Once upon a time, I did a whole bunch of genealogy research on my family and created a family tree using the “Family Tree Maker” software. Several years ago, that old Windows machine died, but I had backups of those .FTW and .FBK files from 1999 and 2000. I now use a Mac.
Now, I’m back into it and doing a lot of work using ancestry.com, which can import family trees in the GEDCOM format. Even though ancestry.com owns Family Tree Maker, they can’t import .FTW files. There’s no Mac version of Family Tree Maker, and my Google searching indicates that there is no way to convert a .FTW file to GEDCOM without using Family Tree Maker.
So…
Is there anyone out there who knows of a different way to convert these files?
Failing that, is there anyone who owns Family Tree Maker that would do the conversion for me?
Heck, the 2009 version of Family Tree Maker wouldn’t even open the file–there were too many versions between Gary’s file and the most recent release. So, instead, I converted it using Family Tree Legends. Unfortunately, free program as it is, it doesn’t have a version for Mac.
Funny that someone else has brought this up! I just found my old backup files from Family Tree Maker! I’m also a Mac user now. I have 6 weeks left of work (I’m a teacher) and was planning to get back into Genealogy this summer.
I don’t even know what program and such I’d like to use now. I always liked FTM, but have a Mac now, and wonder if there is something even better out there now? I’m excited to get back to it after at least 5 years of being busy, so it will be fun to look around at what programs I can find. I’d love something with an easy online version to share with my family too.
Ancestry.com is pricey (the highest-tier membership is $300 a year), but wow. The amount of information available is phenomenal, and my wife and I have found quite a few people who have done extensive work in various branches of our family trees. It’s all just hanging out there, waiting to be integrated into your work.
The downside is that you have to review other people’s trees very carefully before integrating. Finding a particular fact in eight other trees doesn’t mean eight independent sources for the fact: it usually means one of them came up with it and the other seven copied it. I’ve found numerous cases in very old family trees where someone was supposedly born 100 years before her parents, or where a tree disagrees completely with birth certificates, gravestones, and census data.
That said, most of the information seems clean, there’s lots of official documentation to back it up, and it’s addictive as all get-out.
ETA: Does anyone know a good clean source for military records? I have service numbers and ranks for a couple of WWII-era relatives, and I’m trying to find enlistment dates, cause of death, last duty station, and so forth.
Looks cool, but RachelChristine and I both mentioned that we use Macs, and the link says, “Family.Show only runs on Windows NT, Windows 2003, or Windows Vista.”
I’ve written a FileMaker database that can import GEDCOM (albeit quite S-L-O-W-L-Y). Does fan charts, ancestral trees, “hourglass” diagrams (person and spouse, parents & grandparents of self & spouse, one’s children, and one’s grandchildren), exhaustive relationship search (show how Joe Blow and Sue Smith are related, via a chain of people). Can export to GEDCOM also (again rather slowly). I distribute it with a runtime (thus you don’t have to own FileMaker Pro), and I am seeking beta testers.
ETA: Hmm, I think it’s not a violation of board policy to mention this even though eventually at some day in the future I might want to charge money for it? Not charging for it in its current incarnation at any rate (time limited demo). Mods, if I’ve done something naughty, could you let me know?
Nothing naughty, AHunter3. Anytime you’re not sure about mentioning a personal project or a product, just shoot one of us an email to get approval beforehand. Then you know you’re safe.
And I’d be interested in beta testing your program. Please PM me with more info.
I’ve also been using myheritage.com. They have a very similar set up to ancestry.com (with smart searching or hints or whatever). I’ve been slowly slogging through the matches from both sites, trying to merge and verify everything…
NB