Customer Reviews

Reunion 9

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've used Reunion since version 6, I think, and it is the best genealogy software I've ever used. I've tried Family Tree Maker on Windows and Reunion blows it away. FTM is just ugly, where Reunion has a nice interface and is easy to use. You can export your family tree to the GEDCOM standard and upload it to Geni.com, or import your old Windows family tree file into Reunion, though you'll have to import all the media files separately, as GEDCOM doesn't seem to support media.

I considered other Mac genealogy programs, but decided to stick with Reunion. One of the great things about this software is the fantastic personal support that leister.com gives you. BTW, this is a universal app, in case you're wondering. A lot of genealogy applications seem to be lagging behind in that respect.

All in all, I consider this the best genealogy software available, on mac or Windoze. You can't go wrong with Reunion!

<update> It's 2009 now, and I've owned this application for quite some time, and I still agree with my review. Get this software! You won't regret it!

The absolute king of genealogy and "family tree" software. The best feature I've discovered so far is the ability to export your entire family tree as a series of web pages that Reunion will create and customize for you, in both plain HTML and CSS formats. Simply export and upload to your web space, and voila. There are a handful of free options out there, but they are mostly feature-starved and buggy. For a meager 99 dollars, Reunion blows them all out of the water.

This is as superb as they come. Excellent graphing choices, Family tree generation and lists of all sources. Provides ability to move, edit, change all data entries as the user desires. Great facility in moving relatives within the tree as facts emerge.

When I bought my iMac 2 years ago, I also got Reunion 9 as part of the package. Now that I'm retired, my night time is filled with heavy research on Ancestry.com. After using Family Tree Maker for years, Reunion 9 has been very disappointing. For one thing, the reports are messy, and confusing. With FTM, I could do search and find, spell check, check for other errors, etc without downloading my gedcom. But with Reunion 9, I have to download my gedcom once a month or so, and open it with Reunion 9 to see if there are any errors. So I need a software that works with the downloaded gedcom. The tech guys at Ancestry.com say they're working on a version of FTM for Macintosh computers, and I hope they have it soon. In the meantime, I recently bought Mac Family Tree, and I like it much better than Reunion 9 for reports. It's also a lot cheaper than Reunion 9.

FINALLY, a good genealogy program for Mac users!!!!! I'd like to see the price come down a bit on this, but as far as the product is concerned, it is everything the amateur (and maybe professional) genealogist needs to make record keeping easy and keep everything well-organized. The program is easy to install and easy to use. I highly recommend this for anyone doing genealogy on a Mac.

I have found Reunion to be a solid electronic family history program. It has been easy to learn to use. I have been impressed with the logical layout and the ease with which sources can be added.

Since I didn't have the time to test all the Mac genealogy applications available, I went for the most expensive one thinking that it would also be the best one. Well, Reunion 9 might be the best application for Mac, but when I saw Family Tree Builder for PC (which is free), I regret not having a PC.

Reunion 9 has a nice interface and it is easy to navigate, but it still needs some polishing (after 9 versions!). Clicking on a table does not let you edit it, (source) lists are sometimes missing scroll bars, drag and drop is very limited and clumsy, chart editing is rather primitive, and adding information about a marriage is simple ... if you know you have to click on a hidden button. There are tens of configurable options that I've never used, and the ones I need are missing.

And worst of all: there is no UNDO button!. Make a mistake and, if you are not able to reconstruct it, there goes your database.

Reunion 9 would be a nice application if it was free, but for $99 I feel very disappointed.
Add to this all the missing features available in Family Tree Builder (multiple languages, maps, and above all, automatic search of relatives) and you get the picture.

My advice: get something else.

Caveat: I am relatively new to genealogy and not as well versed in the other software. I also only have a Mac so my software selection was limited.
That being said, I am very pleased with Reunion 9. I have an lot of family data readily available (multiple bound volumes heading down multiple lines) and I have an eventual eye on putting it all into an electronic format so I wanted a very solid and sophisticated program. I also wanted a program that was generally easy to use but not at the expense of functionality.
Reunion is quite easy to use. It comes with a manual (electronic) and tutorial that helps you get started. Some of the options seem a bit odd at first but after some practice and more experience, it becomes clear how they fit in. It is clear that the writers of this system are versed in complicated family trees. I did get prompt and helpful customer service when I had questions about the best way to integrate 2 large already-completed family trees. I am impressed with the lovely reports and they way it quickly sorts through loads of data to make it understandable.
Other amateurs should note that the program (and, indeed, probably no program) will be able to substitute for careful attention to detail. I was hoping that whatever software I bought would be able to somehow magically know if a "John Smith" was the same John Smith in another branch of the tree. This is practically impossible barring some gift like birthdates that happen to match in both. Reunion can easily merge records (if, indeed, the two Johns end up being the same), so it makes fixing those issues painless. It can also do a lot to flag potential duplicates. You, however, need to make sure it's all accurate.
Overall, I'm pleased.

I have not used family tree software before and this product was easy to figure out and get going. The web site of the publisher is full of useful information and most all problems or questions are addressed there. I was able to publish my family tree to the web with ease and adding new information is simple and headache free.

I have been using Family Tree Maker on a Windows machine for as long as 15 years. Although I was very used to it and satisfied with it, I find that Reunion beats it hands-down with the additional benefit that I no longer need to use two computers.