FREEWARE FOR FAMILY HISTORY: SUPPLEMENTARY
NOTES
©2015 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Notes
- Introduction
- Comments and Caveats About Freeware
- Record Management Programs
- Other Genealogy Programs and Databases
- Computer Utilities
- Graphics Programs
- Sound and Video Programs
- Text and Office Programs
This page was last updated 2015-06-01.
Go to Utah Valley
Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page , Don's
Class Notes Page , Don's
Supplementary Class Notes Page .
- Instructors are Donald R. Snow (snowd@math.byu.edu)
of Provo and St. George, Utah and Linda Snow
Westover (linda.westover@gmail.com) of Orem,
Utah.
- These notes, listing more than 70 programs to
help in family history, are posted on
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
and are updated regularly. A
Summary Handout with details of the 5 or 6
programs to be discussed in this particular
class is also posted on that page.
- Tips: (1) To form an icon on your
desktop to open your browser and go directly to
this (or any other) webpage, drag the icon from in
front of the address in your browser onto your
desktop. (2) To open a link from here
in another tab, but keep your place in these
notes, hold down the Control key while clicking
the link.
COMMENTS AND CAVEATS ABOUT FREEWARE
- Terms used
- "Freeware" refers to computer programs that
you can use freely and give copies to anyone
else; there are usually no "nag" screens.
- "Shareware" refers to programs that you can
try out and use and, if you like them and plan
to use them regularly, you should send a
specified donation (usually $5-$10) to the
author at the address given in the program.
- "Portable" means the program can be run from
a flashdrive and doesn't have to be installed
on the computer, so you can use it anywhere,
e.g. at a FHC.
- "App" means application, i.e. software; the
term is most often used with mobile devices
- "Open Source" refers to freeware which
includes the source code, so you can even
edit it, if you know programming.
- Caveats: Be careful when downloading and
installing freeware -- Read before clicking --
Some companies try to trick you into downloading
and installing programs you don't think you are
getting (bloatware) -- Don't use the "express",
"standard", or "recommended" installation options
since those usually add bloatware or tool bars and
frequently change your default program, so you
have to change it back, if you didn't want it
reset
- Here are some helpful installation, update, and
portable programs
- Ninite -- https://ninite.com/
--you select the freeware you want and it sets
up an installer for the whole collection; will
also check for updates for your programs
- Glary Utilities -- http://www.glarysoft.com/
-- includes a program to check for updates
for all your installed programs and has a safe
place to download the updates -- http://www.filepuma.com/
- Portable Apps -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/
-- First run this program on a flashdrive, then
you can install other programs on the flashdrive
so you can take them with you and run them
anywhere, i.e., they will be portable, even if
they weren't portable originally
- Free Apps -- http://www.freenew.net/
-- it installs them all for you; also checks for
updates
- Nirlauncher -- http://launcher.nirsoft.net/
-- more than 180 portable freeware titles so you
can install this on a flashdrive and use the
programs anywhere
- Many freeware programs are equal to or better
than the corresponding commercial programs.
