I'm not really a fan of doing things by hand, especially since I can't really store it on my laptop. I'm wondering if anyone either... a. knows how to make a (complex) family tree for three generations, possibly four in something like OpenOffice b. knows of a free, simple to use piece of software that will allow me to make a family tree? By 'complex', I mean so that I can incorporate things such as divorce/second marriage/stepchildren. The only information I really want included would be name/DOB/sex/relationships. This is necessary as my story is basically a family drama. I did find one program (it was a trial though) called 'Family Echo' which was really really helpful, but I could only view the tree in a basic format, not with the family's links to other families - for example, my MC has been divorced and is now in a relationship with his ex-wife's half sister, and I could only view either his girlfriend's or his ex-wife's sides of the tree at one point, which was a bit annoying. Thanks in advance for any advice or links, I'm really desperate for this!
My guess is there is dedicated freeware around that offers what you want. There is also generic flow charting software that can be used for family trees, albeit they may not be directly what you need. I recommend using XMind or FreeMind (both freely downloadable) or other mind-mapping software. This can help in plot outlining. This can also be used to produce relationships between characters (or any other 'objects'). With a bit of twisting I guess you can use it for family trees. HTH
Thanks guys! I already have FreeMind, which I found really difficult to make into a family tree, but I'm going to try XMind now, hopefully it will work
Laura, I did a quick search and there are many shareware programs. Not sure what you exactly need, but here is an overview of many of such programs: http://www.genealogysearch.org/free/freeware.html One of them: http://www.mytrees.com/cgi-bin/download?-1+0+000000+English+0-0
i'm sure there are lots of free ones out there... just google for 'free family tree template downloads'...
I much prefer Visual Understanding Environment (VUE, also free) over XMind and Freemind for outlining, so that might be worth a look too. I'd still use dedicated family tree software for family trees.
Maybe I didn't fully understand the problem, but I would just use Paint or something. I assume you're doing this for your own personal reference?
