There has been a lot of work going on for this (these) updates. I was quite pleased with responses from the Development Team on issues found by the testers. Issues that were found were quickly acknowledged, verified and repaired.

Regards,

Re: FTM2008 - SP3 The issue of exporting a genealogy report in RTF format has been improved but there are still issues. The exported report is inconsistent in formating. Most of the report is OK but parts of the report are showing up as a table with numerous rows and columns - there is no pattern to what is occurring. It makes it very difficult to use the rtf report in producing web pages or reports in MS Word.
I have not had time to test out any other fixes.

I’ve been part of the testing of this patch and am very glad that I did. The developers were good at responding to issues and this version is now much more stable. I’ve been using a 100,000 people file for a week and not had 1 crash.

I am delighted that the patch has now been released but urge you to release updates more frequently as enhancements and fixes become ready for use. For example, chart export to pdf is not functioning correctly. Certainly not as in earlier versions. Please bring back the option to save a large chart for viewing as a single page pdf. My temporary workaround is to “print” to a third party pdf generator. Surely this should be a quick and simple fix that could be made available as an update quite soon.
Best wishes….
Les

AKA is not fixed and working as I had hoped.
In earlier versions, the indexed list of peoples names could contain both their name and their aka as seperate items.
For example a womans birth name might be Sarah Smith but her married name is Sarah Jones.
By setting Sarah Jones as aka both names would appear as individual items in the index of names.
I still cannot do this.
The aka is being shown after the name and that does not help to find it quickly.
It will now list either:
Smith, Sarah “Sarah Jones”
or
Sarah Jones
I want it to list both names in the index as seperate entries (as in earlier versions):
Sarah Smith
Sarah Jones
The tick box option in the earlier version was:
“Use aka, if available, as an additional entry”

I live in hope that someone listens…..

Les

Following is an Issue with the Source Usage Report in FTM2008 SP3

When trying to run the Source Usage Report for “All Individuals”, the system appears to attempt to generate the report but after a minute or so it just stops and shows zero pages. It seems to be working fine for “Immediate Family” The system doesn’t crash it just stops. It might/probably has to do with the potential size/page numbers in the report. If I try to generate a report for “selected Individuals” and include a very large number of individuals in the filter it also stops running—-indicating it probably stops because of the potential size of the report

Problem with documented Facts Report

The same problem I reported in item 6 for the source usage report exists for the documented facts report. When running the documented facts report for the immediate family it works fine. But, when I attempt to run it for all individuals it starts as if it is going to generate the report but then stops and shows zero pages——Note the system does not crash, but just stops. Also, I noted just before it stops the zoom factor jumps from 92 % to 500%. Maybe this zoom factor is what is causing both reports to stop generating

I am very dissapointed with FTM2008. It just made itself unuseable after it told me that SP3 was available and I allowed it to update.

Even reinstalling and then downloading the patch and applying has same effect. FTM2008 will not even start up!

So i’ve reverted to .559 for now ..

SP3 has the same problem with leakage of other items into PLACES. I sent file a long time ago with this problem.

Runs much faster.

Windows still resize by themselves when changing from one to another type.

The 3rd patch finds that I have no direct relationship with my own parents. Lucky me … it did relate me to my wife.

Importing source information from Ancestry is no longer available. I now have to choose a source from my list of existing sources.

When I installed the 3rd patch two files from my Media folder were tossed into my recycle bin.

At long last, I see some welcome improvements, but are these NEW bugs?

Thank you. I just downloaded the update. I appreciate your notice which I received thru Google Alert.

I only wish they would give us the option to print the Birthday Calendar.

Yesterday, May 2nd, I opened my FTM08 and was informed that updates were available so I promptly clicked the update button and I’ve basically lost my program. Now, when I try to launch FTM08 all I get is a message reporting that FTM08 has stopped working. After all the problems I struggled through in the beginning the program had been working quite well but now this! EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING!

I tried updating I have Windows Vista Home Premium in Admin mode. It seemed successful but when I viewed Help - About it continue to say the old version number. I tried restarting the computer but it did not update the version number in Help - About. So I followed the manual update procedures and the version number updated. I tested a few of the changes and everything looks good. Thanks for the hard work. I am still waiting for the All-in-one chart feature, hopefully the next patch.

I just installed SP3. I have Windows Vista. Prior to installing SP3 FTM would always crash when attempting to open a report. After installation of SP3 it is still crashing every time I attempt. I think you didn’t get it right. I am so discouraged.

The following two glitches that I previously reported were not a problem the next two times I booted this application up. Perhaps it was just a temporary issue.

1. The 3rd patch finds that I have no direct relationship with my own parents. Lucky me … it did relate me to my wife.

2. Importing source information from Ancestry is no longer available. I now have to choose a source from my list of existing sources.

i was downloading the patch and my son cancelled it. now i can’t open my family tree, what can i do i have tryed saving to disk also back up copy nothing works please help it is a big family tree and i don’t want do lose it thanks for any help its still on the computer thanks anne..

FTM2008-SP3 After working with the updated version for the last day, it appears the program is faster. However, I have an issue when creating Genealogy reports, namely the Register Report. I have been through the Help and cannot find anything in the Page Setup to disable the headers and footers that are automatically added to the Register Report. I am talking about the line inserted below the register report title, and then the line, page numbers and date which is inserted at the bottom of each page. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of these?

I attempted to use the autopatcher (with auto future updates disabled) but it would shut down before patching. I then enabled auto future updates and it commenced patching but shut itself down shortly after commencement.

