1. The link to apply doesn’t work here.

2. The last time you solicited testers, customers who were not running FTM2008 were automatically rejected. That restriction virtually ensures an inadequate test pool.

A testing program should not be viewed as a “reward” for those who have stuck with the dysfunctional version: It is supposed to help you assess the degree to which the program you have matches the requirements of the marketplace. The application process should be open to any and all potential users.

Athena:
I was able to get the web link to work for me.

On item #2 this round I think is strickly for the 2008 Patch so you need to be a user of 2008.
=-=-=-
Benjamin:
Can we get a list of what some of the other issues that are being looked at for resolution?

Thanks,

Joel

I have never been able to sign up to be a tester because I returned FTM2008.

I understand that it is supposed to be a patch but these patches are not just bug fixes, they are delivering new function. As long as testing is limited to those who are willing to pay you for the privilege of doing with out the more robust features of FTM16, the patches will continue to be unsatisfactory to the user community at large.

You want to be a FMT2008 beta tester, but you don’t own FTM2008, then you want to bitch at Ancestry about it.

Gawd, if you’re really that stupid, you have no business beta testing anything.

Sometimes I wonder about the priorities. It seems that some users produce nothing but genealogy reports and books all the day. Do they never have to enter or edit some facts? Don’t they manage their sources, documents and media? Don’t they need to set up tasks to prepare their next visit to the archives? Here FTM2008 really does a great job. Yes, there are annoying bugs and defects, some even creep in with new fixes … But still, in the basic features one would expect from a genealogy program, none of the tools I have used before can compare to FTM2008, especially in terms of usability.

Unless you are working for an association of hundreds, I dare to doubt the seriousness of excessive requests for gigantic GEDCOM imports and tons of report features. Please keep the priorities right to provide the average genealogist with a great and useful tool. Stick to bugfixing the existing features, provide for internationalization and customization. That would IMHO be more useful for the larger part of the user community.

I haven’t been able to get FTM 2008 work correctly yet but one thing I would like to see is a way to transfer the photos attached to each party on Ancestry.com imported to FTM 2008, since Ancestry is integrated into ‘08. It takes a long time to upload the media to Ancestry so it would be nice to be able to import it when searching through ‘08. Also, is there a way to edit the GED file within FTM? I would like to eliminate completely some of the questionable branches found on Ancestry that crept into the GED file.

Hi,
I am currently having a problem with family tree maker, to do with the ‘Customize View’ and ‘individual facts’. The problem is that when i select a person and select customize view and select a individual fact. The individual fact field, is then somehow carried across to everyone else on the tree. Where in theory the field should just be available to that selected person. Any help would be great.

Please add a bow tie chart to FTM like the one featured on ancestry press.
Thank you

Benjamin, if the “The top development priorities for the Family Tree Maker team are stability, performance, and missing features” is then the ability to update the online trees uploaded to ancestry.com back?

We had that extremely useful tool in FTM 16 but now every time we make a change we need to upload the entire tree again and loose any customization we had done online.
(I reported this as soon as FTM2008 went public).
Thanks

I just purchased Family Tree Maker 2008 and it does not run. When I try to launch the program it goes through a loading process, and then I get the Fatal Error window appears asking if I want to report the error to Microsoft.
I am running Windows XP Professional X64 bit, with a very stable ASUS system with a dual core AMD x64 processor. Have never had any trouble with any other programs running on this machine.

Does anyone have any ideas about this problem?

Fred Tischler

In answer to comment #6, Carsten Linke:

There are many great features in FTM 2008, but reports are a vital part of any Family Tree program. The last update which finally gave us those reports was NOT sufficient. The output of these reports in RTF is unmanageable and needs to be corrected.

No, I do not think that FTM users ONLY make books and reports. Of course they add new data and continue to research, but if you can’t share that data in a form that family members and beginners can understand then there is a problem. And if you can’t have some control of what the reports will generate, still another problem.

I have both FTM 2008 and FTM 16. As I stated, I like a lot of the features that FTM 2008 offers, but I still use my version 16, still add data to it and that is the program I use to generate a report since I cannot get the reports in FTM 2008 to function as they should.

The bottom line is that genealogists need a family tree program that offers all of the features of FTM 2008 WITH reports that give a proper output and a book feature. How else to share with family members who are not genealogists?

So these updates are not a waste, they are a way to get FTM 2008 to where it should be.

I agree with Athena in that TGN should expand the test group. Even by TGN’s own admission, FTM 2008 has not satisfied the needs and expectation level of the marketplace as a huge number of new and existing FTM customers have either not upgraded, returned FTM 2008 or gone to the competitors. Why? Because of the exact things that TGN is trying to remedy through future patches (performance, quality, and missing features from previous versions). It is very common for Beta testers not to be owners of the software. Getting input from a wide variety of people is what Beta testing is all about.

There are many approaches to genealogy and some tools and features that are considered very important by some that are considered less important or of no importance by others and vice versa. By the loss of customers for FTM 2008, this should be an indication that maybe the importance of features from previous versions not included in FTM 2008 vs. the new features as well as the performance and quality level was miscalculated. So, TGN is trying to remedy it which is a little late but good. But who is representing the customers in testing who turned away from FTM 2008 because those important features were omitted and not offset by the new features?

So Benjamin, I ask again, isn’t it logical to invite those who are really missing the features you are “reintroducing” with the next and future patches to be part of the test group. Doesn’t TGN care about the whole TGN customer base?

I am the type of user that you should want. I started with a tree on Ancestry.com. I was going to see family and I wanted to share it with them. Sharing the Internet version would have been difficult. Thus I ordered FTM in August. I thought I was ordering something that would allow me to click and get my Ancestry.com tree onto my computer in a flash and show my sisters, the information, the pictures I’d found, the stories I’d written and so forth.

It was a disaster!!!! No details, but two days before my 30 days were up I returned it. It was unusable for me.

