Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Synch ?

[willowthecat]

From the research I have done so far, I have gleaned that Family Tree Maker may be the only offline genealogy software for the Mac that allows a full synch with the online Ancestry Family Tree - ie it copies over the associated Media files. I have tried demo versions of RootsMagic and Mac Family Tree but they do not seem to allow Media files to copy over. I have downloaded all 26 media files from Ancestry and saved them in a folder on my laptop for Mac Family Tree to pick up along with the gedcom file. However this did not work and further research led to the view that only Family Tree Maker can reliably do this. However there is no free trial and so I would be taking a lot on trust to buy the software outright. However I do want to have an offline record one day as like many people I do not want to be tied in forever to the Ancestry Subscription fee.

Has anyone done a successful Family Tree Synch from Ancestry to Family Tree Maker ?

Yes, and it worked fine!

Thanks - I have now purchased the software and I am very pleased with the results - just what I wanted - Thanks again

I’m glad you’re pleased. I’ve got the 2019 version (I think that’s what it’s called) and it’s good. I need to actually use it more though! I vaguely recall that I could sync my tree with Ancestry even when I didn’t have an Ancestry subscription. I prefer FTM to Roots Magic.

Yes it has a better user interface than Roots Magic - the synch with Ancestry is very straightforward, a direct import with no gedcom file and all the associated documents copy over. You can do another synch with Ancestry whenever you want. It's ideal for when I end my Ancestry subscription

How do you find it by comparison with the MacFamily Tree interface on the trial versoin?

I really like the Mac software interface and visuals but like you I want interoperability for the files. Software forums suggest the Mac can pick up the gedcom files but I agree FTM gets the better overall reviews interoperability even if it lacks some of the interface features.

The MacFamily Tree has a great interface - with 3d views and colour coding. It does import the gedcom file from Ancestry and I did read online that it could also import the media (although not directly from Ancestry, you have to download them manually) . However when I tried this, it did not pick up the media files I had downloaded even though it did prompt me to look for them. Maybe I was just unlucky and I only had the trial version. Further research online led me to the view that only Family Tree Maker can import the media which are very important to me. Family Tree Maker also directly synches with Ancestry whenever you want which makes it easy to save any new work offline. But yes shame about MacFamily Tree as it looks great !

Thank you, that’s useful.

Now if only we could cross breed MacFT with FTM and get the best of both 😀