Family Tree Maker 2019 Notes

I like and have used Family Tree Maker for a decade, but ...

[I now use FTM 2024. None of this has been re-retested and may be obsolete.]

FTM 2019 build 1252 (MacKiev 24.0.1.1252) Needs and Problems

FTM Problems:

• After deleting from a list such as individuals or source-citations, the display pane snaps back to the top instead of remaining at the chosen scroll position. This happens with other lists. This is very tiresome for long lists!
  
• Source text looses its newlines when upload to Ancestry.com, which makes the Source hard to read. Is this an Ancestry problem?
• Find has problems with foreign characters, such as not finding "cafe" with an accented "e". Find should have an option to Match Diacritics as for Match Case.
• Sometimes FTM leaves an empty spouse ("[no spouse specified]" in the spouse list and the spouse count in the Family display is one too high. Perhaps this happens when a spouse is deleted when shared events such as marriage still exists. FTM should clean up such linkage but leave the Source.
  • Work-Around: Right clicking in the wife panel of the Tree display and select Add Spouse. Add a dummy name such as "XXXXX" then, when done, select that person and use Person/Delete Person. May need to remove any shared data, such as a marriage fact before.
• Formatted Note text does not Cut into a Windows metafile so that it can be pasted as formatted text into other applications (and vice versa).
• FTM sometimes loses its position in the small, tree at the top of the screen when working in the Person tab for an individual. The selected person changes or children or parents disappear.

FTM Needs:

• FTM needs a Sync option to force an existing tree on Ancestry.com to be identical to the FTM tree. The current Sync will not disregard changes on Ancestry. After a Sync failure, it is impossible to assure identity with the FTM tree without deleting the Ancestry.com  tree and reloading (which disrupts user links and searching).
• The FTM file needs to be a true database in some standard format such as Microsoft Access or SQL. It should be possible to edit/compact/etc the database and then reuse in FTM. [There is a clue that FTM uses SQL Lite. If so can a SQL Lite utility access the *.ftm file directly?]
• When editing text boxes such as note, citations, etc., the Edit/Undo may work but but also needs a Redo. Needs separate edit/undo/redo history for each different area. [FTM 2019 is better than previous versions, but needs more.]
• The name lists should seek using typed first letter as is the Windows convention. Also in all other lists such as Find Source Citations - Source-Citations, etc. In some cases, the name search can be used but requires extra steps.
• Needs a distributable display program that works from CD/DVD or USB stick, etc.
  
• Formatted Note text does not Cut into a Windows metafile so that it can be pasted as formatted text into other applications (and vice versa).
• Needs simple formatting in Source Citations as it does for Notes. Encode as simple HTML?
  
• Needs to warn the user if a citation to be linked would link to both a living and a deceased person. Internet displays such as TNG or Ancestry may not distinguish and display the living data on the deceased person's page.
  
• Needs a method to systematically step through all individuals for review and tidying, and maintain the position even when other features are used while doing such work. Perhaps it would follow the tree up and down so context is relevant.
  
  
• The spell checker (NetSpell.SpellChecker 2.1.7.21450) is hard to use because:
  • Needs an editing window so that the entire context can be fixed.
  • Needs a Back feature for when you accidentally Ignore a necessary change.
  • Needs an Exit And Save Position to preserve the Spell Check position, when you need to look elsewhere.
  • FTM does not preserve capitalization in the supplied Change To: field.
  • Declares proper names in text as misspelled. Should check proper names in Place Names and Person Names not just the Dictionary. And suggest capitalization if found there.
  • Does not recognize HTTP URLs. Should skip, verify URL format, or even verify the host name.
  • Does not recognize "Sr's" as a properly spelled possessive of "Sr".
  • Needs a "Replace All" option, preferably with a complete list of proposed change locations. Scary but necessary.
    

FTM Problems for use with TNG:

• Have not tested this with FTM 2019 and TNG 13, yet.
  FTM puts media links in the GEDCOM, but not quite right for TNG yet. The TITL and TEXT does not get set in the TNG media data. Apparently the generated GEDCOM is not quite standard (using third level items rather than second level?)?