What Is the Latest Version of Family Tree Maker

Family Tree Maker* (FTM) 2019 was released on 29 Sep 2019, as a 30th anniversary edition. I've been using FTM for over 20 of those years, ever since Brøderbund Software released version 4.0 on CD-ROM for the beginning time. The software has seen many changes and improvements since its inception. The pre-social club auction email from the electric current developer, Software MacKiev, touted 10 main reasons to upgrade to version 2019. I'll encompass each of those reasons in turn, every bit well equally a few other points, based primarily on using the version for macOS (Mojave), but I took a gander at the Windows version, as well.

one. Toll

The full cost is $79.95, the regular upgrade cost is $59.95, and the electric current special upgrade cost is $49.95. I'll accept more than to say about the cost in my determination.

2. TreeVault Cloud Services

As the name implies, this is a new cloud service offered by Software MacKiev to FTM users with the following features:

  • Emergency Tree™ restore service. TreeVault keeps a continuously updated re-create of your tree set to hand back to you if your hard bulldoze should crash or another catastrophe strikes.
  • FTM Connect™ is a Gratis mobile app (for iPad, iPhone and coming presently for Android) that displays your latest FTM tree anywhere, any time – even when your calculator is off. Handy for sharing your tree with relatives or for using your iPad equally a second monitor with your continuously updated tree.
  • Historical Weather™ puts color in your family story with more than a billion historical weather records. Dates will never be dull again.
  • Side by side of Kin™ allows yous to designate a successor to your TreeVault account to laissez passer along your family unit tree. You will get a certificate that may be included with a will, providing instructions and passcodes for taking over your business relationship forth with your Family Tree Maker license.

FTM Connect has been renamed Family Tree Maker Connect and is bachelor for free in the Apple App Store. I was not able to test Family unit Tree Maker Connect, since I don't own an iPad or iPhone and the Android version isn't available yet. However, if it works well, it seems like this might exist a useful feature of TreeVault, enabling yous to view your tree on a mobile device. However, the mobile version will not have any media, since they're not uploaded to TreeVault. In this respect, the Ancestry.com mobile app is superior, since it displays any media that were uploaded with the tree or are attached to Beginnings sources. Software MacKiev suggests using a cloud file storage service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Apple iCloud to dorsum upwards your FTM media folder. Depending on how much space the media folder requires, you lot might have to pay additional for this storage.

Historical Atmospheric condition is a carve up function accessed from the TreeVault push in the main toolbar or the Program workspace. It works by entering a place and date and bringing up 1 or more than stations with the temperature and atmospheric precipitation. The pre-gild email implied it would be integrated with the events for a person, perhaps on the Timeline view where historical events can exist shown, but this is not the example. I suspect that Historical Weather will be more interesting to some people than others, and I doubt if it'due south worth touting as a major new feature.

Next of Kin is a unproblematic tool to designate a main and alternate person by commencement and terminal name to receive your FTM license and access to your TreeVault in the event of your death or incapacitation. The result is a document that can be printed or saved as a PDF file and kept with a volition or otherwise given to a successor. It's a nice little tool but not worth bragging about. Once again, its main limitation is that a TreeVault tree contains only the basic tree without any media. A improve selection would be to provide successors direct access to FTM files, including their attached media.

3. Rich Color Coding is an enhancement to the colour coding feature that was added to FTM 2017. Colour coding allowed for adding colors to the ancestors of a person or a filtered list. For example, you can mark each of your grandparents and their ancestors a different color (i.e., four different colors). Rich Color Coding adds the ability to mark all of a person's descendants with dissever colors, as well. Obviously this feature is nigh useful when viewing your tree in graphical view, although the color coding can be displayed in the Tree Index, as well. The characteristic works every bit advertised. It'southward a small-scale, incremental comeback, non a major new feature.

4. Tree Browser is another minor new characteristic; as the name suggests, it enables viewing all of your FTM trees, organized past "Recent," "All Trees," "FTM Folder," "Beginnings," and "TreeVault." For each tree there are details nearly its size, number of people and media, dates created and modified, and Ancestry and TreeVault link condition. Trees tin can be created, opened, or deleted from this window. Some of the functionality is duplicated in the Plan workspace, where some of the functionality is only available for the currently open tree (i.e., number of people in the tree, etc.).

5. Contour Picture Cropping Tool "detects the person's face and zooms just the right corporeality, then crops a perfect square so that information technology fits perfectly on each leaf of your tree. And best of all, the original photograph is not touched." This tool is supposed to utilise "smart technology" to detect a person's face, but it's currently smart enough merely if there is one face in the photo, even though the instance in the pre-order sale email showed a photo with four faces.

Although the autocropping feature is a scrap limited, it is nice to be able to zoom in on a contour photo correct from the People workspace and to have it exist non-destructive, every bit well (the original photo is not inverse). Information technology should exist noted that zoom and crop adjustments made in FTM are not synced with an Ancestry.com tree.

half-dozen. Folder Counters are simply the number of items on the Person Notes, Media, Web Links, and Tasks tabs and Fact Sources, Media, and Notes. Personally I don't discover this feature terribly of import, since I tin see at a glance whether there are whatever notes, sources, or source media or not. The main thing I might use it for is for tabs whose contents are hidden, like the Person Media or Tasks tabs; seeing that I don't have any media fastened might prompt me to find some, or that there's one task might brand me see what it is.

7. Smart Filters is an enhancement of the Filtered List characteristic added in FTM 2017, which immune for saving of lists of people that were filtered according to certain criteria, such as armed forces service. Previously the lists were static, significant they did not automatically update if you added new people that matched the criteria to the tree. Smart Filters borrows from the smart folder thought commonly used in macOS or saved searches in Windows 7, eight, and 10. If I save a filtered list of people who served in World War 2, it will now automatically update whenever I add together more people who also served. This is a small but welcome improvement. Note that Smart Filters exercise non work with filters imported from FTM 2017 because the criteria that were used to create them were not saved; only the people in the lists were. So filtered lists from FTM 2017 will have to be recreated if yous want them to exist Smart Filters.

One unheralded role of Smart Filters is the ability to reuse conditions from an existing smart filter and combine them with new conditions. You tin can also merge conditions from two or more smart filters. This is supposed to requite yous the power to broaden or narrow a filter. While information technology may save a little fourth dimension recreating and modifying a filter, in practice it doesn't work the style yous might think. I thought I could accept my World War Two filter, add my filter of people born in Iowa, and get just the people that matched both criteria (i.eastward., narrow the search). Unfortunately, all it does is broaden the search by adding the two criteria together, giving me both people who served in World War II AND were born in Iowa. To narrow the results down to those born in Iowa, I had to filter out those who were NOT built-in in Iowa. This listing notwithstanding included people with no birth place, and the just mode to filter them out is to add a birth issue for all of them and leave the birth identify blank.

eight. Hints in the Index shows whether at that place are Ancestry or FamilySearch hints for each person in the Alphabetize, not merely on a person's contour. Of course, this simply works if you lot are logged in to each website and, in the case of Beginnings, your tree is linked. This can exist useful if you lot want to check for hints for people in a filtered listing, similar the World War II case higher up. Note that not all hints load in the index at once, due to the demand it places on servers. Hints load only for people visible in the Index, simply in one case they're loaded, they stay there until you clear them.

9. FamilySearch Integration 2.0 improves upon the FamilySearch (FS) integration that was added to FTM 2017, which only provided hints to FS Family Tree and allowed you to match profiles to your tree. FTM 2019 adds the ability to match FS historical records to people in your tree, with the caveat that you will see just records that are non already fastened to the FS Family unit Tree profile. Once a historical record is attached to a FS Family Tree profile, you lot can only encounter it by looking at the contour. In whatsoever case, attaching historical records is different from attaching records from Beginnings because yous can't attach them directly. Yous must either use the web clipping tool, which can exist laborious, or match the unabridged profile to a person in your tree.

I like how profiles with FamilySearch historical records have a dissimilar icon, and merging FamilySearch historical records could be a good feature if it worked the aforementioned as merging Ancestry records, and information technology is definitely useful to come across historical records that are on Family Search but not matched to the person. In fact, it would besides be useful to see and merge records that are already matched to the FamilySearch profile, because I never want to merge the whole contour to my tree, as I'll explain in a moment. As it works now, I'm afraid many users will either be confused or dissatisfied, since they're so used to the fashion things piece of work when merging Ancestry records. Personally, I hate merging FamilySearch profiles with my tree because it can create multiple desperately formatted source citations, since not only is a citation for the profile itself created, but besides citations for all the citations in the contour. For instance, when I merged the profiles for Oleta Arthurholt, five citations were created, two for the profile itself (ane being redundant), 1 for the 1920 US Census, one for the Social Security Death Index, and one for the Washington death index. None of the citations were formatted very well, and technically it would not be correct to cite the latter iii directly unless y'all personally examined the sources. Otherwise, you should cite them indirectly via the FamilySearch Family unit Tree profile. I would be much happier to merge one historical record at a time.

x. The Scroll Back Changes feature is a practiced get-go and tin be very useful for rolling back a bunch of changes at once. Notwithstanding, to make it more useful, it would exist better if information technology were possible to roll back one or more than changes without having to undo all of the ones before them. For example, I have the following changes in my log:

            Changes            
Changes

1820 United states of america Federal Census
Replace Source

Marija Roskovenski
Set up As well Known As Description to 'Roskovenska'

Allow'southward say I just desire to undo the "Fix Likewise Known As Clarification" for Marija Roskovenski; but I can't practise that unless I likewise undo all the other changes before information technology. Of course, I can also just edit it once more, but sometimes that'due south hard to do if I added a whole co-operative by mistake or something like that.

Also, some of the changes are not very specific, as you tin can see. I accept no thought what "Changes > Changes" are. The changes that are listed in the log need to exist as specific equally possible and then that if I await for them in order to undo them, I tin can discover them.

Those are the principal new features of FTM 2019, just it likewise appears to work more smoothly and reliably than any of its predecessors. I have used it for many hours on my 2012 Macbook Pro without whatever freezes, crashes, or problems syncing with Ancestry.com. I also used the Windows version for several hours and did non experience whatever problems with it, either. Nonetheless, in that location are a few new bugs in FTM 2019, every bit well as a few old ones that yet oasis't been squashed.

New Bugs

One change is that FTM 2019 no longer stores your Ancestry.com login data as information technology did in previous versions. In addition, Ancestry.com logs out occasionally and seemingly at random, forcing you lot to find your login credentials and log back in. This seems to affect only the Mac version.

Another new problems is that Edit>Observe and Replace (CMD-F/CTRL-F) does not piece of work properly anymore in the Mac version, although it nonetheless works on Windows. It tin can find first names or last names past themselves and places, just information technology can no longer find both first and concluding names or any dates.

A few minor bugs in the Spider web Search workspace for FamilySearch include the argument "No results found" always being displayed, even when there are possible historical records (both Mac and Windows), and the "Upload Memory" push button on FamilySearch non working when adding a new memory source (Mac only).

Sometime Bugs

Distinct from Edit>Notice is Edit>Detect Private; it didn't work in FTM 2017 and still doesn't piece of work in FTM 2019 (Mac but). The "Locate in the Tree" push is e'er greyed out and not clickable, so you cannot use this dialog window to find a person.

A minor irritant in FTM 2019 for Mac that carried over from FTM 2017 is that in the Person tab of the People workspace, the year of death is cut off when there'south a long year of nascency (eastward.g., Bet. 1741-1750). In the instance, the yr of death was 1849, but near of it is cut off. The Windows version doesn't display complete years of nativity or death at all; instead of showing Bet. 1741-1750, information technology simply shows 1741, which really isn't right.

Another annoyance is that at that place are all the same some bug with the Spider web Clipping function in Web Search, especially in the Mac version:

1. The text "Click here for more help with web clipping" is not hyperlinked to any assist folio. On the Windows version, the link takes yous to the Family Tree Maker home page rather than a assist page near Web Clipping.

2. The gray text in the Web Clipping box in the Mac version is barely distinguishable from the gray groundwork, which is non good for people with visual disabilities

3. The state of the Spider web Clipping button when off versus on is hard to distinguish in both versions – likewise bad for people with visual disabilities. The tool tip text provides no clue, since it always says "Enable Web Clipping" whether it'south already enabled or not

Another old issues is that FTM for Mac always tries to sync PDF files that are likewise large. The article, "FTM 2017 — What'southward Not Synced with FamilySync," states: "PDF files uploaded to or downloaded from Ancestry Member Trees cannot exceed 20MB." This is also in the Companion Guide. PDF files that exceed 20 MB should be ignored and not included in the Sync Change Log.

More than of a user interface (UI) design flaw than a bug is the fact that in the Media workspace for both versions, the Find/Search box serves no useful purpose for the All Media or Past Media Category lists. Information technology cannot exist used to find a media file by explanation championship. In the All Media listing, it tin merely exist used to notice the words "Photos" or "Stories," and in the Media Category list, information technology can only be used to search for a category the user has in their tree, such equally "Books." In that location actually should be a way to search for a media item by caption, appointment, or description within the Media workspace, rather than having to apply the global Notice and Replace function.

Some other issues is that for imported GEDCOM files, FTM does not import Even tags if they practise non accept Type tags. For example, MacFamilyTree produced a GEDCOM containing the following structure:

            ane Fifty-fifty trial 2 DATE 12 Sep 1798 ii PLAC Old Bailey,London,England,United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland          

Apparently FTM expects a Blazon tag afterward the Even tag line, but the Blazon tag is not required by GEDCOM Standard 5.5.1, so FTM should import the upshot every bit something similar an "other," "miscellaneous," or "uncategorized" event. Even so, FTM ignores the structure without giving whatsoever warning in the import log. (Thank you to reader Peter McGregor for pointing out this problem.)

Pet Peeves

For a xxxthursday anniversary update, you might think that FTM 2019 would have gotten a fresh new look, but bated from additional buttons and dialog windows for new features, the UI of FTM has changed very little since 2007, when Ancestry.com released the redesigned FTM 2008. Apparently Software MacKiev'south master effort went into making sure the ten new features listed above worked well.

Family Tree Maker 2008
Source: Internet Archive Wayback Auto

I would think that a mature 12-year-old UI would work flawlessly and hands, just it does not. I already mentioned some UI issues in the "Old Bugs" section, simply hither are a few more:

  • There is no choice to paste text equally unformatted in places where formatting is allowed, primarily notes for a Person, Fact, Media, or Source. If you re-create some text from a source that is formatted, it will be pasted with the formatting intact, unless you strip out the formatting first. Any application that deals with formatted text should have a menu item to paste text as unformatted or to match the existing text.
  • Find Missing Media Defaults to Adhere>Copy, and at that place is no way easily to modify them all to Adhere>Link. The only fashion to change them is to click on each item and modify it individually. In my case, I had 3623 items to change!
  • There's no mode to filter on, search for, or report on Private facts, media and notes. Currently it's possible to mark these items equally individual, but there's no style to become dorsum afterwards and find everything that is marked "private." A workaround is to export to GEDCOM and search for RESN tags, but that'south not a satisfactory solution. It would be overnice to notice them from within FTM, and it doesn't seem like information technology should be that difficult.
  • There'southward no Dark Mode, which has been supported since Sep 2018 for macOS Mojave (10.14) and Oct 2018 for Windows 10. Nighttime Mode uses less electricity on about modern displays, is easier on the eyes, and is preferred past many users. All modernistic apps should support Dark Style.
  • Web URLs in source citations are exported to the user-defined _LINK tag in GEDCOM files. While not wrong, this is also not platonic, since no other apps are required to import them. In fact, many other apps and websites exercise not import them, and then much of this of import data is lost. Prior to FTM 2017, web URLs were exported using the NOTE tag, which is a much meliorate option.
  • FTM 2019 still is not 100% compliant with the latest GEDCOM 5.5.i standard used to exchange data between unlike family tree apps and websites, despite a commitment from Software MacKiev to make it and so in 2016 for FTM 2017. Later on some changes in the dot i updates to FTM 2014 and 3 and a few more in FTM 2017, in that location has been no further progress on the GEDCOM front end.

Overall Assessment

Then is FTM 2019 worth paying the total price of $79.95 or the regular upgrade price of $59.95? If you already have FTM, then I retrieve it's definitely worth upgrading, especially if you can go it on sale (currently information technology'south $49.95, but that could go upwards or down). FTM 2019 is more than stable than its predecessors, and while 7 of the 10 new features seem rather trivial to me, the Roll Back Changes, Smart Filters, and TreeVault features seem worth the upgrade. Software MacKiev has posted a FTM Version Comparison Table for versions 16 through 2019 showing which versions have the latest features, such every bit standard source templates (introduced in FTM 2010). It might assistance those with older versions decide if they want to upgrade. Although Ancestry® Hints, Search, and Merge were introduced in FTM 2012 (FTM 2 for Mac) equally TreeSync, they were replaced with FamilySync in FTM 2017 and no longer work in earlier versions (thanks to Jack Minsky for pointing that out).

FTM Version Comparison Table
FTM Version Comparing Table

If y'all don't currently accept FTM, then whether it'south worth $79.95 for the total version depends on your operating system and if you need to sync with an online family tree website. Equally a Mac and Beginnings.com user, I chose FTM for my program, but if you use Windows like the bulk of the world, yous might consider something else like RootsMagic, which volition be releasing version 8 in the virtually time to come at a price slightly college than $29.95 unless yous buy it before information technology's released. RootsMagic also can sync with Ancestry.com and has FamilySearch integration and good GEDCOM v.5 compliance, only I didn't care for the UI of version seven or the style it handles source citations. The UI of version viii looks a footling improve than seven. You can read my full review of version 7 here.

FTM 2019 Rollout

Software MacKiev is sending out 10,000 emails at a time to those who pre-ordered FTM 2019, in the gild the copies were purchased. This is and so they don't overwhelm the TreeVault cloud service servers, which must create new accounts and upload trees for the first time. Until you lot go your notification email (bold you pre-ordered), you tin can go your trees ready for the upgrade by compacting the files and bankroll up your trees.

Disclosure: I paid the pre-order upgrade price of $29.95 for FTM 2019.

*Software MacKiev, the Software MacKiev logo, TreeVault, Emergency Tree, Side by side of Kin, Historical Weather and FTM Connect are trademarks, and Family unit Tree Maker, the Family unit Tree Maker Logo, FamilySync, the FamilySync logo, Photo Darkroom, and Sync Weather Study are registered trademarks of The Software MacKiev Company. Ancestry is a registered trademark of Beginnings.com Operations, Inc. All other trademarks are the belongings of their corresponding owners.

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Source: https://genealogytools.com/family-tree-maker-2019-released-a-review/

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