I have a very powerful laptop with xp (Dell sold me far more than I needed)and a smaller Toshiba with 100+ mb of ram and 165 GB of storage with vista. I use a dial up connection. I realize that I am behind the times with dial up but access to other alternatives is extremely expensive considering my usage. I now have ver 16 on my computer and use the search function with my dial up. It is satisfactory. Not great, but OK. I suspect I represent a lot of users. I have a small data set of 161 persons. A few pictures, newspaper articles, lots of stories and other things.

I liked the interface of 2008, but IT DID NOT WORK!!!!

Are you going to use a beta tester like me. I am not a computer guru. I have a dial up connection with an accelerator (a no no with 2008) and a new but not powerful computer. I have a small data set that I want to expand, but not by a lot. I not out to be a genealogist, just record our history as best I can. I want it simple and straight forward. I do not want to spend my life dealing with bugs. I want a system that is forgiving of my stupid mistakes and one that makes it easy to fix the goofs, I’ve made.

Do you care about me. Unless you are straight with users about the system requirements and Internet connection speeds required for reasonable connections you are going to continue getting complaints. Dial-up users are use to life moving slower, but there is a limit. You need to find out what users limits are. I hope you will really look at the equipment expectations and the internet connection speeds in your testing. Have you considered tell individuals with very large data sets that a more robust system is recommended.

Thank you

Ben

I am following your instructions about sending bug reports to http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/ask_feedback.php , but it is still difficult to know if the message is being received. After I click on “Submit Feedback” I am still being asked to register and when I register it tells me I have already registered. How about a little software change that sends a message back to the user that’s says something to the effect “We have received your information, thank you for taking the time to send it to us.”

PS THIS IS LAST SUGGESTION/BUG I SENT IN

FTM 2008 PROGRAM ERROR

When I am in the “Places Space” and then Click on “Place” in Toolbar and then click the “Move to description” tab FTM 2008 shuts down.

Then a message come on and says Family Tree Maker 2008 has encountered a problem and needs to close and says “We are sorry for the inconvience—“ The program then requests that I please tell Microsoft about the problem and asks me to send an error report

When I restart the program it tells me the program did not shut down properly the last time and may have caused problems with the last opened file and suggests the FTM check the file and resolve any issues it finds.

I have repeated the process a few times and it shuts down every time. Fortunately I don’t have real live data in the data base.

I don’t know whether I should be clicking in this sequence, but it makes no difference whether I should or not. If I should not, the program should tell me so rather than just “bombing.”

FTM 2008 must add back the “all in one tree”. It was in the past versions…how can you take this out? It is such a vital report.

All I want to do is print my tree, and print the research notes to go with it. I would love to be able to print all research notes in an alphabetized list, so someone looking for notes about John Smith could easily locate them.

I also desperately need a way to print an alphabetized index!

Benjamin,

I would like to say that I much prefer using FTM 2008 to record my research more than both FTM 16 and RootsMagic programs, although I still use all three, being powerful and useful in their own way.

Thank you for the work you are all putting into FTM 2008 to make it even better through the release of new patches and service packs: you could have just pulled up the drawbridge (though probably not from a commercial perspective?!).

I know people say everything should have been in place from the start, but I’m glad I took the plunge and bought FTM 2008 - I’ve had no problems with the performance of the UK version (with Windows Vista).

I am pleased that the FTM team are still adding new and “old” features, such as Charts and Books, and long may you continue to work on the suggestions from FTM 2008 users. For what they are worth, here are mine:

- I haven’t found a way to change a particular person’s fact from being individual to custom-made shared, along with all related details and sources. Can this be done/added?

- Please add the all-in-one chart from FTM 16, so we don’t have to switch between programs via a Gedcom.

- Will there be any time in the future that a greater number of UK and other countries’ place names will be recognised by FTM 2008? I have in mind small-medium-large sized towns and villages that are well known nationally over here, but maybe not in the USA. Even some towns of 120,000 people (e.g. Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham) cannot be resolved by FTM 2008, let alone city districts and town parishes.

- Will there ever be a way of “push-pinning” a place or road associated with specific people or families, so that Virtual earth and FTM 2008 between them “remember” the map reference or aerial photo. The compatability between the two programs is well publicised as a feature of FTM 2008, and certainly adds to the pleasure of the research - but it’s quite a temporary benefit I’ve found, especially with the limited number of UK place names.

- And finally, one feature I like from RootsMagic is their comprehensive Narrative Report, complete with the ability to customise all sentences. This is probably a big ask, as there is no history of this with earlier FTM versions…

Sorry if some of these ideas seem bonkers to you or others, or demonstrate my inexperience with the program! I thought I’d just add to the FTM 2008 wishlist!!

Cheers, and happy tinkering with bugs, fixes and books.

Further to the above, FTM 2008 cannot resolve a little known place called Birmingham, either - England’s second city: population 1,000,000…

See what I mean?!

It’s a good thing I didn’t read all these comments before I purchased FTM2008 deluxe last week. So far it has worked just fine for me. My only problem has been printing out a tree but I think it probably is my setting not the program.

I’m tempted to say I’ll just return it and find something else but I’ll just volunteer to beta test the patch. I’ve beta tested lots of programs, every program ever written has problems which then get fixed.

Jinny

As requested
Items that I consider essential if 2008 is to be my tool for genealogical research

1. From FTM 2005 - Outline descendant report where you can add additional facts including parents of spouses. This is vital if you are going to reunions or visiting.

2. From FTM 2005 - being able to produce a research report where you can add any field and it comes out like a table - great for importing into Excel rather than printing. Excellent for being able to compare 2 files for changes.

3. From FTM 2005 - Ability to create a book with table of contents, indexes, charts etc. Absolutely needed if you want to share your info with non genealogists

4. From FTM v10 - being able to import 100,000 records GEDCOMS - I share with others around the world and every month import files this size

5. From FMT 2005 - Ability to create a chart that you don’t have to sit with sticky tape to put together. ie it prints within page sizes and contains links to the other pages. Vital if you are attending reunions or visiting

My wishlist
1. An audit trail of all the changes that I made in this session including any new people or information from ancestry.

2. A way of identifying who has records on ancestry.com without having to click into each individual person. Even if this was limited to say 100 people at a time (with a way to select those) that would be great.

3. A way of marking that an ancestry.com record is NOT that person so that it doesn’t keep showing as a green leaf. That way if more information becomes available on ancestry you can easily identify it. Of course you would need a way of reversing it if you got it wrong

4. If the developers could put a list of all the items that have been identified and whether it is planned to be in the next patch or not and also the timeframe of the next patch release. That way I could decide how I can continue to be able to do my research - ie do I need to have 2 files (1 in 2005 and 1 in 2008) and keep entering data in both or I can I wait till the patch?

5. Ability to save the images from ancestry.com easily into FTM without having to save them to your computer and then manually attach

6. When you find someone on ancestry.com’s one world book - being able to add all of that family into the tree in one hit rather than having to individually select people (ie not just parents or siblings but grand parents, aunts, uncles etc)

That’s it for now. But I’ll keep notes as I try to do something.

I am extremely disappointed that the All in One tree chart is not available on the 2008 version.

It is an important aspect of my research so although I have ebought 2008 I will be carrying using v16 until 2008 is capable of that chart.

John Williams

I am not sure where to post this so I am going to start here and post in the Ancestry Blog also.

I bought FTM 2008 Friday night (mostly because I was curious about all the uproar at this site.) I too have owned and used FTM since the Blue Banner days. I am currently using FTM 2005 and TMG 6.12. While I never considered FTM a great piece of software, I never thought it was bad either. With all I read I was prepared for the worst.

Let me start with my complaints/questions.
1. First and most important 2008 did not import my 2005 file cleanly - most of my sources were for lack of a better word garbled up. What I discovered was that any source that was the sole source for a field came over just fine. But when a field was cited by numerous sources the first source in the list was fine but every source after this got progressively more and more garbled. My solution to this was to export my 2005 file as a FTM 11 files and import that into 2008. That took care of the problem. My question to someone much more experienced than me is this - did I loose any data exporting to FTM 11 from FTM 2005? Is this a valid procedure? It makes me nervous doing it this way thinking I might be screwing something up.

2. After I imported the data I ended up with a field called “Fact 5″. It contained the exact same data as another field called Military service (Note the lower case “s” in service as this is a different field than the Military Service field that comes with 2008). I ran a report - used a custom report, just included Fact 5 and Miltary service, and filtered so only the people with Fact 5 info showed (the filtering process is far superior to 2005 and shows some resemblance to the very powerful filtering and search features in TMG). The two were indentical and I promptly deleted Fact 5. This was accomplished rather easily but did result in one of my two crashes in 2008 over the weekend (though when I restarted everything seemed fine and Fact 5 was gone).

3. I had a field named Military service (lower case s) which was imported from 2005 to 2008. There was an existing field named Military Service (upper case S). There was a rather slick option to move all the fact from Military service to Military Service and delete Military service. My second question :is this the right move to make?

4. A complaint: Many times a list is given with an entry highlighted - however unless I physically go over and click on an entry in the list the highlight is a very very light gray and I can bairly make it out. When I click it becomes a dark blue. This is very hard on my 53 year old eyes. I would like to see this gray darkened a bit (there is am option to use default windows schemes but this did not help).

5. The method of linking sources and citations is very powerful. This is a tremendous tool. However, it needs to be explained more thouroughly somehow. I know there is no true manual but as experienced as I am (I have done this for over 15 years), it took me forever to understand the process of creating a source, linking to it, and deleting a source. One of the keys to this process is the mange source button that is buried in a menu (at least as far as I can see).

Now a few positive comments
1. The speed has not been an issue with me - I have 3500 people in my database (small compared to the numbers that were being thrown out here). There is a small lag going from person to person but no more than I experience with TMG.

2. As mentioned above I think the Filtering and Sourcing are far superior to anything FTM has had previously. I have not done a lot with anything yet but these two have caught my eye.

3. Also, I like the way places are handled. This two reminds me of TMG where if I want to fix a misspelling of a city I go to a master list and fix and it is a universal fix. A little different in 2008 but similar.

4. The lack of reports do not bother me - I don’t use them much and feel like this is being expanded with time anyways.

5. I have not done a lot of data entry yet but I did run through the getting started tutorial and it seemed pretty easy and straight forward (except for the fore mentioned sources).

This is all for now. I am in a trial stage with 2008. I am nervous about whether my data came over intact. So right now I am playing with 2008 and using TMG and 2005 for work. When I feel comfortable with 2008 and comfortable that my data has come over intact then I will go to 2008 and uninstall 2005.

If anyone can answer my two questions above I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for any help

Jack

Just noticed another major complaint - if I have entered more than one marriage fact about a couple, than the preferred marriage got changed. I have not looked at the whole database but this has held true for a number of people. All other facts with multiple entries seem OK.

Again, any help would be appreciated.

Jack

Can you make it compatible with a Mac?

Ok, I see all the faults listed, should I just shove the disks back in the box and return it? Why bother with this software if it has all these problems. What’s better?

If the new patch has the following in it, I would be interested:

1. Ability to save font setting changes and the ability to set font settings for all reports.

2. Support for Open Type fonts.

3. Ability to select which data fields to include on reports.

4. Cleanup of the Register Report and the Ahnentafel Report so that the text makes better sense and appearance. (for example, “Also Known As was Harry” should be “Also known as Harry”, and “Occupation in Pharmacist” should be “Occupation: Pharmacist” or “His occupation was pharmacist”. Report marriage information as “Groom and Bride” not “Groom & Bride”.

5. Make the Internet search work more efficiently. Use more data fields to act as search filters to narrow broad searches.

6. Make it start up a bit faster!

Thanks

Dale

Ben,

I spent about 6 hours off-and-on yesterday with FTM’s tech support trying to install FTM2008 so it would launch successfully. When launch is attempted, a windows comes up from the OS stating that there was an error and do I want to send a report to Microsoft. I am running a Windows XP Pro, x64 bit. Hardware is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 5600+, with 2 Gb RAM, 750 GB HD in RAID 5 mode on a ASUS M2N motherboard. This is a very stable system that never has given any OS or hardware problems, not one lock-up in a year of use. In fact I’ve been running FTM V9.0 on this system for nearly a year without any problems. I also have a Laptop running Windows XP x32 bit, Home and this FTM2008 package installs and launches properly.

