Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
- Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials can help you create a family tree faster, easier, and better than ever before
- Dynamic user interface lets you quickly switch between important features
- Import data from other genealogy programs, including Personal Ancestral File, The Master Genealogist, and Legacy Family Tree
- Easily add records and images from the millions of available historical records at Ancestry.com
- Bring your family tree alive with attractive charts and reports; photos, audio, and video; timelines and interactive maps
Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker 2010, the #1 selling family history software, can help you easily discover, organize and preserve your family history on your personal computer and share it in many creative ways. Once you’ve started your tree, you can add photos, video, audio and more. You can also create and print a variety of interactive maps, timelines, charts and reports. Family Tree Maker 2010 includes a one-month subscription to Ancestry.com the world’s largest online collection of famil
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(out of 102 reviews)
List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 19.00
Review by Teri-Sue Thompson for Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
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I have been conducting family research for some eight years, with the help of the Family Tree Maker program (and subscription [...].) I have purchased each new version at its release, always curious to see what had been added. While I have usually been pleased with the program features, I must admit that the last couple of versions have been disappointing to me. The interface had become more complicated and I missed being able to see a more complete screen of family detail.
The Family Tree Maker 2010 is, (IMHO) the finest version of the Family Tree Maker program to date. [...]
The installation is smooth and easy. No obstacles. I had the program up and running within minutes after receiving it.
The interface is the friendliest yet, and has even incorporated a special personal touch … enhancing the individual name labels in family view with photos of the individuals. (I had not known that this was a new feature, so when I first opened my primary tree file, I was suddenly staring at familiar family faces instead of simply text … What a warm feeling!) Of course, the photos must be available on your hard drive and associated to those files. Or, you can uncheck the “enhanced” feature if you wish (perhaps there are relatives you would rather not see).
The new interface is reminiscent of the more friendly versions of the past (somewhat like Version 16, I think) that we have missed (they listened to us!) and adds some amazing new features. The navigation is much simpler, more intuitive than recent versions. The program now denotes one’s direct line of ascent/descent by a highlighted arrow designation that is most helpful when navigating through pages of generations. The toolbars are simple and clear with an emphasis on quick navigation to help in your workflow. Of course, the little green leaves are there again to prompt the user to check out the relevant information that is available at a mere click.
No more need to take notes or to check back and forth to look up a forgotten detail about an individual while searching for more information: There is now a layered box that contains all of the subject’s entered data right there in view while you are engaged at the research/merge site.
Merging is a breeze! Recording sources is refreshingly simple. Click on “Places” on the toolbar, and you’ll find all the lands and seas of the globe to help you in your research, interactive, (Bing Maps), and accompanied by user-friendly lists of your ancestry-related locations. (I, being geography-challenged, have especially enjoyed this feature.) No more Googling and printing of maps in the middle of researching. Love it!
I think that the best thing about the 2010 version of FTM is that it truly is a warm and friendly program … making it a real pleasure to discover and record your family’s history. The program is packed full of wonderful features. I believe that most genealogy enthusiasts will find that this is the best version ever of a tremendous program. With this program, they’ve put the fun back into family history research! Enjoy!
(BTW: This is the first review I’ve ever submitted – Because I really am genuinely impressed with this product … enough to take the time to review it for other consumers. Furthermore, I am in no way affiliated with FTM or Ancestry.com or any of their employees.)
Review by John M. Melody for Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
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I couldn’t find the three versions compared side-by-side, so if you’re having trouble too, here it is:
Essentials costs $[...] and includes:
- One month of free access to [...]
- Integration with [...] census records, draft cards, passenger lists, & other historical resources.
- Ancestry Hints: automatic suggestions for records that might match people in your tree.
- Tutorial
- Getting Started Guide
- Little Book of Answers with short sections about how Family Tree Maker works
Deluxe costs $[...] and includes everything in Essentials plus the following for the extra $17:
- Two extra months of free access to [...] (3 months vs. 1 month with Essentials)
- The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
- The Red Book: American State, Country, and Town Sources
- The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book
- Ancestry’s Concise Genealogy Dictionary
- They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins
- Finding Answers in the U.S. Census
- U.S. Military Records
- Military Records at [...]
- Library of Congress: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research
- The Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches (Out of Print)
Platinum costs $[...] and includes everything in Deluxe, plus the following for the extra $43:
- The Official Guide to [...]
- The Official Guide to [...]
- Abbreviations and Acronyms: A Guide for Family Historians
- Hidden Sources: Family History in Unlikely Places
- Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records
Review by La. Family Historian for Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
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I have been using Family Tree Maker for many years, almost since the first release. The last version I was using was FMT 2005. I knew I was getting a new computer with Windows 7 (not an upgrade), 32 bit, so I checked out the reviews here, as well as the FTM support website. The steps I followed were: 1. Install FTM 2010, do not open program when done. 2. Go to shortcut on desktop, rt. click, and check Run as Administrator. You will get a message that updates are available; download and install. (This a Service Pack to the original 2010 program on the disc). 3. Go to the Family Tree Maker website, support tab, and look for answer 4363. This tells how to import FTM files from an earlier version. I did this, opened the tree, and everything looks, and, more importantly, works wonderfully.
This is such a welcome improvement over what I was using, and everything I had before is much easier to view and work with. My file has about 3500 individuals, and few pictures, so is not very big compared to others. And since I already have a subscription to [...], doing searches from within the program is heavenly! I heartily recommend this program if you are thinking about upgrading from older versions. Since I am a long-time user, it was easy to find everything, and figure out how it works.
Review by H. R. Worthington for Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
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I am a long time user of the Family Tree Maker program. For me, Version 2010 is the best yet and I have not used all of the new features that have been added to Version 2010. Many of the features from Version 2009 have been improved.
The navigation around the program has improved in 2010, a few less mouse clicks to get from one person to the other.
In Version 2009, the book feature was returned to us (was in Version 16 and earlier) but now Slide Shows are available. The change that from Scrapbook (Version 16) to Media was more then a change in terms, but a change in what is available to us to present to others.
For users with Member Trees on [...], the upload feature, with Images, has been enhanced in 2010 with the download from [...], on your tree, that may be on [...]. Much closer coordination between a PC based file and the information that can be shared on [...].
It is clear, to this user, that the Development organization at Family Tree Maker are listening to their Users.
Thank you.
Review by John F for Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
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I bought 2010 version because I have used 2006 version for a while and like many things about it. I had hopes that 2010 would add some feature that would enhance the program and provide even more benefit. I bought 2010 and installed it but soon realize that many of the ancestry reports and charts which I liked in 2006 were not available in 2010, but they did add create a book which is useless until your through. So I un-installed 2010 and re-installed 2006 for those features.