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Legacy Features


Wall Charts 
Wall charts tell a story that can be seen at a glance.  They are a graphical representation of your family that can extend forward or backward for many generations.  Large charts are often a gathering place for conversations that bond your family together.  They become family heirlooms of great importance that will be passed on into the future.  So, show off all your hard work - print some wall charts!

Interview Reports
The Interview Report contains over 1200 questions in thirteen different categories that can be used when you interview a family remember.  They are great at jogging the memory of the person being interviewed and elicit more in-depth responses.

Source Templates
Version 7 of Legacy heralded the introduction of SourceWriter.  SourceWriter is a template driven sourcing system that makes it easy for you to select the correct input screen so that you enter all the pieces needed to correctly cite any source of information in the thousands of formats that exist for them.  The information you enter is correctly and precisely formatted to match the genealogy industry standards for source citations when printing footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies.  Multiple citations for an event can be combined into one paragraph, thus avoiding a long string of superscripted numbers within the report body.

Prior to version 7, Legacy's citation methods were rudimentary and straight forward but didn't offer the expert help needed in order to automatically produce correct citations.  Actually, in version 7, you can use either of the citation methods, the new or the old.  We will call the new system SourceWriter and the previous system the "Basic System."  

Guided Setup Wizard
The new wizard is available when starting Legacy 7.0 for the first time as well as when creating a new family file from File > New Family File. You can even use it when importing at File > Import from > Use Import Wizard…  The wizard takes you by the hand and guides you through the process in an easy-to-understand way.

New Relationship Calculator
You can now see how any two people are connected, not only through direct blood relationships but also by marriage.  A person might be the "great-grandfather of the wife of your 2nd great-grandnephew.  You can also specify how many of these non-blood relationships you want to see.

Best Fit Child Columns
A new selection has been added.  The Best Fit option expands or contracts the child list columns to fit the number of children for the current couple.  No more trying to guess the optimum number of child columns.  Legacy does it for you.  

More Powerful Searching
Many new searching options have been added to make it easier to find missing information within your family file.  You can now search for individuals who are missing parts of names, birth or death information, marriage information and much more.  You can also search for missing source citations as you document your family files.

Standardization Tips
We have added many standardization tips that will pop-up if something questionable has been entered in the Individual's Information screen. These have also been added to the Potential Problems report. See Tools > Potential Problems > Standardization.

Edit Records from the "Used By" Lists
All of the master lists in Legacy have an option to view the individuals who use the items in the list.  You can now edit those individuals right from the list instead of having to exit the list and edit them separately.

Easily Attach Documents to Individuals and Marriages
Along with attaching pictures, sounds, and video to individuals, events, locations, and sources, you can now also attach any other kind of document.

Enhanced Welcome Tips
That little window that greets you when you start Legacy and gives you nice helpful tips and tricks just got better.  There is now a Show Me How button that pops up a complete explanation of the tip - how to get where you can use it, all the nitty gritty.

Potential Problems
Standardization and LDS event verification checks are now included. See Tools > Potential Problems > Standardization and LDS tabs.

Enhanced Backups
Legacy can now backup your family file and media files at the same time, making it easier to transfer everything to another computer.

New Toolbar Icons
New Home and Add icons have been added to the main toolbar.  An icon has also been added to access the new Charting features.

