macOS Big Sur Compatibility for Family Tree Maker

macOS Big Sur Compatibility for Family Tree Maker

I recommend that you read this Knowledge Base Article for Software MacKiev

https://support.mackiev.com/944428-macOS-Big-Sur-Compatibility-for-Family-Tree-Maker

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Copyright © 2020 by Cousin Russ

Family Tree Maker - GETTING TECHNICAL SUPPORT

From the MacKiev Family Tree Maker Newsletter:

GETTING TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Software MacKiev is now supporting all versions of Family Tree Maker for both Mac and Windows, though Ancestry will continue to assist us behind the scenes through the end of 2016 and beyond.

Where to Get Technical Support

Companion Guide. 
The first stop for learning how to use features of Family Tree Maker is the Companion Guide which contains step by step instructions for everything you might want to do. You can open the guide from the Help menu while running Family Tree Maker.

Knowledge Base.
We have hundreds of helpful articles posted on our support site on a variety of topics that will be of interest to all users, and can help solve problems. To get to the knowledge base, just go to support.familytreemaker.com.

Support Requests. 
If you don't find what you need in the Knowledge Base articles (at support.familytreemaker.com) just click the link for “additional support” at the bottom of the page and you will see the Technical Support request form. Typically we'll be getting back to you by email in 2 days or less.

Live Chat. 
When you file a Support Request between the hours of 6am and 6pm EST (7 days a week), you will have an option to have a live chat with an experienced support agent. This can be very helpful for urgent issues or those that would be easier as a discussion than an email exchange.

Facebook Group. 
There are excellent unofficial but very active Facebook groups which you might want to consider joining. They have many very experienced users who are generous in sharing their time and wisdom to help other users solve problems and learn new tricks.

Replacement Copies.
We have set up an online Replacement Center which is always open. The Center provides free replacements for those with FTM 2014 or Mac 3 and later, and discounted upgrade replacements for older editions. If you are a registered user and find yourself needing a fresh copy, then have a look at “Getting a Replacement Copy” Go to support.familytreemaker.com.

FAMILY TREE MAKER - HOME PAGE LINKS

From the MacKiev Family Tree Maker Newsletter:

FAMILY TREE MAKER - HOME PAGE LINKS
Almost everything you will need to know can be found on our Family Tree Maker home page.

Home Page: www.familytreemaker.com.

Links on the home page include:

• FAQ – Find answers to the most frequently
asked questions.

• Feedback – Let us know what we're doing
right and what to improve.

• Report a Bug – Tell us what you think needs
to be fixed.

• Suggest a Feature – What you would like to
see in our next edition?

• Beta Tester Signup – Volunteer to help us
test upcoming editions

• Gift Collection – Perfect gifts for the family
historian.

Any Questions?
If you have questions for us, please first read our FAQ as we've tried to answer the most common ones there. If you don't find the answer you are looking for, please send your question through our Feedback Form which you'll find on our FTM Home Page (see above). 

Family Tree Maker - GETTING A REPLACEMENT COPY

From the MacKiev Family Tree Maker Newsletter:

GETTING A REPLACEMENT COPY
For any users needing a replacement for FTM 2014 or Mac 3, we have set up a completely automated online Replacement Center. Whether you've had a hard drive crash, are moving to a new computer, or just need to reinstall FTM but your activation code doesn't work anymore, you can use the Replacement Center 24 hours a day to get a fresh copy. Here's how:

Getting a Replacement Download
1. Go to support.familytreemaker.com.
2. Click "for additional assistance" at the bottom of the page.
3. Click the Replacement Center tile.

The Replacement Center checks that you have a copy of FTM 2014 or Mac 3 registered with Ancestry and then provides you with a free fresh link by email. You will also be given an option to purchase a backup disc for $10 or our new natural wood USB backup drive for $14. Note that what you get will be a full free-standing installer, so it won't be looking for your old copy, a disc, or anything else.

You will also notice that the replacement copy installer doesn't ask you for an activation code. That's because we don't use them. Why? Well, we don't like them ourselves, so we decided a long time ago we weren't going to torment our customers with them. Instead, we use this old-fashioned thing called the honor system. It's been working pretty well for us for more than two decades now, so don't expect us to be changing that any time soon.

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Ancestry Member Tree Views

How to control the Settings in an Ancestry Member Tree for a View / Guest to that tree or as a Contributor or Editor to that tree.


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

Why I like to follow Shaky Leaf Hints in FTM2014 (or FTM-3)

Here is an example of why I like to follow those Shaky Leaf Hints in FTM2014. I would not have found this record, if I hadn't followed this hint.

The record I found was a Census Record in 1880. The Transcription of the Surname was wrong. However, I will show you the reason that the transcription was probably correct.

Its the Dates, Places, AND, Relationships in my database that allowed be to quickly determine that this was My Record. In fact, it did clear up a couple of items on my To Do list but using this record.

The Search Engines at Ancestry.com was the first "set of eyes" to find this record. A previous researcher the second set of eyes. The ability to take a view of the Family / Household allowed be to quickly determine that I really wanted to merge this 1880 Census Record into my database.


