It looks to me like some great improvements are in the “being considered stage.” I would love to see: the reference numbers, data error report, view data CD, and something not mentioned above that I miss from my TMG days - the ages of an individual at the time of each event.

Thanks for all of your hard work. This release has been a bumpy road, but I for one am overall pleased with the final product (and am becoming more pleased with each update.)

…Also, a desktop book building tool is a top priority. I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts on what you are looking for in this project. This will not be released until next year due to the development requirements and resources…

I was hoping for a big improvement in the way FMT formated descendent trees as book pages. The previous formating was not very logical, with page numbers jumping far away at times. One does not have the feeling of moving down through the descendents. Also sometimes there was just two individuals on a page.
When a family has too many children to fit on one line on a page it would be better that the other children just appeared on the next line. Try to keep the next page boxes with arrows going down. If there was a way to allow movement of boxes this could help.

When I send one hundred page descendent trees, no one could follow.

Also allow thumbnail size pictures when I’m missing an actual photo, I substitute a state flag, country flag, or blason. In Europe many people and/or cities have blasons.

best regards,

robert

Might want to have your coders check the AKA import again. Still not working for me with patch version 440. AKA names were in the format: “Franz, Frank” (without quotes)

Will the reports and charts allow more than (16) sixteen generations ?

I appreciate being able to see this list. I would prefer that you did not mix marketing hype with discussion of known issues; it makes it hard to keep track of what is actually going on.

I understand that the main interface was designed in response to user feedback. It does not appear though, that much attention was given to users who were in fact happy with what they had. The new interface is *unusable* on smaller screens. I would much rather have a “classic” interface option.

The AKA issue involves more than just retaining the data in the database: FTM2008 doesn’t seem to use the data in that field even when it is populated.

* FTM16 automatically includes the AKA as a web search term, FTM2008 does not. To search on an AKA, the user has to click around and reset the search criteria (which is also more cumbersome than in FTM16) then rerun the search.*

* FTM16 includes the AKA in index reports but FTM2008 does not. Many users have commented on the futility of using the index when certain names are used repeated in a family.

There are also problems with ordering spouses. The problems predate FTM2008 but seem to be even worse now. FTM does not deal well with unmarried relationships and things get really messy with simultaneous “spouses”. Instead of wasting time trying to guess how/where the software will list spouses in different places, the user should be able to just designate the order of spouses.

If TGN is aware that the software can not be used productively with the posted “minimum requirements”, the posted specifications should be changed to be more realistic.

Regarding associating the GEDCOM file type with FTM, why not have help content about how to do that manually? It’s a one time thing that can be easily documented for low-skilled users. Another way to handle it would be to include it as a program option somewhere — satisfy those who don’t want it by defaulting to no then include a check box somewhere to do the association.

*NOTE: The FTM2008 search is not as efficient when it comes to women either because, unlike FTM16, it does not search on both maiden and married names simultaneously.

So why do you continue to sell FTM 2008 with data corruption errors? How many of your customers know about this? This blog is not easy to find. Some customers were told by TGN support that importing v16 would not corrupt the data but you list that as one of the factors…a big factor by the way. Sounds like one good reason to apologize to the customers, pull the release, issue no questions asked refunds, and dedicate the resources to developing and fully testing a good quality and complete release. Patches are meant only for obscure problems not found in testing and for updates due to change in environment such as Vista. They are not meant for correcting major errors and adding functionality from previous releases. Customers should be used for usability testing prior to a release, not for technical and usability testing after a release.

BTW, the items listed in issues not to be included in FTM 2008 and those being considered for the future doesn’t add up to all the features from previous versions that were not included (not just SEEMED to be removed) from previous versions. Still would like to know who made that decision. I still use FTM 16 until your competitors release new versions. Each day, I recognize something that isn’t available in FTM 2008. Since the missing functionality is only being “considered” for the future and there are items missing from the list, there seems to be no guarantee that TGN will ever return to the level it once had for those of us who are not just simply researching and merging data from ancestry.com.

Although I am a former customer, I have taken on the task of “keeping them honest” (as CNN would say). Your customers and former customers deserve it.

One feature of FTM 2008 that you’re probably very proud of is one I’ll bet is used by a tiny minority - the Place Name Authority and map feature. Since it must take up many megabytes in the program, why not make it an optional install? Those who want it can do so, and the others can save room for other goodies.

The lack of a Genealogy report is inexcusable; losing the all-in-one tree is a deal-breaker for me. I played with the beta, but will stick with 2005 until 200? is as useful to me.

My preference is to double click on a bow in a tree to edit the contents of the box without changing my position in the tree (Edit Individual Dialogue Box). It would be improved, when it reappears, if I could add one or more spouses, better still if it was a repeat of the Family View in v16 but again without changing my position in the tree on closing.

Also, please don’t remove “in” from Genealogy reports without making it an option.

Please bring back (or add the option) to backup files at frequent intervals while open (computers crash).

If one may still open two files at a time, I trust there is a ‘Don’t show this again” checkbox on any warning of which file will be dlosed.

Cheers Martin

I have submitted a number of errors needing correction which I don’t see on the list.

The PLACE index also contains RESEARCHER info, does not consider counties or the like in Canada and probably other countries. Many locations have changed counties over time but the suggestions are not time sensitive. States didn’t exist before certain dated. I’d recommend removing the do all feature for correcting locations.

RESIDENCE is not always shown on PERSON display even when it is CUSTOMIZED to include.

The EXPORTED GEDCOM file has none standard labels/tags, includes the first person in file whether included in individuals selected, one more I can’t remember.

A bunch of others.

Are these being fixed or ignored as in previous FTM versions?

TGN hasn’t changed it’s way of dealing with these problem — IGNORE THEM.

RON C

Thank you for taking the time to produce this list of issues that are being addressed in FTM 2008, and including your development plans. Having some kind of timeline, and confirmation of the problems you are addressing, greatly relieves my mind. Obviously, you are all under the gun to get a massive amount of work done within a very short period of time … your efforts are greatly appreciated.

I have reported to tech support an issue with sources not being attached to imported facts after about 50 or so imports. I imported a 22k+ family file and started searching and importing newly found info and noticed after about 50 imports suddenly the sources were not linked to the imported facts. Manually trying to link an existing source or add a new source causes a crash, but after restart the source has been attached.

Since sources are one of the most important things in a tree to authenticate the facts listed this is a problem.

I have never seen this mentioned in this blog so I just wanted to make sure you were aware and ask if anyone else has noticed or experienced this issue.

I, as many other presently unhappy longtime users of FTM, appreciate this latest effort of communication regarding apparent efforts to bring FTM 2008 up to the minimum of reputable software industry standards.

And, I do echo many of the responses herein posted questioning the real direction of the development team. And also why the list of development issues cannot be limited to just that - development issues without marketing hype.

Your comment “some items that seemed to be removed from Family Tree Maker” was not necessary unless you want prospective buyers to continue buying FTM 2008 without the original cadre of reports for example! At least someone has seen fit to replace FTM v16 at the online offering of FTM versions.

Your inference to users with 50,000 or more individuals being minimal should be very carefully reviewed. Many of us longtime users have accumulated the large quantity of individuals over a long period as many of the newer users will as they continue their efforts. In today’s online access to so many sources of data, it’s much easier to accumulate larger databases in a much shorter period of time.

A recommendation for improving the initial start-up time when opening FTM 2008 would be not to include the coding effort to produce the individual’s family history. As in FTM v16, an option was available to create relationships - an option that did require an inordinate amount of time but, again, optional!

The Place Names feature should also be not only optional AFTER opening but also at initial installation of the program. The Microsoft choice was not the best to start with. What options are there for Parish as opposed to County, e.g. in Louisiana?

The post regarding source problems was identified in RCI and posted in my
FTM 2008 Critical Review and, as much of the other problems identified therein, remain in current versions of FTM 2008.

Again, your effort is welcomed but would be of much greater value if limited to a more definitive list of improvements and additions with planned as patches/updates or included in future versions with expected timelines.

Hopefully in the near future I can again recommend FTM, specifically FTM 2008, to the many persons asking my advice.

Larry Chesebro’

“Upgraded” databases do not include source attachments because the JP2 file format that FTM16 used to save images from web searches is not recognized by either the conversion program or FTM2008.

Whatever the reason for using the older, less efficient format in FTM2008, the program should still be able to recognize (and convert if necessary) the images that FTM16 created. FTM16 web-merge users should not have to waste hours re-linking sources — if they are going to have to do that, they might as well switch to another product. So far though, no one at TGN has provided any kind explanation why they ignored their own internal specs or offered us an ETA for a fix.

Obviously progress is being made
but you have not yet caught up with FTM 16 let alone Custodian 3 in the database world.

Ancestry Press is a limitation and in a capitalist society a monopoly is a bad idea.

Print to PDF is of wider use

2008 is still only usable by newbies with small trees

Hugh W
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/

Generally speaking, I quite like the new input screens under People, it certtainly encourages me to put the source data in the correct place. I also like the separation of the media files.

I have found the Places database to be very awkward to use, its insistance on Town, County, Country giving an error flag if any further information was added and refusing to allow the correct entry of county relative to the period the record applied to by insisting on the incorrect entry data of the current address (which may have changed several times since the actual address was recorded on say a GRO Certificate or Census Report). This could be solved by providing a link to the Microsoft Virtual Earth and allowing the program to search and record the co-ordinates for the current location of the historical location - in other words allowing the user to build their own place file - relevant to their tree not be cluttered with thousands of placenames they will never use.

In previous versions the main reports I use were:

Outline Descendant - No longer has options on what data to include, nor the format of that data. To the point it is useless to me.

Custom Report - Was previously used to sort file data on a variety of fields - the new insistance on putting each item on a separate line makes any report so bloated, i.e. a report in v16 used 16x A4 pages now needs nearer 128 pages - how many ectra trees need to felled worldwide to cope with that change? I would prefer to have each item follow the previous one (with a separater, on a single line but if neccesary wrap-around to the next line - and to be able to export/copy that report to another program such as a plain text email, or a word processor to format, if necesasary into a suitable layout.

Genealogy/Ahenthal - a Report I used to a lesser extent mostly to provide a paper backup for my file, and to pass complete information to other members of my extended family who are perhaps only interested in one surname or family group or lineage. Again the choice of items & people to include and the format are essential, not optional extras.

What I hope the Development team will work on as a priority is:-

1. Option to select items and format to include on all Reports and trees.

2. Option to select items to include on a FTM and GEDCOM file merge/append. Also an optional ability to read the TAGS used in a gedcom file and to set which fields they will load into in FTM.

3. Option to alternatively build a separate preferred file of Places relevant to the particular tree, which can be set to replace the one provided by FTM.

4. Index of individuals options to allow dates so I can distinguish quickly between Anthony Armer born 1865 Died 1920 and Anthony Armer born 1865 Died 1899 and Anthony Armer born 1865 died 1920 Married 1892 - and the other 17 Anthony Armers who lived between 1847 and 1930.

Items 1 & 4 were items I expect to find in even the most basic Family Tree Program - their exclusion form FTM 2008 means I will never again order a “new vwersion” of the program without waiting a least 12 months from its release, and until favourable reviews have confirmed it is “value for money”. It has also made me reconsider my Ancestry Subscription and what was to be an automatic renewal is now under review, since they may “upgrade” that at any time.

I saw in an interview that there is a 3rd party API available for FTM. How can I get information on this?

Well it looks like I wasted $54.95 for the software and the How to Guide for FTM 2008. It appears it was really not ready to be released with all the problems and items not included. Stick with my version 16. Looks like an Edsel to me.

Apostrophes are sometimes imported as either a symbol (skinny oblong rectangle) or as a question mark. This is problematic for someone with Irish ancestors or whose relatives were married in churches (St. John’s, St. George’s, etc.). The failure to transfer records with apostrophes from one Family Tree Program to another is inexcusable and is further compounded by the lack of a “Find and Replace” feature in FTM 2008.

When the system freezes and is shut down – something that should not be happening — entries up to that point are not saved. Re-opening FTM 2008, does not show the back-up file, you have to search for it. I understand that backing up large files is time-consuming but users should be given this option. In addition, there is possibly a middle ground – backing-up the family tree itself but not the media files which have been separated out of the FTM program itself.

The much-tooted geographical feature assumes you want to change your original entry to current addresses. I prefer to keep them as originally entered but I want the capacity to modify the entry temporarily to take advantage of the mapping feature. This cannot be done.

Further, the geographical feature is American-centric. I went to the trouble of being the UK version even though I live in North America but am still faced with suggestions for change such as “267 Hoxton Street, Hoxton Old Town, County of Middlesex” to “Middlesex, Connecticut, USA”. There is no option that permits you to modify your original entry to obtain more relevant suggestions. e.g., to add “England”. And again the lack of a “Find and Replace” feature prohibits one avenue for resolution of the problem. (One also wonders, given all the problems with the US release, why Family Tree Maker did not delay release of the UK version.)

Even when the geographical feature gets the country right, its suggestions lose much information; e.g., suggestion replacing “419 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario” with just “Toronto, Ontario, Canada”.

There is no way of editing out “Fact” categories that do not apply – e.g., American Social Service numbers – making the entry of new data more time-consuming. You now have to scroll down a long list rather than just enter the first digit or so of the category.

Facts which were entered originally as “Place or Description” are treated as places despite being facts such as “occupation”. And “occupation” is a FTM predetermined fact category!. Again such sloppiness is inexcusable. Further single entries for “Place or Description” which contain a semi-colon are now considered to be two distinct entries – one for place and one for description.

I could not find a way for searching by married name – a feature that I found quite useful.

All this is after having to search out the original patch as I could not connect to the Internet with the original program! And I still have two large family trees with very extensive Scrapbooks that failed to import even after being compressed. I note in the original posting that FTM is working on another patch to deal with “Data Corruption” — “Again, caused by a number of issues some including the action of adding an unrelated person, importing V16 files, and more.” FTM 2008 should not have been released if “importing V16 files” was not possible! Transferring data from earlier versions of a company’s product is standard operating procedure. Again such failures and omissions are completely unacceptable.

Benjamin,

After “trying in vain” to use FTM 8–I have two pieces of advice:

1. Never take somethng away without replacing it with something better.

2. And always add something new and even unexpected.

I wait patiently for your first update to FTM 8.

And the next update, should really be called UPDATE ONE. Everything you have done up until now has just been an overture of what you had at the time of introduction. Since it is obvious that you had already sent the software to be pressed on DVD before asking for Beta inputs. If am wrong on this point I apologize. But what I view seems highly probable.

sincerely,

robert

robert

While a number of items bother me I will limit this to one item.
The need for an acurate import parser should have been a top priority from the very beginning. How can you develop and test a complex database when the import parser does not place the data correctly or ignores it. Once the form of the database was set the next thing you need is data to develop reports and sorts. Alpha Testing should not have started until this worked correctly and since the logical assumption would be that Previous FTM customers would be the major purchasers of 2008 to ignore the fact that data was placed incorrectly or just left out during the parsing process is undefensable.

Bill

How do I get my hands on a Enhancement Request form. There doesn’t seem to be any link for enhancement request from this page (http://www.familytreemaker.com/Support/Default.aspx) I’m still waiting for a way to enter date using the lunar calendar. Do you know if and when this feature might be implemented?

The enhancement request form is here:
http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/ask_feedback.php
I’m not sure that TGN pays much attention to them though because, contrary to the marketing hype, there’s not much new function in FTM2008. There is much more focus on rearranging how things look rather than on making features work better for actual users.
I’m sure there was considerable internal debate about the decision to downgrade FTM to an extension of the Ancestry web site. Unfortunately, they made the wrong decision and now the development team is struggling to correct it. I’m not comfortable though that they really grasp the problem: a rearranged interface with the same (lesser actually) function is not reason enough to upgrade; users want all the actual function that existed before plus longstanding requests for functional additions and enhancements.
The reporting fiasco is just one example of the depth of the problem. A list of additional reports is not sufficient; all the reports should have the same options and flexibility available in their older counterparts. That means actually using the AKA and date fields to restore the usability of the lists that are there.
Again though, simple restoration of what is already available in FTM16 won’t constitute sufficient reason to justify buying a prettier interface. For example, just restoring address labels is would not be an improvement over FTM16; what I need is some way to generate an address list based on whatever criteria I specify then export that list in a form that can be used by other software – for labels, mail-merge, or whatever I need.
I want to know just who the beta testers for this awful design were and what TGN is doing to get a better pool of testers.

Make these blogs available to be linked into My Favorites in MyAncestry please.

Thanks,
RON C

I am very glad that FTM has started the process of getting the information out, but you guys continue to talk about your problems like it is not your fault. I think you need to realize that many of us want you to succeed and called tech support and others in your company to ask for things like this blog and I am very happy to see it. The problem is that you still have not accepted that your program was released way before it should have been and that their is not one to blame but your company. I understand this is a complete rewrite, complex, full of new features, and a completily new development environment, but all that are excuses not real concerns of me the consumer. You should have spent the time required to get that to work correct. The fact that it is not the least bit friendly with vista proves you were not to concerned about the finished product. I hope you do figure it out but I am begging you to drop the pc bull and tell us like it is and we can all work to help you get the bugs out of the program.

Despite several earlier requests, FTM still cannot identify the nearest common ancestor(s) of two specific descendants of those ancestors. In my experience, this is one of the first questions asked when two related persons first make contact with one another and, although it can be done manually, it is a very tedious process. especially when the common ancestors are more than a few generations back.