- For free alternatives to commercial programs
try http://alternativeto.net/
- For open source alternatives to commercial
programs try http://www.osalt.com/
- Many additional freeware and shareware programs
- http://www.softpedia.com/ --
Categories of freeware
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
-- Article and list of open source freeware
- http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/index.html
-- List of freeware
- http://www.fsf.org/
-- The Free Software Foundation
- http://sourceforge.net/
-- The largest open source software (freeware)
development site
- http://www.oldversion.com/
-- Old Versions of software
- http://www.oldapps.com/
-- Old Apps - older versions of freeware and
some commercial apps
- For many more such websites do a
Google search for terms like "genealogy
freeware" or "free software for family history"
without the quotes)
RECORD MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
- Ancestral Quest -- http://www.ancquest.com/
-- Free version is Ancestral Quest Basics
and can use the full version for 60-day free
trial; can use it to link to and download from
Family Tree; full version is also free in FHC's
- RootsMagic -- http://www.rootsmagic.com/
-- Free version is RootsMagic Essentials; can link
to and download from Family Tree;
full version is free in FHC's
- Legacy -- http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/
-- Free version is Standard version; full version
is free in FHC's
- Family Tree Builder -- http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder
-- MyHeritage is now a FamilySearch Partner, so LDS
can sign up for free account; has good
search capabilities for information
- Smart Genealogy -- http://freewareapp.com/smartgenealogy_download/
-- Free genealogy program; can import/export Excel
and GEDCOM files
- PAF 5.2 -- http://www.familysearch.org/
-- Can download from http://personal-ancestral-file.software.informer.com/5.2/
-- Also, all versions of PAF up to 5.2 are on the
PAF CD which the LDS Church Distribution Centers
used to sell and which many FHCs have copies of;
these old versions of PAF install in Windows 7 so
they can be used to convert old PAF files to
GEDCOM to import into other newer programs
OTHER GENEALOGY PROGRAMS AND DATABASES
- RecordSeek (TreeConnect) -- http://recordseek.com
-- Very helpful to save sources in your
FamilySearch Family Tree account
- TreeSeek -- http://www.treeseek.com
-- Many helpful charts from your FamilySearch
Family Tree data; also has electronic card games
with cards having your ancestors' pictures on them
- RootsMapper -- https://rootsmapper.com/
-- shows migration of your ancestors using data
from Family Tree
- Puzzilla Descendant Viewer -- https://puzzilla.org/
-- helpful to visualize collection of your cousins
(descendants of your ancestors)
- GENViewer Lite -- http://mudcreeksoftware.com/genviewer.htm
-- free and commercial versions; free beta of
new version on the website now (May 2015);
very fast and helpful to read and analyze GEDCOM's
and databases; allows setting up searches for
people through all your genealogy databases
- OurTimelines -- http://ourtimelines.com/
-- Free website that makes timelines of world
events happening during your ancestor's life; can
be personalized with up to 10 events of your own
ancestor's life; can save as pdf or html file and
link it into your genealogy program; events are
1000 AD to current year; if you know html, you
could add and delete items to personalize the
timeline more
- OnePageGenealogy -- http://roots.cs.byu.edu/pedigree/
-- freeware to make large pedigree/descendant pdf
charts from GEDCOM's; website has the password
needed so a print shop can print it for you
- Relative Finder -- https://www.relativefinder.org/
-- uses Family Tree data to show how you are
related to famous people or to a group you set up
yourself
- BYU Computer Science Dept Family History
Technology Lab -- http://fhtl.byu.edu/
-- has several free programs and FH games
- Maps of United Kingdom parishes
- http://maps.familysearch.org/
-- maps, parishes, jurisdictions, helps, links
to records
- Parish Locator -- http://www.parloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
-- Program and database of 15,000 parishes in
the United Kingdom; draws maps with nearby
parishes
- Parish Locator for Windows -- http://web.onetel.net.uk/~gdlawson/parfind.htm
-- Program and database of 25,000 parishes in
the United Kingdom
- Maps of US country boundary changes (like
AniMap) -- http://www.mapofus.org/
- Addnote -- http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gumby/ged.html
-- free utility to add a note to every record in a
GEDCOM
- Addsour -- http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gumby/ged.html
-- free utility to add a source to every record
in a GEDCOM
COMPUTER UTILITIES
- Everything -- http://www.voidtools.com/
-- Very fast desktop search program for files on
your computer; very helpful to search, launch, and
organize files on your computer
- Windows Explorer -- in all versions of Windows;
icon is the file folder; helpful in many ways;
open Preview Panel (upper right corner) to see
contents of a file without opening it; can rename
files this way without opening them first
- Q-Dir -- http://www.softwareok.com/
-- Freeware with two or more Windows-Explorer-type
panels for file maintenance such as checking,
copying, moving, and deleting files; many helpful
properties
- Bulk Rename Utility -- http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php
-- Very good batch file renamer; shows the new
file names before actually changing them; lots of
renaming features so it takes getting used to, but
can use simpler parts very easily
- Namexif -- http://www.digicamsoft.com/
-- Simple renamer for digital photos that puts
date and time from metadata at start of file name,
