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60 of 61 people found the following review helpful
2012 version updates make this software perfect!,
This review is from: Family Tree Maker 2012 Platinum Edition (PC) (CD-ROM)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I previously reviewed FTM 2011 for Amazon vine and the only major issue with it was the lack of automatic synching with your family tree on ancestry.co.uk. This has been sorted in the new 2012 release so hence the 5 stars!Here's an updated review for the FTM 2012: The programme installed flawlessly on my laptop (windows 7). Please note if upgrading from a previous version it doesn't automatically uninstall the old version. You have to do that manually. It installs as a new programme. FTM is designed to work seamlessly with Ancestry.co.uk and comes with 6 months premium UK membership worth 77 pounds. Ancestry.co.uk is brilliant and enables you to share your growing family tree with other family members who can fill in the gaps and add missing details. Premium membership enables you to search all the UK archives and the programme alerts you to possible matches both in the archives and in other peoples family trees. *Please note that the 1911 census has not yet been fully digitized. Pros: Simple interface Integrates with ancestry.co.uk and changes made online or in FTM are automatically synched Free iPhone/iPad app so you can edit your tree on your iPhone/iPad Automatically maps addresses Improved charts and reports (useful when sharing your research with family members who arent computer literate as well as for gifts) Cons: The display of the family tree itself on FTM can be a bit hard to navigate compared to the display on the iPhone/iPad and online which is much more intuitive. You can't scroll or use your mouse to "drag" through it like you can online - you have to select a person and click up or down through their family members to view the tree. With the automatic synching there is a risk that you may lose info if one of your collaborators accidentally deletes something - so choose their access rights carefully! (You can specify this) My rating is for the programme as part of the whole ancestry.co.uk package. I think it is a fantastic product and I have really enjoyed researching my family tree. To be honest I find it easier to enter data using the iPhone app but FTM is great for printing out charts (which you cant do online without paying for it). All in all a fantastic product! Who do you think you are? Take the plunge and find out! Comments
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Showing 1-5 of 5 posts in this discussion
Initial post:
22 Feb 2012 17:13:05 GMT
Last edited by the author on 22 Feb 2012 17:15:45 GMT
E. B. Williams says:
I am considering buying this. My old family tree software was great and it had a facility (although I had to keep my old PC which was running windows 98) to print in Banner format which was terrific for the big trees that I had after 17years of research. It meant that I could print out a tree which was 10 foot long without HAVING TO STICK PIECES OF PAPER TOGETER. The software no longer comes with that facility and is extremely annoying. My grandmother had 21 children and most of them ahd children & so on, so my family tree is enormous. Can you tell me how I could print out a large tree like that with the print large enough to read? Can I do it with this software? My old software was GSP family tree and I bought it many years ago I paid £7.99 for it. Sadly they also have stopped using the banner printing which I think is a must for trees. I would be interested in your comments. I would willing to pay a lot for something like I had before!
In reply to an earlier post on
22 Feb 2012 20:41:22 GMT
South Londoner says:
I take it by 10 foot Banner you mean that you printed it out on your home printer in separate A4 pages? From what I can see FTM2012 is able to do that. You have the option of printing 10 different types of charts including "pedigree", "descendant" , "relationship", "hourglass", "vertical pedigree", "horizontal hourglas","bow tie", "Family tree", "extended family" and "fan" charts. I imagine it will depend on your printer but when I looked at an extended family chart for my family tree it came to around 70 A4 pages end on end. The charts are also configurable so you can adjust it until you are happy with it. The other option would be to have it printed via the website or a printing company who could do large posters. Hope that helps.
In reply to an earlier post on
23 Feb 2012 16:33:48 GMT
E. B. Williams says:
Thanks for replying to my post. No I didn't mean 10 seperate pages, I meant one long page of banner paper. This paper comes either on a roll or in folds (Like the old tabulator paper) so there is no sticking them together. I can't understand why the software companies stopped doing the printer & computer software for it. It is such a boon as you just get your tree ready on line and size it so that you know how many pages it will be printed over. The whole tree would come up on one screen in miniature, and you could then drag out the pages widthwise and length wise and have as many as you wished to suit the tree. some trees are very wide and some are long so if it was just a wide tree, you would have - say five pages wide by one deep. If the tree was deep from top to bottom you would stretch out the pages so you may have 5 wide x 3 deep. this would then only require you to stick the three long sheets together. this is difficult to explain but I hope that you get the jist of what I'm saying. Many thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. Barbara
In reply to an earlier post on
24 Feb 2012 15:08:35 GMT
South Londoner says:
Ah I see! I think that might be more to do with the printer drivers/software than with the programme. Because I only have a "regular" printer (which only takes A4 paper) when I try and print a chart with FTM 2012 it only gives me the option of printing it on separate A4 pages. I imagine that if I had a different printer (for example one which could take A3 paper) then it would give me those options too... but I have no way of knowing for sure. You might want to check that you have the latest drivers for your printer and maybe send an e-mail to the makers of FTM 2012 to check whether your printer is compatible with the software. Good luck!
In reply to an earlier post on
24 Feb 2012 20:23:12 GMT
Last edited by the author on 24 Feb 2012 20:24:03 GMT
E. B. Williams says:
Thanks again for the reply. My printer is - a very old deskjet720c and I am very worried about letting it go after all these years. The paper that I used was A4 but a continuous paper that was folded like a concetina. You are correct of course that it is the Printer software (I've had it for so long that I forgot that!) But I am amazed that NOBODY - not one company, as far as I can tell, offers that facility. With so many people interested in family trees I would have thought that was a MUST.....
Take care & thanks for the help.
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Family Tree Maker 2012 Platinum Edition (PC)
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