Family Tree Maker


Family Tree Maker is genealogy software for Windows and Mac that allows the researcher to keep track of information collected during research and to create reports, charts, and books containing that information. The software was originally developed by Kenneth Hess of Banner Blue Software, which was purchased by Brøderbund in 1995. It passed through the hands of The Learning Company, Mattel, and others before coming under its current ownership.
A redesigned Family Tree Maker 2008 was released on August 14, 2007. The 2009 version of the program corrected some of the errors and omissions of its predecessor, and introduced a few new features. Family Tree Maker 2010 claimed to further enhance the radical re-design and be more powerful and feature-packed with faster navigation and quicker load times.
A version for the Mac was released in 1997, but due to low market demand was discontinued for over a decade. A new version of Family Tree Maker for Mac was released on November 4, 2010.
Family Tree Maker Version 16 was awarded a Codie award in the "Best Consumer Productivity Solution" category in 2006.
On December 8, 2015, Ancestry.com announced that it would discontinue Family Tree Maker. The announcement was met by fierce protest from Family Tree Maker users. On February 2, 2016, Ancestry.com announced that , the company that had developed the Mac version of the software for more than six years, would acquire the Family Tree Maker brand, and take over the development and publishing of Mac and Windows editions.
At the same time as this announcement, Software MacKiev promised free updates for owners of the then-current versions. While the MacKiev dot-one versions were put on sale within 2 months, they were not officially released as free updates to the current versions until 30 Dec 2016. At that time, connectivity with Ancestry was also extended until its replacement could be rolled out. Ancestry connectivity, including TreeSync, the ability to synchronize a Family Tree Maker tree with one at Ancestry, was turned off on 29 Mar 2017, with its replacement, called FamilySync, to be turned on 31 Mar. The news about FamilySync contained a bit of a surprise: it would only be available in Family Tree Maker 2017, the next iteration of Family Tree Maker, which was to be released coincident with the deployment of FamilySync. Users of Family Tree Maker 2 & 3 for Mac and 2012 & 2014 for Windows would no longer have any connectivity to Ancestry. If they wanted such connectivity, they would have to pay to upgrade to Family Tree Maker 2017, which was officially released on 16 July 2017, 107 days later than planned.
The core functionality and user interface of Family Tree Maker 2017 have changed little since 2010. Software MacKiev touted four major improvements: 1. FamilySearch integration 2. FamilySync 3. Color Coding 4. Photo Darkroom. FamilySearch integration provides potential matches to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, but not to their vast record collections. FamilySync is a replacement for Ancestry.com's TreeSync feature; it provides potential matches to family trees, indexes, and records at Ancestry.com. It was necessitated by Ancestry.com retiring their TreeSync Application Program Interface. While the old API was used exclusively by Ancestry.com, since they also owned Family Tree Maker, the new API is open to other software developers to use. Color Coding is a new feature that enables users to assign up to four different colors to a person and their ancestors. Photo Darkroom is a new feature that can darken faded black & white photos.
An updated version was released in 2019: https://www.mackiev.com/ftm/index.html.

FTM version history

Press show for more information on past versions.
Meaning
RedNot supported
YellowStill supported
GreenCurrent version

VersionRelease dateReleased byEdition/sNotes
1.01989Banner Blue SoftwareDOSSupplied on 3.5 and 5.25 floppy disks. Data file used .FTM as a file extension on DOS. No GEDCOM support.
1.011990Banner Blue SoftwareDOSNo GEDCOM support.
2.0January 1994Banner Blue SoftwareWindows 3.1 / DOSData file used .FTW as a file extension on Windows. Supplied on two 3½ inch floppy disks. Supported GEDCOM import/export.
2.??October 1994Banner Blue SoftwareWindows 3.1 / DOSSecond version
3.024 October 1995Brøderbund SoftwareWindows 3.1 & 95 / DOSSupplied on three floppy disks. 16 bit application compatible with Windows 95. DOS version shipped with the DEU
3.01February 1996Brøderbund SoftwareWindows 3.1 & 95 / DOSBeginning with this version every copy of Family Tree Maker for Windows came with both a Windows 95 and Windows 3.1x version.
3.02October 1995Brøderbund SoftwareWindows 32 bit
3.02 MacJanuary 1997Brøderbund SoftwareMacintosh Marketed as Family Tree Maker Deluxe Edition II for Macintosh.
3.4November 1996Brøderbund SoftwareWindows 3.1 & 95 / DOS
4.0September 1996Brøderbund SoftwareWindows 3.1 & 95 / DOSFirst release on a CD-ROM.
4.0a?Brøderbund SoftwareWindows
4.0b?Brøderbund SoftwareWindows
4.4?Brøderbund SoftwareWindows
4.4 File Fixer Patch?Brøderbund SoftwareWindows
5.0 August 1998The Learning CompanyWindows
5.0a ?The Learning CompanyWindows
5.0b?The Learning CompanyWindows
6.0after May 1999The Learning Company Windows
6.0a ?The Learning Company Windows
7.0October 1999The Learning Company Windows
7.5April 2000Genealogy.comWindows
8.0October 2000Genealogy.comWindows
9.0October 2001Genealogy.comWindows
9.0 October 30, 2001Genealogy.comWindows
10.0September 2002Genealogy.comWindows
11.0September 2003MyFamily.comWindows
2005August 2004MyFamily.comWindows
200612 September 2005MyFamily.comWindows
2006 Patch?MyFamily.comWindows
16September 2006MyFamily.comWindows
200814 August 2007Ancestry.comWindowsReturned to using the.FTM extension for windows datafiles.
2008 Service Pack 1?Ancestry.comWindows
2008 Service Pack 2November 2007Ancestry.comWindowsAn initial release was in September but this was withdrawn 24 hours later.
2008 Service Pack 3 May 2008Ancestry.comWindows
200928 August 2008The Generations NetworkWindows
2009 Patch 18A ?The Generations NetworkWindows
2009 Patch 18B ?The Generations NetworkWindows
2009 Patch 18C ?The Generations NetworkWindows
2009 Patch 18D ?The Generations NetworkWindows
201019 August 2009Ancestry.comWindows Vista & XP SP2
2010 Service Pack 1 ?Ancestry.comWindows 7 & Vista & XP SP2
201131 August 2010Ancestry.comWindows 7 & Vista & XP SP2
2011 Service Pack 1 ?Ancestry.comWindows 7 & Vista & XP SP2
2010 Mac4 November 2010Ancestry.comMac OSX 10.5 or later Marketed as Family Tree Maker for Mac. Supplied on 2 × CD-ROM
2010 Mac 1 February 2011Ancestry.comMac OSX 10.5 or later
201229 September 2011Ancestry.comWindows 7 & Vista & XP SP2
World Express2013Ancestry.comWindows 7 & Vista & XP SP2With restricted functionality, only in German and Swedish
201410 September 2013Ancestry.comWindows 8 & 7 & Vista & XP SP2
2014 Mac13 December 2013Ancestry.comMac OSX 10.6 or later Marketed as Family Tree Maker Mac 3.
FTM 2014.11 January 2017mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10
FTM Mac 3.11 January 2017mackiev.comMac OSX 10.8 or later, including macOS Sierra 10.12
FTM 2017 16 July 2017mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + Mac OSX 10.9 or later, including macOS Sierra 10.13
FTM 2017 February 2018mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + Mac OSX 10.9 or later, including macOS Sierra 10.13
FTM 2017 September 2018mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + Mac OSX 10.9 or later, including macOS Sierra 10.13
FTM 2017 December 2019mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + Mac OSX 10.9 or later, including macOS Catalina 10.15
FTM 2019 28 September 2019mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + OS X 10.10 or later, including macOS Catalina 10.15
FTM 2019 November 2019mackiev.comWindows 7 or later, including Windows 10 + OS X 10.10 or later, including macOS Catalina 10.15

;FTM Merger history