XY Family Tree
easy family history

XYFT - pragmatic genealogy

About XY Family Tree software

Frank JonesXYFT is a fully featured family tree maker to record your ancestry. It allows unlimited numbers of spouses, children and associations. It takes a biological view of family structure and parentage while still allowing freedom to make changes if you need to show other arrangements. It has some unique features not found in other family tree programs.

XYFT family trees use XML

XYFT is based on logically related XML files — a proper relational database. This means you can build your family tree according to your own requirements.

In addition to essential elements for names and dates etc., you can define your own meaningful elements with tags like <education>, <cemetery>, <medals>, <citations> etc. and these are searchable across all your families.

Displaying your family tree

XYFT can display all the types of media that your PC can handle. Photographs, videos, sound clips and links to web resources make it easy to show your family tree genealogy and bring your family history to life.

Research multiple families

You can research multiple families, each with their own folder, effectively placing no limit on the amount of information you can hold. Search across all these family folders for common names and places or simply just words or tags. Where families overlap a UUID can ensure a safe crossover.

Original genealogy citations and sources

Original genealogy citations are never found on a PC but a copy may be held on a PC and a pointer to the original source or citation can be recorded in XYFT. Serious researchers will always need to verify an original source. Sources can be any media: written, sound, visual or other reliable reference.

Share family tree records using XYXchange

Family tree data can be exchanged with other users via XYXchange. Using XYXchange the whole of the data, including media, is encapsulated in a zipped file and can be emailed and imported ready for use at the other end.

Backing up your family tree

Each day you edit your family tree XYFT automatically creates a copy of how it looked before that day so you can easily go back to an earlier version if you need to.

Additionally, for off-site backup, an XYXchange file can be kept in Dropbox or OneDrive or a Google Drive folder, where it will be kept securely and available for you to use from another PC or to share it with others if you wish. You could also attach your XYXchange file to an email and email it to yourself.

XYFT is free

XYFT is free to download and use right now. If you get it from this site it's guaranteed to be free from pollution: no adverts, no viruses, no hijacks, no unwanted extras.

If you already have a GEDCOM file this can easily be imported into XYFT - you won't lose your original GEDCOM file so it's quite safe. XYFT is a great alternative to GEDCOM. If you're just curious about how XYFT can use your GEDCOM the best way is to try it. You have nothing to lose.

Go to the download page, install it, explore the sample file, import your GEDCOM or start a new tree.

It's entirely free - no limits, no nags, no ads — but you're welcome to donate.