Some at FTM tech support think the installation was not successful because the launch fails, no part of the programs comes up. I beginning to believe that FTM technical staff never tested this software with Windows XP Pro, 64 bit (perhaps I’m wrong), because when I asked the question, I never got a definitive answer. The FTM web site gives system requirements and states that FTM2008 works with Windows XP & Vista, but says nothing about 64 bit.

Here is what I tried as suggested by FTM tech support:
1. Stopped MS firewall, anti-virus, and set security to a minimum before installation. Launch was unsuccessful!
2. Installed from a clean system as outlined on the FTM web site. Launch was unsuccessful!
3. Created a new administrator USER and installed from it. Launch was unsuccessful!
4. Loaded the FTM patch. Launch was unsuccessful!
5. Upgraded to .NET Framework 3.0 from Microsoft’s website. Launch was unsuccessful!

The last time I talked to tech support (Naomi) they were out of ideas!

Ben, I have FTM2008 in an envelop ready to return, but will continue to try to solve the problem if you have any suggestions or can get tech support to try again. I like the user interface and the functionality over the old FTM V9.0 package, but if I cannot get it to run, it’s of no use.

Fred Tischler

FTM Dev wrote:
> Fred,
>
> I saw your post and was wondering if you have tried downloading the patch manually?
>
> Instructions to do so are here: http://www.familytreemaker.com/Support/Patch.aspx
>
> If this does not work, I would like to send your error reports to the Family Tree Maker development team. Please let me know if the manually patch helps at your earliest convenience. Thank you!
>
>
> BEN NETTESHEIM
> Sr E-Commerce & Brand Marketing Manager
> Family Tree Maker
> A 360 W 4800 N Provo, UT 84604
> Part of The Generations Network
>

As a MAC user why doesn’t FTM announce on its HOME page your program is ONLY compatible with PC’s…..??? What a shame!!

I would like to reinforce what Leanne said in post 21. I understand that FTM took a different approach to FTM 2008 by releasing the program not feature complete in order to allow users to begin taking advantage of the new features and architecture. This may have turned out to be a good move and may have turned out to be a bad move. However, it has spurred an amazing amount of user feedback.

I personally have been out of the genealogy game for about 5 years due to life circumstances. Coming back in it made sense to buy FTM 2008 because I used to use FTM 8. Now, I am trying to support FTM by making suggestions for improvements and identifying bugs. However, after submitting over 100 suggestions using the FTM feedback form, I have forgotten which issues I have suggested.

If FTM developers would provide better bug reporting software (Bugzilla comes to mind) and/or provide another way to access a list of bugs/enhancements that have been reported with ability, it would aid me in providing additional and worthwhile feedback.

In addition, a timeline outlining release goals for patches and goals for features to be included and bugs to be fixed in those patches would help me prepare for changes and take advantage of them when they come. Help us help you by showing us your priorities and your progress. Though I do not expect a fully open source model, a completely closed source model makes it difficult for your consumers to get involved in the development and improvement of the program.

Correction, 3rd paragraph: “that have been reported with…” the ability to provide additional feedback and rate the importance of the bug/enhancement…

I am a long time user of earlier FTM versions, and I like a lot of FTM2008 but there a lot of features missing in the new version that I would still like. This is an enhancement request just sent. Love the blog.

In FTM2008 please consider and enhancement so that the programme just shows a Descendant Report (with or without siblings) from the chosen person to another chosen person, as it was able to provide in earlier versions as opposed to all descendants from one person. You will appreciate with a 16000+ tree I rarely want to send a report as large as that to another reseracher, usually it is just their line that they are interested in and it is only that which I need to send.

for Fred post 28.

I too had a long struggle to get FTM 2008 up and running and had similar advice from tech(Jonathon) - all to no avail!
I found that the installation was conflicting with a monitoring programme I had running on start up. Once this was removed the installation proceeded. Ancestry tech’s remark was they had never heard of the programme “Neilsen netratings” which is pretty much world wide! However, Neilsens took on board the observation, and are looking at their programme for future issues, which is more than a bland “never heard of them” from Ancestry tech.
Maybe isolating, one by one, your start up programmes will enable you to find what is the cause.
I hope this is of help.

========================
Benjamin

Regarding the programme itself, I feel that it should not have been issued without at least all the features that FTM16 had, as well as all the new ones, some of which I like very much.

At present my biggest issue is with “places” where very common genealogical name places in Scotland are not available and even large towns are only given as suggested places in the USA.
I am told “that Microsoft Virtual Earth knows and maps about pretty much every place in the world, including as far as I am aware all present day places
in the UK.
The Place Name Authority knows about more than 3 million places worldwide, including many (not all) places in the UK.”

Well, that is a maybe, but most of the 3 million must be in America!
So is this item being upgraded in time? If not, it might as well not be in the programme, as far as I am concerned.

I do like the idea of FTM2008, but I have not imported my genealogy data so far, but perhaps after this patch I will do so. I think somehow that FTM 2008 is in beta process, but programmers are working hard to do it a great program so when FTM 2009 arrives it will be great. I would like wery much to see the MAP feature wich do take lot of disk space as an alternative, you will not need this feature in your normal genealogy process. But you are in the right direction.

When will you support Macintosh??

I have yet been able to get on the internet with 2008?????????

What do I have to do to get on-line and not get that STUPID ERROR MESSAGE
that won’t go away saying “authentication with the server failed”.

I have used Family Tree Maker since Version 1, and have never been so disappointed in a product before. My tree has been growing since Version 1, and 2008 won’t load my tree, and it barely moves………whenever I do a function, the screen goes white and it takes at least 1 to 2 minutes to come back.

And to think I paid for this?????

This is pitiful, We deserve a decent product when we in good faith put out money for it.

What a way to lose a good reputation.
I don’t believe I will ever pay for any new updates to your program anymore, Once is enough.

