 "don't buy it if you have FTM v.16 or older" | 2009-08-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: AIKKNLWVUMCKL |
I have been using Family tree Maker for years. I originally used version 8.0, and later version 16. There are a few things that I would like changed with version 16, but was pleased with it. I work on genealogy 10 to 30 hours a week, share family reports and gedcoms with other researchers very often, and have more than 17,000 peopl in my family tree.
I recently "upgraded" to version 2009. I know that version 2008 was not well received, and so I waited or this new version to come out. There are a few things I like about version 2009, but all in all it is not as good as version 16 on many levels.
About the only things I like about version 2009 is the addition of a pedigree chart bove the family and individual view, which makes navigating to a near relative simple (but not a great deal simpler that version 16). And I like is that it allows more children to be listed in the basic family view (version 16 limits the on-screen view to 8.) Besides these, I have no use for any of the additional "bells and whistles" that 2009 offers.
After trying to get used to FTM 2009 for a month, I have these criticisms:
You have to click several times more to get to a field where you can edit data (such as birthdates, places, marriage, etc.), and this information is duplicated on your screen: in a static field to the left, and in editable fields to the right, which is unecessary clutter. Simple things like going to the index of individuals, used to be one click, now it requires two. Little things like this end up doubling and tripling the moves it takes you to navigate thro7ugh the program. With as miuch data entry and editing I do with my gedcom, this makes me spend hours more each month to get the same amount of work done.
FTM 2009 automatically logs onto the internet when you open. I hate this! There is no reason for this! I have a limited threshold with my internet provider, and if I cannot have programs connecting to the internt in the background. Moreover, I hate the idea that my computer is sending information back and forth to Ancestry.com or anyone else without my express consent.
The worst part about FTM 2009 is the area where you generate reports. In version 16, the reports generated into RFT (Richtext) format could be easily opened and edited in Microsoft Word. However, in version 2009, FTM reports create a heading that is repeated on every page of the report. There are also lines added at the top and bottom ove every page, with page numbers and the date repeated. If you try to open and edit any report in Word, these "headings" and "footers" for all subsequent pages get thrown off. This makes it practically useless to export to Word to add or delete specific information (this is important to me because when I create a report for someone specific, I like to add a note at the beginging, explaining where she or I relate, and also highlight or bold important information--these edits I would make just for this person I am sharing with, and are not intended to shange my whole file, so I wouldn't want to make these editions in FTM). And so, I am left with the option of creating a report, exporting it to WORD, and then tediously going through and deleting all of the unecessary repeated hradings and stupid linmes that FTM 2009 adds.
And the other thing that is very annoying and frustrating is that FTM 2009 has a serious problem converting some of the text in individual notes. I have particularly noticed this with punctuation, such as quotes, commas, dashes and bullets. Instead, FTM2009 just shows you a little square where these punctuation marks used to be. Now, you could go thorugh your whole file and correct all these little conversions errors, but if you have lots of data, this is not an option. I have more than 17,000 individuals, and some of them have up to 10 pages of notes! It would take me more than a year to go through all of the individiual notes with a fin-toothed comb and correct them. It might be easier if I could copy the text and paste it into WORD to do this edition, and then paste it back into FTM2009, but this seems to be part of the problem: there seems to be a bug in FTM2009 which creates a problem with some puncuation marks.
I find version 16 (which came out in 2006) to be superior in many respects, and will stick with it for now. |
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| "LOTS OF PROBLEMS!!!" | 2009-08-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2XH9HJ45HME6B |
I updated my 2008 software expecting good things...I was wrong! Software was incompatible with my web browser...I couldn't even register or activate my membership. It appears that it works primarily with IE7 which has it's own problems. I looked on the "forum" of [...] for problems associated with using different browsers, slow speed of downloads, and many other problems with the software. I emailed Ancestry about a few problems but couldn't address my complaints...apparently, there are many other people who haven't had their complaints addressed from the "Help - FAQ's"...a lot of suggestions but no real fixes. I had downloaded an update and I couldn't get the program to work at all. I had to uninstall and reinstall the program but before it would work, I had to go into the computer's registry and make some edits.
Another problem...automatic membership renewal.
Another problem...can't share your geneology tree with family on disk...can only share by printed matter.
Family Tree Maker 2010 is due out in Sept...I doubt that I will be spending my money on that one because they can't seem to fix the problems that they already have!...Kind of sounds like Micro*#@%!!!