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - How I handle Hints in a 5 Generation Tree

I have talked about managing Hints by searching by Record Groups. Now I have added another Hint Management system to my Genealogy Tool Box. Hints using the F.A.N. Club, or by Direct Descendants for a person. In this case, my Great-Grandfather's children.



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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Merging of Two People

Resolving conflicting information, when the image was verified, the most recent information was not clear, but the review showed that I needed to Merge two people.

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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 / FTM-3 - When Merging a record, Look at the Record

When merging a record from Ancestry.com, take a minute to actually look at the record. I would have missed so much information, if I had just done a Quick Click Web Merge. My example is within FTM2014, but the same would happen if I had done the Merge in my Online Tree


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Clean Up after 1910 Census Record Merge

After any Web Merge, I have clean up work to do. I have a number of blogs about this in the past, but thought I would talk about it again, but this time in a video.


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - How I manage AMT Hints within FTM2014

Some people have seen and/or heard my Information Overload, So Many Hints, So Little Time. (just added that ending piece).

With Changes that Ancestry.com has made recently, I had to modify how I work with those hints. I thought I would share how I manage those hints now.


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

It's here! Family Tree Maker is BACK

It’s here! Family Tree Maker is BACK.

All of us here at Software MacKiev are happy to be taking up where Ancestry left off with Family Tree Maker, the most widely used family history software of all time. We have completed a small update to get the product back on the market and are pleased to let you know its available RIGHT NOW.

About our new FTM updates

We have started with Ancestry’s FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3 and, as a company of engineers, we set our focus on stability and performance improvements. So we swatted down some bugs. And we made the application more responsive – you will find some actions that previously took minutes now take seconds.

New features

We managed to sneak in just a few surprises, like 100 beautiful new backgrounds you can use to make professional looking charts and reports. And we’ve integrated a service for printing high resolution genealogy charts through the good folks at Family ChartMasters. It’s a modest start, but we hope you will be happy with our new updates.

Compatibility

We made sure that our new updates are completely compatible with the latest operating systems (Windows 10 and El Capitan). We’ve also made sure that your old trees will open seamlessly. That there is nothing to move. That your Ancestry account if you have one will continue to work with the new versions. And that TreeSync and all the other things you have come to like about FTM are still there for you.

Where to Buy... and more

See below how to get the updated editions, and some other information you may find useful.

Thanks to all of you who have welcomed us so warmly. It means a lot to us. A new chapter in Family Tree Maker’s long and proud history begins today!

JACK

Jack Minsky
President
Software MacKiev

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FAMILY TREE MAKER
New FTM 2014.1 and Mac 3.1

How to get the updated editions

What you will get and when depends on what FTM version you currently have:

1. Users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3: Hang in there! FREE updates are coming. They will be available in about a week or so through the built-in update feature. We will send you an email to let you know as soon as they are available.

2. Users of older FTM editions: No matter how old your copy of FTM is, or whether its running on Windows or Mac, you can download an upgrade for $29.95 (vs. $69.95 regular price). Click here to take advantage of this limited-time upgrade offer today.

3. New users: If you have never owned a copy of Family Tree Maker before, for a limited time, you can download a full edition from our online store for $49.95 by clicking here (vs. $69.95 regular price).

 Additional Offers:

• Family Tree Maker users who do not currently have an Ancestry.com subscription, will be offered a 14-day free trial.
• If you would like a backup disc, you can purchase a CD in a jewel case for an extra $10 including shipping and handling.

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Family Tree Maker^®

HELPFUL LINKS

1. FTM Home Page

Most everything you will need to know can be found on our Family Tree Maker home page:

www.mackiev.com/ftm

There you can:

• Read our FAQ
• Provide Feedback
• Report a Bug
• Suggest a Feature
• Sign up to be a Beta Tester
• Learn about FTM
• Check the System Requirements

2. Technical Support

To get technical support for any version of FTM, please start here:

www.mackiev.com/support

We are sharing responsibility for the rest of this year with Ancestry.com but the Software MacKiev support site is the best place to start. We’ll direct you from there to the right place to get the help you need.

3. Any Questions?

If you have questions for us, please first read our FAQ as we’ve tried to answer the most common ones there. If you don’t find the answer you are looking for in the FAQ, please send your question through our Feedback Form which you’ll find on our FTM Home Page (see #1 above). Thanks!

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

Office Hours 02 June 2015 - Problem Step One

First step in try to resolve a problem. Genealogy Question is, Who are the Parents of 4 Children? That is really 2 or 4 questions, but will start with this question.

Will walk through reviewing various documents for the Two "people" that I think may be the parents. This will probably end up by taking this information and using Evidentia to answer this question.




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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Child Attached to the Wrong Parents

BACK UP BEFORE DOING THIS

Have a family with a Father with 4 children and a wife. New documentation shows that he was actually married twice, and that the 4th child was actually from the 2nd marriage.

*How to Correct this?*

Key words are *Detach" from the incorrect relationship and *Attach* to the correct relationship.