After reading the genealogy magazines, I realize everyone is in an uproar over this mess. At least I am not the only one.

Whose idea was this anyhow? Couldn’t you have left it alone and just improved the linking of media? That would have helped a lot.

Audrey: I was getting the same message with my FTM2008 but quickly learned it wasn’t FTM that was causing it. What type of system are you running and what other security programing are you running? You may want to start by checking those areas and see if they are preventing you from connecting.

One comment as to the register report that was added with that last update. Could you further modify the report to allow for producing the report in NGSQ format?

Marriage Report - When this report is generated it displays erronious information by indicating that a marraige is ‘Ongoing’ when either one or both spouses are long since deseased.
Secondly, the ommision of the Book creation feature of previous versions eg. 11 should certainly be put back in this 2008 version.
Thirdly, when I installed v2008 in my old XP based PC some of the chart reports didn’t work at all…Now that I have a new computer running Vista Premium they now work fine.
Conclusion:
Although I am dissappointed with not having the Book feature of V11, I am very pleased with the new features that have been incorporated in V2008. I have been using your software from V6,V8,V11.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
regards
Paul

I have been using FTM2008 since it was released with Vista and it has never crashed and performs extremely well. My only problem was the removal of the book option.

I use Family Tree Maker 2005 as part of a one surname study.

Having the ability to automatically create reference numbers is a huge win for me. I have 1500 individuals in my trees, many with similar names, and the reference numbers help me to keep track.

I really like the 2008 program BUT the fact that I cannot automatically create individual reference numbers. Is this a feature that could be re-introduced in a future upgrade patch?

I have noticed that the addition of each piece of data on a person, such as date of birth, seems to cause the program to search for a relationship to the home person. This seems unnecessary and causes a needless delay for inputting data. I would like to see the option for automatically checking for a relationship to the home person an option that can be turned off. Either that or just make the program search for the relationship the first time a person is added or attached to a new family.

I really like the source feature in FTM 2008, although my sources were

My database has over 50,000 people. Even though it is slow, I have stucked with FTM 2008. I really like the source feature. Although my sources were a little messed up after importing the file from version 2005, fixing them was easy.

Many of the people in my large database of people who lived in the town of Stamford, CT have the same name. I would like to see the index arrange people with the same name in order by date of birth.

I returned FTM2008 several months and then read that the patch had solved all the problems. Stupid me, I reordered FTM2008. The company representative assured me that all issues had been addressed by the update. They may have been addressed but they certainly have not been corrected. The program will not work with my dialup, even after you jump through the hoops with firewalls and manually connecting. Lost me forever. I will stick to my FTM2006.

I have used every FTM version since the inception of the program, including the precursor Roots program, and FTM 2008 is the only version that represents a step backwards. The emphasis seems to have been misplaced on changing the program’s appearance, as opposed to preserving and improving its time-tested features and functions. I will continue to use FTM 16 until such time as the shortfalls in 2008 are corrected.

I have used FTM since version 6.0 and have just purchased 2008 V2 intending to upgrade from 2005. A quick check on 2008 shows it to be 5 times as hungry on RAM. Generates PDF images of Trees when 2005 produced PDF files based on text + graphics, so could be zoomed almost any amount without loss of detail (the pdf files are also much smaller in 2005). I can’t find Books nor the Calendar feature which I used extensively in 2005. I also used to sort reports by date and not name. Am I missing something here!
I don’t mind the idea of being a tester as I & my wife have been a genealogists for some 30 years - but if functionality is being dropped I suppose I will have to look for a product elsewhere.

I and my father have been using FTM since 2005 came out and when 2008 came out I decided to up grade to it While my father still holds out and uses 2005. (I have been doing genealogy for approximately 30+ years and my father for nearly 60 years.) There are many features in 2008 that are much improved over 2005 such as the web search feature, program organization for data input, media, and places (Resolving wrong names of places). But the reports and charts still are in need of much work. You did add the register report that was missing, but it still needs work.I like to be able to keep a paper copy of my database, generation by generation, family by family. If I print a register report for one generation for a family it should include the children’s spouses and their vitals. the register report as you currently have it does not do this (2005 did). Also when you export the report to a RTF it comes out in Table format which is almost impossible to edit, or if you remove the table formatting it then takes “forever” to edit and get back in a usable condition. Can you change this feature on the reports? - The Reports are the main reason my father has not upgraded to 2008 yet.

I see where you are going and I’m so excited about the possibilities. I’ve used FTM for over 10 years now and often spend hours a day in the program and am a power user on the product.

I typically buy the upgrade as soon as it comes out, but just came across the new version a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been craving many of the additional capabilities for many years and have spent the last week linking over 1000 media files into my tree of over 7000 people.

Signed up for the Beta Tester and already have a list of things that are missing in the new version. still, its an exciting product and I’m charged about finally being able to have one repository for all my data instead of separate file structures for Pictures, Source Docs & Family Tree structure.

Thanks,
Dan

have converted with hesitation to FTM2008 and like many others I am missing the book and reporting features from the previous version.

One item on my wish list would be an upgrade to the new Plan feature. At the moment this is just a list of task that you need to manually tick off. What’s needed is linking into the database where a time stamp on chnges to a record are able to be viewed and matched against the plan or just used to remind you of where you have been working recently.

Support seems to be non-existent at Ancestry. I reported that there is no ability to save font changes for reports. Here was the response I got:

“Dear Dale,

We appreciate your message.

Right now there is no way to permanantly change those settings.

If there is anything else with which we might assist you, please let us know.”

Ancestry support gets an A+ for reporting back to me what I reported to them. Look guys, this is a BUG, DEFECT, plain and simple. If FTM2008 was designed this way, then the designers need to be shot.

I’ve been doing software design and development for 30 years. This product tells me that Ancestry must have either fired or lost all the experienced people they had in design and development and hired newbies whose previous experience was creating hacks for game software.

Sorry for the rant, but I see little gain in this version and a lot of lost ground.

Dale, unfortunately the list of features lost from previous versions, bugs, and performance problems is very very long. Many customers have asked for a list so like you, they don’t feel like the report is going nowhere. Where is that list Benjamin? Is there a plan?

