FTM Tree Sync ceasing from 29 March?

[sng165]

APOLOGIES FOR THIS WARNING BEING A BIT LONG WINDED.....

Feb March all my photo's & most of my attachments "blurred out" for best description on my Ancestry Family Trees.
I've been an on-off member of Ancestry for many years, so there's a lot of hard work in there.
In 2015 my tree was getting far too big & unmanageable.
In order to split it I was persuaded to sign up for FTM (around £100!)
This worked, I split it into 6 x trees. I continued to maintain both Ancestry & FTM.

Upgraded FTM (for free) to version 2014.1 3/4 weeks back after pictures disappeared.

When nothing re-appeared, I was told I'd have to re-load all pictures into ancestry one-by-one! or wait for the newer version FTM 2017 which was due 31st March, and I could have that at £29.99! so I reluctantly paid for that, and I'm still waiting for it.

There was no warning our photo's etc would disappear from Ancestry.
Up to now, I've had no guarantee that they will re-appear on Ancestry with FTM 2017

I've paid for an upgrade I've yet to receive, with no date as yet it will be available - my Ancestry subscription is expiring fast!

People who don't use FTM still show their profile images etc on Ancestry - its only us who do use FTM whose photo's are awaiting sync which have disappeared. ie: if i'd never bought it in the first place then I'd still show all my pics/documents etc on Ancestry. I suggested it was blackmail to buy the new package! I was told The images where not transferred due to the improper working of sync feature. You may send your complains at familytreemaker@mackiev.com but this get you nowhere!
I could get a refund as I paid via PayPal - but that wont get me my pictures etc back !!!

It was suggested I get into the BETA testing...

I am now heavily into the Beta testing.

I have now ended up with 9 (an increase from my original 6) family trees.
The 3 additional trees came during the testing process.
Of my 6 original trees I now have 3 Ancestry trees linked to FTM (family tree maker), and 3 un-linked??

Neither I, nor FTM, have any idea how this happened?

However - the 3 which came across as un-linked, brought over my (lost) documents & pictures from FTM onto Ancestry - Yippee!

Quite how I'm going to link them ever again I don't know!

Note: the trees which brought my pictures back from FTM back to Ancestry, do not reflect any amendments I have made over recent weeks - all that wasted work


Finally - I have complained to FTM !
Although I'm still involved in testing - I've spent HOURS online emailing, & online chatting - mainly to staff, who, depending on who you get, depends upon the efficiency/accuracy of the answers you get!!.
They DO NOT have any telephone contact numbers!
I suggested a phone contact (manned by efiicient staff) & maybe something like logmein123.com would have speeded up their testing process !
When this is rolled out to the general public (worldwide!) I can see it being an absolute nightmare! and if I wasn't already so highly committed, I would avoid it with a bargepole

[weste]

i notice they started rolling out about 11 hours ago but it says don't worry uk users go to bed , basically they set up time slots and apparently we won't miss out.Does n't say when uk will get it.I pre ordered and paid.I know what you are saying about telephone numbers, the only one I've seen is to an uk shop but you have to pre order to mckiev.They say they kept people informed yes but here in the uk we certainly did n't get it straight away and people don't know when the next one was coming.Also I've commented several times re changing my email and the trouble I had to go to when my email went down and was unrecoverable. I can understand.Congratulations on getting your media back!!! Also when they said to check Monday for email , what were we supposed to think as they usually quote Utah time. Its been a purchasing nightmare. I just hope everything goes to plan when I do get to sync.

[groom]

I've decided I wont accept the e-mail invitation as I don't have time in the next 48 hours. I'll let people who have large trees and who know what they are doing test it first, so hopefully by the time I get it, all the bugs will have been sorted.

It is a pity that they didn't ask people to register using their card, but not actually take money from accounts until it was ready for download. This wouldn't have been that hard, as when I shop online from a major supermarket, the money doesn't leave my account until after the goods have been delivered.

[sng165]

Congratulations on getting your media back!!!

Their instructions are a nightmare! Not clear at all.
I had FTM2014, plus I had an expired trial of FTM2017. It didnt even say which to use?!!

In the end I had to recover trees/files from FTM2014 using the backups I'd made of my trees before beginning the trials., then install ANOTHER new version of FTM2017

However in order to trace & resurrect the (correct) files/trees to recommence trials on FTM2017 I first had to get through to somebody at FTM who knew what they were taking about (2 hours on online chat!) to point me at the correct files :
This may help you resurrect your own files if you've taken part in the trials?
To restore a backup, please select Restore from the File menu, navigate to the location of your backup file (usually Documents\Software MacKiev\Family Tree Maker) select the backup you need, and click Open.

[smudwhisk]

If they are syncing again, even for a limited number, it explains the almost constant errors loading pages in normal browsers.  Too much activity on the servers. . Doesn't look good going forward when they role out FTM proper.

[weste]

I must admit I've had more difficulty trying to attatch census etc just lately. Thankks for the head up on restore.

[sng165]

Whilst undertaking all this testing etc, I stumbled across Family Tree BUILDER, as opposed to Family Tree MAKER.
Anyone used this ?
Is it worth cancelling the subscription to FTM (MAKER) & transferring my affections to FTB (BUILDER) instead?
Is it compatible with Ancestry?
My 6 trees have between 200-1000 persons in each, and I have up to 160 images within each tree.
(and I understand BUILDER is FREE ?)

[groom]

Is it compatible with Ancestry?

It obviously won't sync with Ancestry, the only programme to do that is FTM as I understand it.

[Jomot]

It is a pity that they didn't ask people to register using their card, but not actually take money from accounts until it was ready for download. This wouldn't have been that hard, as when I shop online from a major supermarket, the money doesn't leave my account until after the goods have been delivered.

I was a bit annoyed about that too, but in fairness I also pre-ordered a CD as a gift for hubby at around the same time & also had to pre-pay for that.  For whatever reason the release date on that was put back as well - maybe I'm just a jinx