Genealogy software is

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

used to record, organize, and publish

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

data.

Features

At a minimum, genealogy software collects the date and place of an individual's birth, marriage, and death, and stores the relationships of individuals to their parents, spouses, and children. Some programs are more flexible than others in allowing for the input of children born out of wedlock or for varying types of spousal relationships. Additionally, most genealogy programs handle additional events in an individual's life, notes, photographs and multimedia, and source citations. Genealogy software programs can produce a variety of graphical charts and text reports, such as

pedigree chart A pedigree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence and appearance of phenotypes of a particular gene or organism and its ancestors from one generation to the next, most commonly humans, show dogs, and race horses. Definition The word pedigre ...

ahnentafel An ''ahnentafel'' (German for "ancestor table"; ) or ''ahnenreihe'' ("ancestor series"; ) is a genealogical numbering system for listing a person's direct ancestors in a fixed sequence of ascent. The subject (or proband) of the ahnentafel is l ...

reports, and Register reports. Some desktop applications generate

HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaS ...

pages for web publishing; there are stand-alone web applications, as well. Most genealogy programs can import and export using the

GEDCOM GEDCOM ( ), complete name FamilySearch GEDCOM, is a ''de facto'' open file format specification to store genealogical data, and import or export it between compatible genealogy software. GEDCOM is an acronym standing for ''Genealogical Data Comm ...

standard. There are also some programs that allow users to create Genograms which can be used by scientists, social workers, doctors, and others to get a graphical view of additional information. Some programs include additional fields relevant to particular religions. Others focus on certain geographical regions. For example, having a field for the family's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is only relevant if the family comes from a part of the world that uses them. While most programs and applications are desktop-based, there are a number of web-based products in the genealogy software market. Many genealogy applications focus on data management in that they allow users to manage all the information they collect on individuals, families, and events. Other tools available to the genealogist include research management tools, mapping tools, charting programs, and web-publishing programs.

Sharing

Most genealogy software allows export of data in

format, which can then be shared with people using different genealogy software. Some genealogy applications use GEDCOM internally and therefore work directly with GEDCOM data. Certain programs allow the user to restrict what information is shared, usually by inhibiting export of some or all personal information about living people for

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of ...

reasons.

References

* Smith, Drew. ''Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher'' (F+ W Media, Inc., 2016).

External links

Genealogy software reviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genealogy Software

Features

Sharing

See also

References

External links