Questions about Family Tree Maker

Dear Family Tree Maker Users,

I know there is a lot of conversation about the future of these two programs, Family Tree Maker 2014 (FTM2014) and Family Tree Maker for the Mac (FTM-3)

I  have mentioned on this blog that I am not planning on changing how I do my research, that is with FTM2014 (or FTM-3) and Ancestry.com. That does not mean I am not going to stop looking at alternative. Have been doing that since I started.

I have a Google+ Community where I share these Blog posts and have a way for you to specifically ask a question of the Community about these two programs. Yes, I receive a lot of questions and comments on the posts, which is awesome, but it is much easier to stay on the topic of the questions that are in the community.

So, here is a link to the +Cousin Russ  community:

Cousin Russ Genealogy Community

It is a Public Google+ Community, where only members of the community can post questions. You can view the community, just not asks questions or make comments on posts that are there.

At the top Left, there are community guidelines. This is a Community, where we SHARE our common interest, and that being Family Tree Maker and Genealogy in general.

You should first read the Pinned post, at the top of the community, here is the link

So, you wanna join this community ?

In the Community Guidelines is information on how to improve your Google+ Profile, which I look at before I accept a person requesting access to the community. It's not difficult, but I want to make sure we have a common interest.

So, IF you have a Question about Family Tree Maker (FTM2014 or FTM-3), please provide

What version of Family Tree Maker are you using AND what version of Windows?

What Workspace are your questions about.?

or a general question about the program. I also have used Family Tree Maker since Version 3.4 so I usually can answer questions about the much earlier versions of the programs.

I, and members of the community, will share our experience with the program in order to try to help you. The answer may be back here in the Blog, but I can help with that as well.

As you may have noticed in the blog, I have also provide some help with the transition from Family Tree Maker to other programs. Having said that, the programs that folks are moving to have great support websites and Facebook Groups. I do not plan on duplicating what they have to offer.

Oh, finally, I will NOT make any recommendations on other genealogy software. FTM2014 works best for me, I'll leave you to determine what works best for you.

Thanks for listening.

Russ
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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 to Roots Magic - Living People weren't included

How to include Living People in a GEDCOM file and other options that you marked as Private




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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

How to View Media files in Roots Magic 7 (for FTM2014 Users)

There have been many questions on the Roots Magic Facebook Group, where Family Tree Maker users have not been able to find a Citation Media File that they had in FTM2014. Here is a short video to help you with that.


How to View Media files in Roots Magic 7 (for FTM2014 Users)



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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

How to Download Your Tree from Ancestry.com

UPDATE: I am posting this video to help those who have an Ancestry Member Tree (Online Tree at Ancestry), if they want to download the information from Ancestry. I have posted a number of Blog Posts on the transferring from FTM2014 to other programs. Just SEARCH the site for Roots Magic or Legacy to see them. I WILL post a couple of more transitioning blog posts in the next day or to.

DON'T PANIC: FTM2014 is not going to stop working, if you are already using that program.

Published on Dec 11, 2015 by Ancestry.com

You can download a GEDCOM file of any of your trees on Ancestry.com. Here is how to do it.

Note that a GEDCOM file will export all sources included in your tree but not media files associated with your tree.

FTM users are welcome to use Family Tree Builder

I received this from MyHeritage, thought I would share it with you.



Dear friends, I hope all's well on your side.

At MyHeritage, we believe there is still a place in the world for genealogy software, and there is value in the ability to work offline, and enjoy more powerful functionality that many websites cannot offer. We also believe that people should be able to discover and preserve their family history on whatever platform they are comfortable with. That's why we are constantly innovating new technologies and enhancing our website, mobile apps and our Family Tree Builder genealogy software.

We are delighted to offer FTM users who move to MyHeritage, and who choose to sync their family tree with their MyHeritage family site, unlimited tree size capacity on their online family site, which is normally limited to 250 individuals on a free account. 

Please see the blog post here which includes information on how to claim this gift, and let me know if you have any questions.

http://blog.myheritage.com/2015/12/ftm-users-join-myheritage-and-get-family-tree-builder-with-an-unlimited-size-family-site-for-free/

MyHeritage Ltd., 3 Ariel Sharon St., Or Yehuda 60250, Israel

Preparing to Transition

For those preparing to transition to another Genealogy software program.

This is one of several videos on transitioning to another Genealogy Software program. I think this is important to understand a few things about Family Tree Maker if you are going to move your genealogy database from Family Tree Maker to another program.