Im extremely disappointed in FTM 2008 - I had no idea it had all these problems. It should have been tested and perfected before it was released. The problems are rediculous and it is a waste of time. I dont need the trouble. FTM is going back to the store very shortly.

Benjamin - can you please tell me how to uninstall FTM. Thankx

Please put the copy and paste feature for sources back. This is a real time saver when entering info from a regional database for a family group.

I’v got SP 2 and the performance improvement was not noticable. I even spent money upgrading my RAM to 1MB thinking that would help…na.

FTM 2008 had better make some significant performance improvements soon or you’ll lose another life long customer.

The more I use FTN 2008, the better I am liking it. But you’ve got to fix the abysmal performance. adding a new name or merging a web search result bring everything to a halt - not just FTM, but the entire computer. The hang-up time appears to be on the order of about 90 seconds.

Maybe the next patch?

I really like the look and setup of FTM 2008, but there is a serious problem with it. The ability to export reports in .rtf or .html format has been lost in FTM2008. The file is exported in a table format with numerous rows and columns, and it is impossible to use this if you want to do any editing. In FTM 16, the .rtf format works like it was intended, that is the page(s) are exported into one column but with all the formatting being maintained. It is a disaster if you are trying to copy this into a web page, it is simply a mess. What happened? In order to use FTM2008, I have to export the entire file to a .ged format, then import back into FTM 16 in order to be able to generate reports for web publishing.

I would like to see the ability to change a fact name on a per case basis added. This could be done in FTM 16.

Ancestry downloads all ship arrivals as Arrival which is fine in most cases. However, if it is the date that that person Emmigrated, I would like to change arrival to emmigrated for that specific date.

To do that presently, you have to add a fact, then manually connect all sources and images to the new fact.

Benjamin,

I understand that the prioritization process is always in flux. Still, it would be helpful (and stress-relieving) to know specific priorities for the upcoming two or three service packs and a target release date.

Honestly, after Microsoft’s precedence, you cannot possibly miss your targets worse than they do. My experience is consumers appreciate the upfront honestly that open source projects offer, and though this isn’t an open source project, being upfront about specifics as they become available and as they change would be appreciated.

Besides, I find an organized method to the madness of figuring out consumers and developers priorities a lot easier to follow than trying to follow this blog entry for the past two weeks to try to figure out what I can expect out of this product and when.

It is fascinating reading other people’s views. It must be very difficult reconciling them all in order to produce sensible development priorities!

There are some practical requests for change at the end.

I have been involved in genealogical research since the 1970s. I am a convert to FTM since 2004/5, from what used to be one of the better systems for recording and viewing data, Brothers Keeper. I changed mainly because of FTM’s excellent charts and reports - an ESSENTIAL part of the system, and I wholeheartedly agree with Linda (12 Jan 08) - what’s the point of doing the work if not, at some stage or another, to share it!

I, too, was therefore bitterly disappointed last Aug when my pre-ordered copy of FTM 2008 eventually arrived, and I am still pretty unhappy after the first major update. The charts are not remotely up to scratch compared to previous versions.

What is worse, I foolishly committed to FTM 2008 before fully assessing whether it was fully ‘fit for purpose’, much enjoying the improved web search facilities and the many other worthwhile added features. Now that I am ready to start sending out information to my may world-wide contacts, and, through trying t6o use them, having realised how weak the ‘publish’ facilities now are, I also find I cannot get back to my earlier version. Unlike FTM 2006, I cannot export data in formats compatible with earlier versions! This is appalling - both from my own usage point of view and because I send data to some other people who haven’t/don’t want to upgrade to FTM 2008 (and GEDCOM does not fulfil the requirement).

For4 now, therefore, I have bitten the bullet and started re-entering my recently acquired data into FTM 2006. I am recommending my contacts to do the same. I hope that subsequent updates to FTM 2008 produce dramatic improvements soon. It is EXCELLENT in some areas, but fatally flawed in others. The developers haven’t learnt that important lesson - it is vital with any new or updated product to ensure that you get buy-in from your customers/ users from the outset - first impressions count and it can take years to get back people who have had their fingers burnt - and the friends!

A couple of requests for the next update. Please please ensure that we can save charts within FTM, not just as uneditable pdf files etc. When editing a chart, sometimes many hours work, one cannot always finish the job in one session. In FTM 2006 I was able to save the chart and re-open it later - and any adjustments to the foundation data within the database were added in when it was re-opened, too. Without this, the system is almost useless for any chart that is bigger than a page or two at most.

Also - when editing charts and right-clicking on a person, a range of selection options is offered (good). An example is: “Select person and all descendants”. This allows one to move the position on the chart of a person and, as it says, all that person’s descendants. As I discovered (too late) it doesn’t move spouses of descendants!! As you can imagine, this makes correction, especially if moving lots of people, and subsequent editing a nightmare! The same seems to apply to other charts. This renders most of the selection options a waste of time.

Alexander Deuchar

How can I add step families to the Publish section? Family Tree 2006 has the feature to ADD ALL, but not 2008? Can anyone help?

How can I add step families to the Publish (CHARTS) section? Family Tree 2006 has the feature to ADD ALL, but not 2008? Can anyone help?

Chicago and Others New FTM 2008 Users Having “Is it Really Missing?” Questions

This blog seems to be of little use for those type of questions. You could go to Family Tree Maker support but user help is actually better. I suggest going to the Family Tree Maker board at: http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/mb.ashx to post questions. Most features you think are missing are probably missing but those who have been using FTM 2008 for awhile can confirm what is missing. If it is missing,the responding user will probably suggest you submit it through feedback form which Benjamin claims is valuable for their prioritization of what and when missing features will be reintroduced.

Dear Benjamin,

even after the first patch i still can’t import my data from ancestry to FTM08. By now i have made an observation as to what is happening. The items that do not error can potentially have the date flipped. For instance, January 8th appears as 1/8/2008 in the USA, but as 8/1/2008 in the EU. In both cases, it is a valid date, even when flipped. A date such as March 28th however throws an error on the import. This is because if it is flipped, there is a day that is the 3rd, but not a 28th month of the year. Hopefully that makes sense.

