Brother’s Keeper 7 was first released in February 2014, and is the latest version in the 25 year history of the Brother’s Keeper genealogy program. It currently runs on Windows, but was originally released for DOS systems back in 1988. It is one of the few current Windows genealogy applications that runs on everything from Windows 98 through Windows 11.
| Name: | Brother’s Keeper 7 |
| First Released: | February 2014 |
| Last Updated: | 7.5.15 (31 March 2024) |
| Series: | Brother’s Keeper |
| Replaces: | Brother’s Keeper 6 |
| Platform & Type: | Windows Genealogy Database |
| Requires: | Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 |
| Developer/Publisher: | John Steed |
| Official Website: | www.bkwin.org |
| Download/Demo: | Download / Free Trial |
| License/Cost: | $15 – $45 Depending on new or upgrade, digital or physical (store) |
| Additional Details | |
|---|---|
| Filename Extension: | DT7 |
| Programming/Database: | Visual Basic 6.x (or later) ? (VB6 runtime files maybe necessary) |
| Supported Languages: | |
| GEDCOM Support/Version: | Yes |
| Unicode GEDCOM: | |
| DNA Support | |
| LDS Ordinance Support: | |
| Jewish/Hebrew Support: | |
| Photo Support: | |
| Web Page/HTML Creation: | |
| Cloud Support: | |
| Online Services Support: | |
| Mapping Support: | |
| Mobile Version: | |
| Research Log: | |
| Book Creation: |
| Version | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brother’s Keeper 7.5.15 | 31 March 2024 | Mainly bug fixes |
| Brother’s Keeper 7.5.7 | August 2021 | |
| Brother’s Keeper 7.5.6 | April 2021 | |
| Brother’s Keeper 7.4.6 | December 2019 | |
| Link/Article/Review | Notes |
|---|---|
| Review of Brother’s Keeper 7 – PC Magazine (2015) | 3.5 out of 5 Stars |
| Running BK 7 under Wine – WineHQ.org | Workarounds to get BK 7 to run under Wine on Linux, Mac, etc. |
| BK 7 Review/GEDCOM Test at GenealogyTools.com (2016, updated 2018) | Analyzes GEDCOM handling. |
| Brother’s Keeper at GenSoftReviews | User Reviews |
| Trademark Application for Brother’s Keeper at USPTO.Report | 2007 Filed, First Used 22 November 1988 |
Note: In order to run Brother’s Keeper 7 under Wine (Linux or Mac), you will need to follow these steps (From WineHQ.org) (after you’ve installed the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime files):
- Open Brother’s Keeper
- Click on the tab “Person Edit”
- In the lower right hand corner of the screen, click on “Options”.
- Check the box for “When you tab to a location, do not set the cursor blinking”
- Click on “Close Options”