RootsMagic 3.0

Popular with novice and experienced genealogists alike, RootsMagic packs a wealth of powerful features and tools behind its simple, intuitive interface. Multiple navigation views, easy data entry, beautiful charts, custom reports, flexible book publishing, and powerful source capabilities have been enhanced in this version with integrated GenSmarts support, a tool for creating custom CDs to share with your family, and the ability to include pictures in narrative reports.

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Sophisticated and powerful, RootsMagic is also the easiest to use genealogy program that I have ever tested. Adding family members is very intuitive, while multiple naviagation views and powerful search features make it easy to find any individual in the family tree. Sources can be created once and reused multiple times, and a source can even be applied to multiple people at once. A Source Wizard is available to help novice researchers include the necessary information in the proper format. Excellent research planning and tracking tools in RootsMagic include a correspondence log, interactive problem list, missing information list, and "to do" lists for specific individuals, families, or the entire database. Full multimedia scrapbook, family history book and Web page capabilities round out the complete genealogy package. Version 3.0 adds the ability to backup directly to CD, a tool for creating shareable CDs complete with a read-only version of RootsMagic, and an option for adding private notes and events that can be suppressed from printing or exporting. Color coding can now be printed in most charts and reports. Best of all is the great support - if you have a question or want to make a suggestion you'll find the help you need on the RootsMagic Web site, where the software's author, Bruce Buzbee, is an active participant. My favorite for the best all-around program, RootsMagic 3.0 does an outstanding job of covering all of the genealogy bases at a very attractive price.