Research Guidance 
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 an 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.  After you have selected your goals, Legacy provides a list of prioritized suggestions to help you accomplish them.  4.  Finally, Legacy organizes the sources into a To-Do List. 
Publishing Center
This new feature lets you select one or more reports and combine them into one large book report.  All the information from the various reports is 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.
Forms Center (Reports > All Reports > Forms Center) or Report button > Books/Other tab > Forms Center)  
New forms will be added on a continuing basis.  These new forms will probably be available online in various packets for those who want to download them.
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.  It includes Legacy News, To-Do item reminders, birthday and anniversary reminders, general reminders, statistics about your family file, links to update Legacy, technical support links and much more.  The built-in browser lets you view Internet content without ever leaving Legacy.
Timelines
This feature lets you select timeline files containing events from certain localities, and add them to the Chronology reports as background information to show what was happening during a person's life.  Timeline files can be created and edited by the user.
Potential Problems List Format
All of the problems found are now presented in a grid list that is retained from session to session (until rebuilt by the user).  From the list you can edit the affected individuals and correct the problem or exclude it from future checking.
Global US County Verification
This new feature checks your entire family file to verify that the US counties you have used were in existence in the time periods you are using them for.
DNA
Legacy now lets you record DNA marker test results from several different companies.
Location Prepositions
On the Add/Edit Location screen (reached from the Master Location List), there is a field for the location preposition.  This defaults to "in" but can be changed to other prepositions like near, at, on, around, outside, northwest of, etc.  These prepositions are then used when building report sentences.
Sources
You can now connect source citations to:
 This individual never married (individual screen)
 This couple didn't marry
 This couple didn't have children
Book Reports
Complete control of spacing between all sections of the reports.  There is a Custom Report Spacing button on the Page Layout tab of the various book reports.  This opens a screen allowing you to specify the blank line space above all the various report sections.
Book Reports
The Location Index can now be printed with a different number of columns than the Name Index.
Note Fields
There is now a Strip HTML button that lets you remove any embedded HTML codes that ended up in the notes because of a Copy/Paste from a web page (for example).
Note Fields
There are now Font styles buttons allowing you to bold, underline, italicize, and superscript parts of the notes.  The changes show in the notes instead of just showing printer codes as in the past.
Potential Problems
Now also checks the sort order of children, and for children born fewer than 9 months after the marriage of the parents.
Soundex Code lookup from the Soundex Calculator (Tools > Soundex Calculator)  
When a Soundex code has been generated, you can click the Search Name List button to create a list of all the surnames in your family file with the same Soundex code.
RTF Embedded Pictures
When reports are generated to an RTF file, there is an option to embed the picture links in the file.  This then automatically displays the pictures in the report when the file is loaded into MS Word or other word processors.  The Standard edition only shows the picture paths in the document.  The option is set on the Other tab of the Options > Customize screen.
Location Report
You can now include the birth and death date information for each person on the report.  You can also have the Age of the person shown for each event when the locations were used.
Questionnaire
Output to screen/printer or text file.
Customize
Right-click any box title to reset the default values for the options within that box.  This is done on the various tabs of the Options > Customize screen.
Conditional Event Sentences
There is a new IF-THEN-ELSE command that can be used in event sentences to control the output better.
Pictures
There is now support for multiple-page TIF files (a TIF file containing more than one picture).

General
All information windows are resolution independent.  As you stretch forms larger, the controls and fonts readjust automatically.  All changes are remembered between sessions.
All grid lists can be zoomed in and out.

Source Documentation
A complete source citation system is included for documenting the sources of information.  
The Source Clipboard feature lets you assign sources to specific pieces of information with one click.
AutoSource lets you automatically assign a source citation to all imported records.

LDS Support
Complete LDS support is included.  This includes fields for all ordinance dates and temples, special date codes, temple list, ordinance reports and FamilySearch.

Legacy Home Tab 
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. 

Family/Pedigree View
Up to seven Family/Pedigree View windows can be opened at the same time.  This allows you to view different parts of the same file at one time.
You can have two different Family Files open simultaneously.  This lets you compare two files side-by-side and copy information from one to the other.
Right-clicking on any element pops up a menu containing the currently available options.
Nine levels of individual tags and nine levels of marriage tags are available for marking various subsets.  (There are three tag numbers available on the Standard Edition.)  These can be used for reports and exporting purposes.
Pop-up lists immediately available from Family View:
 Spouse List
 Siblings List
 Notes (General, Research and Medical)
 Media Gallery (individual and marriage)
 LDS ordinance list
 Assigned Sources list
 
 AKAs 
Pedigree View shows the spouses, children and siblings of the current individual.
New individuals can be added in either view.
Up to 200 bookmarks can be set on individuals allowing quick return to specific persons.  A bookmark list can be displayed.
History List tracks up to the last 200 individuals displayed.  (Similar to bookmarks but automatically maintained.)
Bubble Help is available for most features when the mouse cursor is over them.  (This can be turned off in the Customize section.)

