Customer Reviews

Family Tree Maker 2010 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Have been using FTM for 15 years and the last 2 years have been very disappointing. I have issues with the Calendar.

Some of these issues are:

Can't change fonts.

Does not print all names even though they are entered correctly. (Previous versions printed 2 pages of the same month when names or anniversaries overflowed the date.) 2009 and 2010 versions print one page only and drops any names and anniversaries that don't fit. Try and figure that out when you have over 3000 names.

When you go to save the calendar it won't save it properly. I only wanted to have certain names and anniversaries on my calendar and I saved each month separately. When I went back into the calendar it reverted to the default which is to include every name and anniversary (living people only). I have had to go to "legal" size paper to make the names fit and I am not sure they all are there even doing that.

When you try and exclude someone from the calendar it is very time consuming and some of the functions do not work at all.

Some anniversaries show up even though one spouse is deceased and the proper box is checked on the options.

Occasionally a maiden name will print rather than a married name even though the proper box is checked on the options.

I had most of these issue with the 2009 version and I was unable to get them resolved through emails with customer service. I wrongly assumed that the 2010 version would correct at least some of these flaws.

I told the customer service person that I though they had a disgruntled programmer.

I am now looking for any other software that will let me download my information without having to re-enter the over 3000 names and other information I have.

I keep getting conflicting information about this issue. The fact is, at least in MY case, FTM 2010 does NOT work with Windows 7. I purchased the product, after researching that it was SUPPOSED to work with 7, but lo, two months later (surprise!), when I upgraded to 7, FTM no longer works, neither in it's "native" form, or even when I ask windows to run in "compatability" mode. Nothing I seem to be able to do to make it work.

What I am wondering, is why you would introduce a product like this, just weeks from the introduction of the next, "trouble free" version of Windows, and claim that it WOULD work. From what I am reading on your site and others, I am not alone in this problem. If there is a patch, why can it not work without opening FTM 2010, WHICH WILL NOT OPEN IN WINDOWS 7?????

I have been using FTM in various versions for almost 20 years, since the old DOS based in the distant past. Recently my old XP box died and I got a new HP with win 7. I tried to load the FTM version 16, but it wouldn't work, so I put in the new FTM 2010 version and loaded two of my family files. First warning: you can't go back. It is not backwardly mobile, so you have to stay with 2010. Second big warning: it progressively crashes on win 7. Called "support" people x3. First call: compress the file. Didn't work. Then, re-install after clean backup. I never in 20 years had to do this or install from safe mode, so why now on a brand new machine? Just try it, and hung up. Checked the box, no driver conflicts. Second call, insisted on clean backup. Tried it, didn't work. Third call. File is corrupt. Export the file as a GEDCOM, then re-install and put back the media files. Small problem: the file has 11,513 individuals and about 20,000 media files. Shouldn't take more than 3-6 months to put every thing back. Big whoop.

So I simulated the program to think it was running on XP sp3, and it runs. OMG. File isn't corrupt after all. Just doesn't run very well on the OS it's advertised for. My best guess: FTM knows that it's program isn't ready for prime time, and has told it's support people not to acknowledge it and send them on endless wild goose chases. So the buyers get to flounder around, while FTM hopes they give up and go away. And pockets the $.

Very bad.

I have been using FTM since version 8. Each version is better then the last. This one has some great features. Some of my favorites are the timeline report, maps and links to mycanvas (projects online). FTM makes it easy to collect and organize information. It also makes it easy to share that information with my family. I can print up pretty pages and charts which everyone loves to have a copy of. I love how easy it is to customize the reports / projects to suit my needs. FTM has helped me trace my family back over 5 generations and connect with distant family members around the world.

Having just started working on my genealogy I found an instant problem with compiling the many different people and generations. I decided to try Ancestry's Family Tree Maker because it offered a three month membership to [...]. It has been worth every penny. It is easy to learn and very user friendly. Finding people is a snap and adding new ones is very easy. All the additional features such as media storage, merging facts from the internet, and printing reports are great. This is a must have for anyone interested in organizing family information.Family Tree Maker 2010 Deluxe

My first version of FTM was 1a in the DOS days. Since then I have purchased 6 different upgrades (that were all produced by succeeding companies) and was very pleased with all versions, especiallly version 2005. With a patch that FTM provided, I was able to get ver 2005 to work in Vista, but contrary to the Ancestry website, the patch would not allow version 2005 to properly work with Windows 7. For almost 2 weeks, I would send a question to the Ancestry help desk and would always get an answer back, sometimes that day, but usually the next morning. Unfortunately, none of the answers were in response to the questions that I posed. Out of disgust, I finally purchased version 2010 as it was advertised as working with Windows 7.

The install with Windows 7 was uneventful, the program does work and I was able to import my 3 rather large ver 2005 databases without any problems. HOWEVER, the layout of the new screen is extremely confusing. Entering data on individuals is cumbersom and working up or down a tree is difficult. Some times it seems as if you have an individual just floating out there somewhere as it is difficult to always see where they belong in the family. On one occasion, I was entering data about a person and suddenly, the screen shifted to another individual. THIS IS DANGEROUS as you might enter erroneous data on an individual.

The original Family Tree Maker was published by Banner Blue and has been sold to numerous companies before Ancestry.com made the last purchase. All versions prior to [...] purchase (ver 16 aka 2006) were excellent tools to create and maintain a family genealogy database.

