Preserve Your Family Tree: Why You Need Desktop Genealogy Software

Why You Need Desktop Genealogy Software | Best Family Tree Programs for Preserving Your Legacy In Part 2 of our series on choosing the right family tree software, we dive into the best desktop genealogy software for your home computer. If you’re serious about preserving your family tree, protecting your research, and creating beautiful, high-quality outputs, this video is for you! Desktop genealogy software gives you more control over your data — perfect for those who care about privacy, long-term preservation, and presentation. Whether you're a casual hobbyist or a devoted family historian, you'll want to learn why installed genealogy programs are a powerful addition to your research toolkit. 📌 In this episode, you’ll discover: Why preserving your family tree matters — and how to avoid common mistakes The benefits of desktop family tree software vs online-only apps How desktop apps handle privacy, copyright, and backups better Examples of beautifully formatted family group sheets and pre-built websites A comparison of the most popular genealogy software programs for home use 🗂 Whether you're wondering which family tree program is best, how to keep your data safe, or how to print beautiful reports, this guide will help you choose with confidence. All opinions are those of me, the author. This is my own work for the benefit of interested individuals who wish to develop their family tree. No Product Affiliation/Sponsorships: This video is not affiliated, sponsored or in any way supported by any business or outside organization. Any mention of a particular business or service is done so at the discretion of Family Tree 123 (FT123), and does not involve any monetary or material benefit for FT123 unless expressly stated in the video. Links. Part 1: Online Applications List of Genealogical Desktop Software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealo... Rootsweb Link to Sandra Devlin’s page: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nsdigby/l... GEDCOM Files: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM The Pioneers of Saint Clair County: https://host.reunionfamilycloud.com/d... Links. Part 2: Application Websites: Software MacKiev: Family Tree Maker (mackiev.com) RootsMagic Genealogy and Family History Software (rootsmagic.com) Legacy Family Tree Genealogy Software (legacyfamilytree.com) Gramps - Free Genealogy Software (gramps-project.org) Reunion for Macintosh (leisterpro.com) Family Search (FamilySearch.org) Ancestry (Ancestry.com) Images: Wikimedia. IBM Computer Pirozhkebab, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia: Personal Ancestral File https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona... Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply. Legal Disclaimers All opinions expressed are those of the host / writer alone without any influence or input from the parties mentioned. Viewers should not rely on this information for purchasing decisions, and conduct their own due diligence prior to making any purchasing decisions. The information is considered valid at the time of this recording (April 2025) E&OE. Ancestry “Ancestry”, “Find a Grave”, “Genealogy.com”, and “Rootsweb” are trademarks of Ancestry and its affiliated entities and Family Tree 123 (YouTube Channel) and its content is not sponsored, affiliated, endorsed, or otherwise associated with or by Ancestry and its affiliated entities.” Wikitree This site (Wikitree.org) and all information and images within it are copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. US copyright law protects all materials on this site. All rights reserved. © 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. FamilySearch “FamilySearch is a trademark of FamilySearch/Intellectual Reserve, Inc., and may be registered in the United States of America and other countries.” Special Thanks: My cousin Shonda for being super awesome in both official languages (in Canada). Dave Mills in Arizona who is a master-genealogist. You've taught me so much!