize and track your research tasks.
- Collaborate with others using Ancestral Quest's exclusive NetFam™ capability
Guide Review - Ancestral Quest 11
Ancestral Quest family tree software has been around for years, but still does an excellent job keeping up with the needs of genealogists and family historians. Version 11 adds improved sourcing, the ability to print charts and reports to PDF, new drop line charts, and a detailed log of changes made to the file. Ancestral Quest does a pretty good job of offering all of the basic features of other top genealogy programs -- multiple views, source documentation, a wide variety of reports and charts, web page creation, multimedia scrapbook features, merge capabilities and organization tools. It stands out, however, for its unique NetFam Collaboration, which allows you to work together with others anywhere in the world using a single master database shared privately over the Internet. The source documentation in Ancestral Quest 11 is also outstanding, allowing you to categorize sources, view where any source has been cited, memorize and reuse source citations, assign a source citation to just the date or place instead of entire event, and store images of source documents. Book and Web page publishing, however, are not as full-featured and flexible as they could be.
If you're a PAF user looking for extra features or someone who wants to be able to easily collaborate with other researchers online, then Ancestral Quest may just be the software for you. For everyone else, however, there are other family tree programs who do it slightly better or cost a little less.
