RootsMagic v2

Roots Magic combines easy data entry with a very wide selection of reports and projects. It crams large amounts of information on the screen without ever losing its clarity.

Multimedia handling is very impressive. You can add pictures, audio and video files to an individual's record, each with a caption and description. It is possible to attach any kind of file, which is very useful if you have a Word document that you want to attach.

The only small disadvantage is that the program used to create the file would be needed if you wanted to open your family tree elsewhere.

Roots Magic offers the most comprehensive printing options in the group test. It can create a book for you to print out, complete with index, with different chapters made up of the reports generated by Roots Magic.

The UK retailer S&N Genealogy Supplies offers a special UK edition of Roots Magic which comes with a searchable index of census results, a UK spell-check dictionary and a copy of Bartholomew's UK Atlas 1898, which has maps and statistics for England in the 19th century.

You can download a demo of Roots Magic from www.rootsmagic.co.uk to get a feel for the software. More experienced family historians will find Roots Magic's media-handling abilities impressive.