The GED file exported doesn’t allow any options on how to export the dates. Family Tree Maker however does offer this option within the preferences. I’ve tried both settings for mm/dd/yyyy and dd/mm/yyyy and in both cases, it fails to resolve that the dates passed in come from a non-US format.

This seems to be a valid bug that they’re not read-in properly despite the format setting selected. As many family trees stretch across continents, it seems as if this could often happen where there is a difficulty resolving this format. Any guidance you could provide would be great. I have communicated this to the bug report page also. If you’d like the sample file that throws the errors, for instance, I’d be pleased to provide it.

Do you think this could be fixed with the next patch, as i am unable to use my software til this is resolved. Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Anja

Please add a all-in-one publish/print option. It is the main reason I am now looking into other family tree programs.

Thanks

FTM 2008 is not a cookie cut out of the same material as previous FTM programs in the past.

It’s apparent a whole NEW set of people were asigned to give FTM (2008)a new, more complicated approach to the whole idea of genealogy by computer.

The reason FTM 16 is still being used is that it’s got a simple, straight forward approach to recording data. And as far as making up a book at home, forget it. A person needs, is required, to go on line to utilize that feature. No doubt, the book section on line is probably more fancy, but I don’t like the implication that we average users are being silently told, that we don’t have enough moxy to know how to set up the book area as we used to be able to. Guess this ancient ones intelligence has gone back to babyhood.

I’m like some of the others who have made comments about keeping one copy of FTM 16 available. It’s going to remain available too, as long as it take four columns to imput info that used to take only one column.

Respectfully,
Darlene (FTM user since Vol 1)

I’ve been running FTM 16, a simple straight forward program. Bought FTM 2008 and very disappointed that many of the features in 16 are not present in 2008. It’s a downgrade as far as I’m concerned and effort needs to be made to get the program atleast comparable with features of 16. I do like the reports section so far. I can’t believe the FTM doesn’t provide in 2008 the ability to “View” FTM data CD’s while running 2008. Still assessing 2008 as I use it and I know I still have a learning curve with this wholesale make-over. Hopefully, FTM will provide up-grades to the existing 2008 program without launching a “so-called” new version. I would like to have my money’s worth for what I was expecting.

One of the features i like in FTM2008 is the ability to merge and create a source from ancestry, they main problem though is that it would appear that ancestry was so rushed that they didnt complete all the info for the source. A good example is your census records. In alot of the source they dropped off the page #, and other info and only included the image # so alot of the time you get a imcomplete source such as this “Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006), Database online. Horton, Osceola, Iowa, ED , roll T624_416, part , page “. Which in my opinion defeats some of the benefits of using FTM2008

Ben,

You mentioned in your post that items are being prioritized for the next update. I would like to mention two items that I greatly miss from version 16.

1. Map feature. This was a great paper friendly report. I used this report in planning an annual genealogy trip. I could include vital facts and also census records to determine what county in what state would give me the most records for my limited amount of time. While the place report sort of includes the same information, it does not organize the places in any sort of order other than alphabetically. So if unless each location starts with the state & then county, it is impossible to use. Also a report in the MAP feature would be 20 pages and the Place Name report is now with the same informtion 109 pages.

2. Custom reports? WOW! I did not realize how many times I used this report. I had created a cemetery report for direct ancestors and then I knew what cemeteries I need to go visit for photos. Also Military report, if I wanted to order military records before NARA increased their fees, I could create a report so I knew which reports I may be interested in ordering.

I tried to gedcom my 2008 data back into version 16 and it will not work. It completely shuts down FTM 16.

I hope both of these items make the next update before I leave for my genealogy trip in May.

Thanks!

I really miss the genealogy report from FTM 2005 that would show the descendants of a person plus all the notes associated with the family. I would print these off and take with me when doing research. I’d like to see this report return.

Also, for the families I do research on, 100 pages maximum for a book would not do it, so to have up to 200 would be better.

One other thing, 2008 version is slow……I have to wait for it to update itself with what I have typed in on one person before going to another person and it takes longer to even get it started. Perhaps this is a bug with this? 2005 still works faster.

I hope Ancestry can fix the bugs… slowness… freezing etc of family tree maker 2008. I’vd bee using family tree maker for years. I have put about 100 names with dates and sources for those names into family tree maker 2008. This products just isn’t right. There are a lot of loyal customers that have a lot to lose by a software package like this that could crash.

My FTM 2008 is very sluggish. I’ve installed all the patches, but whenever I move around in the program, ie. enter information, select different people, it takes about 10-15 seconds for the program to respond. My database is quite huge at 65,000 individuals and I am running an AMD X2 4400 with 1.5 GB of ram in Windows Vista 64-bit. My video cards, Nvidia 7800 PCI-e and Nvidia 6200OC PCI are always kept up to date with drivers.

Benjamin, just one comment:
When are you guys going to wake up and smell the coffee, fire some programmers, quit lying to the public about how the patches are going to work, lying about when the patches are to become available, QUIT RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE MICROSOFT, and maybe for once proof read your product before you send it out to the public. Even a small kid can see a stupid program when the people who made it can’t even finish words in the display: just look at the words in the PEOPLE display, can’t even finish the word death and others if you look close. But, like all other messages, I expect you to sit in your glass cage and not respond to this, just like all other messages I send to support. BENJAMIN, remember one thing, a company does not survive when the paying customers leave and go elsewhere. One thing we can give you credit for it you are really good at promises made, but not delivered.

I meant to say that I have 48,000 plus names with sources and notes. Plus have input 100 names with sourches notes etc into family tree maker 2008 after upgrading to 2008. I taked to customer service recently and they (the lady) said the number of people might be causing the program to be sluggish etc… I DON’T THINK SO… surely there shouldn’t be a limit, what do you think”?

