Award Winning Family Tree Software

Ancestral Quest (AQ) has been around since 1994, and has received several awards for being the best family tree software.

Easy to Use

AQ is very easy to learn and use, yet complete enough to be the choice of professional genealogists.

Record Your Family Tree

Enter individuals and families for as many generations as you can discover. Document their vital data along with notes and sources on where you found the information. Keep a research log and even record DNA information.

Preserve Memories and Photos

Attach photos, sounds and videos to each person along with other documents that provide color and background to their lives. Organize photos into interactive scrapbooks.

Print Charts and Reports

Select from a huge array of charts and reports, including pedigree charts, family group records, wall charts, fan charts, narrative book reports, organizational lists, birthday and anniversary calendars and more.

Internet Searches

AQ performs optional background searches on your family names in Ancestry.com, and can do searches on the WorldVitalRecords data.

International Ready

Store names and places from any language and culture. AQ can be translated into any language, to make it easier to use for non-English speaking people.

Unique Features

AQ has some impressive unique features, such as the interactive individual summary page, an award winning listing tool, and the ability to share a master data file between teams of researchers.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch is currently developing a major new resource -- a database of roughly half a billion lineage-linked records which will be free to the public. This system is currently in a pilot phase and is scheduled to be released to the public soon. AQ was the first full-featured family tree product to access this new resource, and to be able to directly link its own databases with this new FamilySearch database. For those who have access to the pilot of this new database, they can use this feature in AQ today. It should be available soon to all users.

Other Features

Click here for a complete program description. 

Derived Products

Ancestral Quest has been licensed for development and distribution under several other names besides its own. If you own one of these other products, you may want to test drive the current version of AQ to see the enhancements.

Ancestry Family Tree

In 2001, Ancestry.com licensed the Ancestral Quest code, then after making a few changes distributed roughly a million copies as Ancestry Family Tree. Users of AFT will find that AQ feels like a major upgrade to AFT, and will still search the Ancestry.com databases just like AFT does. AQ will even directly import the .aft database.

Personal Ancestral File

In 1999, FamilySearch licensed the Ancestral Quest code, then after making a few changes distributed millions of copies as PAF 4 and PAF 5. Users of PAF will find that AQ has the same look and feel as PAF, but with scores of enhancements, including the new linkages to New FamilySearch. AQ will even directly open a .paf database, just as PAF 5 does -- no importing necessary.

Family Tree Heritage

In 1998, Individual Software licensed the Ancestral Quest program to be resold under its own branding in large software stores. AQ has been sold as Family Ties, Family Trees Quick & Easy, Heritage Family Tree Deluxe, and currently as Family Tree Heritage.