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    Thinking about purchasing FTM

    I use Reunion as my primary family tree software, but also maintain a "bare bones" tree on Ancestry. I am thinking about purchasing FTM so that my information will sync with with my Ancestry tree. What happens after a first successful gedcom from Reunion to FTM (once I am satisfied with the transfer of data.)? Do I still have to enter new information in both Reunion and FTM? If I periodically gedcom my Reunion tree to FTM, does the sync to Ancestry replace the existing tree thus initiating a restart with hints and DNA matches? I'm not sure of the mechanics of using Reunion > gedcom > FTM > sync to Ancestry and would like to know what I am getting into before purchase!
    http://www.reedandberbachfamilies.com/
    Reed, Berbach, Sprung, Ralbovsky, Delamater, Rankie, Brownell

    #2
    Having just recently bought FTM, primarily to move my Reunion trees to Ancestry, let me try here. Being a neophyte to FTM, I may get some of this wrong.

    I exported a Gedom from my Reunion tree to my desktop. I then opened FTM and clicked on the "New Tree" tab at the top of the FTM web page. From the resulting menu in FTM, I chose "Import a Family Tree,'" and then, in the "File to Import" entry, navigated to my Gedcom exported from Reunion and clicked on that as the "file to import." That put the Reunion tree into FTM. Went smoothly with little trouble. (Biggest trouble was finding and restoring links to a number media that had gotten lost in Reunion - reported on by FTM.)

    Then to get that tree into Ancestry, I followed the advice of The Kiwi (Roger Moffat) on this forum:
    Once you have a tree in Family Tree Maker, you can upload it to Ancestry by clicking Upload and Link to Ancestry from the Current Tree view in the Plan workspace.

    That worked. So now I have my Reunion Tree, my FTM Tree (a clone of my Reunion Tree), and my tree in Ancestry. I might mention that I made sure my Ancestry tree was made "Private" to allow me to work with it and to make sure I didn't have data on Ancestry which I did not want public (I did - relating to a couple of suicides it was not my place to reveal.) Keeping it private for a while.

    Having linked my FTM tree to my Ancestry tree, I can open that tree in FTM and click on the Sync icon atop the FTM page in "Current Tree" and any Ancestry changes will be changed in my FTM tree. And, I think, vice-versa. Works like a charm. This does not happen automatically, but must be initiated by you by clicking on: "Sync." The requirement to make this happen by clicking "Sync" is, in my view, a good thing (or I'd be trying to undo things that happened automatically that I really shouldn't have allowed).

    The repetitive action required here is to update your FTM file by creating a new Gedcom in Reunion when you get to the sufficient change point, deleting your former tree from FTM and importing the new Reunion Gedcom.

    If I've gotten any of this out of kilter, perhaps, Roger or Bob White could chime in.
    Last edited by cponeill; 10 February 2020, 02:31 PM.

    Comment


      #3
      I should point out that FTM and Ancestry sync only with FTM 2017 and later editions. (If you're buying today, the latest version is FTM 2019). Here's what Ancestry, has to say about syncing FTM with Ancestry:

      Does Family Tree Maker 2019 sync with Ancestry®?

      Yes. In 2016, we announced the purchase of Family Tree Maker software by Software MacKiev and continued to support Family Tree Maker for a year, working closely with MacKiev to make sure you'd have the ability to upload, download, and sync Family Tree Maker to Ancestry.

      What you should know:
      In March of 2017, Ancestry and MacKiev permanently retired TreeSync and replaced it with FamilySync, a new syncing technology available in Software MacKiev’s Family Tree Maker 2017.
      Family Tree Maker editions prior to 2017 are no longer able to sync with Ancestry trees, but older software is still usable as a standalone program.
      Ancestry search, merge, and hints will continue to work in Family Tree Maker 2019.

      Comment


        #4
        and another late add:

        When you click on the Sync button in FTM, you are presented with a drop-down menu, one entry is which is "Option." Here you can make a choice for Syncing to happen Automatically or Manually. I chose Manually (which is the default choice).

        One last observation.

        While you can sync FTM and Ancestry with each other, there's really no way to sync FTM or Ancestry with Reunion (at least not what I'm aware of). You can export a Gedcom from FTM and import that Gedcom into Reunion, thus having most changes made in FTM (and Ancestry after syncing) appear in Reunion. BUT... I'm not all all sure that by doing so you wouldn't lose data or media going from Ancestry or FTM into Reunion.

        But Reunion will not I (I don't think it will) sync with either Ancestry or FTM.

        I had added to my Reunion wish list a couple of weeks ago the possibility of Reunion syncing with Ancestry. Wouldn't that be wonderful. But I can see a number of hurdles that would need to be jumped and I'm not sure they're "jumpable."
        Last edited by cponeill; 11 February 2020, 12:59 PM.

        Comment


          #5
          This is all helpful, as I've wondered myself about doing this. But nobody has answered lrberbach's final question: "If I periodically gedcom my Reunion tree to FTM, does the sync to Ancestry replace the existing tree thus initiating a restart with hints and DNA matches?"

          This is probably a question for Ancestry to answer, unless someone on this forum has had this experience one way or another, in which case they probably would have answered by now. Ancestry has a toll-free number and decent support, so lrberbach, perhaps you could call them and ask your question, then let us all know what they say. I've wondered this myself.

          Susan
          P.S. I will say that if you have a tree on MyHeritage with your DNA test there, do NOT delete your tree and then upload another one. You will lose all your DNA links and any notes that you made for each DNA match. I learned that the hard way.