*BACK UP BEFORE DOING THIS*


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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

FTM-3 - What's in a Name

When working with other uses of the Family Tree Maker program, it is Very Important to know the Version Number. In case of the Mac Version of Family Tree Maker, some times the "rules" for naming the software is driven by the platform.

The word “Mac” is no longer in the official name in order to comply with Apple’s guidelines.

So the official name for the current version for the Mac is “Family Tree Maker 3”.

It is ok to say Family Tree Maker 3 for Mac but the “for Mac” is not part of the name. Similarly Family Tree Maker 2014 is the Windows version even though “Windows” isn’t part of the name.

The first version for Mac was “Family Tree Maker for Mac”. The second was “Family Tree Maker for Mac 2”. And the third version was actually released as “Family Tree Maker Mac 3” but the name was changed when we put the product in the Mac App Store.

Some times you need a genealogy program to follow this stuff.

Just to further clarify the version name for the Windows version, there is no Version 14, The full correct name if Family Tree Maker 2014 or FTM2014. The previous version was FTM2012, before that FTM2011, etc. These are all the Windows Versions.

It was a little confusing years ago, when we had Version 8, Version 9, Version 10, Version 11, then it was changed to FTM2005, then FTM2006, and finally Version 16, You be able to see why the Full Version number is important.

I have tried to use the Version Number in my blog posts. BUT when you see FTM2014, with the exception of a few Apple standards, the screens and command are about the same. I do try to point them out when I have a chance. I have both FTM2014 and FTM-3.

One other minor point, is that each version AFTER FTM2008, has had Updates or patches. They way you. To check if your version is the Current Version, click on Help, then Check Updates

To see what Version you do have click on the About Family Tree Maker

As of today, 22 January 2015, the current version of FTM2014 is Version 22.0.0.1345 for the 64 bit PC and 22.0.0.345 for a 32 bit PC.
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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

Please Read: QUICKTIPS Citations: How Much Is Enough?

Here is a great tip on Citations. Please visit the Evidence Explained website by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Her Quick Tips are awesome. This one is about our Citations.

QuickTips

I try very hard to follow those QuickTips, by using the Template feature of Family Tree Maker (FTM2010 to FTM2014 and FTMM-2 and FTM-3) I think we can do that. In fact, on her User Forum, I have asked the Editor to comment on several of the Reference Notes from FTM2014.

From that experience, I try to share them here with you.
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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

Genealogy Do-Over and my FTM2014

I think this is a great idea. Actually I started early, in reality 2 years ago. Let me try to explain.

When Family Tree Maker first offered the Template Feature, way back with FTM2010, I started over. I have been very unhappy with the "free form" citations where have been in Family Tree Maker for years.

Second point is that I learned, from the beginning, to Cite My Sources. I think that I must have picked that up from +DearMYRTLE and her podcasts, "back in the day"; +Dick Eastman and his Electronic News Letter and many others.

So what I did when FTM2010 came out, I convinced myself to learn how to use this feature. Why would Family Tree Maker create a feature that wasn't going to help me with the format of the EndNotes (Reference Notes) when doing a report.

I also had +Elizabeth Shown Mills books that I tried to understand, but was missing the tool to get them right. BUT, as it turns out, I had a chance to meet her at an Ancestry.com dinner when the Templates were introduced. My copy of Evidence Explained was signed by her. An honored treasure that is always within easy reach.

As I have blogged about here, I started to transfer all of my Citations into the Template Format.

Well, that doesn't look like too much progress, not quite 50%, BUT there is work behind those numbers.

My plan is to follow the Genealogy Do-Over, but I am NOT starting my file over, but will participate in the project.

Here is a link to the Genealogy Do Over website:

http://www.geneabloggers.com/tag/genealogy-do-over/

There is also a Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogydoover/

Looking at the schedule for this project, I will share my experience HERE focussing on how these steps are impacting my use of FTM2014. Where possible, what I will share will be for both FTM2014 (PC / Windows version) and FTM-3 (Mac version), as I have both. If I see a difference I will post a separate FTM-3 article. But so far, I don't think that there will be any differences.

I have spent too much time on this file, to start my research over, BUT HOW I do my research has changed. I have shared some of that already on this Blog and will continue to do so.

Stay Tuned.

#GenealogyDoOver
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

How to Identify Civil War Soldiers

In honor of Memorial Day, I thought I would demonstrate how to create a list of men who may have served in the Civil War.








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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

FTMM-3 - New Installation with an Existing File

This is the first video and blog post specifically about Family Tree Maker for the Mac version 3.

I had the previous versions of Family Tree Maker for the Mac on my Mac laptop. I have been using it and have demonstrated it. I also wanted to know what the difference was between the PC version and the Mac version.

I had FTMM-2 on the Mac and a couple of working files, including several test files to use the TreeSync™ feature in FTMM-2.

I now have FTMM-3 installed and at the end of the installation FTMM-3 found my existing FTMM-2 file.

This video will show what happens now.



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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington