Software MacKiev has recently published a FAQ for Family Tree Maker (FTM) that has some interesting information. Here are the main points as I see them:
- Free upgrades to FTM 2014 and FTM 3 will be pushed out around March 1st. Owners of older versions of FTM can get the upgrades for the discounted price of $29.95.
- The upgraded editions of FTM will also begin shipping around March 1st at a discounted price of $49.95 (the regular price will be $69.95). That’s quite a bit more than what Ancestry was selling it for. There will also be a family pack license for three computers for an additional $20. The software will be available from MacKiev’s online store and retailers such as Amazon and the Mac App Store.
- FTM is planned to support FamilySearch by the end of 2016.
- Synchronization between FTM and Ancestry.com will no longer use TreeSync after Jan. 1, 2017 but will use some new technology instead.
Thanks to Randy Seaver for pointing out this FAQ on his Genea Musings blog. I think some of Randy’s statements about synchronization are too speculative at this point (he doesn’t think there will be full synchronization like there is with TreeSync), but he has some other information concerning RootsMagic that you might want to read.
When will the MacKiev update to FTM 2014 be available? I was not able to upload the recent update to my program. because the system would not accept it, I tried several times to upload it.
According to the FAQ, it should be available around March 1st.
I don’t understand what you’re trying to upload. You don’t upload updates, you download them when they’re available. You’ll usually get a notification when an update is available, or there’s a menu option to check for updates (in the Windows version, I think it’s in the Help menu). Once you download the update, you install it.
What version of Windows do you have?
Does it bother anyone that Nova and MacKiev are the same company that developed the FTM Mac product? I posted a tirade about my issues with their FTM products earlier in the year. They are playing a game with us.
CALABASAS, CA–(Marketwire – February 17, 2010) – Nova Development, a consumer software unit of leading global software developer and publisher Avanquest Software (EPA: AVQ), today announced an agreement with Ancestry.com, making Nova the exclusive North American publisher for retail editions of the Family Tree Maker® 2010 line of genealogy titles.
My question is how s this going to be any better? From his interview with Tamura Jones, MacKiev President,Jack Minsky, responded to a question about his reason for purchasing the software, “Great question. Four main reasons: A fabulous fit with our other brands. A fantastically great relationship with the folks at Ancestry. SIX YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT [caps mine] (and a bit of experience selling FTM for Mac as well). And most important to us, a large and passionately loyal user base.” Six years of developing the product? That’s Nova.
Citatons:
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/avanquest-softwares-nova-development-signs-agreement-with-ancestrycom-publish-top-selling-1191147.htm
http://www.tamurajones.net/NewFamilyTreeMakerFuture.xhtml
I’m giving MacKiev the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully by cutting out the middle-man (Ancestry), they will be more responsive to feedback. I can’t tell you how much feedback I submitted to Ancestry (to include when I was a beta tester), only to see most of it ignored. I plan to send MacKiev a list of problems with their GEDCOM handling. We’ll see if they do anything with it or not. Their responsiveness to customer feedback will be a main determinant of whether I recommend FTM in the future.
I was also a beta-tester and you’re right Keith, my comments were ignored but it wasn’t Ancestry. I had emails from “Clay from the developer’s office” regarding the bugs I was experiencing with the beta version; he asked me to elaborate. I did and they released the program with all bugs firmly in place. This was confirmed by Ancestry’s executive office.
It was Nova who was unresponsive and when Ancestry saw the mess a FTM Mac software update had made of my four trees – the media was delinked and the sources were scrambled BETWEEN the trees – (no blood relatives crossed those trees) Ancestry sent my details and screenshots to Nova. The person handling my case for Ancestry said “now we just have to hope that the developer thinks it’s important enough to fix that bug.” This was in writing.
I started with Ancestry in 1997 and had a lot of sources just vanish in 2008, and 20011. I switched to Mac at version 2 and it got worse.
Nova also created the Hallmark Studio for Mac and their customer support is nonexistent. It’s a phone number and they don’t answer. It’s very difficult to imagine what it will be like if this company is the one who takes the software over. There is no leverage with them, at least with Ancestry, we can stop paying the $250+ for their annual subscription. With Nova, once we buy the product we’re trapped.
