Family Tree Maker 2013 Availability

News came from Ancestry.com today that there won’t be a Family Tree Maker 2013. The firm is focused on enhancing the existing version. They’ve already released updates with the following enhancements (listed in their blog announcing the direction):

• Numerous enhancements to TreeSync so syncing your tree to Ancestry.com is faster and more reliable
• A new Family View Report that displays a person’s ancestors, spouse, and children together (similar to the Family View in the People workspace)
• A new Undocumented Facts Report that lists people’s facts that have no source documentation
• The ability to merge info from multiple versions of the same fact
• New source templates for the 1940 U.S. census and improved support for city directories
• Dozens of report enhancements including performance improvements and new options in the relationship chart, family group sheet, Individual Report, Notes Report, Data Errors Report, Outline Descendant Report, Media Item Report, photo albums, Media Usage Report, Documented Facts Report, and calendar

And more enhancements are promised.

So there won’t be a version called FTM 2013 because they include the year in the name of the Windows version of the genealogy software. What does this mean for the Mac counterpart?

The blog didn’t mention the Mac version, but in a comment Tana L. Pedersen, representing the company, wrote:

It was an oversight that the Mac product wasn’t mentioned. Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 has also been receiving similar bonus updates throughout the year and there will be more to come.

Regarding fixes she added:

Also, we want you to know we’re listening to input from you and other users and are continually working on many of the little details you’ve mentioned. Each of the previous updates has included fixes as well as new features, and we plan on continuing.

So Mac users will get enhancements too.

I assume Ancestry will release a new major version on both PC and Mac next year. I just hope they have feature parity.

Naturally these upcoming enhancements will be free for owners of the latest version. If you’ve been holding off on buying FTM 2012, waiting for the major version release that usually happens in the Fall, stop waiting and looking for a Family Tree Maker 2013 discount coupon code. Buy Family Tree Maker 2012 or Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 and enjoy the enhancements as they are released.