Chronology View 
The Chronology View shows the current individual and all the surrounding events associated with that person.  These include the person?s birth, christening, death and burial information, his or her individual events, marriages and marriage events, the birth of children, parents, and the individual and marriage notes.  All these events are arranged on the view in sorted order so you can see what affected this person throughout his or her life.

Input
Unlimited alternate given and surnames
Unlimited events
Address entry for each individual
Title prefix and suffix

Name List
Lists all individuals in the current Family File along with their RIN, sex and tag settings.
Eight other pieces of information are also shown for the currently highlighted individual.  These can be changed at any time.
The personal information for any individual in the list can be edited on the Edit tab.
Advanced tagging feature lets you tag an individual, their immediate family, all their ancestors, all their descendants, everyone in the current family line or everyone in the name list.
You can search for any individual by starting to type their name in the Find box.
You can jump to surnames beginning with a certain letter by clicking the appropriate letter button.

Marriage List
List all marriage records in the current Family File including their MRIN and tag settings.
You can edit any husband's or wife's information or their marriage information from the list.
You can search for any husband or wife by starting to type their name in the Find Husb or Wife box.

Searching
You can search for specific individuals or groups of individuals.  
You can have them displayed in the Family/Pedigree View or have a grid list generated.  
Consecutive searches can either replace or add to existing search lists.

You can search using the following methods:

Query by Example
Just fill in the information to look for.  You can specify Exact, Starts With or Anywhere in field.

Detailed Search
Specify exactly what to look for and where.  Multiple search criteria can be used.  Search method can include Equal To, Not Equal To, Contains, Starts With, Sounds Like (which uses standard Soundex codes) and wildcard searches.  Multiple conditions can be combined using AND and OR.

Miscellaneous Searches
There are various specialized searches available:
Search by Focus Group:  
Can include individuals, families, ancestor and descendant lines.
Oldest Direct Line Generation:  
Creates a list of all the individuals who are in the oldest direct-line ancestor generation of the current individual.  This could be one or more individuals.
Youngest Direct Line Generation:  
Creates a list of all the individuals in the youngest direct-line descendant generation of the current individual.  This could be one or more individuals.
Direct-Line Ancestors with No Parents:  
This list includes the individuals at the end of all direct ancestor lines of the current individual.
Direct-Line Descendants with No Children:  
This includes all individuals at the bottom end of all direct descendant lines of the current individual.
Linked Individuals With No Children:  
All individuals who are linked to someone else but don't have any children linked to them.  These are at the bottom of all descendant lines in the Family File.
Linked Individuals With No Parents:  
All individuals who are linked to someone else but don't have any parents linked to them.  These are at the top of all ancestor lines in the Family File.
Unlinked Individuals:  
All individuals in the Family File who are not linked to anyone else.
All Records With an Individual Tag Level of x:  
Creates a list of all the people who have been tagged at a specified level.
All Records With Bad Dates:  
Creates a list of all individuals who have one or more dates that are not in a recognizable date format.  These are usually individuals who have been imported from another source.
Individuals who are married:  
All individuals in the Family File who are linked to a spouse (or partner).
Individuals with an unknown spouse:  
All individuals in the Family File who have a marriage record but have to spouse linked.
Individuals with multiple spouses:  
All individuals in the Family File who have more than one spouse linked to them.
Individuals with multiple parents:  
All individuals in the Family File who have more than one set of parents linked to them.

Calendar
Legacy includes a pop-up calendar containing a month and year calendar ranging from 1700 to 2099.  
It also contains a date calculator that can be used to figure birth and death dates as well as ages.