I have yet to buy the update although I have used FTM since its inception and probably have purchased 90% of the updates. I have also purchased several hundred dollars of your CDs and the lack of an interface between 2008 will keep me using version 15 forever unless you can write a program I can use for Windows XP. I cannot see the value of running parallel programs just to try a new database. I noticed that access to these CDs is on your potential list. I certainly hope you decide to provide either direct access through FTM 2008 or a program for operating systems above windows 95.

There are too many things that FTM2008 does not do.

If I wanted to be an unpaid beta tester I would have registered.

The fact that I paid good money for a program with so many bugs, fixes that are in the pipeline is not acceptable.

The program is of a very very porr quality.

I would like to see the availability to have FTM address the issue of multiple language fonts! FTM has always been such a worldwide program, I think this would be the step to definitely put the program there. With the fact that it is associated with Ancestry.com which has also gone multi-national it would be the logical next step!

If you already purchased FTM2008 will you automatically be sent the updated version. I have had difficulty loading and have given up and gone back to FTM16. I am seriously considering just sending the software back. I had difficulty loading since it said my computer was missing certain data to allow for the download. Is this one of the fixes? Every other version since Version 1 had been used on my Pc and this is the first time that I have been unsuccessful.

Thank you for the list. I noticed a few items that were not included.
- In the genealogy reports, the NGSQ format is noticibly absent. Tell me this was an oversight in the write-up rather than another incomplete feature being provided.
- Issues with import from TMG has two major issues, 1) No place names are imported for any facts, 2) many tag notes from TMG are incorrectly converted to person notes rather than being left as fact notes.
- Others have mentioned it, but the Places fature doesn’t support historic place names. For Ontario and Canadian places, that is a major issue since many place names have changes in the last 20 years to their current designations!
- This is a long time FTM issue. FTM is one of the few progams in the known universe without a name prefix field to enter designations like Dr. or Sir. It is not possible to enter names like Dr. Snerg Grong, PHD, or even Sir Sean Connery.
- In the individual source panel, you can change the source title for a source citation. If you don’t realize that you did this (or understand what you did) you can mess up your sources — there is not even a warning to the user that this catastrophe is happening.
- Notes are a major issue not mentioned. When you paste text into a Notes field, it stays the size it was pasted at and retains the font face. If you paste information from several sources at different sizes and font families, you can have trouble seeing the text. The help desk confirmed the only work-around was to move the complete note to a text editor to standardize the font size then repaste it into the Notes field. (Very frustrating.) Please standardize text-size and font when pasting text. It should either be set to whatever is in the field, or to a default size and font set by the user.
- Another issue related to notes. In the Media right panel, the note editor is a pop-up, resizeable window. This pop-up notes editor was available in all notes fields in FTMv16. For larger amounts of text in notes, this pop-up editor is much easier to work with. Please consider adding it back as an option for all notes.
- the Historic timeline is very US-Centric. There is no way to suppress US events, nor is there a way to add hisotric evetns from other countries. Right now, this Historic timelines “feature” is less than useless to me.

what dissapoints is there is no sign of creative improvements to the concept of the product

new technology so what

What is needed is a family history and local history orientated approach

I wish to record my mother’s friends who were as important to her as her siblings

If I recordd a census I want to include the household as a whole
for example lodgers apprentices cooks servants gardeners too

and then the neighbouring household(s)
just like 1881 on Familysearch

I am so glad I have not even installed my copy of the 2008 which I bought when it was first offered. At this point after reading this blog and other comments I do not plan to install it.

When I purchase a ‘new’ version of any program it is because I expect added (not deleted) features which make the program easier and more enjoyable to use. I do not expect to lose useful features and have the program more difficult to use. I am not a computer geek who can work around problems like I see listed.

I am in the market for new program from another source.

When I imported my family tree data from FTM 16 to FTM 2008, marriage information (MARRIAGE-DATE and PLACE) for many of my ancestors did not transfer over. At the request of Technical Support, I sent two of the affected files to them for their review…to see if they could determine the problem and correct it.

As I explained to the Representative, I didn’t know how many of my ancestors were affected…and it would take hours for me to go back and compare the “before” with the “after”.

Several emails later, we are no closer to a solution. The Technical Support representative has told me that “I was unable to reproduce the issue. When I imported the file(s) (you sent), it appeared to import the dates correctly”. I then suggested that my FTM 16 files be compared to my FTM 2008 files (after the import)…but was told that “there is no way to compare the two files, since they are completely different file structures”.

It’s hard for me to believe that this problem is an isolated incident…affecting only my records. But I get the sense that Technical Support has washed their hands of the situation…and that a solution is not being worked on.

After downloading FTM 2008, I have not entered any new data…and will not until the problem is corrected.

I have been an FTM customer since Version One, but if there is no
solution to this problem, I will have to consider using another family tree program. I didn’t cause the problem. FTM did. And they should fix it!

Bill Bronk

Bill Bronk,

((It’s hard for me to believe that this problem is an isolated incident…affecting only my records))

It is not an isolated incident. The majority of the long-time users of FTM have run into numerous problems with this “lemon” software. I have always tried to make lemonade from a lemon, but I refuse to do so when the lemon is rotten.

Several used-to-be FTM users have already abandoned the sinking ship. Some going with TMG, some with Rootsmagic. I chose Legacy and am loving it.

Good luck,
Jo

I have returned my FTM 2008 today. It is too frustrating & confusing. After I download the “Patch”, I could not open FTM anymore. I have 16 John Wrubels and with no dates next to the names, I do not know which one to open. Facts are cumbersome to enter and moving between generations is difficult. Also, with a new computer FTM 2008 is too slow. I will wait for future changes and stay with FTM 16.

I’m more than disappointed in FTM2008.
I have a small screen laptop which makes the FTM display overwhelming and very tiring to use. Web search results - if more than 1 or 2 - flicker for about a minute before stabilizing and again after screen changes. I am very picky about documentation for data and 99% of the time I reject one world tree data. I would like to have the leaf flag reflect that I have at least visited the “primary” sources (by greying?)
I have been unable to access the map function at all - one of the main attractions for me. And now I’m appalled to learn of data corruption issues and loss of AKAs. Forty years of work is no small matter to copyedit. (Prudent customer service practice would have been to DIRECTLY notify all purchasers. People will forgive a lot if you keep them informed.) I’m going back to an earlier version.

