Next up in our Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed series is the revealing of the brand new Instant Duplicate Checking feature! Now, when you are adding new individuals, Legacy can instantly check to see if perhaps they are already in your family file, helping you avoid inadvertantly adding duplicates.

In the early, early years of my genealogy research I added Stephen Hopkins to my Legacy family file. Years later, while adding my wife's ancestors to my file, once again, I added Stephen Hopkins to my file. It wasn't until I used Legacy's Merge/Find Duplicates tool that I noticed Stephen was in my file twice. When I merged the two, I noticed for the first time that both my wife and I shared Stephen as an ancestor. We turned out to be 13th cousins because of it! Now when we need an excuse for why our children are the way they are, we blame it on Stephen.

Legacy 8's brand new Instant Duplicate Checker will now catch any possible duplicate data entry like this. As an example, I just tried adding another Stephen Hopkins to my file and Legacy displayed this screen:

Terrific, isn't it!?! Of course, this new feature is optional, but why would you ever turn it off? Its settings can be adjusted via the new QuickDup Options.

So what do you think? Exciting or just another article?

What are the other new features of Legacy 8?

Here are links to the articles I've previously written:

Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed

Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed - Q/A, new Tagging options, and other surprises

Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed - Migration Mapping

When will Legacy 8 be released?

There's still more than one truthful answer to this:

• I'm not really sure, but probably before the end of the year, and hopefully way before then
• When it has been thoroughly tested by our development team and beta testers

But if you are considering downloading either the free or deluxe editions of Legacy, don't wait! Any purchases of Legacy 7.5 from May 8, 2013 forward will receive the new Legacy 8 at no charge. And as always, anyone who has purchased Legacy Deluxe previously will qualify for special discounted upgrade pricing. Get started today - you won't have to relearn everything when Legacy 8 is ready, but you'll get some really nice new features when it is.

OK, I've revealed some of the smaller new features that are coming with the next version of Legacy later this year, now it's time to reveal one of my favorite new features. And although this new feature is not going to make the world stop spinning, for genealogists it just might.

Genealogists know how important it is to trace an ancestor's migration. For years, Legacy Family Tree users have been able to visualize migration patterns by looking at Legacy's Chronology View. The chronology shows the ancestor's movement year-by-year.

With Legacy version 8, you have a new method of visualizing the migration. Legacy 8's enhanced Mapping will now animate the ancestor's movement throughout time.

How cool is that?!?! You can pause and resume the animation at any time, or you can click on any location to just view it.

You can still hover over any balloon to see what happened there:

Or switch to Aerial mode:

Or 3D mode:

Or even Bird's eye mode:

It gets even better. Legacy 8 will now also map the Addresses that you have added. So if you have added cemeteries, hospitals, churches, or other places to Legacy's Address fields, those will now be included in the map.

So what do you think? A winner or a dud?

What are the other new features of Legacy 8?

Here are links to the articles I've previously written:

Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed

Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed - Q/A, new Tagging options, and other surprises

When will Legacy 8 be released?

There's still more than one truthful answer to this:

• I'm not really sure, but probably before the end of the year, and hopefully way before then
• When it has been thoroughly tested by our development team and beta testers

But if you are considering downloading either the free or deluxe editions of Legacy, don't wait! Any purchases of Legacy 7.5 from May 8, 2013 forward will receive the new Legacy 8 at no charge. And as always, anyone who has purchased Legacy Deluxe previously will qualify for special discounted upgrade pricing. Get started today - you won't have to relearn everything when Legacy 8 is ready, but you'll get some really nice new features when it is.

In less than one day, the Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed article became the most-read article I have ever written. Either my writing style is getting better, or you really enjoyed the topic.

You asked lots of questions, gave some suggestions, and we've already implemented one enhancement because of them (I'll show you below). Below I will try to respond to some of the most popular questions.

Why will there be a charge to upgrade to version 8?

Within a numbered version, like Legacy 7, all of the minor updates are free. In fact, we released two major Legacy 7 updates for free in the past couple of years.

To thank our Legacy Deluxe customers, when upgrading to a new numbered edition, (like v6 to v7, or v7 to v8) we will continue to provide discounted pricing to upgrade. We would love to give away everything for free, like our free standard edition, the free updates, the free webinars, the free support, and more. I, too, love free! If we didn't have to eat, upgrade our older computers, or pay any bills, we could probably afford to never request the modest upgrade fee when we release a major new edition.

