Family Tree Maker software updates and news
If you are wondering about the status of your Family Tree Maker software, here is an email that I received today. Please note that FTM has been purchased by MacKiev software company and isn’t going away! I’m still using it and plan on continuing to do so.
Julie
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| Greetings!
Thanks for signing up for the Family Tree Maker mailing list! After six years as the developer of all the Mac editions of Family Tree Maker, we are so glad that Ancestry chose us to pick up where they left off as the publishers of this wonderful old brand. A new era for Family Tree Maker has begun, and we’re looking forward to keeping you up to date.
*** FAMILY TREE MAKERTopics of Interest  HOW TO GET A COPY OF FTMAs you probably know, we have published updated versions of Ancestry’s latest editions which we call FTM 2014.1 and Mac 3.1, and you can find out how to get a copy below. It depends on what Family Tree Maker edition you currently have: • Users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3 – Free updates are coming soon. If your copy is working well, just hang in there and we’ll send you an email to let you know as soon as they are available. If however you are experiencing crashes or the application has slowed to a crawl with really large trees, see “What About That Free Update” below to find out how to get an interim update sooner. • Users of older FTM editions – No matter how old your copy of FTM is, or whether it’s running on Windows or Mac, you can download an upgrade for $29.95 (vs. $69.95 regular price). Click here to take advantage of this limited-time upgrade offer today. You’ll also be presented with an option to purchase a hard copy on CD ($10) or our new natural wood USB drive pictured above ($14). • New users – If you have never owned a copy of Family Tree Maker before, you can download a full edition from our online store for $69.95 by going to www.familytreemaker.com and clicking the Store button. You can purchase a download with or without a hard copy on CD or USB drive. And on startup, you’ll get an offer for a 14-Day free trial you can use to search the 16 billion records on Ancestry.com. *** WHATS HAPPENING TO FTM AT THE END OF THE YEAR?As it gets closer to the end of 2016, we’re understandably hearing this question a lot. That’s because Ancestry initially said they’d only support FTM through the end of December 2016. But that was last year back in December 2015 when they also announced the brand wouldn’t continue at all. All that changed 7 weeks later on February 2nd — the day Ancestry announced that they’d decided after all to sell this wonderful old brand to us. And that together we would be building on what Ancestry had started, including building a new sync technology together. So relax. TreeSync® is not ending at the stroke of midnight this December 31st. And though it will be retired at some point, before that happens, there will be new syncing technology available to replace it. It’s already well into development and we will be starting outside beta testing before the end of the year. And that means syncing as we know it for FTM is going to live on into 2017 and beyond. So if you have been worried about what happens at the end of the year, well you can just stop worrying. Syncing, Ancestry search, and shaky leaf hints are all here to stay. *** GETTING TECHNICAL SUPPORTSoftware MacKiev is now happily supportIng all versions of Family Tree Maker for both Mac and Windows, though Ancestry will continue to assist us through the end of 2016 and beyond. Where to Get Technical SupportCompanion Guide. The first stop for learning how to use features of Family Tree Maker is the Companion Guide which contains step by step instructions for everything you might want to do. You can open the guide from the Help menu while running Family Tree Maker. Knowledge Base. We have hundreds of helpful articles posted on our support site on a variety of topics that will be of interest to all users, and can help solve problems. To get to the knowledge base, just go to support.familytreemaker.com. Support Requests. If you don’t find what you need in the Knowledge Base articles (at support.familytreemaker.com) just click the link for “additional support” at the bottom of the page and you will see the Technical Support request form. Typically we get back to you in 2 days or less. Live Chat. When you file a Support Request (see above) between the hours of 9am and 6pm EST, 7 days a week, you will have an option to have a live chat with an experienced support agent. This can be very helpful for urgent issues or those that require a discussion rather than a single email. Facebook Group. There is an excellent unofficial but very active Facebook group called “Family Tree Maker® Users” which you might want to consider joining. They