I then downloaded the patch manually (4 attempts) but winzip reports a CRC error.

I now cannot open FTM at all.

Hopefully you can repost your patch without errors and advise.

SP3 downloaded quickly without any problems. I have been using it since the download without any crashes. It is much quicker to navigate. I have added individuals and it is as quick at Ver 16. Before it took me three days to add 20 people (between crashes and slowness). If this continues I will recomend it. I have added media and it is quick also. Thanx for the update. I hope I am not premature in posting this.

I’ve had the same problem as David Warwick. It’s VERY frustrating - the programme refuses to open now - I just keep getting the ‘have to close, sorry for inconvenience’ message. Was going to try reinstall but not download the new patch but will wait for the moment and hope you come up with a solution SOON!

See Items 6 and 7 discussing problems with generating Source Usage and Documented Facts Reports

I ran the equivalent reports from Family Tree Maker 2006 using exactly the same Data Base I have loaded into FTM 2008

Both reports were VERY QUICKLY GENERATED for the total set of individuals.

The source Usage Report ended up being 269 pages long and the Documented Facts(named Documented Events in version 2006) ended up being 752 pages long.

So, I conclude that my data base is ok and there must be somethin wrong with FTM 2008 SP3 since it won’t generate either of these reports for the total set of individuals.

I hope this helps in finding the problem and fixing it.

Two items I’d hoped to see in this patch weren’t included, so this note is intended as a “polite” request to keep them in the priority list.

Genealogy Report (Register format) - I need “include all items” not just preferred ones.

I’d like to see the Genealogy Report in the NGS Quarterly format as well (also with include all)

ITEM 24

Written by:
Charles Bash

Posted on:
May 3, 2008 at 9:42 am

CHARLES

THERE IS AN “ITEMS TO INCLUDE” BUTTON ON THE RIGHT HAND PANE OF THE WINDOW WHEN YOU ARE GENERATING A REGISTER REPORT. IF YOU CLICK ON THIS BUTTON YOU GET A SET OF OPTIONS TO INCLUDED/NOT INCLUDE WHEN YOU GENERATE YOUR REPORT. IT APPEARS THE “INCLUDE ONLY PREFERRED FACTS” BUTTON IS DEFAULTED (CHECKED) WITH A GREEN CHECK. IF YOU UNCHECK THIS BOX IT MAY SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF ONLY GETTING PREFERRED FACTS.

ALSO THESE CHECK BUTTONS SEEM TO HAVE A HABIT OF RESETTING THEMSELVES BACK TO THE STANDARD DEFAULT POSITION EVERY TIME A NEW REPORT IS GENERATED SO YOU HAVE TO CONTINUALLY RESET THEM.

ALSO BE CAREFUL FOR WHAT YOU WISH FOR HERE —–I TRIED IT AND SET IT TO 4 GENERATIONS AND IT RAN FOREVER. I SCALED IT BACK TO TWO GENERATIONS (TO TEST IT) AND IT HAD A FAIRLY SHORT RUN TIME —–AND I DID GET ALL THE FACTS, NOT JUST THE PREFFERED FACTS

I am also unable to open FTM08 after it tried to automatically download the patch.

I also cannot open FTW since the update. Is there a solution? Do I need to uninstall and reinstall from my disks?

I can’t Login and I do not receive any email for help in getting into my site. If I can’t get into my site I see no reason to renew my subscription. I need help. Please have someone call me nest week during your bussiness hours. A online form that never covers my problem is of no use to me.

Freda L. Gavin
573-276-5871

Re comment #9:
SP3 has the same problem with leakage of other items into PLACES. I sent file a long time ago with this problem

I think that’s due to a longstanding problem with the way older versions of FTM handled the “place or description” for various facts. Even though the developers of Legacy have programmed around that defect when importing FTM files, no one at TGN seems to even recognize the problem exists.

You can fix the old file manually by generating a custom report with all the cmt/loc fields then manually updating each one to put a slash before the location (even if there was no comment). The FTM conversion program can then put the individual data items where they belong.

Note: Finding the people was a pain because I had to scroll through the whole report. Updating was easy though because I could just double-click on the entry to display the individual’s facts (another feature that’s missing from FTM2008)

Re: Comment #19:

“I have been through the Help and cannot find anything in the Page Setup to disable the headers and footers that are automatically added to the Register Report. I am talking about the line inserted below the register report title, and then the line, page numbers and date which is inserted at the bottom of each page.”

As far as I can tell, there is no user control whatsover over the headers and footers. The page numbers and “long” date/time stamp appear everywhere and there’s no way to suppress blanks boxes in the preparer block either. It all adds up to some very cluttered and unattractive reports.

If you haven’t already done so, post a feedback comment at http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/ask_feedback.php

I just installed SP3 and have not seen any improvement. It is still extremely slow in loading, and the Web Search feature is frustrating to use as compared to v.16. Why was the internet storage feature eliminated or was it put someplace where I have not been able to find it? I admit that I haven’t tried all of the features during the 3 months I have owned the product, but unless there is imporovement in these two areas, I will continue using V. 16 and write off 2008 as a bad investment.

Windows Vista Home Premium
SP3 zip file will not extract
I have downloaded the patch half a dozen times
I have “run FTM 2008 as administrator”
I have disable firewall and auto-protect
I have uninstalled and reloaded FTM 2008 and SP2
I have uninstalled and reloaded WinZip

AM I DOWNLOADING A CORRUPT ZIP FILE FROM YOUR WEBSITE?