Will I still be able to customize my own colors?

Yes. Although one of the minor new features, we have done a lot to enhance the color customization choices, but we still need to have a default color scheme. Thanks for the thousands of votes you cast! In the end, the polling resulted in a nearly-identical 50-50 split. Half liked the vintage theme (my favorite) and half liked the blue theme.

Just today our developers showed me a new screen they developed as a result of your comments. When you are installing the v8 upgrade, you will be presented with a screen asking you which color scheme you would like to start with. It will show you what each will look like. Pretty cool, huh?

I loved how much interest you showed in the colors. I can't wait to see your response when I actually write about the really cool new features coming.

Where did tagging go?

Not to worry, it didn't go anywhere. In the article's images I simply had tagging turned off. In fact, we've listened to your requests and made it even better! Here is what the tagging choices in the Family View look like in version 7:

Here is what they look like in version 8:

Can I hear a "Hallelujah"? I know...something so small...but so many of you have asked to be able to view all 9 tags at once. They will still be turned "off" by default, but can still be turned on in the program's preferences.

It gets even better.

Now when you open the Advanced Tagging screen (yep, tagging's a little more advanced), you will immediately see how many people are tagged on each level. No more guessing and hoping or searching before you can start tagging. Tag a person and the count is instantly updated. I love it!

What about FamilySearch Family Tree?

If all went as planned, we turned in our FamilySearch integration software to FamilySearch earlier today to begin its certification process. It will be available to everyone (not just the beta test group) when version 8 is released, or even sooner (I don't know yet).

Will the Families app still work with Legacy 8?

Families is the app that runs Legacy on your Apple or Android mobile devices. I received confirmation from the Families developer yesterday that it will indeed work with Legacy 8. Watch a webinar on using Families here.

What will the Color Coding look like with the new color schemes?

Great!

That's all I'm going to say right now because I've got an entire future article saved just for the new color coding enhancements. Here's what it looks like in version 7:

To learn more about the color coding, watch Mary Hill's webinar here. Mary, too, is really excited about the new color coding options in version 8.

Okay, here's a hint. Like lots of you have requested, you will be able to have two starting points (one set of colors for you and one for your spouse). That's all I'm going to write about it right now (I'm getting hungry and this article is getting long).

Stay tuned for more!

It's time to start unwrapping the newest edition of our Legacy Family Tree software - version 8 - but just a little at a time. This will be the first of many articles showing some of Legacy's coming features. I'll start with some of the smaller features and work my way up to revealing the really cool new stuff.

Today I'll begin by showing some of the main Legacy 8 screens, which have not changed a whole lot but when you see them, I am certain you will enjoy the refreshing look of the modern touches we have added.

Both the Family View and the Pedigree View have had a face-lift...

...but we are still trying to decide which color scheme to go with. Which do you like, the "Vintage" color scheme above or the "Blues" color scheme below? Click here to cast your vote.

New Ribbon

Did you notice the new Ribbon at the top? We "stole" it from our Legacy Charting software that you have enjoyed so much. Now it is easier to find the right tools for the job.

Having the new Ribbon also gives you a lot more room on the screen. Collapsing it (by double-clicking on it) hides the buttons...

...and really cleans up the interface.

Did you also notice the new "4" and "5" buttons in the upper left of the Pedigree View. Now it is easier to change between displaying 4 or 5 generations at a time.

That is certainly not everything new in these views. Those with really good eyes probably noticed the __________, the new __________, the new __________, and the new __________. I'll write about them in the articles to come. What else did you notice?

So there you have it - some of the smaller of the new Legacy 8 features revealed. But to me, it's always been the small things in Legacy that have made me so happy.

When will Legacy 8 be released?

Since I've now opened the can of worms, I'll answer the most-anticipated question first. There's more than one truthful answer to this:

• I'm not really sure, but probably before the end of the year, and hopefully way before then
• When it has been thoroughly tested by our development team and beta testers

But if you are considering downloading either the free or deluxe editions of Legacy, don't wait! Any purchases of Legacy 7.5 from May 8, 2013 forward will receive the new Legacy 8 at no charge. And as always, anyone who has purchased Legacy Deluxe previously will qualify for special discounted upgrade pricing. Get started today - you won't have to relearn everything when Legacy 8 is ready, but you'll get some really nice new features when it is.