Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Steve Atkinson,  Jun 5, 2013

I’m currently using FTM 2012. I love the layout, the live sync feature and the ability to upload documents from the ancestry website. My main problem with this software is its slow load. Talk to their support and they’ll recommend buying a better computer or compacting the file. Buy a better computer is a bonehead recommendation - the service rep who suggested that would be better employed flipping burgers. Compacting, works until the next time you close down the program, then you’re back to a slow, 3 to 4 minute wait until FTM opens. My guess would be that the slow load is due to my system (with help from Norton) dumping the cookies every time I shut down. If FTM could find a workaround where the software does not look for a cookie before opening, I believe opening speed would improve drastically. Either that or identify the specific cookie its looking for so I can tell Norton to leave it where it sits.

Biggest Pro: Sync ability
Biggest Con: Slowwwwwwwwwwwwwww Load

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Richard,  May 17, 2013

I am using the latest version of FTM for the PC as of May 2013.
I think it is very, very good. It is not perfect. But, it is getting better with each update.

It is a large complex product and there is a serious learning curve. If you are having serious problems, you may be doing something wrong or you may not have located the function you need to correct your problem. Google the problem and you may find a work around.

Example, I had a number of duplicate people problems because I had located new information at ancestry.com and accidentally added the facts to a “new” person instead of an “existing” person. The “new” people were also not correctly attached to the correct parents in my tree. Finally, I found that there were menu options in FTM to merge people and to attach or detach them to the correct families.

Synchronization of my local family tree with ancestry.com now works very well. The only issue is that it can be slower than I would like.

When FTM 2012 first came out, there were many synchronization errors.
If you are having synchronization problems make sure that you have updated all the fixes to the software.

Go to the menu item: help –> check for updates.
This will repair your synchronization problems.
Also, if your local family tree database has been corrupted by program crashes or previous sync errors, go to tools–>compact file.

There were also problems at first with some of their genealogy databases (census, migration etc.) that did not correctly make add a copy of the manifest or census images to the your local synchronized family tree. That seems to have been fixed too.

Remember that you have to specify that you want those images copied to your local tree. That is a “one time” setting. I have forgotten where that setting is located. The is really important to do if you expect to drop your ancestry.com subscription sometime in the future. If you don’t have local copies of the images and only have the url link to ancestry where the images are located, then you will lose access to those images if you drop your subscription.

I do like the ability in FTM to add detailed source information to each fact so that I know exactly where the information came from. I don’t like the fact that the sourcing info does not completely sync up to my tree at ancestry.com

I am running a fast, up to date PC with 16 GB memory and Windows 7. I have a fast FIOS internet connection.

My family tree consists of only about 1,000 people. I think that it is a lot to accurately track. Some of the reviewers here that report serious problems seem to have about 20,000 people in their tree. It is certainly possible that they are experiencing problems that I don’t see.

I have also read some reviews saying that transferring trees using gedcom files leads to inconsistencies between the different family tree programs.
I am afraid that this is just a fact of life with computer software.

Different programs interpret the data differently and they also implement features that are not contained in the gedcom definitions.
One example: “Nicknames” vs.”Also known as”. Some people will think that those fact definitions are identical and some people will think they are 2 different types of facts. There is no way to programmatically and automatically resolve that issue.

Remember also that FTM is using GEDCOM 5.5. That means that there have been many versions of GEDCOM files and that means that other family tree programs may be using a different or older definition of GEDCOM. Also not that FTM has had several different file formats itself.

Biggest Pro: synchronized with tree at ancestry.com
Biggest Con: It is complex and it is sometimes hard to locate the features that you need.

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by daeonna,  Apr 16, 2013

Family treevmaker

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Lynda French,  Apr 3, 2013

FTM12 is horrible! I’ve been using FTM for many many years. I was excited to have the synch feature, but unfortunately has turned into a nightmare! Even IF you get your tree date uploaded (which is seldom) it cannot handle images. You get the ancestry icon (a gray pathetic icon) instead of the actual images you uploaded and it you have a title on your image ancestry even puts your title on their stupid gray icon! So, obviously an image got uploaded to ancestry but it does not display it (just the title). If you image is not titled, it just puts the gray icon w/o a title/name. Pathetic product! Now what do I go to?

