Family Tree Maker to be pensioned off. NOT!

Thank you for that, problem is that the free Essentials RM download does not allow you to access that feature. Glad to know that I could define file locations if I purchase a copy.

 

I wish I had seen this before I purchased FTM from Amazon in July 2015 to use on Vista...... I have not even had FTM for 6 months and it no longer works. The latest update rendered it useless on Vista.

 

After FTM 2014 lost the whole of my tree following an update back in November when without warning it suddenly refused to work in conjunction with Windows Vista, I bought a new computer and transferred my tree from Ancestry to FTM once more, assuming that it would recreate the same tree which had disappeared from my old computer, as no changes had been made in the interim.

However, I am gradually realising that vast tracts of tree are no longer connected!! Duplicates appear for no apparent reason, connected in some instances to a spouse and in others to a parent or random child, but not all three. I don't know why this has happened as the tree I formerly had on FTM was identical to my Ancestry tree, but it is going to take me months to try and sort this out, as I have over 10,000 names.

Has anyone any idea what has gone wrong and whether I can fix it other than by manually checking every single entry against my old Reunion tree, which is going to take me months or possibly years!!?
I could of course reload the Reunion version via gedcom (via Rootsmagic since FTM will not accept the old style gedcoms), but then I would lose all the photographs and other media I have spent the past 6 months inputting into FTM.......as Reunion has no media files.

I have spent SO much time and effort trying to update my tree and add media (as I formerly had none stored digitally) that I am overwhelmed at the task of trying to reconstruct my tree to its former glory and I am utterly despondent.

Happy New Year? Not in my case.

 

I did, but the penultimate backup had less Kb than the previous backup (52,000 Kb in early Dec compared with 3million in early Nov and 2m+ in mid November) and the last back up attempt aborted before the end with a message of 'inadequate space on hard drive', so I ordered a new hard drive (from Dabs) which should have arrived in a couple of days. It didn't, so I rang to enquire. Told it was now in stock - would arrive in a few days, but still didn't arrive...you get the picture, so eventually I cancelled and ordered from elsewhere, but in the meantime, FTM crashed, so I haven't got the up to date tree version stored and because the penultimate one (2m+ Kb) was so much smaller in size than the previous one, I deleted it to make more room on the hard drive..........to no avail as the attempt to save the tree still failed. Ancestry was NEVER supposed to be any kind of back up, but seemed like the easiest way of retrieving the tree according to to FTM helpdesk after FTM crashed.

I do have all the information and all my copious notes stored as a backup on Reunion and Rootsmagic free version, just no media, but I have written details of all the censuses in my notes, and all the photos are stored on my hard drive, so I am thinking I might have to start again with another program, but only attaching the photos this time rather than census data, as I think the tree became too unwieldy. I only used Ancestry's storage repository because it seemed a good way to check if I have missed any new probate or PR information using the hints system, which was only available if I had an online tree........

It says there are 777 photos on the Ancestry tree..............census, PR, probate and photos and they appear to be stored in a separate file, so maybe I can copy these somehow??

Retirement was when I was going to get my family tree and computer sorted out....but I seem to be creating more problems than I am solving! I have got all my family photos filed now (from 2003 on) and I have photographed a lot of my family history pics and filed those on computer in a separate folder, so progress has been made, though the hard drive photo back up isn't fully up to date as I didn't have enough space......but all the pics are still on the old computer. I have even bought a new printer scanner, so I can now scan the rest of the photos, when I find out how it works................but updating my family history is still very much a work in progress.

 

I just checked out Family Historian and read this comment

1. Web hints access MyHeritage databases, with more providers on the way. We will integrate with Ancestry too if they let us.

In light of my question on another thread, about MyHeritage, is this a good idea?

 

Wow, that's interesting! I loved Brothers Keeper but gave it up soon after the move from DOS to Windows (it didn't seem to cope well with the transition). Maybe I'll try again. I especially miss the Four-Family Descendant Chart, which AFAIK isn't available in any other program.

 

Unfortunately, I do not seem to be able to get FH on disc; just as a download. The website states that those in Canada should order through amazon.com; however that site states they do not ship to Calgary. Any time I try looking at something on .com I am advised to go to amazon.ca; however it is not available there at all. I am not ready just yet to switch from FTM but was checking out other options.

 

If I understand the view that you describe correctly it is available in FTM but it is that program's coming demise that has started this discussion.

 

Mary WYSUA (Will you stop using acronyms) IWTYA (you will have to work on that one yourself)

 

YLMT (you lost me there) but IGTMA (I got the message anyway).

