© XY Family Tree 2013 XY Family Tree online help shows many of the features of the program. This is a dynamic source for the latest information. Easy Data Entry XY Family Tree builds by adding parents, siblings and children in a logical way. You can also enter unlimited spouses, other associations and unrelated people. XY recognises half-siblings and marks them as such. Multiple Families XY can handle any number of families. If you’re researching several family lines simultaneously it’s easy to switch between them. Each family has its own folder and is self-contained. Sources on your PC XY handles photographs, scanned documents, movie files, sound clips and office documents - in fact anything on your PC can be connected to your family tree. Sources on the Internet XY can connect to external web pages. Obviously these can change, so best to capture information from these and use locally. Project Notes and To-Do List XY Family Tree supports project notes and a to-do list. These can be kept in any format you choose and are easily accessible from XY. Navigation You can navigate each family tree in many different ways: by parent, sibling or child; by spouse or associate; by ancestor, child or grandchild. In the pro version you can also navigate by distant cousins and great aunts and uncles. Searching You can search by ID; by name or part of name; by date; by notes; by similar sounding names; by sources. Privacy There are several levels of privacy. Privacy applies to information that is intended for output - obviously you can see all details but you may want to hide some things from your audience: Private Notes allows you to keep notes about a person but not display them in outputs; Hide or Show - if hidden, a person will be removed from all output. This option also hides all others who depend on the hidden person. The effect is the same as if the person has never existed; If you’re displaying a family tree on the XY Family Tree.com website you can obscure names and dates in various ways; If you have a web folder it can be protected with a password so that only those who know the password can view your family. Import and Export XYXchange XYXchange files are zipped family folders that can be sent by email or even placed on your website. XYXchange files contain everything from your family folder on your PC - data, images, documents, media and links. Using XYXchange files is also a great way to back up your work. (Not available in free version) Import and Export Gedcom Gedcom files can be imported to get you started. This is especially useful if you have already created some data using another family tree program. XY Family Tree isn't constrained by the many tags used by Gedcom. Instead, apart from the essential fields to contain names and connections, it uses free-form, searchable text to give maximum flexibility. Just use the Gedcom import feature. If you want to convert your Gedcom to HTML or just see your Gedcom file on a website, you can do it here. Files can also be exported to Gedcom format. All the information in your family file, except Private Notes, can be exported as a single .ged file for use with other Gedcom compatible programs. XY versus Gedcom XY is Evidence Based rather than Believed Reality. In XY children have a single father and a single mother, even if they are not married.  In Gedcom a child must be connected to a marriage, even if the marriage is not between the actual parents, and this leads to very wrong associations when children of a second marriage become connected to grandparents of the children of the first marriage. XY can import your Gedcom files and go beyond the restrictions of Gedcom based programs. XY uses a data structure that avoids inconsistent links. See blog for details of data structure. Export as CSV Exporting your data in CSV format allows you to inspect as a spreadsheet, Excel for example. This allows you to sort the various columns and inspect each entry; check for duplicates; check for mistakes, etc. Output Templates There are many templates included with XY Family Tree that let you output your family files as Ancestry Charts, Family Lists and Family Pages. From v5.3 trees can be printed on any size paper, from A5 (210 x 148 mm 8.3 x 5.8 in) to A0 (1189 x 841 mm  46.8 x 33.1 in) plus non-standard sizes. You can show up to 6 generations before and after a focal person) Display on the Internet If you wish, you can export your XY Family Tree files to a web folder on the XY Family Tree.com website. Privacy can be guaranteed according to the settings you apply. (See Privacy above.) USB Memory Stick or CD Because XY Family Tree does not bind itself into your PC it will work quite happily from a USB Memory Stick; ideal for backing up your data, working in a library or sending your family trees to relatives. The CD option is usually best for those times when you want to allow viewing but not allow changes. You can take it to family gatherings or send it to relatives - it'll work immediately on any other modern PC.