Biggest Pro: None really - since sync and images cannot be handled by ancestry s/w
Biggest Con: EVERYTHING!!!!

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Wimpie,  Mar 30, 2013

If there was a negative 5 rating, I’d give it to this program. Program is very slow compared to version 16. While program handles sources and media in a more efficient manner, it still runs out of available RAM and crashes.

Biggest Pro: Integrates with Ancestry.com
Biggest Con: Slow and Buggy

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Bofus,  Mar 30, 2013

Program very slow and crashes frequently (out of memory) possibly corrupting your data.

Biggest Pro: Integrates with Ancestry.com
Biggest Con: Slow and Crashes

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Doug McQuinn,  Mar 27, 2013

I’m glad I found this forum … an arena where I’ve learned about other people’s FTM2012 problems before I committed to a change I could soon regret … a place to alert others about my own problems … and a place to empathize with others. I hope our reviews are also read by independent reviewers and by the makers of FTM2012.

I started out with FTM for DOS. It feels like it must have been in a previous lifetime. It was great, and FTM for Windows 3 was even better. I really miss those function keys for navigating, especially F8 for Next Sibling. Why take away one keystroke and replace it with many mouse clicks? Just reminiscing about the good old days.

Three years ago, I switched from my out of date Family Tree Maker 2005 to Roots Magic, because RM could separate my embedded photos in FTM and put them in linked files. At the time, nobody else could do this, not even the newer versions of FTM. I was delighted with the smaller file size, which was easier for sharing. (Now FTM has finally followed the others and uses linked photos instead of embedded photos.)

I was considering switching back to FTM2012. I was swept off my feet by the allure of being able to (1) upload my data to an Ancestry Member Tree, (2) continue to synch to my online tree, not needing to continuously update both databases, and (3) invite my two sisters to become editors so we could all work from different locations on the same file and all be continuously up to date. Nobody else is offering that!

Today, I’ve decided not to make the switch or attempt synching to an Ancestry Member Tree, in part due to the reports I’ve read here. I feel your pain.

But I had already gone so far as to purchase and test drive FTM2012, and my own experience wasn’t good. First off, it’s slower … 12 seconds to open instead of 2 seconds to open RM6 … and from what I’m reading, ot will get slower.

I exported my data from RM6 to GEDCOM and imported to FTM2012, and found several problems. I also imported the data back from GEDCOM into RM6, and there weren’t any problems. In my opinion, this proves the problems weren’t in RM6 or GEDCOM. They have to be FTM2012 problems, failing to align themselves with the GEDCOM standard.

First, the Nicknames field in GEDCOM gets imported into an Also Known As fact in FTM, and I’m not pleased. I just want to use AKAs for things like Johann Leonard Schlepp changed to Leonard Slip. Adoptions, etc. So I went through 22,000 people, looking for AKAs and changing them, adding nicknames in quotation marks into the Given Names field and deleting the AKAs.

Second, FTM2012 didn’t capture one of the fact description fields from GEDCOM. For example, for Deaths, it caught the Date of Death, Place of Death, and Cause of Death fields OK. But there’s also a field called Place Description, where you could add “at home” or “My Town Regional Hospital”. The information has been completely missed. This is true for other facts too. I’ve lost Cemetery information that I’ve been entering under Place Details for burials, Church information under Place Details for marriages, and so on. This is a major disappointment.

Third, FTM2012 inserts a blank space once after every 72 characters (approx) into “Notes” and “Sources” imported from GEDCOM. It would take months to search the 22,000 individuals in my file, checking each Note and Source and fixing this. This not only looks like I’ve made typos. It will also pose a real nuisance if someone tries to copy and paste a long URL from my notes and it doesn’t work because I failed to find and remove a space that FTM inserted. This problem has been explained to me as “Yes, it is a bug in FTM. The GEDCOM spec says the CONC tag should break lines in the middle of words, but FTM treats CONC lines as if they were broken *between* words so it inserts a space when it concatenates lines.” That’s way over my head, except for “Yes, it is a bug in FTM.”

FTM has known about these three problems for several years, and hasn’t done anything to fix their noncompliance with industry standards.

Conclusion: I’m glad I switched to a different product several years ago, and this isn’t the right time to switch back to a product and organization that is giving so much grief to me and to others … especially when people are saying the online synching feature that appeals to me is such a headache too … and especially when the product I’ve been using has features that I feel are equal to and sometimes better than FTM2012.