I hope I’m wrong. It would delight me to eat my words.
Thank you for refreshing my memory. Now I recall submitting bugs to the developer during beta testing; they fixed a good number of them, but they left a few big ones. Anyway, we’ll see how they do. They should be motivated to improve FTM, because when Ancestry announced its retirement, a lot of people were planning to abandon ship. Now MacKiev must convince all those people to say. I feel that I have a little leverage as a writer for this blog; our recommendations carry a lot of weight with our readers.
I also was a beta tester and had the same experience, and similar problems to Theresa’s; but the timing of the release at the end of the year made me think it was Ancestry.com that rushed it so they could grab hold of sales during the Christmas season. I didn’t even know about Nova. How can we know what really happened? I hope that we will have more influence, as Keith says. I don’t have confidence, but I think it’s possible that MacKiev will be more responsive, as Keith says. I couldn’t find out how many FTM users there are, but we are bound to be a larger proportion of MacKiev’s business than we are of Ancestry.com’s. They are going to have to gain new users to make money, and to do that, they are going to have make us happier. I am just going to wait and see.
Hi Margaret and Theresa!
Nova was the distributor for Ancestry of the boxed-set versions of Family Tree Maker (with discs and user guides inside), and also hosted the downloads. But they didn’t develop any of the products. The Windows version was done by Ancestry themselves, and all the Mac versions were developed by Software MacKiev. We were very happy back in 2009 to be developing the first Mac Family Tree Maker in a decade.
You are right though that becoming the publisher of this grand old brand is very important to us, and we are very eager to start off on the right foot. At the same time, we readily admit that six years as the Mac developer does not make us genealogists. But we have our ears open and are taking advice from everywhere we can get it, including genealogytools.com — which has been a great resource for us, especially in getting FTM’s GEDCOM export to comply with the latest standards.
Anyway, I appreciate you giving us the benefit of the doubt here. We will do our best not to disappoint you!
Jack Minsky, President, Software MacKiev
Let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly. MacKiev was producing the Mac version of FTM all this time (which I use), and it currently syncs way with Ancestry. I also read MacKiev’s FAQ’s (before I read this blog) and wondered about the vagueness of information regarding future ability to sync. If it’s been capable of doing it all this time, why the possible inability to do so now? I’m not basing my opinion on this blog – I’m basing it on my own interpretation of the FAQs. Again, I’m trying to ascertain if I have this right or not. Thanks for any input. As you can see, I think I’m confused.
Yes, MacKiev has been producing the Mac version of FTM ever since they brought back FTM for Mac. You can see this if you click on “About Family Tree Maker 3. MacKiev will also take over producing the Windows version.
Ancestry, MacKiev, and RootsMagic have been clear that, although TreeSync will no longer work after 1 Jan 2017, “you will still be able to access your trees on Ancestry.com and keep your online tree consistent with the one on FTM through new technologies being developed together by Software MacKiev and Ancestry.” Ancestry is currently developing an Application Programming Interface (API) that both FTM and RootsMagic will use to keep desktop and Ancestry trees consistent, or in sync. I don’t think it matters what the technology is called or how it works—as long as it does work.
Hi, I was an original FTM user. My family was on the very first cd and I entered a lot of narrative mostly about the war records from the American revolution and the Civil War. I can access my file on Ancestry.com but ot appears that all of that information was lost when Ancestry took over. Do you know any way to recover narrative info from those old cd’s? Pleae email me. Thanks!
Hi Ronald,
I have not used those CDs myself since about 1998. If you still have them, you may still be able to install the Family Tree Maker program and access them that way, depending on your version of Windows. If your version is newer than, say, XP, you may have to use compatibility mode to run the install program and then Family Tree Maker itself. See this article: http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/set-compatibility-mode-windows-10
Without knowing how the CDs are set up (I gave mine away a long time ago), I don’t know of any other way to access the information. If you look at them in File Explorer and see a bunch of FTW files, you might be able to open each file with RootsMagic.
Another possibility is that your narrative information might be hidden in a note. If you’ll post a link to your file at Ancestry, I’ll take a look and see if I can find it.