so alphabetizing arranges photos in chronological
order; can add other descriptive terms after the
date and time
- Glary Utilities -- http://www.glaryutilities.com/
-- Cmputer utility to keep your computer
running smoothly; free for home use; will check
for updates and install them for all programs on
your computer without fear of viruses or
bloatware; lists of freeware by categories -- http://www.filepuma.com/
- RevoUnistaller -- http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html
-- Freeware program to completely uninstall other
programs
- BelArc Advisor -- http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
-- Goes through your entire computer and lists all
hardware, software, and license keys
- Dropbox -- http://www.getdropbox.com/
-- Synchronizes whatever you put in your Dropbox
folder to your other computers via the Internet
- FileSeek -- http://www.fileseek.ca/Download/
-- Free and fast search engine for text inside
files on your computer
- Duplicate Cleaner -- http://www.duplicatecleaner.com/
--Free version is only for personal/home use; has
good features to find and select duplicates for
deletion
- DupKiller -- http://www.snapfiles.com/get/dupkiller.html
-- Fast program to find all the duplicate files on
your computer
- Piriform Defragler -- http://www.piriform.com/defraggler
-- Good defragger for your hard drives
- Advanced SystemCare Free -- http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html?Str=download
-- Helpful computer utilities
- JustZipIt -- http://free-backup.info/justzipit.html
-- Simple zip/unzip file compression program
- WinHTTrack -- http://www.httrack.com/
-- Will download all or part of an entire
website for backing up and offline
browsing
- PageNest Free -- http://dailyfreeware.net/2009/08/20/pagenest-free-edition-321/
-- Website copier for offline reading and
backing up
- Ditto -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ditto-cp/
-- OpenSource freeware clipboard extender to
have more than one item on the clipboard; highly
rated
- Resoph Notes -- http://www.resoph.com/ResophNotes/Welcome.html
-- Freeware notes program that acts like a
clipboard extender
- Clipboard Magic -- http://www.cybermatrix.com/clipboard_magic.html
-- Clipboard extender; saves multiple clip items
and can save to various clip lists
- PhraseExpress -- http://www.phraseexpress.com/
-- Freeware program that expands phrases when you
type the first few letters
- Karen's Replicator -- http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp
-- Freeware to backup your data from one location
to another
- ImgBurn -- http://ask-leo.com/imgburn_free_cddvd_burning_tool.html
-- Freeware CD/DVD image burner with instructions
- LogMeIn Free -- http://www.logmein.com
(listed under Products) -- Allows you to control
one computer through another over the Internet
GRAPHICS PROGRAMS
- FastStone Capture -- version 5.3 is last
freeware version (later versions are shareware) --
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html
-- Excellent screen capture utility that allows
saving in jpg, pdf, tif, and other formats; also
captures entire scrolling screens
- FastStone Image Viewer -- http://www.faststone.org/download.htm
-- Good image viewer that also has screen capture
features, but not scrolling screen captures
- Irfanview -- http://www.irfanview.com/
-- Photo editor, converter, and slide shower; many
features, including batch conversions
- Picasa 3 -- http://picasa.google.com/#utm_source=en-us-more&utm_campaign=en-pic&utm_medium=et
-- Google's free photo organizer and editor; has
facial recognition feature to help you organize
and name people in photos
- Windows Live Photo Gallery -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/photo-gallery
-- free photo editor; does facial
recognition and stitching together photos for
panorama shots
- GIMP -- http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
-- Open source photo editor -- GIMPShop
is an interface that makes GIMP menus look and act
like PhotoShop
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder -- http://www.duplicate-finder.com/photo.html
-- checks through folders you specify to find
possible duplicate photos; shows you the ones that
are similar and percent they are alike so you can
decide what you want to delete
SOUND AND VIDEO PROGRAMS
- Audacity -- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
-- Excellent sound recorder and editor;
complicated program, but basics are easy to use
- WavePad -- http://wavepad.en.softonic.com/
-- Sound recorder and editor
- PhotoFilmStrip -- http://www.photofilmstrip.org
-- Click on the "en" (upper right-hand side) for
English; very good free program to make "Ken
Burns" style videos of your photos; can include a
soundtrack
- VLC -- http://www.videolan.org
-- Good media player, has adjustments to
synchronize sound and video when they don't match
- Skype -- http://www.skype.com/download/
-- Free program to talk through your computer and
the Internet - free to talk to other Skype users
worldwide, small charge to talk to any land or
cell phone worldwide; requires a broadband
connection
- Listen N Write Free -- http://elefantsoftware-en.weebly.com/
-- very helpful for transcribing audio files;
plays the audio and has keystrokes to start,
stop, or back up, and can use their text editor or
any other one you want
TEXT AND OFFICE PROGRAMS
- Evernote -- http://evernote.com/
-- Freeware note program; synchronizes your notes
between computers and stores your notes online so
you can get to them anywhere you can get to the
Internet; notes can be text, images, URL's, or
webpages; has OCR indexing for pdf's; has
apps for mobile devices
- Essential PIM -- http://www.essentialpim.com/?r=download
-- Freeware personal information manager (PIM);
good for appointments, calendars, To Do lists,
etc.