Help
A complete context-sensitive help system is available at all times by pressing F1 or by clicking any Help button.  

Pictures, Sounds and Video:
Any number of pictures,sound, and videos can be linked to an individual or marriage.  
A sound file can be linked to each picture.  
Pictures can be enlarged over 2000%.  
Pictures can be converted from one graphic format to another including:
BMP, CALS, DCX, EPS, GEM IMG, GIF, HALO CUT, ICO, IFF, IOCA, JPEG, LASERVIEW, MACPAINT, MSP, PCX, PNG, PSG, PCD, PICT, XPM-X, RAST, TARGA, TIFF, WMF, WPG and XBM-X
Pictures can be rotated, flipped and flopped.
Pictures can be converted to gray scale.
Adjustments can be made to brightness, sharpness and contrast.
Pictures can be printed on many reports as well as in a photo album.
Pictures and sounds can be displayed in a slide show format.
Pictures can include captions, dates and descriptions.

Reports:
Each report has many options that can be selected.  Common options to all reports include:
RIN Numbers
Christening Date and Place
Notes
LDS ordinance information
Printing orientation, line spacing and font size.

The following reports are included:

Family Group Record
Selected blank lines can be removed.
Multiple families can be printed at once, including tagged families and focus groups that can include ancestor lines, descendant lines, etc.
Pictures can be included for the husband and wife in various sizes, including captions and descriptions.
Page numbering is controllable
A sorted index can be created
Descendant Report
Specify number of generations
Indentation between generations can be set
Boxes can be printed around names and can have drop shadows
Duplicate lines can be suppressed
Ancestor Report
Same as Descendant Report
Timeline Report
Print for ancestors or descendants of any individual
Specify number of generations
Specify number of years across page
Specify average life span for individuals with missing birth or death dates
Pedigree Chart
Four, five or six generations per page
Cascading charts to any number of generations
Specify starting chart number
Boxes can be printed around names and can have drop shadows
A sorted index can be generated
Duplicate lines can be suppressed
Lineage Report
Pictures of main individuals can be included
Specify number of generations
Individual Reports
Multiple individuals can be printed at once, including tagged families and focus groups that can include ancestor lines, descendant lines, etc.
Pictures can be included in various sizes, including captions and descriptions.
Page numbering is controllable
A sorted index can be created
Ancestor Book
Duplicate lines can be suppressed
Pictures can be included in various sizes, including captions and descriptions.
Underlines can be printed in the place of missing names
Specify number of generations
Include a Title page with picture and other layout options
Include Table of Contents in various formats
Include sorted index in various formats
Font names, sizes and attributes can be set for each section of the book
Can start a new page after every generation
All paragraph indentations are adjustable
Margins are all adjustable
Heading position and justification are adjustable
Three formats are available for generation subtitles
Descendant Book
 Same as Ahnentafel Report
Source Citation Report
Print a list of all individuals and marriages that cite each master source.
Can include dividing lines
Can include source comments
Potential Problems Report
Once a reported problem has been researched and found valid, the record can be marked so that it is excluded from future reports.
Warning parameters can be set.
Problem records can be automatically tagged
Can check All Records, All Records not checked yet or All Records not marked to Exclude
Surname Summary
Prints a summary list of all surnames in the Family File or all surnames in a grid.
Includes the Surname, how many records use it and the date range of the uses
Relationship Report
Prints a list of each person related to an individual.
Can include the spouses of the relatives (e.g.  "Wife of 2nd Cousin, Twice Removed")
LDS Ordinance Report
Including:
All records, with or without any ordinance dates or places
Only records with one or more missing ordinance dates
Only records with all ordinance dates filled
Only records with one or more ordinance dates filled
Shade various line groups for ease of reading
Include vertical column and/or horizontal row lines
Exclude living individuals
Include surrounding relative (parents, spouses and children) for ease of identification
Include a Temple Name List appendix
Ages Report
Print a report including the date, day of week and age for birth, christening, marriage, death and burial of a married couple.
Name List Report
Print a list of all names in the Family File or any subset produced by a search
Column contents are customizable

Blank Reports and Forms
Forms Center 
The Forms Center is the central repository for the many blank forms that are available in Legacy.  These include a multitude of census forms, relationship diagrams, research forms, and more.  As new forms are added, you can download them from our web site and they will automatically be added to the Forms Center.
Questionnaire
Prints a customized questionnaire for requesting information about your family
Can specify how many children to prompt for
Research Log
Prints a log to be used to track research progress


General Capacities

 Individuals and Families File size to 2 billion characters (2 gigabyte).
 Children per Marriage 60
 Events per Individual Unlimited
 Spouses per Individual Unlimited
 Parents per Individual Unlimited
 Sources per Event Unlimited
 Pictures per Individual Unlimited
 Number of Entries in History List 200
 Address Lines per Individual 5
 Phone Numbers per Individual 2
 Generations per Pedigree Chart Unlimited
 Generations per Ancestor Chart 250
 Generations per Descendant Chart 250
 Generations per Descendant Book Unlimited


Field Capacities
Click here for a list of the field capacities in Legacy.

Save As...
Any Family File can be saved under a new name, thus making a copy of the current file.

Backup / Restore
Compressed, Zip compatible backup files can be made that span diskettes.

Verify 
A verification routine performs file maintenance items such as removing unused names, locations and event names.  It also checks the validity of all family links and compresses out old unused, deleted records.

Importing
Legacy imports both Personal Ancestral File ® information as well as GEDCOM files.  Any unrecognized information is placed in the Notes field and in an error log file.

Exporting
All Family File information can be exported to a GEDCOM file.  Various formats are available, including: Legacy, PAF, Ancestral File, Basic and Generic.  The user has complete control over what is included in the exported file.  You can specify which individuals are to be exported as well as what information is included.  You can export all records or specify a subset by tag level or focus group.

Customizing
Nearly every facet of Legacy can be customized by the user.  These include:  Window appearance, which view to display, which family to display, how surnames are printed, the location of the button bar, automatic backup when exiting, balloon help, pop-up info boxes, name and date formatting, LDS information, keyboard behavior, colors, fonts, and file locations.  All setting are saved and used in subsequent sessions.

Alarm
Legacy includes a pop-up alarm that can be set to go off at any time and to display a user-defined message.