I have FTM 2005 and 2010. I stopped purchasing upgrades after 2010 as I read of the many problems FTM users were having with the later upgrade versions. If I want to use my data with the latest software, what do I buy/upgrade to??
Will this also fit into the future software programs of MacKiev
Frank, I assume you’re using the Windows version, so you would want to buy FTM 2014 for Windows at http://www.mackiev.com/store_us.html. There are options for buying just the download or the download plus a CD. This is the latest version that was updated by Software MaKiev, and they are supposed to continue to support and update it. I think you will find that the 2014 version is better than the 2010 version.
I have a CD version of FTM 2012 installed on my Window’s Desktop PC and now I’ve purchased a Mac Book Air laptop for mobility and would like to know how and when I can get a Mac version? (while keeping the Windows version on my PC. ) Also, how do I get an update for my Windows – or should I wait? I cannot find any phone numbers to contact MacKiev…
Sophia, MacKiev doesn’t do phone support; they only provide support via their website at http://www.mackiev.com/support_ftm.html. I don’t know if there’s an upgrade path from FTM 2012 to FTM 3.1 — you’ll have to ask them. If not, you can buy the latest version for Mac at http://www.mackiev.com/store_us.html. To get the Windows update, you would definitely have to purchase the upgrade. To be notified of the upgrade offer, go here: http://www.mackiev.com/familytreemaker/ftm3/already_have.html.
Hi Sophia! Here’s what I think you want to do: Go to http://www.familytreemaker.com, click on the big UPGRADES button on the left, and check the boxes to learn about both Upgrades and Free Updates. You will then get back right away an email with a link to a discounted upgrade offer for $29.95 (vs. $69.95 regular price). Follow that link and add to your order the Family 3-Pack upgrade for $20 which will give you up to three total licenses which can be a mix of Windows and Mac. So that will give you an upgrade from FTM 2012 to 2014.1, and a copy of FTM 3.1 for your Mac.
Note that you will get free-standing full installers (for both platforms) that will not be looking for a previous edition installed on your computers or a disc or anything else. You will also notice that none of our installers have serial numbers. That’s because we don’t like them ourselves — so we decided a long time ago not to torment our customers with them. Oh, and it’s true that we do not offer phone support but we do offer live chat seven days a week from 9am to 5pm EST so if you ever have a question and need an instant answer, that’s the way to go. Hope that helps.
Jack Minsky, President, Software MacKiev
Mr. Minsky: I have been away from genealogy for a year and have just now discovered the new ownership of FTM for Mac3. Where might I get telephone assistance? I cannot sync my online and FTM trees. I prefer not to wait 2+ business days for an email reply. I need an introduction/tutorial and help asap. Please furnish a telephone number. Thank you.
Hi Betty! Sorry for the delay in responding as I have somehow overlooked your post until now. As our support staff replied to you when you requested assistance, we will be happy to help you with any issues you may have with Family Tree Maker, and we offer real, live agents who know the product well and will patiently help you step by step with any issues you might have. About the only thing we don’t do is phone support. We’re just not a big enough company to provide that service, and anyeay, we have found there are many advantages to using live chat instead – like being able to have a permanent record of the instructions you are provided during the session for future reference, and in most cases you are able to get back to the same agent you chatted with previously if you want to continue the conversation. Finally, I should add that the Family Tree Maker Companion Guide that you will find in the Help menu is a great place to start exploring your new copy of the program. And you will also find many helpful articles are available at support.familytreemaker.com. Hope this helps! JACK
I have tried to get a family tree maker down loaded, my computer crashed which all I need is an empty file. Then I can down load from Ancestry. My version 9, but I don’t know what year. I have been trying for 2 or3 months. Every time with ancestry Some one would tell me that I should go to some one else. I hope you can help me.
Hi Sharon! I can see that you signed up for the Family Tree Maker mailing list five days ago. In the email you would have received right away after signing up is a link to upgrade offer that will take you from whatever version of FTM you used to have to the latest edition (FTM 2014.1) for $29.95 (vs. $69.95 regular price). Your ancestry.com tree will download nicely into FTM 2014.1 and you will then be able to keep your ancestry.com tree and the Family Tree Maker tree in your computer consistent with each other which you couldn’t do with the version you had. That’s the best way to go I think. But if getting an upgrade to the latest edition doesn’t work for you for some reason, please write to us at familytreemaker@mackiev.com and our staff will be happy to help you further. So far, we have had just the one contact from you signing up for the FTM mailing list five days ago, so I assume all the other contacts were with Ancestry. So now you’ve found the right place. 🙂
Jack Minsky, President, Software MacKiev (the new publishers of Family Tree Maker).
