Software MacKievReviews of mackiev.com

As a result of my Windows 10 pc's recent meltdown I've had to switch to my partially set up Windows 11 pc which can't load my v8 copy of Family Tree Maker. I e-mailed MacKiev specifically asking them if I could download the software rather than have the bother and time delay of ordering from other organisations that were for the most part flagged as possible scams sites. The response said it was and gave me instructions on how to go about things. As I went through the ordering process it implied that there would be something to do directly on the internet and something else sent through the mail. Luckily when I got to the payment screen my details were refused several times even though they were entered correctly. I then e-mailed them again explaining that my details were rejected without giving me a clue why and asking why the price originally quoted had been increased by £5 for an additional cd and asking what was on that cd. To date, no reply has been received.

Family Tree Maker and Ancestry ------------------------------------- My response to Ancestry's reply: A curious response from Ancestry to approach McKiev to ensure this doesn't happen again. It won't happen again to me as I will not ever again sync. I'd imagine these two companies have some form of contract/agreement to allow syncing and any issues that arise. My FTM is more or less fixed or in the process of being fixed. My Ancestry tree data will no longer be fixed by me. Ancestry doesn't make it easy to do so and in any event I'm removing myself from that product. The end result is that there are hundreds of defective data points in My Ancestry not of my doing...which in the order of things will be offered up to other subscribed Ancestry Customers, as hints going forward. I'll leave you, Ancestry, to deal with McKiev to fix your data as I won't be. ------------------------------------- It's hard to work out which product is at the root of this review so both products will receive the same worded review:- Family Tree Maker (FTM) and Ancestry are connected, in that syncing of data to and from Ancestry and FTM is a feature. It relies on you having a paid up subscription to Ancestry it seems. At the outset I've now cancelled my subscription to Ancestry but will persevere with FTM as a standalone database as I'm at the stage of finessing my data only. On that, I've often wondered how useful some Ancestry data is. It relies on other individuals standards and its plain to see, when some so called genealogists aim for quantity rather than quality. I know of numerous trees that exceed ridiculously high numbers above 10 to 25000 names many aiming for a Duke, Lord, Royalty, Clan Chief at the head. Truth is most of us don't go back that far, in actual real records. Point of this review is to warn others not to hope that syncing is failsafe. If my recent experience is anything to go by, avoid it at all costs, is my advice. In hindsight, I foolishly I ran the sync tool in FTM. It took and unearthly length of time (which was a clue but no way to abort it without turning the computer off) and at the (the so called successful with no error messages) end, the carnage it created in both environments was soul destroying. My Ancestry Tree now has many individuals displaying the "~blank f i" label and in FTM missing connections (although most data is still stored but no longer linked to the actual tree. Not the easiest to reinstate! I ended up with 500+ duplicated individuals (some more the twice) that I had to merge labouriously over about 3 plus hours. Plus then there are now all the duplicate media (pictures) now attached to many individuals. I dare not try and fix. I could restore using a previous backup (I save to backup several times a day) but from experience that doesn't always make things better and work is required fixing stuff ..been there done that. So, many years of careful research muddled up substantially through no fault of mine. Reading some other reviews this is not an unknown issue and possibly something to do with server failures at one end or other. Please treat this as an advisory from someone who is no stranger to genealogy or IT.

My FTW, latest edition, will not sync with Ancestry. I've tried all recommended fixes. None worked. Over that past 6 months I've sent multiple reports to FTM. Not a single response from any of them. Support in the past has been better than it has been in the past 2 years.

Appreciate technical 'fixes' but.... 2024 with upgrade still does not address some of the features that were in 2019. Dislike 2024 and am still using 2019.

Used FTM for many years, had FTM 2017 and it suddenly stopped connecting to ancestry, I did not have an active ancestry at the time, but was suppose to have access to me tree, which I did, but only if I logged into ancestry directly. FTM knew of the problem, but there was no fix. FTM 2019 had the same problem, but there was a fix for FTM 2019. I re-upped my ancestry and was cut and pasting to FTM. UGH!!! So I bit the bullet and bought FTM 2024. Same problem! FTM 2024 won't link to ancestry. With several chat sessions, they had my upgrade some of my drivers, with no difference. Then wanted me reinstall EDGE back onto my computer. This is a HARD no way. It was hard to get rid of that control freak program and keep it from being reinstalled with micosoft updates. What company designs their applications to only fit one browser - that's insane to me. I was then told I could use a Mac. Uh, yea, I'll just go buy a Mac so I can maybe use your software. I'm really disappointed, the new FTM 2024 isn't much different for FTM 2017. I'll probably be cancelling my ancestry subscription, without the upload and download un-usable, I don't want to cut and paste for much longer.

I have recently been having trouble syncing my tree with FTM 2019 so I contacted their support team. They suggested upgrading to FTM 2024. This I have done and after the odd teething problem all things are now working well. Thanks initially to Pauline and also to Daniel. They were both a great help.

I ordered and tried to download the 2024 FTM. It never started to download and I can't find my info where I tried to order. I'd like to cancel for now!

Longtime Family Tree software user. Recently purchased new 2024 upgrade for about $65. Program stopped be able to connect to Anccestry.com for search results. Told I have to pay $200 to have compatible software drivers installed on my computer. NEW UPGRADE IS JUST A SCAM TO SELL YOU SUPPORT. Don't fall for the new upgrade.