have many very experienced users who are very generous with sharing their time and wisdom to help other users solve issues. Replacement Copies. We have set up an online Replacement Center which is always open. The Center can only provide replacements for those with FTM 2014 or Mac 3 and later. If that’s you, then have a look at “Getting a Replacement Copy” below. ***  GETTING A REPLACEMENT COPYFor any users needing a replacement for FTM 2014 or Mac 3, we have set up a completely automated online Replacement Center. Whether you’ve had a hard drive crash, are moving to a new computer, or just need to reinstall FTM but your activation code doesn’t work anymore, you can use the Replacement Center 24 hours a day to get a fresh copy. Here’s how: Getting a Replacement Download
1. Go to support.familytreemaker.com. 2. Click “for additional assistance” at the bottom of the page. 3. Click the Replacement Center tile. The Replacement Center checks that you have a copy of FTM 2014 or Mac 3 registered with Ancestry and then provides you with a free fresh link by email. You will also be given an option to purchase a backup disc for $10 or our new natural wood USB backup drive for $14. Note that what you get will be a full free-standing installer, so it won’t be looking for your old copy, a disc, or anything else. You will also notice that the replacement copy installer doesn’t ask you for an activation code. That’s because we don’t use them. Why? Well, we don’t like them ourselves, so we decided a long time ago we weren’t going to torment our customers with them. Instead, we use this old-fashioned thing called the honor system. It’s been working pretty well for us for more than two decades now, so don’t expect us to be changing that any time soon. *** WHAT ABOUT THAT FREE UPDATE?When we happily rescued FTM earlier this year, we set out to create free updates that we could wholeheartedly recommend to all current users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3. That work is still in progress, but if you’d like to get your hands on a copy and you’re OK with a near-final build, then you can have one any time. Even right now. That’s because a couple of months ago we started making the latest interim builds of FTM 2014.1 and Mac 3.1 available for free from our Replacement Center for any registered FTM 2014 or Mac 3 user. And since then, when anyone has come to us with a serious issue that’s fixed in the new editions, we have sent them there to get a copy right away. Why so cautious? Well, because this is a very complex product. And because we feel an awesome responsibility in dealing with what often enough is literally decades of a user’s work. So we are taking the time to get it right – to ensure that when we release final builds of Family Tree Maker 2014 and Mac 3 they’re as ready as they can be to meet that high standard. So, should you get the latest build right now then? Well, it depends. The improvements we’re made are mostly in stability and performance. So if FTM is crashing or has slowed to a crawl with large trees, then have at it. Same if the waiting is driving you crazy, or you usually download interim updates anyway. But if, like most users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3, your copy is working just fine, and you like being conservative about installing updates, we still suggest waiting for the final build. This is, after all, not a new version. It’s a patch. That’s why it’s free. And if you don’t think you need it right away, then you probably don’t. Having said all that, by all accounts, the builds we have placed on the Replacement Center are stable and safe to install. They have already been downloaded by a few thousand FTM 2014 and Mac 3 users, and – so far so good. Most are reporting that crashes have all but disappeared and actions with really large trees that previously took minutes, now take just a few seconds. So if you prefer to wait, we’ll notify you and everyone else on the mailing list as soon as the final build is ready. But if you’d like to try out the latest build of FTM 2014.1 or Mac 3.1 right now, here’s how: GETTING THE LATEST FTM UPDATE BUILD
1. Go to support.familytreemaker.com. 2. Click “for further assistance” at the bottom of the page. 3. Select the Replacement Center tile. *** FAMILY TREE MAKER – HOME PAGEMost everything you will need to know can be found on our Family Tree Maker home page. Home Page:www.familytreemaker.com. Links on the home page include:
Any Questions? *** © 2016 The Software MacKiev Company. Family Tree Maker is a registered trademark of The Software MacKiev Company. Ancestry.com and TreeSync are registered trademarks of Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. *** To be removed from future Family Tree Maker emails, just reply to this email with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line. |
Jack Minsky