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 "Very good" | 2009-07-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3V1WDBT75D5YN |
| Family tree maker 2009 Platnum is easy to use and the booklet is very helpful. I especially like how it links each person added to the main person of the family tree by stating the relationship under the person's name when you pull up his/her info. I also like that it is compatable with Ancestry.com. It helps to have that link when looking for family members. |
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| "Very slow and freezes up" | 2009-07-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: AN6AQYWM95S46 |
| I bought the most expensive one - platinum. It is terribly slow and freezes up. |
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| "Upgrade from FTM 16 to FTM 2009" | 2009-06-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2QWT5ND8JU6VG |
I recently took the big step to upgrade from Family Tree Maker 16 to FTM 2009. I have been a FTM user since the 1990's, but feel that is now coming to an end.
I now realize what a huge mistake that was. Perhaps FTM 2009 is great for users of FTM 2008, but for users of FTM 16 or earlier programs, the two are just not compatible.
Problems I have found over the past 7-10 Days:
- NO NGS Quarterly (Descendant Ordered) capability;
- FACTS - In previous versions (excepting FTM 2008 which I know nothing about), it was relatively simple to add Facts:
Adding a Fact would open a pull down window where the Fact (occupation, military service, residence, etc.) would be filled in, followed by the date, followed by the Place or Description - ALL in the Same window. In FTM 2009, to choose a fact I first have to scroll down a long list of Facts before finding the one I want to use, then enter the data. This takes twice as long to enter facts as previous versions.
-- when facts were pulled over from FTM 16, FTM 2009 attempted to put the Facts in a format FTM 2009 wanted, not the format I used in FTM 16. FTM 2009 is a nightmare, is NOT user friendly as previous versions.
- FTM 2009 wanted to Spell the name of the State rather than use Standard State abbreviations, and then insert "USA" every time a State was used. I carry over 20,000 names in my Tree, over 600,000 facts, most of which are associated with States. Do you realize how much larger my file would be if I spelled out each state and added "USA" every time I typed in a location/place?? At least give the
user an option, when importing their old FTM genealogy file, to stay with the format the user prefers, not the format FTM 2009 prefers.
- Upon creating a Register Report: I created a Register Report for my ancestor in the 1600's and have thus far added more than 9300 descendants. Upon creating a Register Report (I really wanted a NGS Quarterly/Descendant Ordered Report as used in FTM 16, but was NOT available in FTM 2009), I had over 2800 pages. Unfortunately, I found that upon reaching source 9999, the 10,000th source was rendered as "1000". Source 1000 was used for ten different sources, then jumped to "1001" for the next 10 sources", then jumped to "1002" for the next 10 sources and on and on and on. The Bottom line is: FTM 2009 does NOT provide for numbering sources in excess of 9999 when making a Register
Report.
Also, in the Register Report, many of the Fact Descriptions are enclosed in Parenthesis; I tried modifying the fact, but nothing seemed to work. When using Fact Numbers (such as 1, 2 , 3, etc.), the entry would appear in the Register Report as (where the first field is the Fact Number, the
second field the date, and the 3rd field the description. For example: "Fact 1 for May 1891 moved to Iowa" is carried in the Register as:
"1 May 1891 moved to Iowa"
thus appearing as the Fact Number is part of the data.
I began the conversion to FTM 2009 with an open mind, but am now convinced it would take many, many months to make these changes, Additionally, I find entering data much more time consuming than with previous FTM versions and having to deal with a very cluttered screen in FTM 2009.
My only hope is to go back to FTM 16, but I have problems with that as I would probably never be able to upgrade my FTM to a newer Version of FTM as I would have to start from scratch with the errors (as I did with FTM 2009). My best recourse at this point in time is to go with a more professional genealogy software.
I am sure there are many problems I have not yet encountered. I have used FTM since Day 1 and the first FTM software program was available. Upgrading to newer programs was never a problem until FTM 2009 hit the street. Probably a great program for FTM 2008 users, but a very poor
Software program for FTM 16 and earlier versions. I would NEVER recommend this upgrade to those using FTM 16/earlier versions.
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 "Very happy with purchase" | 2009-06-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1A250TRPXKGKZ |
Years ago, in the old DOS days, I used a genealogy app that was all text-based. It was fast, but also kind of tedious in the way I had to enter in all the resources, etc. After that app was useless (OS changes), I did try FTM back in the late 90s. I felt it was kind of "meh." Not bad, but not outstanding.
Flash-forward to 2009. I had been away from all this for about a decade. I wanted to get back into it and FTM seemed to be stronger than ever. I had a bit of extra $$$ so I decided to try it out again. This version seems to be faster than the old version I used and its integration to online tools is very handy. Finding the old census and other public records online makes the research far faster... the ability to merge info into your Tree from these public records, complete with a photo of the relevant page is fantastic.
I think the features in this app will meet the needs of most people doing their family trees, from the beginners to very experienced. I am very pleased with this purchase! |
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