Biggest Pro: Privatize feature works well
Biggest Con: Failure to adhere to the GEDCOM standard

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by DJW,  Mar 25, 2013

Please, please, I want to know how to use FTM 2006 on Windows 7. I HATE the 2010 - 2011 format. Please bring back the prior format. I don’t understand the concept of changing everything around. The new format makes it very time consuming to find anything. Do they really need money this badly? Shame on them!
I can’t even cut/paste from the 2006 to 2010 version. All it transfers is the name!

Biggest Pro: Not a darn thing
Biggest Con: everything

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Janet Muff,  Mar 17, 2013

I have worked with FTM for many years, and the latest version I have been using is FTM16, which I love. I should say up front that I have a large, complex database (over 86,000 individuals and over 300,000 source references) as I have been researching the early families of an entire county in Vermont. Thus my data is not a single family tree but a web of inter-relationships among many families over many generations. Yet I have never had a problem with FTM 16. I can add data with a single click. I can link and unlink. I can make corrections easily. It is simple and straightforward. No fancy bells and whistles. Just wonderful data management.

But I have been uneasy as my database has grown, and twice in the past many years, when I have had occasion to contact Ancestry, I have asked whether there was a limit to the capacity of this program, either in megabytes or number of individuals. I have been told that the capacity was “unlimited.” That’s a direct quote.

Recently the program has slowed a bit (meaning it takes 6 or 7 seconds to open a field so that I can enter additional data). As it is no longer supported by the Ancestry.com help line, I had to submit my questions/concerns via email. The situation was not resolved and after several back-and-forths, I was asked to send my database to Ancestry for further evaluation, which I did grudgingly.

The database came back “partitioned,” which is a misnomer. True partitioning would have removed a section of the database to another file and reduced the existing file. This would have given me two files to work from - the new file and the old file minus the section that had been removed. But Ancestry’s idea of partitioning was to copy about 29,000 individuals into a separate file, leaving the original file intact and having the same difficulty with slowness. This was not helpful. I was advised to purchase the new 2012 version of FTM.

Let me also say that I have upgraded twice in the past many years, to the 2008 version and to the 2010 version and did not like how they functioned. So, I returned to my tried and true Version 16. To me the new versions felt like ornate Victorian chairs as compared with the simple Shaker chair I’d been using. Complex though my database may be, I want the operation to be smooth, simple and efficient.

Nevertheless, I was worried that I might be reaching the capacity of Version 16, so I purchased the 2012 Version and loaded my data (a several-hour process) into the new program. Then, I set to work learning the new format. Knowing that I have never met an upgrade I liked, I steeled myself to persevere despite the inner revolt that ensued.

Then tonight I discovered that my database is too large even for the 2012 version, which crashed repeatedly when I tried to make a minor addition to an existing burial source. That source references over 3200 separate bits of information because it pertains to a large number of gravestones. But as I feel compelled to document the origins of my data, I use the source whenever it applies. The 2012 version could not handle this situation. It took 55 seconds just to open the field which would allow me to enter information. And as soon as I entered the brief gravestone inscription and clicked, “OK,” the program crashed. I tried four more times, always with the same result.

For test purposes, I returned to my Version 16 file, opened it to the appropriate individual, and clicked on the icon to add the burial information. (It took 7 seconds to open vs the 55 seconds for FTM 2012.) I typed in the gravestone inscription, clicked, “OK,” and was on my way! No fuss and no muss
.
As I’ve already said, I love Version 16 and am heartbroken that Ancestry does not see what a gem they have. And I don’t understand why they can’t produce two versions - the streamlined 16 and the one with bells and whistles that will make you “the star of your family reunion.”

I will add one more bit of information. My computer consultant and I spoke with the support staff at Ancestry earlier today to ask whether there was a limit to the capacity of the 2012 version. We told the representative that we had been having a slowing problem with Version 16. “Oh, the limit of that program is 80,000 people!” she said. No one had told me this. Not when I’d spoken with other support staff over the years. And not in this latest slowing situation, when the technicians had my actual database in hand and could see the number of individuals, the number of sources, and the total size (198 MB). And the answer to my question about the capacity of Version 2012: “It’s unlimited,” she said. If you believe that, perhaps I can sell you a bridge in the Mojave desert.

