I assume you have all read that a new version of Family Tree Maker will be available August 19, 2009. While I know many of you haven't upgraded your FTM product for many years and others who have FTM 2009 just got around to downloading it to you computer recently, I was curious to see how many in the group were considering upgrading to FTM 2010.

Just out of curiosity if you don't mind, I would like to hear what everyone thinks about upgrading to FTM 2010.

Thanks,
Anita

I'm having so much trouble with 2009, that I may never use another FTM product again. When I did the GEDCOM file to change from ver. 16, lots of my files broke off. What I mean is, that there are fragments of lines all over the place and I'm still trying to reconnect the lines. Tech support told me that I must have had a glitch in my computer that caused the problems. What also happened was I lost all my scrapbook images.. .ALL of them... and now I'm just putting a few back in for source proof, but nothing else. In effect, I use ver 16 for photos and 2009 for all updates. It's a real mess...

Yea, Phyllis, I have both versions in my computer. And it did make me sick... I cried for a couple of days, and then just said to h--- with it. But my cousins are trying to help me get everyone attached again. Thank goodness I have family historians who can check their specific lines for errors.

Rebecca,

So sorry you had problems.

You might have had a glitch when installing the GEDCOM. Sometimes making a new one and starting over will correct the problem.

I downloaded my file from Ancestry.com into FTM 2009 and the only problem I had was that it would not download any media files which was time consuming to go back and save those manually. However, I understand that FTM 2010 downloads photo files but I doubt that means media files such as copies of census records and source documents but I am still considering upgrading.

Anita

To answer the question about whether or not the different versions of FTM merge, the answer is no. I have Ver. 16, Ver 2009, and Ver 2005 still on my computer and I can open any of them to see the files. The only one that is up to date is 2009 because they don't update the old verstions when I add to 2009... .but the old versions have my family photos so at least they are still stored. It's just a huge hassle to have to find them this way.

Tech support worked with me for quite some time as we tried to get it fixed.. .but they said the situation was hopeless and I'd just have to reload the photos. Well, some of them aren't saved anywhere but on FTM, I didn't put them on my hard drive... so this only makes it all the more difficult.

I don't want to scare anyone off from getting a new version, but if I had to do it all over again, I might just go with a different system altogether... like TMG or RootsMagic. The reason i didn't go to a different software in the first place was because I knew that a GEDCOM wouldn't move my photos. But now, it really doesn't matter.

I do like the ability to save the source material in 2009, but if that doesn't tranfer in to 2010, then I'm $^#%@* again.