          Comment


            #6
            As I understand what happens -

            Gedcom your Reunion tree to FTM. Then Sync FTM w/Ancestry. By so syncing the changes made in your updated FTM tree are similarly changed in Ancestry. The Ancestry tree isn't replaced - just modified to clone the FTM tree. What the distinction is there (modifying rather than replacing), I can't say - but I think you'd end up with the same Ancestry tree either way. And I think Ancestry is constantly on the prowl to come up with hints - so eventually it would find your changed info and if it found any hints based on that info it would inform tou (as it currently does). I don't have a clue about what happens with DNA matches.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by cponeill View Post
              As I understand what happens -

              Gedcom your Reunion tree to FTM. Then Sync FTM w/Ancestry. By so syncing the changes made in your updated FTM tree are similarly changed in Ancestry. The Ancestry tree isn't replaced - just modified to clone the FTM tree. What the distinction is there (modifying rather than replacing), I can't say - but I think you'd end up with the same Ancestry tree either way. And I think Ancestry is constantly on the prowl to come up with hints - so eventually it would find your changed info and if it found any hints based on that info it would inform tou (as it currently does). I don't have a clue about what happens with DNA matches.
              What about the reverse? Anyway to take changes made in an Ancestry tree to "sync" it back to FTM and then go from FTM to Reunion?
              Dennis B. Swaney
              Prescott, AZ

              MacOS 10.13.6; MacOS 12.6; iOS 16; iPadOS 12 & 16

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by romad View Post

                What about the reverse? Anyway to take changes made in an Ancestry tree to "sync" it back to FTM and then go from FTM to Reunion?
                Changes made at Ancestry will sync back to Family Tree Maker on your computer.

                To get them to Reunion you'd either need to enter them manually in Reunion, or transfer them by GEDCOM from Family Tree Maker to Reunion. I'm not sure if Family Tree Maker has enough control to let you only GEDCOM the changed people, or if you have to do the whole database each time.

                Roger
                Roger Moffat
                http://lisaandroger.com/genealogy/
                http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thanks, Roger. It was more of a curiosity question. I agree the GEDCOM creation is the devil in the details.
                  Dennis B. Swaney
                  Prescott, AZ

                  MacOS 10.13.6; MacOS 12.6; iOS 16; iPadOS 12 & 16

                  Comment


                    #10
                    This is basically what I do too. You can create a GEDCOM from Reunion and then create an FTM file. Every time you create a new FTM file you are basically starting over, so at that point you have file that is not synced with Ancestry.

                    The correct thing to do is, unsync FTM and Ancestry. Delete your Ancestry tree. Delete your FTM file. Create a new FTM file and then upload it to Ancestry. Now the fun part begins. If you make any changes through Ancestry you can sync it to FTM, but to update it to Reunion, you have to create a GEDCOM and merge it into your Reunion file. If you make any changes in FTM you can sync it to Ancestry, but again to get the information into Reunion you either need to use the Reunion link to Ancestry or again create a GEDCOM from FTM to merge or replace your Reunion file.

                    You have to be diligent. Some items from Ancestry and FTM do not sync, so don't use those features. You can read what syncs and what doesn't on the FTM web site.

                    Someone might suggest merging your Reunion GEDCOM file with FTM but that is a pain and often creates duplicates that are hard to track down and merge, but it can be done if you really want to . If you want to do that then you do not have to delete the trees in FTM and Ancestry, and you can use the FTM sync to Ancestry.

                    Craig

                    Comment


                      #11
                      And to answer romad and theKiwi, I have not found a way to create a list of changed people/facts to create a GEDCOM of only those people who have changed. You can create subsets based on other information, otherwise it is the whole file dump.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Craig Aldrich View Post
                        ...I have not found a way to create a list of changed people/facts to create a GEDCOM of only those people who have changed.
                        FYI, on the Reunion side of things, you could do this using the Changed Date for entries -- if you know the last time you transferred data to FTM/Ancestry, go to Find in the Navbar on the left, select the People tab, and set the conditions:

                        Changed Date (under Attributes) After [the date]

                        And click Find. In the Results sidebar that opens, use the Marking Shortcuts icon at bottom-left of the sidebar to Unmark Everybody in Family File, then Mark Everybody in List. Once the entries are marked, export the GEDCOM and select to export just the marked people (note: you have to go back to the Family View to export a GEDCOM).

                        HTH
                        Mark Harrison
                        Leister Productions, Inc.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I'm thoroughly confused by all this; it seems a convoluted process to work in Reunion, gedcom that to FTM in order to sync with Ancestry; why not a) load a Gedcom from Reunion straight into Ancestry or b) work solely in FTM?

                          I MUST be missing the point, I realise!! Help!

                          Jamie.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Because you can't get all your multimedia from Reunion into Ancestry without going through FTM. If you import a Reunion produced Gedcom into Ancestry all you get is the bare-bones data - not all the other "stuff" you have in your Reunion tree.

                            Until Reunion and Ancestry work out a deal to allow Reunion to export tree data into Ancestry as you can with FTM we are stuck with the convoluted.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              and as to Irberbach's original question about Ancestry hints here's what the FTM manual has to say:

                              When you download a tree from Ancestry, you create a link between your online Ancestry tree and its corresponding tree on your computer. This means that additions, deletions, or edits you make in your Family Tree Maker tree will be duplicated in your Ancestry tree (and vice versa) when you sync.

                              To view Ancestry Hints you must have an Internet connection, log in to your Ancestry account, and have your FTM tree linked to your Ancestry tree. To get hints for new people you add to your tree, keep your FTM and Ancestry trees synced. To view the actual records and images, you must have an Ancestry subscription.

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