Legacy 9 has been tested to support Windows 7, 32 and 64 bit, and above. Many, non-Internet dependent functions of Legacy will run on 32-bit Windows Versions prior to Windows 7, but support will be limited for those configurations..
To-Do List / Research Log 
New To-Do List makes it easy for you to track general and individual tasks needing to be done at home or abroad.   Print a specific list of things to do when you go on your next research trip.  Sort by nearly any field.  Keep track of Categories, Localities, Repositories, Descriptions, Results, Priority, Status and more.
Search and Replace 
Global Search and Replace lets you find and replace text in over 100 different fields. 
Spell Checking 
Spell Checking is available on all Note fields-This works just like the spell checking in a word processor.  Misspelled words are highlighted and suggested corrections are shown.
Special New Features
New quick way to switch to next spouse, sibling or parents with a click of the mouse. 
User-selectable information on the Family View.  Choose the fields you want to see for the Husband and Wife.
Automatically set Living to Yes or No for large groups of people.  Mark entire ancestral lines that you know are no longer alive and mark them as dead.  This catches all your ancient relatives with no birth or death dates.
Navigate to consecutive RIN or MRIN numbers right from the Family or Pedigree View.
The Location List can now be sorted by any field while you analyze it to combine duplicates.  There is even an amazing right-to-left sort that shows you duplicate locations you would have never seen otherwise.  
Three Quick Bookmarks make it faster than ever to return to key people in your file.
Addresses and Repositories
You can now add addresses to the Birth, Christening, Death, and Burial fields as well as to Marriages.  All individual and marriage events can also have an address.  
New Master Repository List lets you enter the mailing address, e-mail and web addresses of libraries, archives and agencies and use them over and over again.
You can add Latitude and Longitude information to addresses and locations. 
Faster Than Ever
Tagging operations and searching are now faster than ever. 
Relationship calculation is much faster. 
Pictures
Scan pictures from within Legacy.  It?s easier than ever to connect your special pictures to individuals and marriages in your family file.
Pictures, sounds, videos, and documents can now be linked to any type of event.  You can also attach pictures to master sources and source citation details.
Pictures can now be cropped to focus in on just the people you want to show.
Create a Sliding Picture show screen saver made up of your favorite family photos. Click on a photo and go directly to that individual.   Family reunions will never be the same.
Enhanced Photo Album . Print a family photo album from all individuals or just those who are tagged. Add pictures and scanned document images to Places, Events and Sources. 
Web Pages
Web page creation is now many times faster.  You can break large web sites into multiple folders and specify their location.  You can also have a common picture folder so that different web styles can share pictures. 
Marriage Enhancements
You can now add unlimited Events to marriages.
User definable Husband and Wife labels for each couple.  These are shown on the Family View and used on reports.  Customizable report narrative sentences for special situations (common law marriages, children out of wedlock, etc.). 
Note Fields 
All Notes fields now hold up to 1 million characters. That's hundreds of pages each! 
Add notes to Births, Christenings, Deaths, Burials and Marriages. 
Reports and Lists
Print custom address labels and name tags.  Dozens and dozens of standard and A4 size Avery labels and name tags are included.  Name tags can include pictures and three-generation pedigree charts.  Great for genealogy conferences and family reunions.
Count and print the separate Trees within your family file. 
Improved List Reports with line wrapping options.  Customize the reports by choosing any field for any column.  Save the reports for future use.
Enhanced Print Preview engine lets you quickly view and scroll through your reports.  You can view the entire report as thumbnails (32 per page), facing pages, or single pages from screen size up to 400 percent.  Print the current page, any range of pages, odd or even pages, collated or uncollated.   
New Character Map gives you support for European alphabets. Entering names like Bjørn is easier than ever.  There is even a new Special Character ribbon on all input screens that lets you quickly choose from eight user-selected characters by just clicking on them.
New Descendant Narrative Report.  Combines the easy-of-reading of a Descendant Chart with the narrative style and contents of a Modified Register report.  This could quickly become your new favorite.
New summary style Potential Problems report skips redundant information.  This saves paper when printing the report and speeds collection. 
Events can be marked as Private.  Report and Web page options allow you to include, or exclude these events. 
Relationship report can be filtered to tagged individuals. 
Internet Support
Internet button. Just click and connect to the Internet to find your favorite genealogy Web site. 
Search the Internet for information about your ancestor. Simply select Search / Search the Internet to automatically query Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org for the current individual. That?s nearly one billion names!
Internet and e-mail enabled -- Just click to send an e-mail message or connect to an organization's Web page right from Legacy. 
Sources
New Source Detail Comments, File ID Number and Recorded Date fields. 
You can now add sources for LDS ordinance information. 
Customizing
Select up to five fields to display on the Family View. 
Customizable icons in Family or Pedigree View allows you to choose up to eleven commonly used features. 
Select US or Metric option for setting report margins, etc. 
The mysterious "Unknown" placeholder can now be turned off. 
Turn on or off the 3D look of the Child List area in Family View.  Use standard symbols at end of names on the Child List or use an alternate method of bolding or underlining numbers in the list. 
GEDCOM / Import / Export
Faster GEDCOM and Legacy file exports. 
GEDCOM import/export support for PAF 4.0 private notes with leading tilde (~text) from/to Legacy private notes in double brackets ( [[text]] ). 
Option to suppress estimated dates <1750> and estimated places <Boston, Suffolk, MA> when exporting files. 

  To check out the QuickTip video on Getting Started in Legacy, Research Log, and SourceWriter, click here.

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