I do not have FTM 2008, but will wait a bit.
In creating a book, I would like to have the ability to edit the notes for line spacing, font, etc, and also to bring the “source” info. to the bottom of the notes. As of now, I have to copy/paste the notes to a word document, THEN, edit, then, copy/past into a “text sheet” in the book I am working on. In a long story, this takes a lot of time.
Thanks!

I have given up entirely on the new version of FTM, having gone through every conceivable process for complaining and correction, including the patches and telephone and online help. The program simply does not work correctly. It is a big step back. I still cannot get online through the program to register my copy!

Ben-

I was just working again with FTM 8 where I have a subset of my real data. I noticed that the performance in searches and other updates seems to be bothering slow.

So I was just wondering if I am able to import my entire file…someday…what is the performance going to be?

Do you have a plan B? You know, everyone really likes FTM 16 and if some improvements to charting and books were made many would wait for FTM 08 or 09.

Right now you are facing the prospect of your competition announcing their new releases and a lot of folks abandoning FTM. I still think FTM 16 is one of the best products in its class, just refresh FTM 16. Then work out the bugs (or what ever) with your new product.

For your infomation I have FTM 16, FTM 08, Legacy 6, TMG 6, and Rootsmagic all running on two computers, and I still prefer FTM 16.

Now the blog has been “fixed”. The other one was easy to use, see threads, etc. It looks like they cut down on the comments though. Way to Go!

When online posters inquire about their family members that lived in a geographic area, it would be nice to be able to quickly ascertain if your family line lived in that area to evaluate the possibility of a relationship. When you have thousands of individuals in your data base you cannot remember where they all lived at any point in time. Could a feature be added to the program that would enable you to call up a State or location for example and a list would appear of those in your data base that lived in that location?

I’m thoroughly disappointed with FTM2008. It is so slow - 4+ minutes from the time I click on the icon until it is loaded [I’ve timed it several times]. Then you have to be a Philadelphia Lawyer in order to figure out how to use it which I still haven’t figured out. Going from one operation to another is very slow also.
Bottom line - way too slow and not easy to use, too complicated. I much prefer previous versions.

I miss:
1. Many of the reports that were in earlier version
2. The Find and Replace feature - I used this alot to search for certain words
3. The feature on the web search and merge page - where you could look at ALL the existing facts entered for an individual. I used this reference frequently before merging information. Currently it just shows basic data.
4. The book publishing from your own computer (in a good quality format). Not everyone can afford to have something published all th time.
I think there needs to be an adjustment in the places names so that you can change a name manually. Also many of the place names that I have use townships, etc. and doesn’t show up on the map. I do not want to change the names to use this feature.

I would also like to see a way to check off web sources found on Ancestry ( the leaf) so that you would know when something new was found or so you would know if you have looked at that individual already.

Thanks and Good Luck!
I have seen many new good features but also have seen many old features that were wonderful disappear.

Obviously, fixing the problems is the priority, particularly whatever causes the crashes that then leaves the file open so you can’t access it, delete it, anything.

Enhancements I would like to see are to be able to add birth location to the people index view, the ability to link Godparents and marriage witnesses, and a template for entering census information.

I find the new FTM very hard to use. Also, was told when I installed it it would automatically enter all my info from FTM V. 16. IT DIDN”T. Also, I lose info I enter into it. Not a good program at all. No improvement at all over FTM v. 16. I just simply can’t trust it so will not use it. Any way I can get my money back?

I wish the Edit Individual dialog box had BMD checkboxes so one can readily recall if copies of these certificates are possessed.

I wish there was a general ‘notes / to do’ page in FTM where one could keep track of current action items.

sorry for the noise, have just discovered Ctrl-T which brings up the Research Journal.

I want to let you know what a terrific job you have done on FTM 2008. I have been using FTM since I began tracing my family–over 12 years. I finally had decided to switch to another genealogy program because FTM had become too cumbersome.

When I upgraded to FTM 2008, I was surprised to find all the features I was looking for in other programs were now in FTM. So I have decided to stay with FTM.

The Ancestry.com interface is truely awesome! And, I love the new place name feature. I was never quite sure how to enter some of the places. Now FTM finds those incorrectly entered places and allows me to automatically correct them. I love this feature. I also like the improved sources and master source features. This was one of the areas that I heartily disliked in prior versions.

I look forward to the October update and future planned enhancements.

I bought FTM 2008 because of the supposed improvement in handling media files. I had been told that since media files were stored in a file separate from the operating program that larger files could be handled. I had not been told about all the loss in flexibility that would accompany the handling of media files.

Under FTM 16 one uses standard cut and paste techniques to enter one image (for example., a family group photo) into several individuals’ Scrapbooks. The current process is much more cumbersome – you have to go through the much more laborious process of linking each individual to the photo.

Under FTM 16 one could use cut and paste to arrange images for a particular individual in the order you chose. I could find no way of doing this under FTM 2008 – they appear to arrange themselves in alphabetical order.

Program designers should not require a consultation to inform them that software improvements offer better, more flexible features for users rather than reduced performance! Since that basic principle was ignored by the developers, I hesitate to suggest an improvement to the features contained in FTM 16, but here goes…

Add the flexibility to highlight, in the index of persons, the direct ancestors/descendants of the home person. (For example, use bold font or perhaps use uppercase for forenames as well as surnames.) Similarly there should be a way to automatically bookmark direct ancestors/descendants. Years ago I used a family tree program that did this but, I believe the company was bought out by Family Tree Maker.

I was in Info Tech for 35 years and am astonished that any company would allow a product like 2008 to come to market. In fact, if that happened in my company, heads would roll.

FYI, I am President of a local genealogy club and we have advised that no one buy 2008. Have had other groups tell me likewise.

