Family Tree Maker 2009 Platinum

FAMILY TREE MAKER 2009 PLAT SB (WIN XP,VISTA)

Family Tree Maker 2009 by Ancestry.com, the #1 selling family history software, can help you easily discover, preserve and share your family history. It can help you build your family tree, gather stories and photos and create charts and books to share with your family. The Platinum Edition includes a six-month subscription to Ancestry.com--the world's largest online collection of family history records with more than 7 billion ancestors' names. You'll also receive an interactive training tutorial, The Family Tree Maker Little Book of Answers, a 25% off coupon for Ancestry DNA and a 15% discount on a professionally printed family history book or poster.

What's new in Family Tree maker 2009? Exciting new charts and reports Improved data editing and manipulation Enhanced maps, charts and reports A robust "find and replace" functionality Expanded RTF and HTML export Improved file merging and memory usage A way to copy and paste source citations The ability to save and apply templates Increased overall performance

How can you make the most of Ancestry.com? Family Tree Maker Platinum 2009 comes with six months of free access to Ancestry.com, the world's largest online collection of family history resources. Your software works seamlessly with the site so you can easily search for your ancestors and add the information you discover to your tree. You could find missing facts about your family in census records, draft cards, passenger lists, image collections and other historical resources.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting on your family tree, Family Tree Maker 2009 can help you create a family tree faster, easier, and better than ever before. The end result is a family history that you and your family will treasure for years to come.

What's New?

• Create essential genealogy reports (Register and Ahnentafel)
• Share your family tree with several new charting options: hourglass, bow tie, and fan. You can also use custom templates or design your own
• Streamline your data entry with one-click editing of individuals from any workspace in the software
• Simplify sourcing with "cut and paste" source citations
• Track AND print your ancestors' migration paths on interactive maps
• Enjoy faster startup times and improved file performance
• Find your ancestors more easily with improved Web Search. You can even choose to ignore irrelevant results.

Bonus materials inside: The Standard Ancestry.com Reference Library Access 10 invaluable family history reference books, compiled and indexed on one DVD The Getting Started Guide to Family Tree Maker Follow simple directions to begin a project and master the program's basic features Interactive Training Tutorial Get step-by-step instructions and tips that will help you easily build and grow your family tree. The Family Tree Maker Little Book of Answers Read short sections that will tell you how Family Tree Maker can work best for you. Discounts on Ancestry.com Products Save 10% on a personalized, professionally printed family history book or poster and 25% on DNA testing.

And don't forget the features you've come to rely on:

• Dynamic user interface that lets you quickly switch between important features
• The ability to import data from other genealogy programs, including Personal Ancestry File, The Master Genealogist, and Legacy Family Tree
• Powerful sourcing tools that let you document AND rate each of your citations
• Interactive maps and lists that give you a bird's-eye view of where members of your family come
• Place authority database of more than 3 million names that helps you standardize your place entries
• Photo AND file management features so you can easily incorporate all types of media files into your charts and reports
• Timelines that highlight personal, family, and world events
• Easy-to-use tools for merging duplicate individuals, calculating dates, creating to-do lists, and more

Use Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker together to get the most out of both.

• Search the extensive record collections at Ancestry.com without ever leaving your family tree! And, when you find new records, you can quickly merge them into your tree.
• Take advantage of Ancestry Hints--Family Tree Maker automatically suggests records that may match people in your tree
• Share heirloom-quality books and attractive posters that you create with the self-publishing tool at Ancestry.com

Your Family Tree Maker 2009 software also includes:

• Training Tutorial for Family Tree Maker 2009 (included on Family Tree Maker disk)
• Getting Started Guide (included on Family Tree Maker disk)

14-day free trial subscription to Ancestry.com.
Search the world's largest online repository of family history records.

I have been a very strong advocate for Family TreeMaker since the early 1990s but would not recommend or endorse the 2009 version to anyone. I admit that I did not purchase the 2008 version as I had recently purchased the Version 16 and only upgrade approx. every 3 years, but had heard there were problems with it. I was very excited about 2009; however, it loads very, very slowly and when I initially installed and then tried to copy over my database from the Version 16 program, I lost over 200 individuals. This I find totally unacceptable. I especially didn't like the new "look" or the charts - they are not much different than from before. The program is hard to navigate around in, and I couldn't find anywhere to import data from a informational cd. The media section is ok, but I prefer seeing the photos in the scrapbook section for individuals rather than jumbled all together. As for being "user-friendly" ... this program is not! Save your money is my suggestion. I had signed up for the on-line special offered about the program but never was emailed w/ the time and password until after it occurred. I am very happy that I didn't uninstall Version 16 before trying 2009!!

I remain frustrated with the program having made entry after entry, over and over again ending up with more than one version with the suggested instruction to backup. Then entering all the information over and over....then to go back and delete all the work done on the various backed up versions.
Still working on figuring it out!

I just upgraded to FTM 2009 from a 1996 version and I am so thankful I did. New capabilities, new tools and much more intuitive. This is really going to help my family tree work. My entire family is excited about searching for their ancestors, their history and FTM 2009 gives us the tools we need and the professional results we want.

This is the most creative upgrade to Family Tree Maker, well, ever. Functionality is greatly improved, graphics, instant "hints", reporting, "uploadability" and much more. The downsides are only a few: 1) freezes more than it should; 2) double dates (1711/1712, etc) not only don't apear automatically, they can't even be inserted manually; 3) takes a bit more self trainning to find everything you're accustomed to using. The optional trainig manual "The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker 2009" is a must. Genealogy Networks has been helpful so far when I've gotten completely stuck on a few issues. Get their phone number and call.....I really don't find the self help guides very 'self-helping'! All in all, it's worth the time and effort if you enjoy keeping one or multiple data bases on file.

My wife and I have used Family Tree Maker for the last 5 years. I am generally one who always wants the latest version of programs -- but I had seen the early questionable reviews of FTM 2008 and stayed away from it. I watched carefully as the reviews toward the end (with the three major improvements) started to turn. I corresponded with Ancestry during the end of testing phase for FTM2009 and decided to take the risk. It was WELL-WORTH the risk and the wait. My wife does not like change and she was ready to stay with FTMv16 until she saw more of what I was doing and how things allow you to see more information clearly. We have not tried all of the features yet and there are a few disappointments (CSV export is not as good), but we are really excited about being able to continue our family research farther and wider back into history. I strongly recommend going for the Platinum version for the extra resources and the "built-in" 6-month subscription to Ancestry. (Hint: Do not activate the subscription until you are ready with everything else -- data updated and names entered).