I continue to get the following error message when try to extract with Winzip and similar with Windows extractor:

Extracting to “C:\Users\djann\Downloads\Downloaded Programs\FTM 2008 Service Pack 3\”
Use Path: yes Overlay Files: no
Extracting Patch965.exe
CRC check failed
Error: Unable to extract “C:\Users\djann\Downloads\Downloaded Programs\FTM 2008 Service Pack 3\Patch965.exe”.

The size of the extracted file (23005002) does not match the uncompressed size (23005006) recorded in the Zip file

Since updating with SP3 I have been unable to access ancestry.com web-site without Internet Explorer freezing most notably after accessing an image. No problem before the patch. I have XP and Viata machines. I can access ancestry within FTM2008 but not external.

When I attempted to download the patch, it somehow deleted the FTM excutable file, I had to remove and re-install the entire program again, but the patch worked fine after that. A general improvement all round, but still waiting for the All-in-one Tree!

I agree with Gary McClelland. I’m a pretty happy camper right now, but there are still issues with the reporting in RTF format. The random “table” issue is frustrating, since this problem was fixed in Candidate 2 of SP3. I was part of the testing group and was overjoyed when the tables had finally gone away. The problem crept back up in Candidate 3 and is still present in the final version. PLEASE ADDRESS THIS ISSUE … seems a shame to let this go as you folks had already fixed it at an earlier stage. Thanks for all your hard work.

Re: Register Reports - How can you customize the report(s)? As I understand I seem only to be able to exclude notes but Facts such as Medical, Retirement, Military, Occupation, Height…. are present even if there is not an entry….

Thanks for all your hard work.

I am still having the same problem discribed in my last post which is just like djann. I still get this message as well:
Error: Unable to extract “C:\Users\djann\Downloads\Downloaded Programs\FTM 2008 Service Pack 3\Patch965.exe”.

The size of the extracted file (23005002) does not match the uncompressed size (23005006) recorded in the Zip file

Any suggestions on a remedy?

Have these “developers” restored the ability to search by married names and AKA names to the program? This loss of search capability is awful.
Also, this “upgrade” dumped and scrambled some of the information from my previous file.
I have version 17.0.0.965. Is this as good as it gets?

In my opinion, the improvements from SP3 are dramatic! The increase in speed is unbelievable. I downloaded and installed SP3 in just a matter of minutes.

The only problem occurred while trying to import my data file from FTM2006, version 16, into FTM 2008. An error message popped up after 9% of the import was completed stating something to the effect that “an unknown error had occurred and the program must terminate.” On the second attempt, I got 49% of the way through; however, on the third attempt, the import was completed in just under 15 minutes. My file had just under 21,000 cousins and just over 7,000 families. The file size was about 37MB.

I have also noticed some of the problems described above and agree that there is still a lot of work to be done before I will switch. I hope all the negative comments will not discourage the TGN programmers. They have made a tremendous improvement to the original issue and I foresee a great FTM in the future.

I received an email from FTM208 to advise me that there was an update ready to install: followed prompts: installed update: complete FTM2008 has vanished: just window saying there is a problem & FTM has closed!!!
Any ideas?

See Post 32

for what it’s worth, I tried extracting the SP3 zip file on my old Windows XP machine using Windows Extraction Wizard resident on the machine and got a similar extraction error message as on my Vista machine using latest version of Winzip.

I seems as if the SP3 zip file I’m downloading is corrupt - FTM please check - has anyone been able to extract the zip file since 10 PM Saturday 3 May…?

I have just manually downloaded the patch for FTM and have not had any problems so far. I am using Vista. I had to move the patch to my downloads folder before I could extract it. FTM is faster to load now and it hasn’t crashed on me yet. I look forward to checking out the bug fixes

I have successfully downloaded the SP3 patch with no problems at all on Vista. I agree there are vast improvements to the programme and I shall be staying with FTM08 as I do like the user interface. I still miss the ‘All in One Tree’ please bring this back, I also miss being able to view and export a tree as single page pdf. I would also like to see the return of the automically assigning reference numbers. Otherwise well done, keep up the good work and please keep the patches coming.

since applying SP3, the merge function no longer works. As soon as I click merge, the merge window opens .. and then FMT2008 closes down.

Mark.

I’m terrified of upgrading. While some people appear to be happy, others are suffering from crashes, etc. I’m running Vista Premium. I’m still not getting any warm fuzzies that by upgrading I just might be setting myself up to far more trouble than its worth. Any comments?

Will this new patch incorporate all previous updates? I had 2008 on my machine and the HD died. On reinstall of course it was an ‘out-of-the box’ installation, with notification of SP3.

I have Version 16 right now. I recently upgraded my CPU and in the process lost photos I had in My Pictures folder. fortunately they are still in my FTM. However, I have not been ablt to figure out how to copy photos from my FTM back to my desktop or to a folder on my desktop. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to capture my photos? Thank you.

I installed SP3 using Internet Explorer (IE) on my computer with Microsoft XP (home edition) - all went very well.
I then tried to install SP3 on my laptop with Microsoft XP (Professional), IE crashed with the usual send a report to Microsoft which I did (these reports do get back o developers) and then I found I could not access FTM 2008 (V17) at all.
I did a system restore back a couple of days then tried again - all went well with this retry.
My first impressions of SP3 are good, every process seems to run faster including startup (clocked at 30sec). Still working through the enhancement list

Regards

Daryl from Oz

Speed and general operation is much quicker on my Vista Home installation. Update was smooth and error free. Thanks.

BUG REPORTS

In the People tab under “Family”, clicking on “Add Spouse” in the middle window in the tree area (not in the lower portion) allows me to enter a name. After selecting OK, the name is populated in the window on the right, but the name is not updated where I clicked “add spouse”. It does work properly when I select “Add Spouse” in the lower center window though… I can make FTM recover and put the person in the tree by finding and selecting the spouse I added in the index on the left column, but it was not this way before the SP3 patch.

I added two children in the Family tab using “Add Child” in the lower, center window while the father was highlighted in the Tree portion. When I select the mother in the tree portion, the children she shares with the father disappear and reports she has no children. When I look at the Relationship option within the Person tab for the children I added, they show “Unrelated Person - Natural”, but they still captures the Father, mother, and sibling relationships. This is a serious error.

For report generation, having the “Generate Report” automatic action for all but the quickest generated reports (hourglass, descendants, etc.) run on EVERY field update is simply the wrong way to do this. I should be able to change multiple settings and then select “Generate Report” when I am ready to do it. I do not want to wait for the (still way to excessive) time it takes to generate source, media, registry, etc. reports after each field update – nor do I want to be forced to press the Cancel button each time.

I’ll report more errors as I find them.

Here are my feature requests for the next patch. I would like the ability to be able to have the Ancestry hints FTM offers to be smarter so that FTM recognizes when the source has already been added previously. At a minimum we need to have an “Ignore” option for each hint like the web site has. Secondly, it would be great to have a report across a selected group of people of what hints are available for the entire collection of people would be very welcome (e.g. not just when the person is visible in the Tree section). That keeps us from going person by person through our entire dataset.

After downloading the patch it all worked fine until today. Nothing changed and now FTM wont stay open, it continues to give me an error report and shuts down. I managed to save it and will try it on my laptop. I have had a problem with the program being slow and locking up even after uninstalling and reinstalling the program and patch. I like the old program better, felt it should have been enhanced because of the headaches. I am online several hours a day when the system is working properly, now I hate to use FTM because of the problems.

Ben, Thank you for your nearly instant response to my post! As per your question my OS is Vista. My problem was that when I tried to auto load the SP3 patch my program shut down and I received the message ” FTM08 has stopped working” and I was basically locked out of the program. You suggested that I uninstall FTM08, re-install it, then manually install the SP3. I did just that and it worked perfectly. I really do appreciate all the hard work you’re doing and I think you guys will have a world class product once the remaining bugs are worked out. Thanks!

Grrrrrrrrr! Ben, now I’m frustrated and more than a little angry. I used the beta versions of 2008. I didn’t really like them, but I used them. Then I bought the real version when it came out. I still kept my 2006 and use it mainly, with the 2008 being used for “little” genealogies I do for people. I thought I would get used to it.

I use it mainly on my Vista laptop.

Now, tonight, after hearing about all the changes, I have downloaded it again to my big regular computer (NT), and have tried it on my big family genealogy.

I am trying to resolve place names (a feature I really like). Almost every time I click on more than a couple of screens of names, it crashes.

I’ve never before had a problem with it crashing like this. What’s going on?

I’ve updated to the third patch and am showing for all of my entries, “No direct relationship found.” Help please.

Scott

Vista Home Premium

Still unable to run auto patch download even after uninstall / reinstall FTM and ensuring “run as administrator”: patch install starts, then dialog box quits almost immediately

Still unable to extract zip file even in “clean boot” mode - same error massage every time:
CRC check failed
Error: Unable to extract “C:\Users\djann\Downloads\Downloaded Programs\FTM 2008 Service Pack 3\Patch965.exe”.

The size of the extracted file (23005002) does not match the uncompressed size (23005006) recorded in the Zip file

Was pleased to see the link to the unzipped file (post 42); HOWEVER, this is the error message with every download attempt: “Internet Explorer can not download Patch 965.exe from www.familytreemaker.com - content decoding has failed.”

Spoke to FTM tech - advised that running in clean boot mode will take care of the problem - said techs at FTM had been experiencing same issues and development team working on it… Running under clean boot had no effect on any of the above issues - all resulted in exact same error messages…

am wondering if there may be an issue in running on wireless network although have not experienced this with any other program patches, downloads, etc…

curiosly, can still extract and install SP2, rev 2 zip file

with about 10 hours of wasted time so far, hoping these notes will provide a clue - looks like a few others are writing about the same problems - is a new disk with latest FTM version avialable…?

Patch updated.

And cannot access FTM2008 ever since due to ‘unexpected problem, must close’

Since I travel and I dont have my disks with me, the uninstall/clean boot/reinstall isn’t really that acceptable of a ‘fix’.

Is there no QA at A.com?

I’ve only seen replies to the downloading of the zip file but nothing for those of us who have been zapped.

PROBLEMS WITH GENEALOGY REPORTS (REGISTER AND AHNENTAFEL) IN FTM 2008 SP3

Both the Register and Ahnentafel reports take an excessive amount of time to run whenever there is more than a trivial amount of data to be incorporated by the system into the reports.

The reports can be generated as long as the amount of data to be incorporated into the reports is small and the resulting lengths of the reports are small.

However, as the amount of data to be incorporated into the reports is increased the length of time to generate the reports gets longer and longer

At a certain point (depending on the amount of data to be incorporated) the system appears to become overloaded and it attempts to generate the reports, but after running for a considerable length of time the system appears to just give up and it stops generating the reports. When it does this, the Chart/Report screen becomes blank and the zoom factor at the bottom of the screen jumps to 500 Percent. Note, that the system does not crash when it does this, it just stops

If you try to run either of the reports after unchecking the “Include only preferred facts” box [on the Items to Include Screen] it even gets worse. If you uncheck this box “signifying you want to run the reports so that they include both preferred and unpreferred facts”, it becomes nigh impossible to get the reports to run. Sometimes After unchecking this box, I have had to decrease the number of generations to 1 to get the reports to run and even then when given anything more than a trivial amount of data they will not run

I have run these reports in Family Tree Maker 2006 using the same Data Base that I have loaded into FTM 2008 SP3 and regardless of the amount of data the system has to incorporate, it generates the reports in a very short period of time

My conclusion is that there is something wrong with the Report generation software for FTM2008 SP3. It is not a problem with my Data Base since the reports are easily generated in Family Tree Maker 2006 and they will generate in FTM 2008 SP3 if a trivial amount of data is used.

Bottom line, the above reports are not usable and it is difficult to believe they were tested with any amount of significant data

I also reported problems with the Source Usage Report and Documented Facts Report in items 6 and 7 on May 2
Those issues are repeated and included below

Item 6
Following is an Issue with the Source Usage Report in FTM2008 SP3
When trying to run the Source Usage Report for “All Individuals”, the system appears to attempt to generate the report but after a minute or so it just stops and shows zero pages. It seems to be working fine for “Immediate Family” The system doesn’t crash it just stops. It might/probably has to do with the potential size/page numbers in the report. If I try to generate a report for “selected Individuals” and include a very large number of individuals in the filter it also stops running—-indicating it probably stops because of the potential size of the report

Item 7
Problem with Documented Facts Report
The same problem I reported in item 6 for the source usage report exists for the documented facts report. When running the documented facts report for the immediate family it works fine. But, when I attempt to run it for all individuals it starts as if it is going to generate the report but then stops and shows zero pages——Note the system does not crash, but just stops. Also, I noted just before it stops the zoom factor jumps from 92 % to 500%. Maybe this zoom factor is what is causing both reports to stop generating

So, to summarize, 4 key reports, Register, Ahnentafel, Source Usage and Documented Facts are basically unusable and will not run when given anything but a trivial amount of data to incorporate into the reports
I have not tested the Media Usage Report (nor have I loaded any Media into FTM 2008), since I am awaiting the improvements in the System that still need to be made

One other issue associated with trying to run the above reports needs to be reported. This issue deals with attempting to cancel the reports. After I get tired of waiting for one of the above reports to run I click the cancel button. It appears to cancel, but when I try to run another report the system appears to be trying to continue and generate the report I previously cancelled. Someone needs to look at this to ensure that if a report has been cancelled it really becomes cancelled

BUG REPORT

In the Kinship report, it creates an entry for the “Kinship of” person and lists them as a Half Brother (or Sister) to themself.

Here are my comments in reference to post #59 above regarding slow generation of reports. I experienced this same slowness last night and last weekend. However the two odd things are:

1st: I have a desktop gadget that monitors my (quad) CPU % usage. While FTM was tried to generate these reports last night its usage is near zero. I would expect it to be high if it is truly working properly, but instead FTM seems to “sit and spin”.

2nd: After leaving the program running idle on my computer all night long, all the reports (regardless of amount of data) are being generated at relatively lightning speeds - instant for most reports, 3-5 seconds for 20-50 page Registry and Ahnetafel reports. The gadget reports 25-35% CPU usage during this time. This seems to suggest that initially resources are not being cleared/allocated properly, but eventually FTM is running the routines to do so…

A SMALLL COMMENT ON ITEM 61 WRITTEN BY PAUL

MY COMMENT IN ITEM 60 COVERED TWO PARTS SLOWNESS AND COMPLETELY STOPPING GENERATION

IN MY CASE, WHEN THE REPORTS DO RUN THEY SEEM TO RUN SLOWLY DEPENDANT ON THE AMOUNT OF DATA

BUT I AM ALSO TALKING ABOUT THE CASE WHEN THEY COMPLETELY STOP RUNNING

IF I TRY TO GENERATE A REGISTER REPORT FOR BOTH PREFERRED AND NONPREFERRED FACTS THAT I KNOW WILL BE OVER 600 PAGES LONG (BECAUSE THAT IS HOW MANY PAGES LONG IT IS WHEN I USE FAMILY TREE MAKE 2006),AFTER A LONG WAIT THE REPORT GENERATION COMPLETELY STOPS AND THE PREVIEW SCREEN TURNS BLANK AND SHOWS ZERO PAGES. SINCE THE SCREN IS BLANK AND THE REPORT STOPPED RUNNING MY FEELING IS THAT IF I LEFT THE SYSTEM ON ALL NIGHT LONG WHEN I CAME BACK IN THE MORNING THE SCREEN WOULD STILL BE BLANK AND STILL WOULD SHOW ZERO PAGES —SO MY GENERAL FEELING IS SOMETHING IS NOT WORKING CORRECTLY AND WHEN YOU FEED IT SOMETHING THAT WILL TAKE AT LEAST 600 PAGES TO COMPLETE IT CAN’T HANDLE IT AND COMPLETELY STOPS.

I WILL TRY WHAT PAUL DID I WILL LEAVE THE PROGRAM ON ALL NIGHT TO NIGHT WITH NOTHING RUNNING ON IT. THEN TOMORROW AM I WILL TRY TO GET IT TO RUN A VERY LARGE REGISTER REPORT

I just downloaded SP3 and now I cannot even open FTM2008. Help!!!

Benjamin - see post 57 re download problems - I was able to download the executable file to my work machine with no issues (connected direct to ethernet). That leads me to think my problem may be associated with my home wireless network to which both home machines are connected. I now expect I’ll be able to copy the executable to my home machine and do the upgrade. I’ve had no apparent problems with my wireless on anything else, but maybe “wireless” is common to the others that have cited SP3 download problems…

This is all new to me I am looking for info on the licoln family my grandmother was doris may lincoln she died in 1958 she was married to jack richard wilcox,if I have relatives out there would love to know please help.

djann, I downloaded to my laptop VISTA machine by wireless with no problems, and it hasn’t seemed to crash. I had no problem downloading with a regular DSL line on my NT machine, but in using 2008, it now is crashing constantly. This is just plain frustrating.

When i downloaded the patch my family tree stopped working..so i panic, well i didn’t save my family tree as a gedcom file.. so now i can’t get it open, does anyone have any ideas,
thanks Anne

After installing SP3 I am also having the problem with most of my family showing as “Unrelated - Natural” I called support 2 days ago and was told they have not heard of this problem. I then emailed and have not got a response. Otherwise everything is much faster and I am not locking up when I work with Images. Is there a fix.

thanks for the help benjamin, but i have done everything,uninstalled, rebooted, even phoned the help line they said do a clean boot,well that didn’t help,so i’am lost and have square eyes because dealing with this computer all day…i even tried to run it in safe mode..that didn’t help… i need help…Anne

Well, I blew it. I don’t have NT. I have XP, and that’s the one it was crashing on. Specifically, I’ve been trying to resolve the place names (only had over 3000 to do). If I only do about 25-30 at a time, then it’s been handling it all right. If I try to do more, it either freezes or crashes. I’ve sent quite a few error messages.

I love this feature, and honestly had no idea I had been so haphazard about the place names. It makes a lot of sense to clean them up, but I think it’s going to take me a long time. I’m almost down to 2,500 now.

VERY INTERESTING…!
Benajamin, downloading the .exe. from the third party server came through just fine - its not my wireless set up…!

the problematic download from the FTM server is slow, with usual estimate of “time remaining” not shown - downloads 21.8 MB consistently before stopping with error message: “Internet Explorer can not download Patch 965.exe from www.familytreemaker.com - content decoding has failed.”

Just to reiterate what I said earlier and is in post 71, most of my relationships are no longer working. ALL parent - children relationships are gone. However, sibling and spouse relationships are still intact. Without the parent-child link in place, of course there are also no grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.

Benjamin, can you confirm whether these apparent “lost relationships” are mearly cosmetic (program knows the proper relationships, but they don’t display properly) or are they actual alterations to our data (obviously the worse case). I’d sure hate to try and re-link each parent to each child if FTM accidently destroyed that link in SP3.

Until I know the answer to this, in spite of the other improvements I will once again have to shelve FTM because I do not want to enter info that won’t be linked properly.

After closing and reopening a couple of times, relationships appear to be working again… Just to test, I tried compacting the file again and relationships stopped working. I closed and reopened and relationships were working again…

I can confirm what the previous post says about compacting, closing, and then opening FTM and having the relationships appear to be working again. We’ll see how long they last…

Benjamin, I have been a harsh critic of yours and your programmers since this junk 2008 came out. Now, after the release of SP3, I see no reason to change my attitude. How wonderful it would be if YOU could explain how, over the years, we all bought versions of FTM as they came out and nothing was wrong with them. Now you people do nothing but sell us junk, give us patches that, on some issues, make things worse than before and still don’t address issues that should have been taken care of prior to release. ONE THING IS FOR SURE, YOU PEOPLE HAVE SURPASSED MICROSOFT IN THE ABILITY TO PUT OUT A PROGRAM THAT IS GARBAGE AND KNOWINGLY DID SO, EVEN WHEN YOU KNEW IT WAS FLAWED. Even more amazing is how the company management allows this crap to still be touted as a wonderful program on their website and still suckers people into paying good money for this junk. If you have taken the time to read this, tell me why it your team cannot make the program keep its settings on the “person” tab page. Everytime you open the program, the settings have changed on the person page and you manually have to move them to see all of your information. But, once it is shut down, it goes right back to the original crap you had to change. Another thing, you would think that prior to selling a program that you would have taken time to proof it. After opening the program and clicking on people, you would think someone would have taken the time to observe that you couldn’t even finish spelling the word death, marriage and divorce. Under the person’s name, on the far right side, you give us the ability to expand the size of it, but on the far left, under the index count, you don’t give us the ability to expand it and that is the most important one of all. Strictly speaking, this is one of the most disasterous programs ever thrown at the buying public and to continue to tout this as great for genealogy, is a total insult to anyone with common sense. As usual, I don’t expect a reply, as you seem to only reply to just certain ones.

Attempted to print to Acrobat Pro for pdf output. Register report gets all kinds of script errors and I’m told to reinstall Acrobat. Printed through FinePrint and output to Acrobat as pdf without any problem - no need to reinstall Acrobat.

Also tried printing poster to Acrobat PRO and FTM2008 only recognizes letter size whereas FTM16 would use 92×92.

RON C

The major problem I’ve had with 2008 has been the inability to include AKA as a separate entry in the Index. With many relatives who went by 2 (or more) names in their lives, I find the AKA essential in tracking people down. I had high hopes for SP3, because the blog advertised that the AKA issue was resolved–I thought, Now I can start using this program instead of v16.

Wrong, again. The “fix” of AKA is completely ineffective. It merely attaches the AKA to the main name in a single entry (much as if you added it yourself in quotes), but it is NOT separately listed and is NOT searchable. This doesn’t sound like it would take much to fix it, but I know there were several requests and complaints–to no avail. I’d really like to get involved in 2008, but I still have to do data entry in v16, so I guess I’ll stay there–at least until you fix the index. I think you did allow the indexing by married names, so maybe there’s hope.
Dennis

BUG REPORT

Runtime error has occurred.
Line 41
Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I got this on the Web Search page while accessing the Ancestry site. I had just finished adding two personal web links and then edited the name of one of them via the Manage Favorites… button. I was in the process of adding a third when this happened. After selecting “No” in the debug window, I was able to continue using the program.

The old version of FTM2008 made .ftm files in the FTM folder, but after the patch the program won’t recognise a ‘.ftm’ file. Where is the file we made under the previous version?

I was very happy to see that FTM2008 v965 (SP3) addressed so many of the issues that I had noted. I was almost ready to go mainstream when I noticed that the new patch changed about 10% of my names upon import from FTM ver 16.

I use the round brackets frequently to denote different persons with similar names; (1), alternate spellings; Frederick (Fredrick), minor nicknames; George (Georgy) or items requiring further research; (Anne?).
So a name in FTM 16 such as George (Georgy) Russell is imported into FTM2008 as
(Georgy), George Russell.
Upon close examiniation I see that
Given Names: George
Surname: (Georgy)
Suffix: Russell.

I confirmed this odd behavior in a separate test file. The problem does not appear when using FTM2008 v965 to read a FTM file created under a previous version of FTM 2008 nor does it import the data incorrectly if the same data is transfered to a gedcom first.

This patch is unusable for me because of this problem. I cannot use the program if it arbitrarily changes about 10% of the names in this manner. And I cannot use the gedcom input instead because I will lose all of my pictures. Too bad this wasn’t spotted in beta.
Martin

LOOKING FOR CHILDREN BORN BETWEEN 1966 AND 1970

Sorry Benjamin but your comment 83
“Listing AKA names as a separate entry is something the team is considering as a future enhancement.”
Is rather scary.
What do you think we have been asking for all this time?
You implied that it had been fixed in SP3 but it has not.
Basic things such as this which existed in earlier versions but have now been taken away from us are not enhancements!!
Aaarrrgghhh

Les

Please e-mail me, if you ever get V. 2008 working as well as V. 16 runs. I’d like to try it again, but don’t want to go through an extended period of frustration as you work out each bug.

I have v16 of Family Tree Maker and considering the 2008 version. I find no way of controlling the sequencing of multiple spouses in V16. It reports them in the order they were entered. Does the 2008 version allow controlling the sequencing e.g. sorted by marriage date?

FYI FOR ITEM 92 WRITTEN BY JOHN CELLER ——HIS MESSAGE FIRST

92 Written by:
John Cellar

Posted on:
May 9, 2008 at 8:43 am
I have v16 of Family Tree Maker and considering the 2008 version. I find no way of controlling the sequencing of multiple spouses in V16. It reports them in the order they were entered.

JOHN

FOLLOWING IS NOT A VERY SOPHISTICATED WAY OF CONTROLLING THE ORDER OF SPOUSES IN V16, BUT I USE IT AND THE RESULT IS FINE AND THEY STAY IN ORDER WHEN I AM FINISHED

IF YOU KNOW THE DATES OF MARRIAGES THEN THE SYSTEM DOES PUT THEM IN CORRECT ORDER.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE DATES BUT KNOW THE ORDER THEN GIVE THE FIRST MARRIAGE A FALSE DATE AND THE SECOND MARRIAGE A FALSE DATE. MAKE THE FIRST MARRIAGE FALSE DATE EARLIER THAN THE SECOND MARRIAGE FALSE DATE. THE SYSTEM WILL THEN PUT THEM IN ORDER. ONCE YOU GET THEM IN ORDER DELETE THE FALSE DATES AND THEY WILL STAY IN ORDER —-YOU CAN DO THIS FOR TWO, THREE, ETC MARRIAGES

TO VERIFY THE ORDER CREATE A SMALL TREE CHART OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

I TOO WISH THEY WOULD IMPLEMENT AN EASIER METHOD FOR FTM 2008, BUT IN THE MEANTIME THE ABOVE IS WHAT I DO

Since the the update SP3, both myself and my mother have found that we can no longer delete a person from our trees. We receive a warning message “You cannot delete the last person in your tree. You can delete this tree from the Plan view or you can keep this tree and change the information about this person by editing it in the right pane.” I have never had this problem before and I have over 5,000 people in my tree son this one person is not my last.

Untill the company makes another “Patch” how can I delete an unwanted person from my tree?

I would like to say that I have been using FTM for years now and I guess all the good things I would say about the program to my mother made her purchase the 2008 version. We are both unhappy with it and she is now considering changing back to her old program.

If there was a contract I would say it was broken.

I am looking at purchasing FTM2008 AUS/NZ version, however I am concerned after reading these coments, that I could be wasting both my time and money. My questions are: 1) Are these problems occurring with the AUS/NZ version and if so how long before they will be recitified and 2) is there a site where I can try the 2008 version before I buy it? Many thanks for your assistance.

Here is a question I would like an answer to from Benjamin. Because I have a Gold subscription to Genealogy.com I was sent a free copy of FTM 2008 which is the original program you started with last year. So far, I have not loaded that CD because of all the horror stories I am seeing and because I am a senior citizen who is not extremely computer literate. Do the newer versions of FTM 2008 contain the new patches and if so, I feel I should receive a new CD for free since the original one is so flawed.

*Installed the new patch
*Application will not open now

So reading through comments, I need to reinstall and upgrade - I travel everyday and have limited access to my disks

I work in a software house - can;t you guys make proper software!

ridiculous

I’ve installed SP3 and FTM2008 came up faster but the program would not work. I’ve used FTM since it first came out and I had hoped this patch would fix the program.

Whaahooo! The Service Pack Update to Vers. 17.0.0.965 has really made a huge difference in the responsiveness of the program. It runs faster and better, and no more waiting a long time for each entry. With an 85KB file and 1 Gg of CPU, I haven’t had any crashes, and system response is wonderful again. Thank you team! I still would like to see an enhancement that allows me to sort my the married name as it would make it so much easier, and I haven’t tested any reports yet.

SP3 is a great step forward and I am finally using FTM2008 instead of 2006. Features that need some priority are “undo” and “back/next”. Both are important, basic functions. A very desirable feature would be an “active” outline descendant chart (and other charts) that allows you to select an individual from the chart and go to that individual (like you could in 2006). I hope that there are plans for an SP4.

The “active”outline descent chart was something I used a lot, together with the ability to create a “one page” pdf file.
This was great for sharing my tree with other family members, these would be great additions for SP4!

I am running FTM 16.0.350
Is this patch applicable or will I have to purchse an upgrade?
Many thanks
Jennifer

I updated FTM2008 to SP3 and I have had nothing but problems running the program. After uninstalling and re-installing the software numerous times I am now getting the following when I unintall or reinstall it.
ERROR: NUMBER: -2147219705. When cleared and I attempt to run the program I get a “Family Tree Maker 2008 has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” The it futher states that FTM2008 requests that I send error report to Microsoft.

I did not have any problems until I updated to SP3.

Anyone have an idea on how to fix this or what is causing it?

Thanks

I have Windows XP, Home Ed., which is updated.

I have lates regular update of FTM 2008

I have tried Backup to CD and the program crashes. What’s can I do to fix this? The Backup works going to the computer.

Thanks

Reading

After installing SP2, all my “TASKS” listed on the Plan/Current Tree page just disappeared. Now I find that the same thing happened again after installing SP3.

I have spent thousands of hours on my genealogy research and there is no way I will commit myself to such a deficient progrm as FTM 2008. This program should have been tested extensively before it was sold to the public and 9-10 months later it deletes files (among many other faults).

Well after some thoughts about this I am back to using my v16. I downloaded the SP3 and now it will not load and it is totally useless to me also.When I cant run a program I am wishing I had never gotten it. I will be calling today to let them know what I think of it. All my work pufff this is not good.

When running the Register Report under Genealogy Report the information on my sons first marriage does not show up anywhere, (it did before in version 16, Which I’m still using till you get other issues fixed) it’s like she never existed. This needs fixed, no telling what all else has been left out since I haven’t had the time to check out more to see what else might be missing.

Larry,

I found that I had to have both the parents for a child to show in Register Report. Father alone sure doesn’t. I but Unknown for spouse and it showed the children.

Needs to be fixed.

RON C

Ron, Thanks for the come back, I have his mother and myself and also my second in and they all show up.
His first wife is what won’t show anywhere. His second wife is all that will come up in the report.
All my other kids show up fine, but they both have had children by there marriages, and my son has not had any children from either wife.

I am so disappointed, not only is 2008 still missing prior functionality within the software package as well as when linking to Ancestry.com, but it is going to take me a couple years to fix all the issues you created within my family tree source records. Although there are some nice things about 2008, it does not make up for the damage to my file. I previously reported the bug that damaged my file, about the improper merging of source files, but this was never fixed in SP3; so not only I but also other may spend a couple years fitting source citations in our family trees.

SP3 is a distinct improvement but is still missing “Export to rtf” (at least my export via plugin is empty), “Include ALL sources INLINE” rather than preferred only as endnote or not at all and “List by Married Name” for women.

Hopefully the next patch will include these soon and won’t be 4 weeks late like this one.

First, thanks for the excellent update in SP#. You seem to have fixed the performance problems, and the other improvements look good. Users should remember that software feature improvement is in the eye of the beholder - different users have varying ideas about their favorite features and how they should be implemented. Let’s not confuse style with substance.
Second, remember that the perfect is often the enemy of the good.
Third, congratulations to Ben for his new policy of rapidly commenting on blog submissions, conveying the message that someone “out there” is listening.

Through ALL the patches for 2008 I am not seeing that the application has stopped creating NEW sources when a source already exists.

By that I mean …

I already have a source titled 1850 US Federal Census. If I find a new census record for 1850 a new source is created. After that, any 1850 census records I find are dumped into the new source.

It’s kind of like having two folders to store the same type of info in.

Is this being addressed?

I am quite happy with SP3. This application has real potential!

While there have been many good improvements with the release of SP3, the “Publish” section still leaves much to be desired. Based upon previous announcements about this release, I was certain that the ability to save report settings, such as fonts, would have been restored. Alas, it was not to be found. When will this be returned?

I too was disappointed with SP3 in that you cannot go directly from a person in the Descendent Tree chart to their own record in People view.

Also I prefer to have each fact in the Descendents tree chart in a different colour - ie. birth and christening green, marriage blue, death and burial black. This option is still not avaialable and I would have thought this sort of change would be an “easy one / minor one ” to put back to V16 functionality.