Maybe a boycott, a lot of us have subscriptions… cancel them… or in the near term if they can’t correct the issues with 2008 a class action law suit. For example, we all have a lot to lose with our data… Ancestry has let us down. WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL OF THE DATA THAT HAS BEEN INPUT INTO 2008, and as I understand it the older version, I think 16 can’t read the 2008 file.

I’ve been with FTM since the Banner Blue days and have FTM 16 installed currently- great program. I enthusiastically tried to ‘upgrade’ and got all kinds of error messages - bottom line no way to get my FTM 16 file into 2008. So, my years with FTM are up in smoke. Can’t even upgrade because of the size and number of pictures I have of my ancestors.

My advise to Ancestry/FTM is scrap FTM 2008 and start with version 16 as your baseline. I know this will make your new FTM 2008 customers mad but what the heck. You’ve had no problems alienating your long time userbase who are either jumping ship or running mult versions 2008 AND v16. Why not admit you didn’t beta test this thing correctly with existing customers originally?

I really loved FTM (past tense) and do find your site useful but I’ve never seen a company throw their existing customer’s overboard like you guys have done. Quit putting more lipstick on this pig.

Hello Ben,

Well, I’ve been experimenting with 2008. Some features I like and you already know what I don’t like. I’ve not used 2008 for data entry because I’m not convenienced it will survive the bad reputation it now has and have to continue using V16 for now.

If you complete the upgrades with the book capabilities and all of the reports we enjoyed with Version 16, I hope you do improve the data entry features of 2008. Not very impressive when compared to V16.

As I’m sure your aware, formating text was one of the difficulties with the book feature in V16. I found I had to compose text in Microsoft Word, using the text formating of that processor. Then I copied the text and would then paste into the V16 book text. Worked like a charm, but would have been better if the text formating was available.

Inserting photos or documents from individuals scrapebooks was another weakness. While not impossible to work with, being able to format the text around these inserts would be a plus.

I’m hoping your able to clean up 2008. It has a long way to go before it will being as good as or equivalant to V16. Will keep making suggestions but believe you’ll have to release a new commericial version when you work out all of the bugs. Really don’t believe you’l be able to sell it as FTM 2008 with it’s now well known bad Rep.

All for now.

Clovis

I understand what Athena was trying to say about the trials having the requirement of having had purchased the 2008 version in order to be able to register. This is only favorable to those people who already have experience in the program, to survey people on a program is benificial to have an non user ithout previuos experience use it in order to assess easy use of the program and compatability to new and inexperienced users.

Kind Regards,
Ali

Is there a way of ignoring an incorrect’Shaky Leaf’ in FTM2008. I know how to turn the feature off, through options, however there seems to be no way of ignoring an incorrect ‘Hint/Shaky Leaf’ and prevent the leaf from coming back.

I am running FTM 2008 but I can no longer print the all in one tree. I really need to be able to do this. Also I have the charting companion from a previous version and I cannot use it, because it does not recognise the files. How can a solve it?

I have been trying to display on a Descendant (or other) Chart the age as yyyy-yyyy (i.e. 1920-1970). I used to be able to do this in previous versions. If this has been removed, it would be nice to have the feature returne

I have been using FTM since first published in 1989. I have kept up to date with each revision. I never dreamed of using anything else, proclaiming its features to friends and relatives. I was particularly pleased with FTM2006/16. What a powerful easy to use piece of family tree management. That said I was excited to find that 2008 was available, if 16 is so good then 2008 must be a powerhouse. What a disappointment! Ease of inputting data is out the window. I find myself jumping all over the place to input one person. We used to get a discount if we were upgrading – that to is out the window. I am going back to FTM16 and hope that when 2008 is once again the quality of 16, I will then import the data from my faithful FTM16. I should have read the blogs before purchasing. My mistake!
Looking forward to a FTM2008 version that is as good as or better then FTM16.
Can it be done?

I don’t know if you still read older articles like this, however I would be very interested in participating in the beta or this and/or any upcoming releases.

I posted my application and wanted to mention I have been a QA Tester for EA Sports for a few years, and am credited as such in several titles. I can provide a list if you’d like.

In reading these and other comments I am somewhat gratifide to know that I am not the only one who dislikes FTM2008 with a passion!! I have expressed my concerns before - via phone as well as mail - but to no avail. I still am unable to call up the picture data base which contains hundreds of photos.

Can you tell me how I can go back to 2006?

I can be reached at 910-799-4494 or via e-mail.

Bill (William R.) Jessup
4801 Red Heart Dr.
Wilmington, NC 28412.

Bill,

If you imported from 2006 into 2008, then that file is still intact.

Regards,

I use multiple genealogy programs, one being FTM. FTM is not my main program, but I did use it for the great charting capabilities. What a shock, when I finally got around to updating some all in one charts, I find that it is gone! I am very disappointed.

I also found that a patch was available (559), but the automatic check for updates said I was up to date. I had to manually download and install.

I will be going back to the older version to get the charting capabilities I had.

Mark

I was just on the main Ancestry.com web site, and an ad appeared for the new version of Family Tree Maker 2008. It states in large, bold letters, “New charts. New reports. Better performance.” In light of what I’ve read here, it sounds like this is nothing short of deceptive advertising.

Would like to sign up to help.

Re Clovis LaFleur 2-4-08, No. 79.

Clovis

I, too, used/use the “compose in Word, Copy, Paste” method for my Family History book.

Besides not working worth a d… I missed the “Book” feature of v16 in the new 2008. After trying tech support several times I finally sent my 2008 back for a refund.

Am hoping for a complete “back to square one” rewrite that will produce a usable product. Meanwhile I am waiting for the new update to Legacy, v7, that will be out soon. I have Legacy v5 and v6 and like them very much, especially the tech support, and dislike the presence of a “Book” feature like FTM v16.

I am a FTM user back to Banner Blue but it looks like TGN s driving FTM users away in droves and will no longer be in business one of these days.

Ernie

In the final line of my penultimate paragraph I “miswrote” the word “presemce.” I should have said I dislike the “absence” of the book feature in v16.

OK fine! I just wasted 5 hours of work. The backup file I have been making for months seems to be useless. Is there ever going to come a time when TGN can be trusted? It doesn’t work? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!