Family Tree Maker - do you recommend it?

[David Cohen]

I've done a ton of research on my Ancestry.com tree and want to sync it with Reunion. I'm aware that I need to use either Roots Magic or Family Tree Maker, and FTM is the recommended intermediary solution. But the current version of FTM is "Family Tree Maker 2019," and I've had bad experiences with software that isn't updated for long periods of time. If you're using it on a current generation Mac, is it running well? Is there any indication from the publisher of an update? 2019 is forever in software years.

[KirkS]

I'm not a fan of FTM. I'd rather keep my data in an application I like to use -- even if I have to manually enter the data. Plus, we all have SERIOUS trust issues with Ancestry.com.

But to your question, Think of the 2019 as part of the product name -- there are underlying version numbers. I think they're up to 24.x

I think FTM was last updated in 2023 -- still no the most recent, but not 2019.

[Herb]

Although I'd suggest (to begin with) that syncing with Ancestry is not a good thing, but if you want to do that, I'd suggest even more strongly that RootsMagic is a terrible app to use on any Mac platform. It is not a native Mac application and has never worked properly. FTM's latest version, FTM 2024 is being sold, but is seriously delayed most likely because of where they are based - Ukraine.

[David Cohen]

Although I'd suggest (to begin with) that syncing with Ancestry is not a good thing, but if you want to do that, I'd suggest even more strongly that RootsMagic is a terrible app to use on any Mac platform. It is not a native Mac application and has never worked properly. FTM's latest version, FTM 2024 is being sold, but is seriously delayed most likely because of where they are based - Ukraine.

"Sync," in the sense of automatic two-way updates, isn't exactly what I want to do. I'd like to be able to download data, sources and media from Ancestry and import them into Reunion. I prefer Reunion but I have a vast amount of information on my Ancestry tree, far too much to enter manually (About 40,000 individuals, with sources, documents, web links and media for thousands of them). I'm looking for a way to transition back to Reunion. I'd like to enter new data into Reunion and make that my master file.

Yes, I figured the war is delaying updates to FTM.

I like MyHeritage than Ancestry better in some ways. Is there a way to connect Reunion with MyHeritage? I'm assuming not.

I already have RootsMagic and no, it doesn't work very well. That's why I'm considering FTM. In fact, I'm creating a new RM file from my Ancestry tree as I write this, and it seems to have hung while trying to download media. And it's painfully slow regardless. But options to get data from Ancestry to Reunion seem limited.

[David Cohen]

I'm not a fan of FTM. I'd rather keep my data in an application I like to use -- even if I have to manually enter the data. Plus, we all have SERIOUS trust issues with Ancestry.com.

But to your question, Think of the 2019 as part of the product name -- there are underlying version numbers. I think they're up to 24.x

I think FTM was last updated in 2023 -- still no the most recent, but not 2019.

What are the trust issues with Ancestry? I've found that their privacy features are easy to circumvent; Person X may be "private" but all you have to do is find their information via documents and records from their parents, children or siblings. That is nice for me when I'm researching but clearly bad for privacy.

I do wonder sometimes if Ancestry is using our research for their own purposes and if so, what they're using it for.

[Herb]

You are way beyond me vis a vis the number of persons in your tree. The only thing I can think of is to export/import a GEDCOM file but that would not transfer media and may involve other problems as well. Personally, I don't much care for FTM, but it is certainly better than RootsMagic and might be a viable alternative for you. Someone else much more knowledgeable than me will probably be able to recommend a better solution.

There is no way to connect MyHeritage and Reunion of which I'm aware.

[David Cohen]

You are way beyond me vis a vis the number of persons in your tree.

It wasn't my original intention to make a tree that big but some branches of my family are very difficult to trace. At some point I began to suspect that some mysteries would be solved if I found distant cousins and their trees. That has worked to some extent. I also began to suspect that my parents had common ancestors back a few hundred years, and DNA has borne out my suspicions. So I have wound up with a big tree. Unfortunately I built it too fast and I was sloppy, so I have a lot of errors to fix. But I'd like to move that data back into Reunion, which I like better than the online sites for a lot of things.

I had to reach out to RootsMagic support today because my Ancestry research isn't downloading properly. Apparently they're having the same issue when they try it on their end. Their software? My tree? Who knows?