This message is for Jack Minsky, President, Software Mackiev. I bought the new Family Tree Maker for Windows yesterday (the download plus the CD). Your program came highly recommended so I thought I would try it. I’ve been trying for 2 days to get it downloaded to my computer. I spent hours yesterday and again I’m trying again today. I keep getting error messages and I’ve been trying to get in touch with someone to help me, but to no avail. I was finally able to get someone to “chat” with me yesterday who gave me a list of instructions to follow and told me it was common errors and this would fix them. I’ve done all of them a hundred times and nothing works. Then, to top it off – as I’ve been researching to try and figure out how to download the program – I found out there is a discounted price – I paid the full price of $79.95. There is no phone number for customer service and I have to wait “1-2” days for a response by email is not acceptable. I am so frustrated I am ready to give up and find another program.
I have used Family Tree Maker since VERSION 2. I currently have v 14, and have had so many problems syncing with Ancestry that I’m about to go back graph paper. I have been emailing MacKiev for a month now about numerous issues, including getting the update. NO RESPONSE. This is very concerning. I am an advanced user of the software, and I shudder to think what is going to happen for people not as capable as I am trying to deal with issues.
Both MacKiev and Ancestry need to realize that they are messing with decades of critical information and that we need to be able to trust you with it.
It’s interesting that Jack is responding to this forum but not to paid users from his own website.
I am currently researching the other programs to switch. I will sacrifice usability for dependability in a heartbeat.
Hi Tammy! Sorry I didn’t see your note here until now. I’ve just checked your support record and saw that you had two live chats with Jay on our support team, and that the day after the last chat you were able to get your copy installed after all and registered.
As for getting a lower price, it’s true that discounted upgrades are available to previous owners of Family Tree Maker. But I don’t see a listing for you in the Ancestry registration database and I don’t actually see a mailing list signup for you either. If you will sign up at http://www.familytreemaker.com now and indicate what previous edition you had in the comments section, I’ll see that you get a partial refund applied right away.
Finally, as for getting phone support, well we are just not a large enough company to have “operators standing by” to take support calls. It’s one of the compromises that had to be made to keep Family Tree Maker alive. So far we’ve had good luck with live chat, and many users have told us they now find it preferable to a phone call, especially when the instructions are complex, because they have a written record of what to do step by step, links to articles, etc. that are just not practical to provide by phone.
Also, our live chat agents often provide their direct links to users they are helping, so that you can most times get back to the same agent that was helping you previously — so they don’t have to get up to speed on your issues all over again. Anyway, I’m glad you were able to get Family Tree Maker installed, and hope that you will use the direct link that Jay provided to you if you need his assistance in the future. And by the way, it made Jay’s day when you wrote “Great job, Jay. Thanks for your help!” at the end of your chat session with him. 🙂
If I can answer any other questions for you, please write to familytreemaker@mackiev.com and mention this blog post in your email and it will be forwarded to me. Thanks!
Where is the chat button? It’s not obvious. When I go to support the only option I get is a form to fill out that then took me to an applicable help tip.
I’m repeatedly getting sync errors and then I have to redownload which is a nightmare and then I end up with duplicates, truncated fields, detached people et al. When I call Ancestry they just tell me Mackiev supports the product now. I have emailed you numerous times with requests for help and feedback with no response now for over a month.
How can I get the update to the Ancestry v14. I keep hoping that will fix the sync errors.
Mr. Minsky,
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my email. It is true I chatted with Jay and he was very helpful, however, he was NOT able to resolve my issue. I was NOT able to download the program for over a week. Your system might say it was “resolved” but it was not. I sent email after email to your support system and no one responded. I tried the “direct link” directly to Jay but it kept sending me to your support email and told me someone would respond in 2-3 days. No one ever emailed me!
