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• Hi Owain,
  An awesome summary of AQ15 and great comments from other people. I came upon this a while after you wrote your article, however this review is still very relevant now and for latest update version 16.
  I have been using several different programs to find one I really like. Ease of use, data entry, full featured reporting and ability to share information with family is important, but for me the game breaker has been the ease of flexible and accurate source and citation entry for whatever record or document we find.
  So many programs fall short in this respect but I am starting to like what I see in V16 AQ (basic).
  People are asking how to download to their computers files they purchase on Ancestry.com. Generally a Gedcom download does not achieve this. The easiest way is to use FTM 1919 or RootsMagic 7 (or 8). Both will let you completely download every detail you have on an online tree before a subscription expires. If cost is a factor then using RootsMagic free version will achieve what people want for just the effort of an hour of their time.

  • Sorry for late reply Colin, I've been away for a while.

    Thanks for your feedback.

• Hi Owain

  My computer died a couple of months ago and my files are all sitting as AQZ and AQ Book files. I am pretty sure that the software I had was this one but it had a different name, I would have purchased it in about 2013. The layout looks the same as your screen shots above. Are you able to advise if I download AQ15 that my data will hook up to AQ15?

  Thanks in advance

  • Hi Jeanette, I’ve just check and I see that Ancestral Quest does support AQZ files. I’m not too sure about the AQ Book but I would say that probably it would, seeing as AQ is probably short for Ancestral Quest.

    Anyway try the free version of the software and see how you go. If it does work then you can buy the full version and thus benefit from all the features of the program.

    Good luck and please let me know how you get on.

    Owain

• Hi Owain,

  Thank you so much for all of your help. It will be hard to save everything. Uuuugggghhhh! I will do it though.

  I did a total for FTM with everything including tax and it came to $123.40. Yikes! I will probably go that way, but I may have to put it off for 2 months.

  This is something I have wanted to do for years. I really wish I could do this longer than one year. Life has also gotten in the way in the beginning of the subscription because I had a bad case of the flu in January when the subscription started and then my father passed away. I am trying though.

  I did subscribe to your website so I hope I can ask you a question from time to time via that format. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you!

  Kim

  • You're very welcome Kim. Always glad to help a fellow family historian.

    Sorry to hear the passing away of your father. I am glad to hear that you are continuing to research your ancestry.

    I haven't done any research on my family tree for a while. What with creating this site and having a young family my life is really busy.

    Look forward to hearing from you in the future.

    I wish you all the best in life and for your research.
    Owain

• Hi Owain,

  I am still a bit confused. Yes, I have one tree on Ancestry, but I do have a woman on Ancestry who is helping me with the Italian document translation from the area my family was from. She has documents that go way back.

  I am also connected with another woman through Ancestry, and she is taking a DNA test to see if we are related. She was the one who told me about saving every foreign document outside of the USA. She said that I would lose all of those documents when my gift subscription is up next January.

  Obviously, I didn't know about saving all of those documents in the beginning when I started this process on my computer. I just added them to the gallery section on my tree from Ancestry, and I was really hoping that the Gedcom that I upload to the Ancestral Quest program will transfer over those foreign documents, i.e. birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage certificates in Italian, as well.

  I was also hoping to put the program onto both my desktop and laptop. I have to vary my positions because of my back injury, so some of the time, I may be lying down on my laptop, and other times I will be on the desktop.

  I have to vary things a bit because of my neck and lower back injuries. That's why I want it on both computers because I will be going back and forth.

  So, I am assuming that I can only put this Ancestral Quest program onto one Windows computer and not both. Am I correct? I know with Family Tree Maker that you have to buy an extra Family Pack Upgrade. Does that exist with Ancestral Quest?

  I am going back and forth between Family Tree Maker and Ancestral Quest at this time as far as purchase is concerned. Which one do you suggest?

  I am really hoping that I don't have to save each and every document to the new software. That will take quite some time. Thank you for all of your help.

  I'm sorry that I only know a little bit about all of this.

  Kim

  • Hi Kim,

    Sorry I see what you're saying now. I've done some checking and I found out that you can use Ancestral Quest on multiple Windows computers. So once you have installed it on one computer then you can install it onto your laptop using the registration key that you're given.

    Unfortunately you will need to save those files manually. That's the way it works with with gedcom files. They will save the fact some that you have entered but not the supporting documents, certificates and everything else. I didn't know this when I first started tracing my family tree. But luckily I am finicky with these things and saved everything.