I don’t know what I will do now. Certainly I can’t continue with the 2012 version as it is already overwhelmed. Neither can I truly partition the existing database because, while it will allow me to copy a tree to another database, it will not let me delete a whole segment from the existing database. To delete the necessary 30-40,000 individuals, I would have to do them one by one.

In just 2 days, I have encountered several other problems with 2012, which I won’t detail here. But rest assured that I am not talking about matters of window-dressing, or things I wish were different; I’m talking about what-to-me are insoluble problems!

Biggest Pro: Can’t think of one.
Biggest Con: Nothing is simple.

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Peter,  Mar 6, 2013

FTM 2012 has lots of nice bells and whistles but it cannot convert a large database, I have over 8100 names in my tree, into an ancestry report. Conversely, when I export that file into the 2010 FTM format, it quickly and easily generates an ancestry report. I have reported this to FTM tech support and their answer has been a shrug of the shoulders.

Biggest Pro: is great at finding additonal family members
Biggest Con: software is extremely poorly supported

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Saskey,  Mar 5, 2013

Generally intuitive; no major issues; installs fine; no crashes.

Biggest Pro: Works as advertisec
Biggest Con: Not idiot-proof.

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Persyk,  Mar 5, 2013

Full of glitches. Constantly needs reboot. Not intuitive. Does not sync like it is supposed to. Unable to fix duplicates. Just the worst software.

Biggest Pro: Syncs with Ancestry.com
Biggest Con: Sync with Ancestry.com does not work.

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by ghenning,  Mar 3, 2013

I’ve been reading everything I can find about recent FTM2012 Sync Failures and Data Corruption, and conclude that the only feasible solution left for users of both AMT and FTM is to “place (and work from) separate trees on Ancestry.com and in FTM2012″; i.e., do NOT Link NOR Sync trees, to avoid risk of corrupting your family trees.

Linked FTM and AMT trees cannot be “synced” with any confidence of not corrupting data, which causes huge wastes of time to review and repair frustrating sync damage; therefore, users should try to use better features of both trees SEPARATELY, as if the Tree Sync feature did not exist. How?
1) FTM2012 lets you download AMT (Ancestry Member Trees) as GEDCOM files, which can be MERGED into desktop FTM trees, which in-turn can be uploaded and RE-LINKED (but do NOT ever Sync, to avoid data corruption) so that your do not lose the AMT shared links, media links, connections with other trees, etc.
or
2) import an AMT into a NEW FTM2012 tree which includes Media citation links only (actual media files can be downloaded by following steps in this webpage: http://ancestry.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5325/kw.), which can be RE-LINKED (but NEVER SYNC, or tree data becomes corrupted) as described above.
- unfortunately, users cannot upload a FTM tree and merge it into an online AMT, as Ancestry.com only allows them to exist as 2 separate trees; therefore, merging of trees appears to be possible only with the desktop FTM2012 software.

Growing problems with “Sync Failures” are a shame, since prospects of being able to link and sync AMT and FTM for efficient integration of genealogy data is a useful and powerful feature, but ONLY if it works flawlessly.

Unfortunately, the FTM-AMT sync program has become FATALLY FLAWED and UNRELIABLE for intended uses, and Tree-Sync should NOT be used by anyone, nor should it be offered by FTM until the software is completely fixed, if possible.

In addition, Ancestry.com should take responsible action by PROHIBITING SYNCs of AMTs (member trees) with FTM2012 trees until the 2 companies can jointly prove and show users that syncing linked trees will integrate genealogy data accurately and reliably for most PC systems.

The Sync FAILURE worsened for me in Dec 2012, and the 2 or more* companies involved are NOT serious about fixing this sync disaster. (*FTM2012 Help-About-Acknowledgements TAB shows software integrations with: whollygenes.com to provide GenBridge file import tech, bing.com/maps for places, and loresoft.com for dictionaries, which may be implicated in sync failures until ruled out as contributing to the problems.)

Instead of continuing to work with online and desktop trees linked together and synced as integrated databases, which Ancestry.com and FTM2012 “proudly promote”, one must resort to totally separated them until or if this serious sync program is fixed.

