Take the Legacy 9.0 Tour

Legacy is a family history computer program that makes it extremely easy to store your genealogical information. Family trees containing millions of people can be recorded, displayed and reported. Legacy keeps track of names, alternate names, dates, places, events, notes, sources, pictures and sounds and presents them on screen in such an intuitive manner that you can easily see the big picture of your entire family. It is easy to navigate through all your family links using the Family View and Pedigree View screens. Moving from generation to generation is a breeze. Adding new individuals and marriages can be done at any time and in either view. Editing and adding new information is simple and understandable.

Legacy includes all standard genealogical reports, as well as calendars, timelines, questionnaires, research logs and a multitude of blank forms. You can even print an entire book about your family, complete with pictures.

Legacy can calculate the relationship of everyone in your Family File to a specific individual. It can also figure the age of an individual at every important event of their life.

You can store huge amounts of information. Parents can have up to sixty children, individuals can have multiple sets of parents, unlimited alternate names, events, sources and pictures.

What is it Like?

Let’s go on a guided tour of the main features of Legacy. We will show you small screen pictures along the way so you can get a feel for the program. If you click on most of the screen shots, a larger version will be displayed so you can see the detail.

This video previews a few of the exciting, new features in Legacy 9.0!

Read below for a complete list of Legacy 9.0 features:

Starting the Program

New to Legacy? Getting started or importing your data from another genealogy software program is now easier than ever before with the new Guided Startup Wizard .

The Guided Setup Wizard is displayed the first time you run the program. Or later, when you choose to start a new family file, Legacy asks you if you would like to use it. The wizard consists of several sequential screens that let you unlock the Deluxe Edition of Legacy if you have purchased it, select some startup options, import a file to get started, or begin by entering three generations of ancestor names.

Let’s begin by opening a new blank family file that you can begin adding you and your family to. After clicking on the number 3 button from the Welcome screen, the first Guided Startup Wizard screen opens. One of the options you can select is to begin by entering what you know about your family.

Before we continue however, a small Tips window is displayed when you start Legacy. This window gives you a new tip each time you start Legacy. These tips will help you remember some of the useful features in the program. You can see other tips by pressing the Next Tip button or get additional information about the current Tip by pressing the Show Me How button. Press Close to continue.

Legacy Home

The new Legacy Home tab on the main screen of Legacy brings you important information about your family file and also gives you a global view into the world of genealogy. The Legacy News box brings you articles and announcements about genealogy-related subjects. The To-Do list lets you enter tasks you would like to be reminded of. These reminders are displayed on the day you specify and remain visible until you reschedule or cancel them. Birthdays and anniversaries for individuals you specify can be displayed so you don't forget important dates. The Statistics box displays the number of individuals, families and sources in current family file. The Updates box shows the current Legacy version. If a newer version is available, it is also shown along with a Download Now! link. The Support box gives provides easy access to a variety of technical support options as well as training material, bug reporting and submitting suggestions.

The Family View

The Family View is one of two main navigational screens in Legacy (the other being the Pedigree View described next). Using this view you can move from generation to generation in either direction, displaying an entire family each time. The Family View shows the current husband and wife as the main couple on the screen along with when and where they were born and died. It also includes their marriage date and place. Below the main couple is a list of their children. Male children are shown in blue and female children in black. If there are more than fifteen children, a scroll bar appears to the right of the box which can be used to display up to a total of 60 children. Above the main couple are their parents.

Click here to read about all the navigational and other commands available from the Family View screen.

The Pedigree View

The second main navigational screen is the Pedigree View. The Pedigree View shows the current individual plus three or four generations of parents. Above the current individual is a grid showing spouses and children. Below is a grid showing the brothers and sisters of the individual.

To the left of the main individual is a small button. This button is colored gray if there are no descendants linked to the main individual or blue if the person has children.

To the right of each person in the oldest generation is another small button. This button is colored gray if that person has no parents linked to him/her. It is colored blue if there are one or more generations continuing back.

Click here for information on all the other commands available from the Pedigree View.

The Descendant View

This view shows a descendant chart of the current person. Any person can be edited by highlighting them and clicking the Edit button. If the screen is not wide enough to show the entire line of information for a person, highlighting the person displays all their info at the bottom, along with the relationship of that person to the top person in the list. Double-clicking on a person puts him/her at the top of the list and the chart is regenerated. Columns are user-selectable and savable.

The Chronology View

The Chronology View is an ideal analysis tool that lets you quickly see a person and all the events surround his/her life, including vitals, events, notes, children, marriages, marriage events, marriage notes printed chronologically. Different types of events can be color coded for easy identification. The Chronology View is available only in the Deluxe Edition.

The Index View

The Index View displays all the individuals in your family file. The information displayed includes the record number (RIN), full name, sex, and the birth and death date and place. The columns can be customized to display many different pieces of information.

Research Guidance

The Research Guidance tab on the main screen of Legacy is your starting point for getting help finding more information about your ancestors. This fantastic resource points you to specific suggested sources from the tens of thousands contained in the research guidance system. And more are being added all the time.

Legacy�s Research Guidance helps you locate records that may contain information about your ancestors. It does this in four steps:

1. Legacy helps you review the ancestor�s timeline, to be certain that you�ve already recorded everything you know about the ancestor.
2. Legacy suggests preliminary survey sources to help you learn if the research is already in progress by another researcher.
3. Select your goal, and Legacy provides a list of prioritized suggestions to help you accomplish your goal.
4. Finally, Legacy organizes the sources into a To-Do List.

When you click on the Research Guidance tab, the current individual is shown near the center of the window and Legacy immediately begins searching for preliminary survey and suggested sources for this person.

Entering Information

The Information Screen is where you enter all the individual information for the current person. This includes their name, birth and death dates and locations, gender, reference numbers and events.

Click Here for complete details on entering an individual’s information.

The Marriage Information screen is where you enter the date, place, status and sources of information for the current marriage.

Click Here for complete details on entering a marriage information.

Sources

Cite Your Sources with the SourceWriter^TM System. The sources for all the information you gather for individuals and marriages should be properly documented. Legacy includes a complete source database system. This lets you record each source once and cite it unlimited times. The new Legacy SourceWriter� will help you prepare properly formatted sources regardless of your expertise. Simply fill in the fields and Legacy creates the footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography for you, following industry standards.

Should you wish to use Legacy's Basic Source System, that option is still available Click here for information on citing your sources using the basic system.

Charting

Create stunning graphical charts - ancestor, descendant, fan, hourglass, bow tie, and even DNA charts. See and share your ancestors� pictures in ways that the whole family can enjoy. Use our chart printing service to print large charts on bond, presentation, glossy or matte canvas finishes. Simply click on the Charting button on the Legacy toolbar and the Legacy Charting program will begin.

Reports

The Report Menu gives you access to many of the reports available from Legacy.

The following standard reports are available from Legacy. Click on the report name for an example.

These other reports are also available from other locations within the program:

Publishing Center

This feature lets you select one or more reports and combine them into one large book report. All the information from the various reports are indexed and sourced together and a master Table of Contents is also generated. You can also add a Title page, Preface page, Dedication page, Copyright Notice page, Introduction Section, and Abbreviations page to the beginning of the book. Complies with the NEHGS publishing standards.