Hundreds of research tools, billions of names, oodles of data and finding aids … All those features boasted by your genealogy software can add up to a serious boost for your family history research — if you know how to make the most of them.

But the top programs offer so many features, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Like most genealogists, you probably purchased your software to organize and enhance the family history you've already unearthed, with hopes of using that plethora of high-tech tools to make new discoveries. You plugged in all your data, figured out how to print your tree in various forms, then scratched your head over what to do next. How do you take advantage of all the tools that came packed in that colorful box?