RootsMagic Treeshare

[RuthP]

I’m thinking of buying RootsMagic in order to download the tree I have an Ancestry, in order to download media copies of the sources. I know that I can download each one separately but have read that this is a quicker way if you have more than a few sources saved to the Ancestry tree.

Has anyone used this method, and how successful have you found it?

 

[Tim]

I can't believe you can only do 1 media copy at a time?? If this is the case, then you should look at FTM2019 as you can completely synch multiple trees between Ancestry and your pc.

 

[RuthP]

Hi Tim, sorry I meant that in order to avoid downloading the source media individually which Ancestry caters for, I wanted to download copies of all the source media I have attached to my Ancestry tree. I’d read that both RootsMagic and FTM packages provided the ability to sync trees and media from Ancestry to PC. As I already have an offline tree on Family Historian I’d only be using the new package for this one off exercise, I was thinking of RootsMagic as it is less expensive than FTM.

 

[PhilGee]

Would the free RootsMagic Essentials do the job or a RootsMagic free trial?

 

[At home in NZ]

Would the free RootsMagic Essentials do the job or a RootsMagic free trial?

Putting it mildly I am fed up to the back teeth with FTM. I have two issues that I have been told are 'local' therefore I'm given the impression there is no hurry to do a fix because it's not affecting the whole world.
I have had 4 Live Chat session with McKiev, this is an extract from the last session:
McKiev: The development team is investigating the issue, as you may understand, that's not the issue that can be fixed in one click. We hope the issue will be fixed in the upcoming update.
Me: But when is that update scheduled for?
McKiev: We expect the free update for FTM 2019 to be released really soon.
Me: BUT, i have FTM 2017 !!
Suggest you let me have a new copy of FTM2017.
McKiev: You can get a free replacement download, but it's not a fix for the sync issue you have. I would advise trying to download a tree from Ancestry a new, and check if the issue can be observed there.

At that I said goodbye because if the person had read my case properly they would have seen that I had already 'been there done that'.

My trees in FTM are corrupt because the sync has detached some of the husbands and wives. Each time I try to sync it tells me I have made changes to hundreds of people when I have not. (I cancel the sync when I see that).

To cut to the chase, I have been looking for an alternative that will sync with Ancestry. I have looked at Roots Magic and it appears it now only syncs with FamilySearch Trees because there is no mention of Ancestry.

What would you do under the circumstances?

 

[Tim]

If your tree in Ancestry is ok, can't you just download it as a new tree? Or am I missing something? I've had to download my tree a few times from Ancestry when the sync screws it up.

 

[At home in NZ]

If your tree in Ancestry is ok, can't you just download it as a new tree? Or am I missing something? I've had to download my tree a few times from Ancestry when the sync screws it up.

I have 5 trees that are all 'stuffed up'. Download from Ancestry was suggested by McKiev but when I do that and need to sync again, the sync 'stuffs it up' again.
Vicious cycle, frustrating to say the least.

 

[Tim]

It sort of sounds like it thinks you have duplicates in your tree? Or older relations added in as younger relations creating circular references?
Have you looked for these sort of errors? There are some error checking tools in FTM2019 or you could use FTAnalyzer?

 

[Graham Mansbridge]

I would thoroughly recommend RootsMagic. If you've got (or had) FTM it is very cheap to buy (you get a special offer price) and extremely powerful. I used to use FTM but when McKiev took over, stopped previous versions from syncing and hiked the price to exorbitant levels I decided to look for a change. One unexpectedly positive feature of RM that I have found is that, whereas FTM is essentially a copy of your Ancestry tree, RM works a bit differently and you can view the data in slightly different ways. Using it alongside Ancestry is very powerful. It can take a while to get your head around because there is so much to it but I think it is well worth the effort.

 

[At home in NZ]

It sort of sounds like it thinks you have duplicates in your tree? Or older relations added in as younger relations creating circular references?
Have you looked for these sort of errors? There are some error checking tools in FTM2019 or you could use FTAnalyzer?

McKiev have acknowledged an issue where husbands and wives are becoming detached from each other. It is not every married couple that it is happening to.
McKiev have also acknowledged an issue where the sync report lists 100's of people who have had changes made in Ancestry but no such changes have been made.
They advised me it's a local issue and I am waiting for an email to tell me when it's fixed. Holding my breath? No.

I have FTM 2017 and it has a data errors report, in one tree it has 'Possible duplicate event: Name.' for 2 people. On checking the tree I find there isn't a duplicate for either of them. I've used the data errors report in the past and found this bogus error on several occasions.

 

[At home in NZ]

I would thoroughly recommend RootsMagic. If you've got (or had) FTM it is very cheap to buy (you get a special offer price) and extremely powerful. I used to use FTM but when McKiev took over, stopped previous versions from syncing and hiked the price to exorbitant levels I decided to look for a change. One unexpectedly positive feature of RM that I have found is that, whereas FTM is essentially a copy of your Ancestry tree, RM works a bit differently and you can view the data in slightly different ways. Using it alongside Ancestry is very powerful. It can take a while to get your head around because there is so much to it but I think it is well worth the effort.

Thanks for this Graham, I have used FTM for about 14 years and this is the first time I have had such an horrendous experience.
As I said in my earlier post, it looks as though RM no longer syncs with Ancestry, is that really the case?

 

[Graham Mansbridge]

No, RM syncs perfectly with Ancestry but differently to FTM. Initially you download your tree from Ancestry to RM, as you'd expect. But then, when you sync the two after making changes in either, that's when the difference is apparent. As you know, FTM just does a straight copy from one to the other. In RM you have to approve the changes made to each individual in turn. That sounds long winded but it does mean you can check for any anomalies or mistakes and, if necessary, edit the data before approving the change. RM does have a number of data cleaning routines as well but it highlights the potential issues and you decide whether and how to edit. I get the impression that it is put together by enthusiasts rather than a commercial enterprise. The YouTube lessons on how to use the different aspects of it are quite folksy. There seems to be more emphasis on making it do what users want rather than making it look slick.