Please advise on how to receive updates to program that is on a computer not tied to the internet?

I am also having a hard time finding the “Shared Text” and media location. I can see pictures that are linked to a couple from my previous version, but I can’t find a way to link them now.

In the previous version of FTM, we could add notes to either individuals or couples. We could also link a picture to a couple, like their wedding picture. But now in FTM 2008, I have to choose between one of the people in the couple to link the picture or notes in. Maybe I am missing it?

I am one that has a big file (over 78,000 KB) and the new 2008 is way too slow to use. I have a computer w/2.00 GHz processor and 2.00 Ram. After correspondence with your tech dept, they recommended I continue to use Version 16 until you got the speed addressed. Do you know how that project is coming along and when it will be in an update? Should I send my 2008 program back for a refund or wait for updates????

I have one observation I would like to report, and one “wish”:

1) I still have FTM 2006 on my system (just in case), and I noticed that when I have FTM 2008 create a GEDCOM file for export, I get a message when it is finished asking me if I want to open the GEDCOM file to look at it. I answered “yes” one time, and the file opened in FTM 2006. I called technical support to see if this was something that could cause potential problems, and the person said he had never heard of this before. I now realize that the reason the message comes up is that the GEDCOM file that is created in FTM 2008 has an FTW extension, instead of FTM. This hasn’t caused me any problems in uploading my GEDCOM file to my tree at rootsweb.com, but it is an odd thing, and perhaps the file extension should really be FTM instead of FTW … food for thought.

2) For my wish … the only reason I hang on to FTM 2006 is that it can produce a customized report that lets me decide what to include in the fields. I find this extremely useful right now, as I am cleaning up errors in my FTM 2008 file by producing reports with certain “fact” criteria so I can alter or delete data for consistency. This would be a very useful report feature to incorporate in FTM 2008. Everyone has to clean up their files at one time or another, and this function keeps you from having to hunt through all the entries individually.

Thanks for all your hard work! I know this hasn’t been easy for any of us, but the manual I purchased has really helped, and I am looking forward to the Webinar this month.

So far I am terribly disappointed with FTM2008 having just “upgraded” from FTM2005. Your forthcoming patch should fix some of the issues, but nowhere do you mention improved speed. Even with a fast PC the program takes far too long to generate genealogy charts and even then it is limited to just 16 generations.

If it doesn’t improve I’ll move to another product.

The index in FTM2008 is all messed up. It’s useless for me without AKAs or dates.

Custom reports are bad too. We need more flexibility over what we had in FTM16, not less.

Why do you force all users to work the same way? Why not have options instead of removing what some users don’t want and adding things that others consider clutter?

Three of the many many many needed features missing from 2008, that were present in previous versions:

- Standard descendant trees and ancestor trees being views in the computer screen should not be broken up into pieces where the page breaks would be if those trees were being printed.

- In standard descendant trees and ancestor trees I should be able to show just the birth and death YEAR without also showing the month and date (which serves no purpose but makes each box and hence the entire tree bigger)

- Photos showing in trees should be under, instead of next to the name of each individual (or optionally either way), so they don’t make the tree unnecessarily wide.

Like so many others, I have stopped using 2008 and gone back to my previous version. And more importantly, I no longer recommend Family Tree Maker to friends and relatives.

35 years ago an ancestor of mine published the first book on our family history. A job which then took a life-time to complete.

A few months ago I reviewed a couple of software solutions and was thrilled by the possibilities of FTM 2005. Although it looked a bit old-fashioned in terms of user interface, the possibilities were wonderful. Especially the genealogy report, which actually replicated the exact form of our family book that was produced 35 years ago, with one hit on a button! It really seduced me to start with genealogy. Instead of researching one family tree, with the help of Internet and FTM, I can now research and document multiple trees and present them attractively.

I therefore don’t understand the decision to remove certain features that were highly appreciated by customers in former editions. And I too don’t like the idea of having to go on-line for a book edition.

But, after reading some of the very critical reviews, I would say: cherish the accomplishments. Preparing and publishing a book that will be cherished by your ancestors takes time. Waiting a couple of months more for me is not a problem.

I do support the idea of listening to your customers and reporting on the improvements planned.

I really like the place names feature — it will be a help when I finally import my FTM16 file (awaiting source image import).

One problem with it, though, is that it uses modern political boundaries for the places. For instance, I have a lot of family from Carbondale, PA. Until 1878, Carbondale was in Luzerne County, not Lackawanna County. Given this, I actually will have to go to Wilkes-Barre for records prior to 1878, not Scranton. By having the place names feature want to update this, it alters information that can impact research.

What would be *really cool* is if the place names feature produced the proper place name based upon the date to which it is related. For ambiguous references, an indication of the “cutover” with both options would be nice.

Just a nit.

Well 60 comments and I thought I was the only one NOT a happy UK Bunny!!
in the UK - the software could only be considered under trading standard laws ‘not fit for purpose’.

But in defence of the software many of the comments made, show typical 80% of users, use 20% of program functionality problem…. as ‘problems encountered’ simply need program training and familiarity to solve..

The Crashing and failure to export etc are ‘unforgivable’ failures BUT the problems encountered are ‘typical’ marketing Directors deadline problems, caused by the poor old software developers being told to boil a three minute egg in 2 minutes - it simple cannot be done and it need the software manager to stand up and say as much.

There are many niggling problems with the software - all are solvable - having just tried all the competition programs as free sample downloads over the past two weeks against FTM 2008. If it meets the list at the top of the blog will be the Bees knees.. for none will come close to my requirements

so Less screams at the software boys and louder shouts at Marketing and finance for they are to blame for rushing a new product when caution and better timing would have produced the reverse of the customer screams and we would have all been purring like pussy cats at such a wonderful product…

ps you would not want to see the comments I have made personally to the team……. they would make a lady blush!!

I’ve used FTM since 1997. I haven’t been happy with it for 2 years but feel trapped. Things that I used for years are either not there or harder to use. It is not visually pleasing.

If I could easily change to another program and keep all of the pictures and other things, I would change in a heartbeat.

