Family Tree Maker 2011 Essentials Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Okay, so I've bought and used v16 then 2008, 2009, 2010 and now 2011. With this latest incarnation they did put some much needed features back into FTM but they also made it less functional. [edited after emails with Duff] Few things to be aware of - First - DO NOT rely on FTMs Auto Backups to save your media items - it won't. You have to manually backup your work. So before you exit always have to save your work and if yours crashes as much as mine does then I'd recommend saving frequently while working. Second - if you save lots of two part images like ships manifests, WWII Draft Cards, census records over 2 pages, military records, passport applications, or any other 2+ image sets (and there are a lot of them) FTM will only save THE FIRST IMAGE in the set, which means that you will have to manually save the rest of the pages and then manually add them to FTM - and yes, according to Duff they are aware of this, but it apparently is not a big deal for them. Right.

In the end I think I'm done with FTM. This version is the prettiest yet, but still way too many issues to be resolved. Yes, this works great with Ancestry and now you can download your family tree from the website; however, the hassles of trying to get all of your documents and pictures from one version to the next is ridiculous. FTM tells you its all automatic, however I haven't had a new version take me less than 3 days to get back to the way it should be, and for the price, EVERY YEAR, this is unacceptable. When they start releasing upgrades instead of whole new programs every year, I might start purchasing Family Tree Maker again.

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Brand-new user interface plus more than 100 software enhancements makes it easier than ever to discover your family's story.

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