I just can't emphasize enough that version 2010 is a giant leap backwords. You may feel that you have to stay with FTM as this is the program that you created your database in and you don't want to strip off some of your data by exporting your file as a GEDCOM in order to import it into another program. Think twice about this. (With version 2010 you can only export to version 2008 or 2009 without having go export as a GEDCOM file.) This appears to me to be a way that [...] will try to keep you in the FTM family as some genealogy programs will do a direct import of FTM database files that are in format used in version 2006 and earlier.

THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU PURCHASE THIS PROGRAM.

I have to say that this software is amazing, its not perfect but none of them really are. I tried several and ended up with Roots Magic which is a very good software, with nice features, but it is very bothersome and time consuming retyping all the data you find, unless you have the Gedcom file to import.

I usually buy things like this from Amazon, but this time I received Family Tree Maker 2010 because it was part of a subscription package. I decided to give it a try, so I imported the Gedcom file I exported from RootsMagic.

The software lets you search from within the software from places like [...], Google, etc, and if you find legitimate information you can merge it to people in your tree, the software copies all the data for you, and even adds new people. It lets you choose what details you want to include, no more typing! Plus it automatically puts citation for the references in your tree. You can also copy media file images such as photos and images of census records. When reviewing a person in your tree all the references are right there for you to view if you need to. I wish I would have bought this sooner.

The coolest feature is that the software automatically finds matches to data [...] you will see a little leaf next to the person in the tree, click on it and it will pull up the search on Ancestry you can review all the info and if you choose you can import new info and people that you find for that person. With a few clicks I was able to add a whole new branch to my tree plus add all the media files all without typing a single name.

Awesome! Well worth the money. But if you don't want to spend the extra money check out Roots Magic, they also have a free version on their website called Roots Magic Essentials that works very well. I used the free version for quite a while, ended up upgrading to use the extra features.

Have fun!

I have been using Family Tree Maker software for 15 years. This is by far the most feature rich genealogy software that I have seen. The integration to [...] allows adding of Census and other images to your database without any tedious data entry. Build your tree FAST.

I just purchased this program. Went through the installation of it. Clicked on the icon. Microsoft Windows tells me the program has stopped working (before it even gets started). Reported it to the support group and told it may be a few days ( 3-4) before I hear from them.

Did some searching and discovered that there are others having similar if not the same problem. I'm really disappointed to have such a problem. I've been using version 5 for years with no problems.

I have yet to really use this program, because it will not import and convert my Family Tree Maker 2006 data file.

Your first thought is probably that I should have converted sooner... I did. Well, I tried. When FTM 2008 came I bought and installed it with great anticipation. I had just gotten a new and, at the time, very speedy laptop. 2008 installed fine and converted my 2006 files fine (although it took 2 days to do it), but then the program ran so slowly (5+ minutes to open even a small file) that after several weeks of fruitless correspondence with FTM Support, Support advised me to go back to 2006. I did. 2006 has served me very well. In fact, except for the time it mysteriously "disappeared" all my NOTES (could not find them even in backups from which I had printed out the notes), flawlessly. And I really do love that it displays and prints "family trees" and genealogical reports quickly and easily.

I bought 2010 with diminished enthusiasm, but I installed it and entered a couple dozen names to play with. It worked fine. I carefully read the manuals, slight as they are, and was quite worried about the frequency with which they mentioned that 2010 might not be able to convert files from previous versions (seemed to me to evidence a distressing lack of faith in their own product), but with hope in my heart I loaded my old file and started the file conversion process. Three days later, with the progress bar at 99%, just as the program was almost done writing the converted file, the program crashed. I tried again. Same result. I tried again and again and again. Always the same result.

I tried "spliting" the genealogy in two by "un-marrying" my wife in the data file, but that too proved fruitless. FTM 2010 would not import either section.

Support advised me to export my 2006 file in smaller sections, then convert each section to 2010 format, then merge the sections. The split worked ('tho each takes several hours to manually select the people you want to export). The conversion worked and pretty quickly. The merge worked too, except that at the end of each merge FTW 2010 crashed requiring me to do some work arounds and a bit of housekeeping to reopen the merged file before I could open it.

I've been at this nearly a month and have about 150 hands-on hours, plus several times that amount in computer processing time, into this conversion. As of yesterday I had managed to "process" about 23,000 people (one 6th of my 2006) file this way... until today when after a 19 hour merge the program crashed and nothing I have done allows me to open the new file.

Now my original FTM 2006 data file is very large - 450 megs, 145,000 people. I expected it to be a slow process, but it did expect it to work.

As I have written to the very nice, but not very helpful, woman in Support... "Why is it that this version of your program will not convert the file created by and working perfectly on a previous version of YOUR program?" That is really not a lot to ask and that really is my problem with FTM 2010. Despite my considerable good faith effort, FTM 2010 will not accept the data file I have been working on for years and years, and no one can explain why.

I have now given up on Family Tree Maker 2010 and given my experience with 2006 and the lost NOTES, I figure if I'm going to be forced to re-enter all this data by hand, I'll likely re-enter in a program in which have not lost confidence.

For those of you starting from scratch FTM 2010 will probably work very well. Still I can't really recommend it. After all, you too may work on your genealogy for years and end up at some future time unable to import your hard-won data into the latest version of Family Tree Maker.