Registration does not work! Cannot access ancestry.com free subscription as a result. Help!

Thanks

Gordon

I like many others have been deeply disappointed in the new 2008 release. I’ve found it to be not as intuitive as pervious versions. My initial import failed while attempting to convert a file with about 2500 names and a boatload of images. I was forced to uninstall the program and start over. This time it finally worked after a significantly long time. One noticeable problem or bug was that many of my images were linked to the wrong record. This immediately concerned me and I stopped using the product for fear that the data itself was not properly converted or worse yet was not updating correctly. I also found that I could not set a default picture for a record, or at least was unable to find how to reset it. Help did not help and the previous version handled it completely. I’m now using my old version 2006 awaiting to see if Ancestry is able to fix this mess. Will we get some kind of compensation or credit for a non working product??? From one users prospective, this was one of the worse software upgrade experiences I have ever had. Someone needs to be thumped for such a poor rollout. When will it be safe to use???

There are features I like in the new FTM, but I am very frustrated since I cannot get the export to gedcom to work.

I don’t see it listed as an issue but both my husband and I have experienced the problem.

This is critical as far as I am concerned.

A couple of issues I have run into with FTM 2008.

#1 - This could be a Ancestry issue but cant seem to get a responce and effects my FTM 2008. You cant merge any data from the Minnesota Birth Index. It wont highlight so wont have anything in the merge window.

#2 - This effects FTM 2008 and ancestrypress. Certain media is being saved as a .tmp file instead of .jpg. In ancestrypress you see a small preview but when you click to open document it disappears cause of this. Some of the indexs I have seen that apply to this so far are the California Marriage Index, Minnesota Marriage index, & World war II Draft registration card.

#3 - It seems their no way to upload notes from FTM 2008 to ancestry so they can end in a book on ancestrypress if ya wanted.

I have read through all the problems that customers are talking about, my question is when you fix all of these problems or address them will you make the repairs to all of us that have purchased the 2008 version at no cost, and will we be notified when the repairs are ready to be downloaded to correct our program, or do I need to remove it from my computer and just work with the older versions I have that I like and work very well. Then send this 2008 version back for a refund. I am not really sure I like this situation right now. Please let us know what we are to do.

Pat

I read all of the blogs that you allowed to publish and I have to agree with every one of them. It is very frustrating to buy an upgrade to a favotite program and find that it is at best only half of the previous version. What were your managers thinking? I hope that you can recover from this debacle! Please listen to all of the comments and suggestions. These people have a ton of experience in database and genealogy. It looks like you have a good software team, but nobody with a lot of genealogy experience, or if you do, they were overruled by managers/owners. Thanks for keeping me updated.

I am concerned that “reference numbers” is something being considered for the future. Does this mean that the reference numbers we are now using will be lost in the transfer? I have given a number to most of the 12,000 names in my database based on the ahnentafel system, with necessary adjustments for other than direct ancestors. I would not like to have to re-enter all these.

I have just removed FTM 2008 from my PC. I have been using FTM for over 8 years and this is the first release which I feel is not worth the money I spent to purchase it. I have 20K+ people in my database and it is of great value to me. FTM 2008 seemed to be a big step backwards. I will go back to FTM 16 and what ever I had entered into FTM 2008 I will lose (not that much, but still).

I might take a look at FTM 2008 in six months or so once 2 or 3 more service packs or updates get published.

You should be embarrassed about releasing this software.

After “upgrading” to FTM 2008 I have discovered that any individual having a first or second given name of “Della” places it into the index as a last name. Della Mary Johnson is indexed as LAST NAME Della, FIRST NAME Mary, MIDDLE NAME as Johnson. Della Smith is indexed as LAST NAME Della, FIRST NAME Smith. The only “work around” that I have been able to use is to place a . (period) between the first and last name, then it is indexed properly. I had to do this manually with over 20 names. The program seems to be treating “Della” as a title of some sort.

FTM2008 was sent to me when my Genealogy.com was renewed automatically. I did not request the program. After reading all the comments I am afraid to install it. I am using XP and FTM16. Can I get a refund on the 2008 or will you be sending a corrected program that I can install safely?
Thank you.

Composite Names
Michael commented about problems with name Della. There is an explanation in the Help files under “entering Names” Put \ around surname and the program will handle it properly. This applies to names like van xxx, de la xxx, etc.

I wish I would have read this blog before I dropped $40 for a useless upgrade. I only wish I had the problems that people are complaining about here. I wasn’t able to import any of my trees except one that contained 15 people. I just get an message that says “import failed because of unknown error.” When I tried importing a gedcom file, it said “not imported because file is not in proper format.” The only good thing about FTM 2008 is that it did not automatically overwrite FTM 16, which works just fine. Shame on Ancestry. I want my money back!

Well, I’ve installed this update and now I can’t get FTM to even open, it crashes every time. Very helpful!

I just bought Family Tree Maker 2008 and am very dissappointed. I have lost several features I used all the time. In the search option I was able to mark some search results with: merged, followup, ignore. What happened to that feature. Will it be added back?
I also have several of the same issues I have read about on the blog so I won’t repeat them. Please let me know if this option is still available or where I can find it.
Thank you. Mrs. Cobb

I just bought Family Tree Maker 2008 and am very dissappointed. I have lost several features I used all the time. In the search option I was able to mark some search results with: merged, followup, ignore. What happened to that feature. Will it be added back?
I also have several of the same issues I have read about on the blog so I won’t repeat them. Please let me know if this option is still available or where I can find it.
Also, in response to someone else’s problem of importing files.
I had this problem too. “I just get an message that says “import failed because of unknown error.”
What I did to get around this was in my FTM 2006 I saved my file as a FTM 10 file, then went into my FTM 2008 and imported the file that way. It worked. I lost several of my media files I had imported but at least most of my stuff was not lost.

