Family Tree Maker 2019 Pre-Order Sale

I recently received an email from Software Mackiev announcing a sale for the upcoming Family Tree Maker 2019 upgrade. That offer has since expired, with the upgrade price now $39.95, $40 less than the regular price and $20 less than the normal upgrade price. There are some interesting new features that might make it worthwhile. These are the top 10 reasons to upgrade, as presented in the email:

10. Turn Back Time.

This one might just be worth the whole upgrade. FTM 2019 keeps track of every one of your last THOUSAND changes. Made a mistake three days ago but your last full backup is three weeks old? Just roll back to just before the mistake was made with a single click. Then use the comprehensive Changes Log to restore the moves you meant to make. Problem solved.

9. FamilySearch Integration 2.0.

Lots of news here starting with the ability to download an entire branch from a FamilySearch tree into FTM 2019. But the big news here is historical record hints which you’ll get when you match a person in your Family Tree Maker tree to a person in a FamilySearch family tree. Simple as that.

8. Hints in the Index.

Once found only on tree views, in FTM 2019, Ancestry and FamilySearch hints appear in the people index too. So you can check for hints for a particular family name or for any saved list. 

7. Smart Filters.

In FTM 2017 we introduced the ability to save filtered lists. Now those lists just got smarter. The filter that created the list actively gathers any new people that meet that filter’s criteria that are added to your tree. For example, if your filtered list is for military service, when you add two more service men or women to your tree, they’ll be added automatically to that list.

6. Folder counters.

Stop peeking into folders to see if there’s anything in there. Numbers on your folder tabs now show the number of items stored in each one. Simple idea. Big time-saver.

5. Profile Picture perfection.

Clean up the look of your tree with our new profile picture cropping tool. Smart technology detects the person’s face and zooms just the right amount, then crops a perfect square so that it fits perfectly on each leaf of your tree. And best of all, the original photo is not touched.

4. Tree Browser.

Get what you’re looking for quickly with this new window into your tree files. Search a family name and find all related trees wherever they are – on Ancestry, on your hard drive, or up in the clouds. And for each tree you’ll have everything you need to know at your fingertips – does that FTM tree have a linked Ancestry tree, and if so, under what name? No links to an Ancestry tree? Click Download in the browser to get all synched up.

3. Rich Color Coding.

One of the most frequent requests from genealogists using FTM 2017’s color coding, was for “rich” color coding – not just coding the home person’s ancestors but each ancestor’s descendants as well. With FTM 2019, rich color coding is just one click away. 

2. TreeVault Cloud Services.

With TreeVault your relatives will be able to view your tree on their smartphones and tablets and send notes back to you. You’ll know what the weather was like the day your grandfather was born. And you’ll sleep better knowing that you have an up to date copy of your tree securely tucked away, and that someday it will be passed on to the next generation. We will be adding services with each update, but here’s the starting lineup:

• Emergency Tree™ restore service. TreeVault keeps a continuously updated copy of your tree ready to hand back to you if your hard drive should crash or some other catastrophe strikes.
• FTM Connect™ is a FREE mobile app (for iPad, iPhone and coming soon for Android) that displays your latest FTM tree anywhere, any time – even when your computer is off. Handy for sharing your tree with relatives or for using your iPad as a second monitor with your continuously updated tree.
• Historical Weather™ puts color in your family story with more than a billion historical weather records. Dates will never be boring again. Consider:
• Next of Kin™ allows you to designate a successor to your TreeVault account to pass along your family tree. You will get a certificate that may be included with a will, providing instructions and passcodes for taking over your account along with your Family Tree Maker license.

1. It’s on sale, right?

The current upgrade offer is $39.95 (the regular upgrade price of $59.95, but the offer was $29.95, so it could go up again at any time). You’ll also get a full year of TreeVault cloud services for free (normally $20 per year). Click here to learn more and to order.

There’s no mention in the email whether FamilySync will continue in FTM 2019, but according to Jack Minsky, president of Software MacKiev, “FamilySync is very much a part of FTM 2019 and will continue to provide syncing with your Ancestry trees.” TreeVault appears to be an additional (optional) enhancement, not just a replacement.

What do you think? Do you plan to buy this upgrade? Have you been using FTM since 1989 when it was first released? Please share your thoughts in the comments.