    Personally I would go with FTM, only because I have used it myself and have found it pretty easy to use. Ancestral Quest though is easy to use but the design of the interface is somewhat dated. So you may not like the appeal of it either.

    However, FTM is much more expensive as to use on more than one computer would cost you $90. With Ancestral Quest it is a third of that price at $30.

    Let me know how you get on Kim.

    All the best,
    Owain

• Hi Owain,
  I have a couple of questions for you. I am building my tree on Ancestry.com so Gedcom is completely foreign to me. If I go with this program, can I place it on both my Windows desktop computer and my Windows laptop?

  I switch back and forth between the two due to back issues.

  Also, will the Gedcom file (when I figure out how to do it) transfer over all of the important documents from my Italian search into the tree. I was told that I would have to save each one separately. I have world explorer for a year. I’m hoping for longer but that may not occur. I don’t want to lose those documents.
  Thank you,
  Kim

  • Thank you Kim for your query.

    Ancestral Quest can be placed on Windows whether it is a desktop or a laptop. So that's fine for you.

    Are you saying that you have one unique tree that is on Ancestry and is on your desktop and laptop? If so then saving one copy will be enough. If they are all different then you will need to save each version. I'm assuming though that they are all the same.

    I think that it would be best though to save the tree as a GEDCOM and upload to your new program. Then check everything is there before your Ancestry account expires.

    Check out this guide on how to download your tree from Ancestry. Hopefully that guide will help you with that.

    All the best and please let me know how you go.

• Hi, thanks for providing all this information. I do have a couple of questions:
  1. If I use Ancestral Quest on a Mac, can I later load my files to a PC? An ancillary question is can a person change to a different genealogy program from any of the five you review and enter their data automatically?
  2. If I connect to FamilySearch or Ancestry, will they access my data for their own use?

  • Hi Joe,

    Thank you for your comment and queries.

    1. You can load your data later from a Mac to a PC if you wish. You will though need to buy the Windows version of the software though. To be able to switch between Mac and Windows, or a different genealogy program you will first need to create a GEDCOM. This is easily done with any of the programs. You just need to export the GEDCOM file which will contain all the information that you have entered about your family tree and then import it to wherever you want to use it.

    2. These websites will use your information but only to provide you with a better service. I have checked and I do not see anywhere where they will use your data for your own use.

    Hope this answers your questions.

    Thank you,
    Owain

• Owain,
  Good article with a lot of information. With genealogy being a big industry these days, it's nice to know that there is a good and relatively inexpensive program out there that works. I will definitely recommend this to my friends and family who do this research all the time.
  Thanks again
  David

  • Thank you David for your warm words and recommending Ancestral Quest to your family and friends. This program will suit people who have traced their family history and have thousands of ancestors to store.

    All the best David.

• This sounds like something I would purchase for my father. Back in the 80's he paid quite a hefty sum to a company who delivered a book that was pretty, but only went back a few generations. I never was really impressed with it.
  This, however, would be right up his ally. I agree the "graphics" of it, are nothing to scream about, but it's the info and the depth of the information is all that's really important.

  • Hi Jay,

    Thanks for your comment. I feel that nowadays genealogy research has become more and more easier and cheaper as well. And many of us CAN DO this research by ourselves.

    We do though need help to know where to look, how to look and what are the tools that we can use. And this is where The Genealogy Guide steps in.

    Yes the graphics aren't all that great, but at the end of the day it's what the program can do that matters. And it's very intuitive to use as well, which is what we need from a genealogy software program. We don't want to be referring to the manual every few minutes when trying to research our family tree.

    All the best with your father's research.

• Hello Owain. Great review. I have been trying to construct my family tree for years now. It very difficult but with this tool I believe things will be easy.
  This will also be very beneficial to family future generations.
  I can't wait to buy this.

  • Hi there,

    Glad that you like the review. Ancestral Quest 15 can help your family tree, particularly if you have many ancestors, siblings, etc.

    And yes what you research can be passed down to future generations. I a man so proud of what I have researched and recorded. And I can pass it down to my daughters.

• Thanks Owain for all this information. I am really inspired by my family tree and have been asked by my father many times about this. So I will turn him onto this site later on today so that he can check out Ancestral Quest. I am sure he will get this.

  Thank you so much.

  • My pleasure Dennis, I am glad to be of help. If your father has done a lot of research into your family history then this program will surely be for him. All the best.