Hope you get all this fixed. I told my mother not to upgrade to 2008, it’s not worth the hassle.
Thank you,
Mrs. Cobb

On a Vista machine, the Viewer.exe that is supplied on dvd for windows 10871-DVD v1.0 and which is necessary for viewing the Historical Maps and Photos Collection does not work.

Wow - There seems to be a lot of disgruntled users out there. I used FTM2006 for ages and think it’s brilliant so when I heard FTM2008 was being released I took up the Pre-Order special discount offer on Ancestry.com and purchasd the software.

Like many of you, I like the look and feel of the application but the functionality is something to be questioned. There are two things that really get me:
1) All in one tree is not there
2) The Book I created in FTM2006 was not imported into FTM2008

I’ve spent months on my book and not to have this imported was a big surprise. In addition, its something (Inc. my Tree) I will NOT publish to AncestryPress.com. I’d suggest shifting development resources from a web site to getting the actual application to a better state.

I must agree with many users on this blog - I’ve reverted back to previous versions until FTM2008 is in a useable state for me.

Benjamin - You still listening?

Jay

After all the hype about V2008, the actual upgrade was an anti climax.

Whilst there are a few new useful features, the general family and person entry screens are not as easy to use as that in FTM16 (Please give us the option to use the old FTM16 interface).

The errors in data conversion (loss of AKA etc) and the total lack of some very basic reports (such as the Genealogy Report) in the initial release, appears to indicate that the product was released to the public in a great rush and without a proper testing and quality assurance process. I also agree with a previous comment that the formatting of some reports and charts has not improved as I would have hoped.

The recent service pack addresses some of the issues but there’s still a long way to go, especially with the poor performance which makes FTM’s use a little tedious at times.

In general terms, the upgrade to FTM2008 provided no real benefits to me; nor was it worth the money.
Even so, as a long term user of the product, I will stay with FTM2008 for the time being, in anticipation of some further (urgent) service packs to address ongoing problems and bring the product up to the hype level to which it was marketed.

I would like to be able to print out my entire or chosen parts of all scrapebooks at my choosing. I would also like the ability to move the pictures from all my scrapebooks to a CD to be able to share with other family members. I can see the list of scrapebook pictures when I go into a book and add a text page and then add a picture from the scrapebook, but can’t find that list any place else. I am trying to put together a book and am very interested in your new updates and how they will help me. I generally love your product and it has made the job of compiling my family history a breeze. Thank you

Why is it that the “Notes” options are grayed out on Custom Reports? Why can’t I create lots of these at once?

I expected much better reporting and charting capabilities.

Other posters are saying the product is okay for newbies with simple trees — well, that’s me and I strongly disagree — I find it inadequate as well, primarily due to the poor reporting and charting capabilities.

Can I get my money back?

I would like to see the index list people with the same name in order by birth date.

You should be able to turn off the relationship calculation to the home person, if that is slowing down the program. It is not important to calculate the relationship to anyone in a large database of people from the same city, such as the one I maintain. It has over 57,000 people and it runs VERY slowly.

Thanks for fixing it so that we can merge from the Minnesota Birth index into FTM 2008

When I enter a birthdate that is the same as another person in my file with the same name, I want to be asked if they are the same person. Version 2008 doesn’t ask.

I want to have the Back and Forward arrows work like they used to in verison 2005. When I click on the back arrow now, it goes back to the Web Search panel, not the last person I accessed. Now I have to remember the name of the last person I accessed and type it in the index find field.

I’m about to trash my 2008 FTM. I’ve had it since August , heard bad news about it, so didn’t install it, now I have, and just get a sent error to microsoft message.Of course micro soft never sends a reply.Well it’s installed but unusable.So back to sq1.

No Christmas bonuses this year!

No offense to the programmers, but whoever orchestrated the production of this release should be standing in an unemployment line or dressing up as Santa Claus for his next job.

This program should never have been released with all of the baggage in its code. Do the programmers have any knowledge of prior version’s fields that should connect to the fields of FTM 2008. I’ve sent several error reports on this that I’m sure were ignored.

By the way, Microsoft’s NET technology, which it appears FTM 2008 is based on, is dated 2005. There is supposed to be a new version coming out which I hope is faster. I’ve used other programs that also use MS NET and they are very slow.

Can’t your programmers develop proprietary software without outside code especially if it’s out of date?

This version was created with careless disregard for previous versions and users preferences for features used most.

I think TGN owes the community a BIG apology for their rushed judgment in releasing this flawed software. They knew it was flawed when it was released and expected everyone to accept it.

Guess what? I’m ignoring all new releases of FTM and going with a better program. This release is garbage at best!

Hi all,
Has anyone else found that the more names in the tree the slower the program gets. I transfered about 50,000 names to the new software and found that it takes upto a minute or so for each new piece of info to be accepted making this new program almost useless.

When are you going to expand the items in outline descendants tree. 2008 is worthless to me without it.

I cannot register my program and use the web features. I have tried everything you suggest on your support page and I have called technical support several times. The error message I receive is “authentication with the server failed.” Technical support had me try several things and finally blamed my firewall program for the problem. I even uninstalled the firewall software and still had the same error message. Several more phone calls and emails later, I was told the error was a “known issue” and would be patched this week. I waited an entire week before reinstalling FTM 2008 only to find out the error has NOT been patched.

I’m very disappointed with FTM 2008. I wish I had checked out this blog BEFORE I purchased the program. Now I’m just stuck with your defective product.

It seems like these patches (current and future) just permit what was already available in older Family Tree Maker versions. I am very disappointed in the Family Tree Maker 2008 product. You have opened the door for the competition to take your customers.

About the time my family file reached 2GB in size, FTM16 could no longer import pictures into Scrapbook. After much wasted email correspondence I spoke to someone at Ancestry who advised me that problems were to be expected, as there was a file size limit of 2GB, but previous technical advisors had not told me about it because the limit was not well known.

The solution to my problem, I was told, would be to buy FTM2008, and install the patch. I did that, and guess what? The file will not even load into FTM2008!

It is clear to me that there must be huge pressure on staff to sell the new program, irrespective of the fact that it is not fit for purpose.