Since these companies’ software quality and technical support are deteriorating, evidenced by troubling patterns of indifference to and neglect of sync failures and data corruption, I too am actively searching for genealogy software alternatives to FTM2012 and Ancestry.com; even though I’ve used both for past 15 years starting with Broderbund versions. FTM and Ancestry are driving customers away by their negligence in failing to address and fix serious software issues and by their growing disregard shown towards negatively impacted users.

I hope they improve soon and fix their flawed software, but I doubt it based upon poor responses to many users.

Biggest Pro: Hints, with automated searches of potential sources for individual data; but Awkward navigation
Biggest Con: Sync FAILS and CORRUPTS Data, degrades to only 1-way sync AMT=>FTM then Stops working

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Frank Long,  Mar 2, 2013

Like many others who have complained I’ve had ongoing crashes with two of my four family files. I have been able to upload one of the files to Ancestry.com so I believe that the issue is not with my computers/operating systems, both Dell Insperion with 8 meg and W7.
Anyway, I have also gone through several levels of so-called help at Ancestry without any resolution of my issues. I have accepted the fact that large, complex files could become corrupt, despite the best efforts of the user and the developer to edit input data. What I find unacceptable on the part of Ancestry management is that they refuse to provide error messages that would help the user determine the location of the problem. In addition, they have only agreed to “consider” a diagnostic tool that could be used to find and report the problem area. Perhaps they will take me up on my offer to “beta test” such a tool.

Enough ranting so I’ll discuss one way I found to determine the cause of crashes. I had several instances when I clicked on a “thumbnail” and the FTM crashed. I couldn’t just deleat the media as I did’t want to lose that info. Anyway, if you go the Media->Collection and right click on each file you’ll get sooner or later to the one the crashes FTM. If you’ve made note of the name of the thumbnail, then restart FTM and go to Media->Detail and scroll through till you get to right thumbnail. You’ll then see the Windows file name and you can then go to Windows Explorer and move that file out of the FTM Media file. Then go back to FTM to the Media Detail and Delete the thumbnail, I found about a dozen corrupt thumbnails in about 2,000 media items.

I’d like to be able to tell you that fixed my crashes but “Not!!” I still crash when I try to synch with Ancestry, when I try to create certain reports, when I try to create a Gedcom file and probable more that I haven;t tried.

If anyone is interested in more details they can PM me at falong@hotmail.com

Biggest Pro: Ability to syncy with Ancestry
Biggest Con: Inability to synch with Ancestry

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by John Lee,  Feb 27, 2013

I use FTM 2012 on a daily basis and with only 3,500 names in the index is small in comparison with some of the reviewers. FTM runs on a hybrid Intel i7 PC with 16Gb of memory running Windows 7 x64 so should be speedy…. BUT like other reviewers I find FTM slows down with constant editing and even compacting down to 0% doesn’t always help speed up processing. FTM never seems to crash, just hangs (not responding) until it completes processing. The only way I’ve found to improve speed is to regularly restart the application.

I have used earlier versions of FTM and always upgraded to the later releases. The look and feel of FTM 2012 is a good pro plus the integrated link to Ancestry.com is one of its best selling points. I’ve used other genealogy software products, but always came back to FTM.

I wonder if the performance issue will ever get resolved(?)

Biggest Pro: Integration with Ancestry.com
Biggest Con: Slow performance

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by J Martin,  Feb 3, 2013

I tend to agree a lot with Carol Dickinson since I had a similar problem.

I have been doing genealogy for over 45 years and, like Carol, had been a loyal FTM user almost since it’s inception. I have many separate family files in FTM with only small overlaps. HOWEVER, my largest file HAD over 76,000 individuals in it. Yes, I said HAD. The last 3 versions I noticed continuing problems with FTM crashing or freezing up several times in the same day, everday. I “compacted” my FTM files, I defragmented my hard drive routinely, I continuely deleted temporary files and freed up space. I got a larger computer - bigger, faster, more, ugh, ugh - and it continued to crash and/or freeze.

I complained to Techs. I was told I had a virus. Nope, no virus. I complained to Techs. I was told I needed more memory and operating speed. Nope, just did that. I complained to Techs. I was told my file was corrupted. Oh, my God in Heaven, help me, please. No, my file is not “corrupted” but your program is causing crash and burn!

I am certainly no computer geek and am extremely grateful to those who are and can get results! However, my observation is that whether your file is large or new, you keeping working on it and it will crash or freeze. FTM doesn’t do a very good job of telling you to routinely compact your file, even if it’s small. Not only that, they tell you to keep compacting your file until it you get the result that 0% was compacted, THEN it’s all done compacting!

But they don’t tell you that. That’s a huge issue! HEY NEWBIE, COMPACT YOUR FILE AND COMPACT AGAIN UNTIL FTM SAYS 0% WAS COMPACTED. OH, AND DO THAT WITH THE FAMILY TREE CLOSED (DO NOT OPEN - NO, DO NOT OPEN THAT FAMILY TREE FIRST)! That should be in flashing neon signs!!!

Another issue that I think compounds the crash/freeze problem is page faults. Have you ever checked the page fault numbers you have when you’ve been using FTM for a few hours?? Well, mine runs into the tens of millions, but, guess what, so does my security software….

The nicest features of FTM which is being able to search, view, and download data and references from Ancestry.com directly to FTM is also the biggest problem. When you’ve been working a while, have you noticed how my screens back you can use your back button to view online information? Yup…that’s the killer! It goes on and on and on and all that stays in your memory, memory, memory while you’re using FTM so it slows down and down and down until it crashes/freezes. Couple that with very large files like Carol Dickinson and I have/had and I can wait 5 minutes or more for FTM to repopulate a screen and complete a transaction. When you get to this point, the only thing you can do other than through your computer out the window, is to shut FTM down ASAP, saving it if possible. If you can’t save it, when you reopen the tree (AFTER YOU COMPACTED THE FILE TO 0%) it SHOULD pop up to the last person you were working on and hopefully have saved everything except the very last transaction.

So, in my opinion, what makes this the best genealogy program is what makes it the worst. After working on genealogy for over 45 years, you know I ain’t no spring chicken, so, like Carol Dickinson, I also have arthritis issues - as well as sight issues. So the fewer keystrokes the better, and don’t try to keep making things smaller so more and more can get on the screen at the same time. What good is it if you can’t read it once it’s there???

These new “improvements” they keep wanting to add like the “enchanced” search feature - baloney, it’s smaller text, I get more garbage than I do with the old search if I get anything at all.

I’ve been complaining to FTM for years to quit adding to what you’ve got now. Make what you’ve got work better!!!! The search feature is terrible - has been for years - I have better luck doing my own search on the internet.

By the way, why doesn’t Ancestry.com, when I’m logged on through FTM, recognize that I’m logged on when I’m doing my own search on the internet (I have to log on again; dumb!)

I’ve also complained to FTM that they need to set the bar for genealogy newbies - tell them the rules - Ancestry is getting so much garbarge out there because people don’t know what they’re doing and/or simply copy information as absolute without verifying anything.

Oh, and what’s this about an Ancestry family file being a recognized reference??? Give me a break! Most of it’s garbage they’ve got!!! Ancestry family files might be an okay starting place but they certainly are NOT authenticated references!

Back to FTM. I, too, lost the majority of my largest file which I’d been working on for over 45 years due to the crash/freeze issue with FTM. In fact, here are some VERY SCARY numbers. For the same file (my big one) on 4 May 2012 it had 49,673 people (formerly I had over 76,000 people!) of 22 generations, 15,150 marriages, 6,689 surnames and 3,889 media items. Today, 3 Feb 2013, that same file had 36,638 people of 27 generations, 12,138 marriages, 5,800 surnames, and 1,771 media items. WHERE DID THE FORMER INFORMATION GO AND SINCE I CONTINUALLY ADD INFORMATION, HOW MUCH INFORMATION HAVE I REALLY LOST????

Compacting should reduce your file size but not get rid of data items! FAMILY TREE MAKER, YOU HAVE A SERIOUS, SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND YOU’VE LOST ONE LONG-TIME, FULLY-SUPPORTIVE USER.

Biggest Pro: NOT MUCH AT THIS POINT
Biggest Con: LOSS OF DATA AND CRASHING/FREEZING

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Carol Dickinson,  Jan 16, 2013

I have been a loyal Treemaker user since version 3 when it was still owned and operated by Banner Blue back in about 1995. It was by far the BEST program on the market for years My kid hacked it and made a mess. I had to send a copy to Banner Blue, they fixed it and sent it back.

It remained a fabulous program when purchased by Broderbund. We had an online user discussion group about using the software, things we wanted improved, wish lists of features, fixes we figured out. Broderbund had a guy they paid just to hang around with that group, and together we built upgrades that worked better, faster and with fewer challenges.

Then it was purchased by Parsons. It didn’t get any better after that, but it wasn’t awful. I got behind on an upgrade one year because I was sick for a long time. And they switched to the versions which are ID’d by dates. It was not possible to upgrade to those unless you first moved everything into version 16, and then upgraded. Well that took a while. By the time I was ready, 2012 was the current version and 16 wasn’t supported anymore according to Ancestry.com who own it now.

I was having challenges with working it to upgrade and I was advised by Treemaker techs to upgrade to Windows 7, which I did. Then EVERYTHING LOCKED UP and I LOST 35 YEARS of work and a decade of data entry. Only AFTER THAT happened did Ancestry techs advise me that 16 wasn’t compatible with windows 7 and all my data was irretrievably locked up. I had by that time spent about 40 hours on the phone with tech support.

SO I had to start over with 2012. In the 14 months since I did that, I had to reload the 2012 software 3 times before it worked. The online download did not work. Using the CD I had to do it 3 times before it worked.

After that the data from Ancestry corrupted the files so bad i have had to start over 3 more times. Once was because there are things you can’t fix on Ancestry when it merges wrong except by deleting but if its linked you can fix it in Treemaker and it will correct with the sync. But with the corruptions from ancestry you either have to delete the Ancestry file or the Treemaker file and then load the other one back to the software that held the deleted file. There is no way to tell which is corrupted, so its a crap shoot which one has the corruption.

Today I discovered that although my 2 week old new file was in sync but the media (mostly photos) that I was processing on Ancestry so that my co-author in California could access the photos had processed into the Treemaker file but were in a general collection file and were not attached to the people. I had to once AGAIN restart with a new file to correct that. This is a CHRONIC PROBLEM with 2012. I never had those problems with the older versions. I am about to give up on this software even though it is supposedly the BEST on the market. Maybe it is and I will find that out, but I will probably try some others within the week.

Not all the techs are great and the one that told me to upgrade I would gladly cane until his flesh was spaghetti. I am old. I don’t know if I have enough time to rebuild what I already had accomplished before I die. I had 80, 000 folks in my files, about 20,000 when the first rebuild was corrupted and after 14 months I now have a total of 6,000 people but most of my sources are erased. So my work is worth diddly as far as future researchers can verify. Most of the older people who told me things that I recorded are dead now. Those who remain are mostly so old, their memories are difficult. All my research notes on where I checked and who I talked to have be locked in the inaccessible data.

I have now cluttered Ancestry with backups of every piece of my trees, which means instead of just the 4 trees I really use, I have over 20 trees filling up space there. Just for protection. Because if you only keep the backup in your computer and its corrupted. It corrupts the backups too.

I find the 2012 version has moved farther away from what was good about the versions before they were date versions with every “improvement.”.

The old versions worked left to right. The new version you work right to left even though you read right to left, so you start on the far right of the screen and read that frame and then you look to the left and check that your data was entered correctly. Then you have to move your cursor a good 12 inches to select the next data window to process and then move your cursor back at least 12 inches to the far right, read left to right as you type and then look to the left 12 inches to verify. Arrgh!

Things you used to be able to do with just a tab now require using the cursor so your hand is constantly off the keys and it really increased the typo errors. Also the one place that would be easiest to enter data is the only place on the multiple frames on the screen where you can’t enter data. It takes about 500% more time to reenter data than it did to enter it originally. There are all these tiny window popping up for data which save 2 or 3 different places sometimes, but the most convenient place, is not linked and you can’t enter data straight across in a line anymore.

All this moving the cursor back and forth that far makes a lot of demands on your elbows. As a person with severe arthritis this new software stresses my arm physically like nothing else I do on the computer.

In the old versions gender of a person was default female. You changed it only for males. In the new version you have to select gender for each entry. This means you have to make double the amount of selections to get the same amount of data. If you forget to select gender on the first spouse, it will select male, and if that was your female, when you add the male spouse and identify gender it does not correct the other spouse. You end up with two males as parents and the surname of a child will be that of the female parent. In the old FTM’s it was a few keystrokes in the parent box to fix an error like this. In the current software, you have to retype the name of everychild, and you cant do that with an error up and down the list, you have to use the @*$^ cursor, type in a box, click an x, use the cursor and click again to move to the next kid. Very much slower and increases risk of typo errors.

The ability to identify a relationship as foster parent, adopted etc which used to be part of facts is gone.

There is an automatic OVERWRiTE on places for uniformity I used to have places listed such as “colonial Massachusetts, now part of ( X county) Connecticut” The software has erased these and replaced it with “Connecticut, USA” which is WRONG, anyone wanting to check my source will not be able to locate it because they will search Connecticut but the source document is online under Massachusetts. CT & MA fought over a small piece of land that switched back and forth for decades before it was settled. Gardiner’s Island New York was originally considered part of CT. Long Island NY was for a while consider part of New Amsterdam. Madison Wisconsin was at various times claimed by Massachusetts, Michigan, and Virginia.
Automatic overwriting erases these challenges. This is CORRUPTED genealogy. It violates RESEARCH standards, which is MORE IMPORTANT than online standardization of place

In the old system of data entry, there would be an automatic saving of the last 30 or so surname entries and place name entries for speed in data entry. When you were done you could elect to trash the entry so it wouldn’t pop up anymore. This also worked for misspellings. In the new system this feature is gone. If you make a typo it seems to be there FOREVER, and if you forget and retype it instead of selecting the automatic entries that pop up you get duplicates you cannot erase ever so the window might have the same entry 20 times or more if you are doing data entry on an old manuscript or some such.

It allows you to search on the web for additional information but only uses Google. I have much better luck on Bing and Yahoo, and find pages of garbage when using Google.I might get 2 page on the other and they will be relevant or you can see why they came up. With google I can search for Arther Kowalski in Wyoming 1800’s and get 20 pages of Bob Smith in England 1600’s too. I don’t really find much useful about that feature because it is so cluttered with the irrelevant.

It has some nice report formats but the Ahnetafel Report which I use a lot, occasionally ends a page with the top half of a line, and the bottom half is on the next page. Its random and irritating. So far have not found a fix and with a report that runs over a hundred pages it can waste a lot of paper if you don’t catch it.

Biggest Pro: I have found the marjority of tech support to be very kind, patient and sympathetic to challenges
Biggest Con: The upgrades seem to be aimed at making it sexy for marketing rather than user friendly for research and datat entry

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by R Clayton,  Jan 3, 2013

Family Tree Maker is the best by far but it requires some intelligence which most who rate it poorly lack.

Biggest Pro: Interaction with Ancestry.com

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Gillian Rowe,  Jan 2, 2013

Got this for a Christmas present. Initially it installed easily. However, once computer was shut down and reopened it was another thing. The software had disappeared - but had left carnage behind it with it necessary to do a complete restore. Contacted many sources and checked online forums for solutions as it would not reinstall and gave .dll errors. Found many users experiencing the same problem. What eventually transpired was that it does not run on HP machines on Vista, Windows 7 or 64 bit machines. It clearly indicates on the package that it is compatible with these systems. If you have any of these don’t bother.

Biggest Pro: None
Biggest Con: Won’t install!

Family Tree Maker - Current Version Review by Dave L,  Jan 1, 2013

As a long-time data base professional, I’m quite impressed with the underlying data base structure. Anything you might need is available (if you want a “fact” that isn’t there, you can add it). If you want to document your sources according to the format in “Evidence Explained” (the de facto standard), you can — if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.

When looking at some of the other reviews, I’m wondering if we’re even looking at the same program. I think the problem stems from one forum holding all reviews for “Since Version 2008.” Like most software, there have been problems in some versions (as I recall, version 2008 was the Family Tree Maker equivalent of MS-DOS 4.0: a bug with some software surrounding it). I use v. 2011, having no use for the new features introduced in v. 2012.

I’ll be interested to see what happens to this product now that ancestry.com has become a public company. It’s always been a great program, but some of the other comments suggest cost-cutting in the customer service area.

Biggest Pro: Well-designed data base with provisions for just about anything I can think of for a genealogy data base.
Biggest Con: Too much mouse work required — not enough keyboard options (the mouse slows me down).