 

I'm not sure if I'm asking this question in the right place, but........ I have had FamilyTreeMaker (2014) for about a year and due to the news of its retirement in 2017, have been copying my trees via gedcom to RootsMagic and Ancestral Quest as well for insurance. I'm also playing with Family Historian which looks like a good programme. Overkill perhaps but I have a year to decide what I'm doing.

However, if anyone out there is an expert on FTM and could answer a question for me I would appreciate it very much.

I exported my trees (3) to gecom 5.5 from FTM and imported them to both RM and AQ. However, I noticed a couple of things.

1). In AQ many of my source images were not showing but showed a URL to the image in Ancestry instead. The same gedcom imported to RMagic showed the source images, but no URLs. Why does one programme recognise the URLs and one does not? Has anyone else come across this?

2). On inspection of the trees referred to in Family Tree Maker itself, I could see that if I looked at the 'edit' function for a source image, many showed a checkbox which one could select to show the 'weblink', or URL to the image. I could then see that those which were checked were the ones which showed the source image URL in the AQ import. Oddly, the same gedcom did not show the URL at all in RM, although the source image did show.

3). All my FTM trees were imported afresh from my private online trees on Ancestry on the same day in late December 2015. However, two of them came through to FTM with the URLs listed as described in 2), but one came through with no URLs listed. All showed the source images as well, but only two trees made any reference to the URLs for those sources.

I'm not sure if anyone else has come across this, but really, I'm just a bit puzzled as to why two trees would list the URLs as well as the source media, but one tree only lists the media, no URLs. Can anyone explain what might cause this? The source media were all attached to the original online trees via the usual Ancestry attachment process (ie. click to attach the record).

Any ideas from the tech minded among you please?

 

On a different forum it has been explained to me that FTM / Ancestry do not follow a standard GEDCOM pattern.
This leads to errors / discrepancies when importing into different programs - (different programs - different problems).

This link and the other pages linked to it, may assist in explaining the issues and how to resolve them.

For me, I like the FTM way of presenting and recording data so will be sticking with it for as long as possible - hopefully when it stops working on the current version of Windows (I am on Win 10 at present which is not supposed to drastically change in the future) I will be too old to care and will leave it to my younger generation to sort it out - assuming any of them care!!

 

Yes, I see. The info is very useful for explaining why there are discrepancies in the way in which the FTM trees are imported into different genealogy programmes.

I still could not work out though why my 3 FTM trees have imported differently into the same programme (AQ). Hopefully I will come across it with a bit more reading.

Like you, I will be holding onto my FTM programme for as long as I can, I like the format and some of the features and am accustomed to the layout. It is hard to change when one is happy with what one has.

 

Received an email from Ancestry today with the following information. The blog entry can be found here.

Since our Family Tree Maker announcement last December, we have continued to actively explore ways to develop and support Family Tree Maker and ensure you have choices to preserve your work in ways that matter to you.

Today, I am pleased to announce two options for desktop software that will work with Ancestry.

Software MacKiev.
Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.
This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released. You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.

RootsMagic.
We have made an agreement with RootsMagic, a leading genealogy desktop software program publisher, to connect Ancestry with the RootsMagic software by the end of 2016. With this new relationship, RootsMagic can serve as your desktop family tree software, while having access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.

We have heard your concerns and are working to provide the solutions you requested. These new agreements will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker and enable future features and benefits to help you discover your family history. Be assured that Ancestry, in cooperation with Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, will continue to support you as you discover your family history. We ask for your patience as we work diligently through all the details to make these solutions available. Be sure to check back on our blog as we share more information about Family Tree Maker in the next few months.

For more information on Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, see: Software MacKiev: http://www.mackiev.com/ RootsMagic: http://www.rootsmagic.com/

- See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/...-maker-desktop-software/#sthash.X4ZLtbO7.dpuf

It's a long blog so scroll down to February 2nd to find the entry.

 

Indeed, I use both FTM and RootsMagic so all looks promising. I wonder whether either company will be able to replicate the "sync" feature.

 

Looks like Ancestry are going to provide an open data API into their databases to selective software developers, probably with the need to have an appropriate Ancestry subscription. Peters advice to delay taking any action is proving to be true.

 

According to the mackiev pages treesync will continue to be available, though the Ancestry blog http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/02/02/good-news-for-users-of-family-tree-maker/
makes no mention of it. The original announcement indicated support would be available for about a year and, of course, the website "team" would have to maintain the function.