- TreePad Lite -- http://www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware/
-- Freeware note and personal information manager
(PIM), uses tree-format
- Google Docs -- uses your (free) Google
account; go to Google with any browser and click
on the 3x3 dots (upper right corner), select Docs,
and sign in with your Google account -- can write,
edit, save, and share documents online; can work
on any computer and work with others on the same
document; Google Docs stores your files on Google
Drive along with whatever else you have stored
there; Google Docs includes programs to handle
text files, presentations ("slides"), and
spreadsheets ("sheets"); if using the Chrome
browser, there is an extension called "Office
Editing for Docs, Sheets, and Slides" download to
edit documents
- Blue Griffon -- http://bluegriffon.org/
-- Free very helpful program for writing html for
using on your computer or posting on a webpage;
has a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You
Get), plus source code editor (It's the program I
use to write all my FH notes to post.)
- Notetab Lite -- http://www.notetab.com/
-- Freeware note program
- Jarte -- http://www.jarte.com/
-- Free simple, fast, text editor for txt and rtf
files
- LibreOffice -- http://www.libreoffice.org
-- Powerful open source freeware office suite
compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint; updated more often than Apache
OpenOffice -- http://www.openoffice.org/
-- which is similar
- Gnumeric spreadsheet -- https://projects.gnome.org/gnumeric/
-- Open source spreadsheet compatible with Excel
and many others
- NotePad++ -- http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
-- Very good open source text editor; useful for
many formats
- Transcript -- http://www.jacobboerema.nl/en/Freeware.htm
-- Helps with transcribing digitized handwritten
documents, keeps image and your typed text in sync
as you move down the page
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC -- http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/
-- Free reader/editor for pdf files
- PDF X-Change Viewer -- http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer
-- free for private use, very helpful to edit and
annotate pdf's; can fill in pdf forms; has OCR for
pdf's (Optical Character Recognition) built in
- PDF Split and Merge -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfsam/
-- Open source program to split or
combine pdf files
- Sumatra PDF reader -- http://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html
-- Good pdf reader, fast, easy to use
- Nitro PDF Reader -- http://www.nitroreader.com
-- Good pdf reader with lots of features
- CutePDF Writer -- http://www.cutepdf.com/
-- installs as a pdf printer in your Printer
List so you can print anything to a pdf file
instead of hard copy
- JOCR -- http://download.cnet.com/JOCR/3000-2192_4-10768898.html
-- Freeware optical character recognition program
for images of text on screen - small, fast, and
works well, but requires that MS Word 2003 or
later be installed (doesn't work with OpenOffice)
- Tinyspell -- http://tinyspell.m6.net/
-- Spell checker that works even in genealogy
program notes
CONCLUSIONS
- There is lots of freeware to help in
FH. For more use a search engine like
Google and search for "genealogy freeware"
(without the quotes).
- Once you have the vision of what can be done,
you can find the program and learn to use it.
Go to Utah
Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page
, Don's
Class Notes Page , Don's
Supplementary Class Notes Page .