Cannot access my Family Tree Maker file!

[flst]

I had to buy a new computer & thought my file was safe as it was stored on an external drive. When I tried to open the file & couldn't I thought it was because I couldn't see the FTM 2010 program there. After many months I came across the cd & have reinstalled it. When I try to open my file (which is 81.1mb in size) I get the following message. "Adobe Reader could not open (file name) because it is either not a supported document or because the file has been damaged." Can anyone help me please?
flst

[Isabel H]

Are you trying to open the file on the external drive? If so, try copying it on to the computer's hard drive and see if it will open then.

[confusion]

flst:
When I try to open my file (which is 81.1mb in size) I get the following message. "Adobe Reader could not open (file name) because it is either not a supported document or because the file has been damaged." Can anyone help me please?

This appears to be a file association error. Are you running Win 8.+? If so, there has been a proliferation of complaints about files not being opened properly by their respective programs.

To fix this, right click on your <filename>.ftm file, then from the menu select properties, on the General tab, look for,
     Opens With:, press the Change button.
Select the program you want to use to open this file. If your program is not displayed,
click on Browse and select the program FTM.

Note:
At the bottom of this window make sure you have
Always use the selected program to open this kind of file checked.

Click OK then click Apply, then OK again.
Your file should now open with the respective program.

Did this work?


Jim

[flst]

Thank you both for your suggestions. Jim, I tried to do what you said. Somehow I was able to open the backup file with FTM  & managed to restore the file. I have now got 2 back ups which I cannot open. The master file has the FTM logo on it, which now opens One back up has nothing & the other has Adobe. Am I right in thinking the back up should also open with FTM? I followed your instructions & browsed for the Family Tree Maker program. I could not find it! However if I click on programs,at the start, I can open it & the file opens. Why cannot I find the program when I'm browsing?
flst

[confusion]

flst:
Somehow I was able to open the backup file with FTM  & managed to restore the file. I have now got 2 back ups which I cannot open

I am not sure that trying to open a backup will work. As I understand an FTM backup is used to 're-import' data into a corrupt FTM master file. It also has a smaller file size.

Have you tried to open the FTM program first. Then File>>Open and browse to the FTM 'master' file (<yourtreename>.ftm). This should then open in the FTM program.

If this works, and everything looks/works OK, make a new backup File>>Backup

Rename this backup to something  like FTM_Backup_<todaysDate>.ftmb (i.e. family tree maker backup)

You may then proceed to delete the two previous backups which appear to be corrupted.

flst:
 I followed your instructions & browsed for the Family Tree Maker program. I could not find it!

FTM is normally installed to:
            C:\Program Files\Family Tree Maker (Year) on 32bit OS
and
            C:\Program Files (x86) \Family Tree Maker (Year) on 64bit OS

The FTM master file (.ftm) and the backups (.ftmb) are stored in the My Documents\Family Tree Maker folder as default, unless you chose to store them elsewhere.

Jim

[flst]

I think I may not have installed the program correctly. When I enter All programs it's in a folder under Zinio Reader 4. I don't know what that means. When I click on FTM it opens directly into my family tree. All information appears to be there. However, the screen is not crystal clear. For some reason it's not so sharp as it should be. I'm totally out of my comfort zone here! Also, when I click on the shortcut it doesn't show my full tree, just about 7 people on it compared to 1200+.

[toastbutler]

Hello flst.

There is a useful set of answers here that relate to Family Tree Make 2010 and Windows 8.

http://boards.ancestrylibrary.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=9228&p=topics.software.famtreemaker

I would suggest making at least one copy of your original file before doing anything else which should be kept unconnected to your computer just in case anything goes wrong and you lose you original data. Use online storage and a USB flash drive for example. Good Luck.