As a result of no response from your support people, I had two different IT programmers (an independent programmer and my office’s IT programmer) log onto my computer via remote access and they could not get your program to download either. They could not figure out the issue and the error code. I finally had a computer person over to my house to look at my computer and see what she could do and she was able to finally get the program to download through help from another online source. The fact that you have to search for help from an outside source because you cannot get help from the company itself is not satisfactory. It is deplorable.
As for the discounted pricing I saw, I was not a prior member of Ancestry or Family Tree Maker. The discount I saw was for 30% for new customers that wanted to buy Family Tree Maker. I have since joined Ancestry.com and received a 30% discount from them.
You presented your version of how YOUR support system resolved MY issue – I wanted to present MY version of how I resolved YOUR issue.
Agreed with EVERYTHING this person said. I am beyond upset. Never such poor service from a vendor!!! And the excuse that you are not large enough to have actual phone help is unheard of for such a product. I too am in the process of looking for a software that actually cares about their customers success.
I have a problem that so far no one has been able to help me with. I have been on Ancestry Tree Maker for several years. I was trying to merge my trees into one and it was going well….I was deleting the duplicate members. But when I went to go back in FTM, the program first crashed saying I did not close properly. I have tried to close and compact but only to get error messages again.
I know my ancestry is still safe but, there is no way I can open my own tree. I uninstalled the program had MacKiev send me new downloads when that didn’t work, I eve purchased for $99.00 new Family Tree Maker…when I tried to open this, I again hit a brick wall….saying again that I did not close property…nothing and I mean nothing has helped. I have tired to work with online members, even had the engineers working who ended up saying they could not find a problem…..
I don’t mind rebuying the program as I purchased for 3 computers…..but…to get the same error message and not have anyone to help me is so frustrating. This has been going on for over 1 month……
I am looking for an angel to call me and work with me till this is resolved. Is there such a person there?????
Just in case there is someone….my number is 970-586-4220.
I would like to convert my Family tree 7.5 created on a windows computer to the lattest version. What are the issues I might encounter.
What application are you referring to? If it’s Family Tree Maker, then that’s quite old and you might have to export your tree as a GEDCOM and then import it into the new version.
Yes it is family tree maker. I only have a system backup and I no longer have a working windows XP system to view it on. Can i load the new software on a new computer and load the old backup? And what problems might I have after loading it.
I have FTM 2012 pc format and purchased FTM 3.1 for Mac and I cannot get my files converted to Mac. I have followed all of the online instructions several times and get the same result, an error message saying this new file ma be damaged and cannot be opened. Please help me out. This is very frustrating.
Wade, I assume you followed the instructions at https://support.mackiev.com/051362-Family-Tree-Maker-File-Migration-Utility. I followed them myself and got the same error. It appears there is a problem with the migration utility. We are an independent blog and not FTM support. I suggest you contact MacKiev support by chat here: http://www.mackiev.com/techsupport/ftm/livechat.html. You can also submit a support request: http://www.mackiev.com/choose_ftm.html. And I recommend you submit a bug report: http://www.mackiev.com/familytreemaker/ftm3/ftm_feedback.html?type=bugreport&ext=yes.
Until this bug is fixed, the only way to open your FTM2012 tree in FTM3.1 is to export it to GEDCOM in the former and then import it to the latter.
Bought this as they promised it was available in March/April and nothing so I want my money back its a scam
It wasn’t exactly a promise, more of a prediction. They’ve done a good job keeping the public informed of the status of release at https://support.mackiev.com/498640-RELEASE-OF-FTM-2017 and on Facebook. I’d rather wait and get a product that works instead of one that has a lot of problems, like the Ancestry releases usually did. “Scam” is an exaggeration. You will get what you paid for – no one said you had to preorder. They’ve also explained how you can get a Test Drive version here: https://support.mackiev.com/491558-FTM-2017—TEST-DRIVE. Disclosure: I do NOT receive any compensation from Software MacKiev.
Bought and cannot even download and run it. Had to purchase a cd to try it that way.
I ordered the new 2017 guide for FYM several months ago. I called about it 2 or 3 weeks ago and was told it would be in the mail then end of the week. So far I have no received it. Whats the holdup?
We are an independent blog not associated with MacKiev, the publisher of FTM. You will have to ask them about the delay.