Hi, Can someone tell me, do you need to have your tree on Ancestry for the synchronising to work with FTM 2012? Karen
I have FTM2012 platinum edition. It was bought as a present. I got six months access to Ancestry but after that you have to subscribe.
As far as I am aware FTM (Family Tree Maker) is a stand-alone genealogy database. You don't need your tree on any internet site to use FTM. As for synchronising I don't know, not being an FTM user. I export a GedCom file from my database (excluding details for living people) then upload the GedCom to an internet site such as Ancestry or Genes Reunited (there are others). As I have said before, your chosen genealogy programme on your computer over which YOU have control, should be the prime repository of all your hard-won data. All the best, Malcolm Webb Lincoln UK
No. FTM as has been said is a stand alone software. Ancestry has a free app you can download onto a tablet but your tree needs to have been uploaded to Ancestry to use it. Not quite the same thing but maybe useful for somebody.
To view my trees "on the go" on mobile devices I use an app called GedView for iPhone and iPad. Export your tree as a GedCom file and upload to the device. Not as easy to use as my original database but a useful thing to have where I don't have my laptop available. Came in useful at a dinner party last Saturday night when we got round to discussing family history. They were suitably impressed that I had my (and my wife's) ancestry to hand on my mobile phone -- or was that boredom?? Are we sad discussing family history at dinner parties? All the best, Malcolm Webb Lincoln UK
I just got FTM 2012 recently and you can get 14 days free in order to sync it with Ancestry........BUT, once you access those 14 days via FTM, I think they expect you to merge your tree with your Ancestry one and I do NOT put my family tree out on the WWW ever!! I read the blurb on the CD and it is not clear. It refers to "registering" your program and then being able to access Ancestry. So I didn't register. Don't trust them, grin. I run it as a stand alone prog. Like the older one better tho. My family's rather thick book on our Canadian and UK ancestry has been plagiarized and yes, I went after that person and she now accredits my father and cousin. Bloody nerve to say she did all of the research!! OK, rant over.
I downloaded the free My Heritage Tree Builder from the internet which can be synchronised with a family tree on the My Heritage website. This is also free until there are 250 names in the tree. Sadly there is no app for a Blackberry smartphone as yet, though there is for iphone and ipad.
Welcome to the world of on-line family trees DON'T DO IT. That said, for serious researchers like us, on-line family trees CAN give some clues to some previously unknown family members; sufficient clues at any rate to enable us to further our own research. I have researched all the clues from other peoples' trees to my 4 x great grandfather William Webb, born about 1749. Many of them have a baptism for him in Ampthill, Bedfordshire and link him to parents in various parts of the UK and elsewhere. I have given up trying to tell people that William Webb was not baptised in Ampthill -- no Webbs were baptised in Ampthill between 1716 and 1786 when William's first child was baptised there. And not one of them has had the courtesy to respond; my contacts were, as always, polite -- honest they were. All the best, Malcolm Webb Lincoln UK
If access to a family tree is available only by invitation or on request, I have found that there does not appear to be too many problems if you have the facility to refuse access. In our case it has paid off although I appear to spend some time confirming relatives we knew nothing about until they were smart matched by My Heritage! Having found out that my husband's paternal grandmother was not the 'Gran' he remembers but actually his step grandmother he then found that his grandmother was one of 18 children. Through website smart matching, he now knows he has relatives all over the world!
I go with Malcolm on this. I don't have a problem sharing and use what is on there for clues. As I get all my initial research from parish registers etc I do put comments if necessary or write direct. It is up to them if they want to accept the alternatives. Anybody who is "serious" about research will usually reply. Sometimes a person may have family info to add.
Other people have trees on Ancestry which is basically the same as mine so when I want to show 'novices', I will type in an ancestor and show them a tree that is on there. For years I have used FTM as a stand alone programme and haven't uploaded my tree to Ancestry. It was the synching that I was interested in but have been reading reviews online and very few have good things to say about 2012.... No your not sad! I have done the same as once people know that you do it they are interested in how you go about it. Karen
Figgs... You can put your tree private. I have FTM 2012 as it was a gift from my grandson. I have it connected to Ancestry, but I am the only one who can see it.
I could be wrong about this (I'm sure that someone will put me right!) but according to Ancestry's T' & C's they own any information, inc. photo's, that you put on their site. They also have (or did have) another site called Mundai to which they transfer the trees, anyone can look at this site, you just have to register. As others have said your tree should always be on your computer, you can then choose what information you want to upload to an online account. On Genes Reunited all trees are private until you give someone permission to view but even then it is far better to ask who they are particularly interested in and e-mail the information on that branch rather than give them access to all of your tree. I noticed the last time that I was on GR they now have a facility where you can search for photos, the results are a bit fuzzy but I'm sure that a good photo programme could sharpen them up so you don't have to get the owners permission before you use them, so they're not really private either.
I upload my tree to Genes Reunited where, as said, it is open only to those to whom I give permission. I do not open my tree to anyone until we have exchanged e-mails and I am satisfied there is a possible genuine link. When someone sends me an e-mail which says "Let me view your tree, please" (many do not use the magic word "please" unfortunately) I send a polite reply asking "why". Some will respond with details many do not respond at all (the "phishers" as I call them). Remember, after you allow someone to view your tree they can view it at anytime and forever unless you deny them access. As a matter of routine I deny access to my tree after 2 weeks. I only have open access to 2 cousins, one in the USA and one here in the UK. All the best, Malcolm Webb Lincoln UK
So after reading all of yr posts, I am glad I have never put my tree online anywhere...private or not. I have about 1800 sourced ancestors with some really tough to solve brickwalls. They stay in the family b/c it took me years to sort them out!!
Thanks but I have heard too many negative things about Ancestry!! The point Madge makes about them 'owning' my tree is familiar. Besides, their fees are atrocious and the info is rather dicey from what I see on their free weekends.
You're so right, Malcolm - they don't! Unfortunately there are some who see it as part of their Ancestry subscription, the right to scoop all the information that you've painstakingly sourced and pieced together after years of expense and effort. I also have two cousins with open access, both genealogists, and am satisfied that they will treat my information and personal photographs with utmost respect, and that means not publishing them all over the place and passing them off as their own. It's all about trust. I wish I'd never put anything online.
I have to say I could get on a soapbox about this. I now do not have a tree that is online. To often it has been used without permission and the whole tree taken which is obviously no good to them. I have no problem sharing information with them - but so often ancestral trees are very wrong. Sometimes people will just copy other trees without thought - and without doing any research themselves. I have given up trying to advise people if their tree is wrong. I just feel sorry for future generations who look at some of these trees.
OK, I think we all know now that we shouldn't put our trees out on the web for slackers and thieves to steal and pass off as their own. Shall we now make a "blood oath" to never, ever do it again and to educate others as to the dangers of doing so. I still get ticked off when I see my dad's work out there under that woman's name.....but chuckle to myself b/c I know the oldest wife is the wrong one and she couldn't pay me enough to give her the right information!! And she knows that, so I am satisfied. (evil grin)
