WHY Family Tree Maker 2019 is STILL a MESS

WHY Family Tree Maker 2019 is STILL a MESS - Bugs & Workarounds

Рет қаралды 2,459

Жыл бұрын

This video is about Family Tree Maker 2019. I purchased the very first version of FamilyTreeMaker (FTM) over 30 years ago when Ancestry.com owned the software; and I have paid for every major upgrade since those early days, even when it seemed that the product might be completely abandoned. Recently, I contacted The Software MacKiev Company, current owner/developer of FTM 2019, and reported the bugs discussed in this video on several occasions. I'm tired of getting ignored and the enormous amount of work involved every day in working around these ridiculously annoying bugs.

Пікірлер: 20

@rebeccaoliver7977 20 күн бұрын

I'm returning to my genealogical research after 30 years. I used early versions of FTM. I've been looking at the top packages now and had settled on continuing with FTM. Was about to buy it today and I learned that FTM 2024 was announced several months ago. Now I'm seeing your post. I realize no software is perfect. I also wasn't expecting to download from another source -- just begin the long re-keying of my data. Maybe scanning all of my supporting documents and then moving forward from there. I am protective of my data -- so that I'm not sharing errors or downloading data that might be errors -- I only see it as possible leads to explore further. Given my situation and desire to dive back in, what software do you recommend? If I buy FTM 2019 now I can see I may have to repurchase 2024 -- that is fair though many companies give a discount of some sort. Open to hearing your thoughts.

@mrbilllollar 20 күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing! Are you using a Mac or PC? If you have a Mac, then I would stick with FTM in spite of the shortcomings. If you are using a PC, then I would seriously consider Legacy Family Tree. Most genealogical software is under $100 and if you wait until Black Friday, there may be some deals available. I actually do most of my research inside the web-based Ancestry platform, then synchronize my online tree to FTM for analyzing, editing, and recording my research notes. There are 60 billion records on Ancestry nowadays, which is a wonderful asset considering the cost of travel. I have the top tier "All Access" subscription and it's absolutely amazing, but it's quite expensive unless you score the big discounts during major holidays. Take care! 🙂

@ftm-plugins 5 ай бұрын

This information is coming from Ancestry. You should report this to Ancestry since they are the ones providing this information. FTM does NOT do OCR on the image to determine which text to provide. Software MacKiev's involvement would be to try to convince Ancestry to straighten out their data. You are actually wanting the Software MacKiev to now interpret the data coming from Ancestry which becomes a whole lot more involved.

@mrbilllollar 5 ай бұрын

I appreciate your comments, but I disagree. We have no way of knowing how FTM imports the info from Ancestry, just that they ARE linking to the massive resources of Ancestry, something that few others are allowed to do. It’s Software MacKiev’s responsibility to import the information accurately for the benefit of the FTM user.

@jacquievickerspioneerresea2730 3 ай бұрын

I think that would actually be an Ancestry thing, wouldn't it? MacKiev is just transferring the data from the original source which in this case would be Ancestry?

@mrbilllollar 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for your comments. Family Tree Maker is just an empty database: you can either populate those empty data fields manually OR you can import records into those data fields from another source. FTM has been given the appropriate permissions by Ancestry to connect and transfer millions of records from their archives, but the actual design of the FTM database determines how those records will be treated when they are brought into the various data fields. I have voiced my concerns to MacKiev and they admit it's a known issue that their engineers are working to resolve. Sadly, they have been telling us this for years. Never once have they shifted the blame to Ancestry.com.

@SuzanneAndDan Жыл бұрын

I have to decide whether or not this software can combine 2 huge trees that I have in ANCESTRY and reload the data back up as one new tree into my ANCESTRY online account. 2019 makes this software look old at 4+ yrs. Do you know if this FTM2019 software can do this without messing up my dates, spaces, text, photos and links between my 3000+ ancestors?

@mrbilllollar Жыл бұрын

Your proposed idea sounds easy enough to me, but MacKiev is really the only authority qualified to answer your question. You could always use a trial period with FTM, download both trees separately into FTM, then I import one tree into the other one. Not sure what you mean by “spaces” in your comment.

@SuzanneAndDan Жыл бұрын

I went ahead and purchased FTM2019 and downloaded my Ancestry Tree01 and Tree02 then merged Tree01 into Tree02 which I synched back up to Ancestry. I am happy with the result although it is not perfect. On the download of Tree02 it gave me a death date in 2010 which was easy to remove. All of the text that I added to the bottom of Ancestry/Tree01/LifeStory did not get merged into Tree02 probably because FTM2019 does not have this field. The top info in LifeStory is auto-generated by Ancestry but text added below is available to add your own "story" about the ancestor. All of the dates and photos I checked were well handled. I now have a backup of my info in FTM2019. Thumbs up to FTM2019. I must say that 2019 made me hesitate before buying and this is probably why FTM does not have the LifeStory field.

@ReesMitch1 Жыл бұрын

I have experienced the same behavior and can't believe they spend their development dollars on new enhancements without fixing the existing problems. Not only does this affect census records but also descriptions for other fields such as draft card information. I just downloaded a WW II draft card and the description is 34 Age: 34. They must be using the same bad code in the Web Merge Wizard for census records and other data,

@mrbilllollar Жыл бұрын

Exactly! I appreciate your chiming in and confirming that I’m not the only one who feels cheated. I’ve supported this product for 33 years and it needs to be fixed.

@pinwheelgrl9304 Жыл бұрын

IMHO the bigger problem is the constant big changes by the computer industry about every two years, affecting software, which most likely has programmers going bonkers. Remember our genealogy software companies are small, as in SMALL! Then you have the giants like MS and Apple slamming out new OS and chips every other year.... I honestly don't see how our beloved genealogy software-makers do it. I can now understand why there are people that still hang on to Windows XP or other old programs so they can keep using their old software, because they know those changes affect the programs, why not stop while everything still works ok? Yeah, I know, but I can see both sides here. All that said, don't forget they've had a war over there for the last few years. Got an email from FTM today - evidently they'd been hiding out in the mountains, and now they want to regroup and forge ahead. So that's a good sign.

@mrbilllollar Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and leaving your comments. This particular issue has been around for years and the company always responds that their “programmers are aware of the issue” but they never indicate that they are working on a solution.

@CadillacBunner Жыл бұрын

They own the IP (the brand name and the rights to distribute it) not the source code. This why they cannot make alter the program apart from making patches and bug fixes. It's like walking into your neighborhood McDonald's and asking to change the recipe for the Big Mac. They cannot legally do so.

@mrbilllollar Жыл бұрын

If that’s the case, then why not say so? They keep saying that they are aware of the problem and their engineers are working to resolve the issue.

@CadillacBunner Жыл бұрын

@@mrbilllollar Nobody knows what is in their mind. They saved the product from disappearing forever and yet people complain that they cannot get their favorite features. This is the problem with licensing a product.

@mrbilllollar Жыл бұрын

@@CadillacBunner Well, it’s beginning to look like they should have let it die. Seriously. I bought the product when it was first released by Ancestry, but nowadays I use the Ancestry app for iPad or just jump right into Ancestry.com for about 75% of my work.

@CadillacBunner Жыл бұрын

@@mrbilllollar I agree!