The move will be different based on the VERSION of Family Tree Maker that you have AND the Genealogy Program you might move to. This video is to help you find the Version of the program you are using and what you need to do just before you make that move.

Family Tree Maker started in the DOS days, and the Version numbers were just that, a version number. For example, my first version was Version 3.4. The Version number when up to Version 9, then Version 10, then Version 11. BUT in 2005, then changed to Version 2005, then 2006, then back to Version 16.

In 2008, then structure of the program was moved out of the DOS environment into the Windows environment. The Version numbers then started with FTM2008, FTM2009, FTM2010, FTM2011, FTM2012, and FTM2014.

In the Version 16 and earlier, all Media Files were INCLUDED in the FTW (file extension), making the files very large over time. This important to note for your transition.

Starting with FTM2008, the Media Files were in a < filename > Media folder. You would have a Filename for the Data, and a < filename > Media folder for all of the Media Files. Those media files would normally be in Media folder, but some users and their own filing structure for their media, maybe leaving those media files elsewhere on the computer. The program "knows" where they are so there are links from the database to those media files.

For Back Ups: as long as you manually back up, or Back Up as I demonstrate in this video, those Media Files will be in the Back Up file. For Version 16, the back up file extension would be FBC. For FTM2008 - FTM2014,the file extension is FTMB. Both the FBC and the manually generated FTMB file include those media files. IF you find a FTMB file that has the words "Automatic Back Up" that FTMB file would NOT include the media files, only the Data. The automatic back up would be generated if you just closed down the program without manually backing up the file.

In upcoming blog posts, I will deal with GEDCOM files. A GEDCOM will NOT include any media files. It is important thing to understand, with this transition, is the links to the Media Files. In FTM2008 through FTM2011 a GEDCOM file will NOT contain any information linking to the media files. With FTM2012 and FTM2014, the GEDCOM WILL include Links to those media files.

Here is a link to a number of blog posts on this

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/search/label/GEDCOM

Here is a blog post I did about transferring a GEDCOM to Roots Magic

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2013/12/blog-post-on-hold-update.html





Bottom line here, KNOW the Specific Version of Family Tree Maker that you are using and Compact and Back Up your file when the option is offered using the Compact File utility.

Me: No Change. FTM2014 and all of its features work for me.

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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

Ancestry to Retire Family Tree Maker Software

Ancestry to Retire Family Tree Maker Software

By Kendall Hulet

Ancestry is proud to have made a significant investment this year to bring valuable new content and records to the Ancestry site. In 2015, we’ve made 220 million searchable historical records from Mexico available, more than 170 million pages from the largest collection of U.S. will and probate records, among others. We’ve also introduced new features such as Ancestry Academy and major advancements for AncestryDNA.

We remain dedicated to helping people gain new levels of understanding about their lives, and who and what led to them, harnessing the information found in family trees, historical records and genetics. As a company, we’re also continually evaluating ways to focus our efforts to provide the most impact and best product experience for our users through our core offerings.

True to this focus, we’ve taken a hard look at the declining desktop software market and the impact this has on being able to continue to provide product enhancements and support that our users need. With that, we’ve made the tough decision to stop selling Family Tree Maker as of December 31, 2015.

Our subscription business and website, on the other hand, continue to grow and we are doubling down our efforts to make that experience even better for our Ancestry community.

Ancestry will continue to support current owners of Family Tree Maker through January 1, 2017. During this time, all features of the software, including TreeSync™, will continue to work, and Member Services will be available to assist with user questions. We will also address major software bugs that may occur, as well as compatibility updates.

These changes are never easy, but by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry community.

If you have inquiries regarding Family Tree Maker, please reach out to our Member Services team. We’ll also provide updates on our blog as needed leading up to January 1, 2017.

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I will post my own comments over time. As I said earlier, I have not plans to change what I have been doing for years.

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, +DearMYRTLE and I will be talking about this topic

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DearmyrtlePage/posts/fHK2H3MFV6z

WACKY Wednesday: Is there life beyond Family Tree Maker?

Future of the Blog ---- NO CHANGE

I will post an more detailed Blog post shortly, but want to make sure that the Readers of this Blog know that I do NOT plan on making any changes to this blog, nor will I retire it AND will continue to make blog posts.

More later
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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Update (SP7) December 2015

An update to FTM2014 has been released and this post provides some hints on how it works and what it included. The update was recorded live.

The link below will take you to the Ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker Knowledge Base website for this patch.

http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9048


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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington