Customer Reviews

Family Tree Maker 2009 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Family Tree Maker 2009 EssentialsFamily Tree Maker 2009 PlatinumFamily Tree Maker 2009 DeluxeI was surprised that I don't hate it. From the reviews, I thought I would. I have been using this program since the DOS days, because I am averse to change. When the new one came out, it lost most of what I used it for, so I stayed with the old one. This is my first try at the new one.
I was very pleased that it didn't try to overwrite the old one, or store files in the same place. It meant I could try it without worrying about losing my data,
It is not user-friendly. That is the first thing I noticed. I realized that because it is a new program, it doesn't have sixteen ways to do something, the way older programs do. It only has one, and you have to learn what that one way is. Just like the DOS version I started with. The print is vey small and hard to read, and I just today found out how to change it.
It is a good data-base. It has helped me find a number of errors I never knew I had, and to regularize entries, so the same thing is always written the same way. It has helped a lot with place names, for instance. That said, there are problems with default place names. They are alphabetical. For instance, Portland is in Multnomah County. The default is Clackamas County, because it is first in the alphabet. I looked for Iowa City, and found one in every county in Iowa, with no way to tell which was right. I can look straight at a town on the map, and find the program doesn't recognize it.
The program has gone into a partnership with Microsoft on some of it's features. With all the new software out there, much of it better, that might be a bad choice. There is a note that those features may drop without notice.
It is a space hog, and does crash. I could probably solve that with a new computer, but then my old program wouldn't be available to me, and the new one just isn't up to snuff yet. The thing I really use, regularly, is the book function. I print books almost yearly for family. This one says I can build the book on line, and still print it myself, so it is not as useless as I thought when I read that it had to be done on line, but I dno't know how they are going to get the program on line to print the accurate index, which is essential in a family book. And, because it is only a data base, there is no place in the new program for the essays on family history, family homeland, stories, recipes, and so forth that make such books more than a list of names. The old program could keep everything together, which was nice.
I am a suspicious sort. When I saw that it would no longer work with the disks we own, but is made to work with data that they expect you to pay monthly or yearly fees for, and that they want you to pay them large amounts to publish a book, I think "greed". After seeing the program, it is possible that it just doesn't have space for those features. I want to be able to print a descendant chart, with a photograph of each person, the information, and then the next person. I have not yet been able to find a way to do that. It should be an obvious option.
This is not a bad program, but I think it is finally time for me to seriously investigate all the other ones out there.
I can't run the new program satisfactorally on my current machine, and I can't run version 16 on a new machine, so if I atick with this program, I am stuck.

I have used Family Tree Maker since 1996. I was very disappointed with the 2008 version but I stuck with it because I knew it was an entirely new program and it would take time to find out what all the issues are and make the corrections. I was very glad to find out that they decided to scrap 2008 and were working on the 2009 version. I was a beta tester for 2009 and I was very impressed with how hard the staff worked to correct problems and how they were willing to listen to suggestions. One of the big problems with 2008 was the fact that it constantly crashed. Since I have been working with 2009 crashing hasn't been an issue. Since the media files are kept in a separate file, 2009 does not take as long to open as it did in versions prior to 2008. I do know that some people still say it takes too long to open for them, so they are still working on this problem. It has been said that the charts and reports are not as good as they were in versions prior to 2008. New charts and reports have been added and more are expected to be added, but this is an area where you must be willing to "play" with the options to really see what is available. Since I had so many problems with 2008 I didn't use the new features that were introduced, but I have tried them in 2009 and they are very useful. The web clipping feature is helpful. Please make someone aware of any issue's or concerns that you may have with 2009. Issues do need to be prioritized so your issue may not be taken care of right away, but someone is listening to all issues.

I have been using this software since 1991 and upgraded every version as it came out. Always loved it and always recommended it to fellow genealogists - until now. I was dismayed with the major overhaul in 2008. Had so much trouble trying to figure out where everything was. While all the previous version were extremely intuitive, it is the exact opposite now.

I was hoping that things would be fixed in 2009. Have been using 2009 for a few months now and am finding so many features of the earlier versions missing. Also, it does crash a lot.

Features I used extensively that have been changed or eliminated:

1. Unable to change setting defaults in Reports. It is possible to save settings in Charts, but not Reports.

2. Custom reports are very limited. I like to choose which items to include in my custom reports and sort by either name or birthdate in both ascending and descending orders. This is useful to see who recently died or was born at a glance, and makes it easy to find wives without knowing their maiden names. This feature is no longer possible.

3. I had published a book in 2005 using the book feature. The book did not import into the new upgrade. Since I am working on an updated edition of the book for my family for 2010, I now have to recreate everything from the title, foreword, acknowledgment, etc, pages, as well as each report - which I have to manually go through and change the settings for each report that I do. What a hassle!

4. Before, when I wanted to print a tree or report as a PDF file, I hit print and chose the PDF printer. No problem. Now, if I try to print through the Print function, the program crashes. It was only through searching on-line that I learned that to create a PDF file of a chart or report, you need to go to the "Share" button on the right side of the screen (not on the File bar) and choose your option. Tell me - is this intuitive?

5. I want to add another major change/problem in this version. Genealogy Register Reports no longer show spouses of childless marriages! Previous versions did show information, including facts and notes on all spouses. In FTM 2009, if a person has had multiple marriages but children from only one marriage, ALL spouses are mentioned by name. But if you have no children with your current spouse, or are a newlywed, or have a gay partner, your spouses are no longer mentioned in the reports. Their support department told me this was because childless lines die out. I guess childless families aren't important to ancestry.com.

There are probably a lot of other things that I haven't come upon yet that have been changed, but these are some of the major problems. So much of what I want to do, I need to search on-line to figure out how to do it.

If you have a choice, go back - or hang on to - the FTM version pre-2008. I wish I never upgraded and will keep my fingers crossed that they will bring back the old features.

I've bought Family Tree Maker since it first came out years ago.

I'm not real fond of 2008 or 2009

This product has a great deal of upgrades. But I found it to run REALLY slow and easily crashed. The help online, was lessw than helpful. I had to shut down auto entries like place names or sources (which did helpo the speed). I had to uninstall FTM 2009 and Windows Service (pack (WSE) 3.0, then reinstall both.

The Interenet search window (viewing actually documents) is REALLY tiny (like 1 inch high 6 inches wide.)
You can't toggle from the viewing of and actually docuement (say a census records ) and back to the family view. Instead to get the viewing of the document you have to do a new search. (older version brought up Interent Explorer and you had to different windowns to do your research and editing in. Now you have to have one or the other NOT both.
The Internet search is too narrow. I can ask it to search a person, it will only brioing up 2 or 3 data results. I put in the same thing at Ancestry.com of FTM 16 I get 50+ results.

Everytime I tried to upload a file it crashed (I have the latest updates as of Apr 7, 2009). I had to break it out, then resave it, then upload a portion of the file.

Everytime I tried to publish a book or regristry report it crashed.

MyCanvus (a new online publishing feature) will NOT let you print family trees of descendants more than one generation (you can go to secondary site to do it, but you have to have FTM 16 or less). It would not let me merge a large file....the onlyl way to get it to upload was to break up the file (of course when you do that, you lose all the parents in all your marriages and any inter-relationshi[ps like 2nd cousin marrying etc..)

Backing up the file was difficult too..it usually crashed in the process.
Again, I have a large file....but it advertises it can hold 250 thousound people, my file is about 60 thousand and it is NOT performing well. IE I would to print a book or register report to take to a reunion..it crashes even when you use "select individuals" vs. the whole file.

Unfortunately, FTM< 16 is at capacity and won't let me enter anymore data on people....or I would go back to FTM 16 in a heart beat.

I vote for bringing back the old version pre version 16 and getting it to hold more data.

I just purchased the 2009 version to upgrade from Family Tree Maker 2005. I upgraded my computer and need FTM to be compatible with Vista. What a disappointment! It is quite elegant looking but almost impossible to work with. I just want to have a look at the ancestors chart and can't even get it to come on the screen unless I want to go to the print section. Then it has to recalculate every time I change the number of generations which has to be done one at a time. That's an awful lot of effort when there are 30 generations involved. This no where near as intuitive as the old version and I'm sorry I bought it.

I purchased Family Tree Maker 2009 Deluxe in April 2009 to replace my non-Vista compatible, decade-old Heritage Family Tree. After uploading my gedcom containing more than 14,000 people, I quickly noticed a major design flaw.

The relationship calculator follows the paternal line in a dual relationship rather then letting you choose whether to use the paternal or maternal line. For example, my maternal great-grandmother was widowed and then remarried to someone who would end up being a relative in my paternal line. Thus the program follows the paternal line as labels my maternal grand mother as the "Half sister of my 3rd cousin 2x removed". There is no way to choose! This is not good! I contacted the manufacturer and they have no time frame for correcting this "little bug" as they condescendingly called it.

I guess if you don't have a small town background, this program could work for you, if you don't mind the small pedigree view (only 4 generations) and not being able to view more than four children at a time.
I am waiting for my copy of Family Tree Heritage by Individual Software to arrive. It is the current program by the creators of my wonderful Heritage Family Tree. It has soooo many more features and it much easier to use. Of course, it you want Family Tree Maker for the trial subscription to ancestry,com, go ahead. However, you would be better off with superior software and utilizing your local LDS reading room or public library instead.

I used the free version of 2005 a few days and it worked ok. At least it allowed me to print out various charts of ancestors, descendants, etc. 2009 has very few charts--mostly diagrams that take a lot of space. Trying to download charts or find answers is a pointless task. It's a very complicated and confusing program I've been working with computer programs since 1993 and this is one of the worst I have encountered. I am going to try to get a refund.

I have been using Family tree Maker for years. I originally used version 8.0, and later version 16. There are a few things that I would like changed with version 16, but was pleased with it. I work on genealogy 10 to 30 hours a week, share family reports and gedcoms with other researchers very often, and have more than 17,000 peopl in my family tree.

I recently "upgraded" to version 2009. I know that version 2008 was not well received, and so I waited or this new version to come out. There are a few things I like about version 2009, but all in all it is not as good as version 16 on many levels.

About the only things I like about version 2009 is the addition of a pedigree chart bove the family and individual view, which makes navigating to a near relative simple (but not a great deal simpler that version 16). And I like is that it allows more children to be listed in the basic family view (version 16 limits the on-screen view to 8.) Besides these, I have no use for any of the additional "bells and whistles" that 2009 offers.

After trying to get used to FTM 2009 for a month, I have these criticisms:
You have to click several times more to get to a field where you can edit data (such as birthdates, places, marriage, etc.), and this information is duplicated on your screen: in a static field to the left, and in editable fields to the right, which is unecessary clutter. Simple things like going to the index of individuals, used to be one click, now it requires two. Little things like this end up doubling and tripling the moves it takes you to navigate thro7ugh the program. With as miuch data entry and editing I do with my gedcom, this makes me spend hours more each month to get the same amount of work done.

FTM 2009 automatically logs onto the internet when you open. I hate this! There is no reason for this! I have a limited threshold with my internet provider, and if I cannot have programs connecting to the internt in the background. Moreover, I hate the idea that my computer is sending information back and forth to [...] or anyone else without my express consent.

The worst part about FTM 2009 is the area where you generate reports. In version 16, the reports generated into RFT (Richtext) format could be easily opened and edited in Microsoft Word. However, in version 2009, FTM reports create a heading that is repeated on every page of the report. There are also lines added at the top and bottom ove every page, with page numbers and the date repeated. If you try to open and edit any report in Word, these "headings" and "footers" for all subsequent pages get thrown off. This makes it practically useless to export to Word to add or delete specific information (this is important to me because when I create a report for someone specific, I like to add a note at the beginging, explaining where she or I relate, and also highlight or bold important information--these edits I would make just for this person I am sharing with, and are not intended to shange my whole file, so I wouldn't want to make these editions in FTM). And so, I am left with the option of creating a report, exporting it to WORD, and then tediously going through and deleting all of the unecessary repeated hradings and stupid linmes that FTM 2009 adds.

And the other thing that is very annoying and frustrating is that FTM 2009 has a serious problem converting some of the text in individual notes. I have particularly noticed this with punctuation, such as quotes, commas, dashes and bullets. Instead, FTM2009 just shows you a little square where these punctuation marks used to be. Now, you could go thorugh your whole file and correct all these little conversions errors, but if you have lots of data, this is not an option. I have more than 17,000 individuals, and some of them have up to 10 pages of notes! It would take me more than a year to go through all of the individiual notes with a fin-toothed comb and correct them. It might be easier if I could copy the text and paste it into WORD to do this edition, and then paste it back into FTM2009, but this seems to be part of the problem: there seems to be a bug in FTM2009 which creates a problem with some puncuation marks.

I find version 16 (which came out in 2006) to be superior in many respects, and will stick with it for now.

The former Family Tree Maker 2008 was completely useless because it would not handle my genealogy database of 64,763 persons (constructed using FTM 2005). I bought FTM 2009 because it was advertised as "new and improved." It completely sucks. The controls are absolutely user hostile. Worse, when I tried to publish my book using the "book" feature I got the following worthless results:
10 generations produced 932 pages and 3,616 endnotes
11 generations produced 1,263 pages and no endnotes
12 generations produced 695 pages and no endnotes
13 generations produced blank output
I then ran the same family using the Register Report, and this was the result:
10 generations produced 1,222 pages and 7064 end notes
11 generations produced an error message:
QUOTE Family Tree Maker has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available. UNQUOTE
Windows did not provide any suggestions.

I have been using the FTM software as long as I can remember and up until the 2008 rewrite had little or no issues with the software. Since then, a great piece of software has steadily gone downhill. Here are two of the biggest issues I have...

1. Let's say you have been married three times in your life. You have two ex-spouses and a current spouse. All of your data in FTM properly indicates marriage and divorce dates. Your Relationships show one "Spouse - Ongoing" and two "Spouse - Divorced". Now run a Kinship report for yourself and examine your spouse and ex-spouses. The report will list them all as current... effectively saying you are married to three different individuals at once or, in other terms, a polygamist.

I reported this issue to Ancestry in November of 2008. They finally responded to me in February of 2009 and eventually told me that "I can affirm that our developers are working on a fix for your issue". No fix for the issue was ever released for the 2009 software and I have already confirmed with Ancestry technical support that the problem STILL exists in 2010.

2. I have one brother and sister. I also have one step-brother and three step-sisters. I share no common ancestors with my step family. But if I run a Kinship report for myself, my steps are reported as half-brother and half-sisters. Their children are reported as my niece / nephew. Yes, I understand that between us all they call me uncle and such, but the reality is that we are not related.

Again I reported this issue to Ancestry in March of 2009 and Ancestry confirmed that my data was configured properly. Their response was "currently working to fix it" and "it is slated to be corrected in Family Tree Maker version 2010". When I contacted Ancestry recently to confirm this has been fixed, their response was "Unfortunately this particular problem has not been resolved in Family Tree Maker 2010" and "we are not aware of the specific details relating to the kinship report". A very helpful support person has confirmed for me that the 2010 software STILL reports step brothers and sisters and half brothers and sisters. Their children are reported as "son (or daughter) of the half-brother (or sister)".

So what it boils down to is this... if Ancestry tells you "we reported it to our developers" or "it will be fixed in the next release", you can rest assured that NOTHING will be done about your problem.

Other issues with the software that Ancestry has done nothing to fix...

1. You click in the NAME box to begin adding a new individual. Because you want your mouse out of the way, you move it down. But in doing so you pass over the "Marriage to [unknown spouse]" label. You start to type the name and nothing happens. Why? Because when you moved your mouse over that label, the focus changed to some mysterious location. You have to be careful where you move your mouse otherwise your cursor jumps away on you.

2. You want to add a new Task for an individual and you want to categorize it. But the Category list is empty. Why? Unknown. The only way to add the category is to switch to the Plan view after you have added the Task and then select the Category. This was reported to Ancestry and all necessary proofs were provided. Their response in February of 2009 was "appears to be a bug with the tasks from the people workspace. This has been reported to the developers and they are working on a solution." No fix has ever been provided for this.

So if you do not mind reporting to your family members that they are polygamists or are ok with having your step relations reported as half relations then by all means buy this software. Other aspects of it are fine and work as expected. But if you encounter any issues like described above or come across any new, forget about having them fixed.