When you open your FTM 2012 next you will see an important update that not only fixes a number of bugs, but has added some new reports and functionality

The Build number is 21.00.580

Some of the goodies include.....


Ability to sync accepted and rejected hints between FTM & Ancestry

Option to include/exclude Ancestry media in synced trees

Undocumented Facts Report (Very big cheers it is great!!!!)

Outline Descendant Report, Option to list only direct descendants between an ancestor and one descendant (More big cheers it is great!!!!)

Task List, Options to include/exclude task attributes and reclaim space for items excluded

Data Errors Report, Added option to list event dates that are not valid

Ability to select multiple facts in the source citation link dialog

New Family View report Presents the ancestors, spouse, & children of a person (similar to the Family View in the People workspace)

Fact Merge Ability to merge multiple instances of the same fact type for an individual

Support for adding a spouse that is not a parent of the children listed (when adding a spouse to a single parent in the family view)

Report Enhancements

General Report Issues (These improvements affect multiple reports)

General speed improvements especially in cases where notes and/or sources are included

Saved charts & reports are now listed alphabetically

Individuals To Include dialog opens with the current person selected in the list

Relationship Chart

- Father and mother are both included (at top) when relationship goes through a set of parents

- Added option for using short place names

- Added option for automatically resizing text to fit

Individual Report

- Clearer notation in instances where a spouse is listed with no children

- Added option to include/exclude lifespan in Individual Summary header

- Added option to include/exclude individual summary on subsequent pages

Notes Report

- Added support for allowing notes to span across page breaks

Data Errors Report

- Added option to include only preferred facts

Family Group Sheet

- Added media for the selected person to the family picture dropdown

- Improved spacing and label consistency

Media Item Report

- Added option to include/exclude media notes

- Added option to include/exclude media links

Photo Album

- Improved space recovery when including date/description

Media Usage Report

- Added options to include/exclude caption, date, description, category, note

- Optimized dynamic sizing of media according to media information included

Documented Facts Report

- Added option to include/exclude citation notes

- Added option to include only preferred facts

Undocumented Facts Report

- Added option to include only preferred facts

Calendar Report

- Added option to adjust font size (five predefined sizes)


John D

The above list does not mention is the most significant item in this update. EVER THING RUNS FASTER.

I have complained a lot in the past about speed, but with the recent update FTM now loads in about 40 seconds, and the report that took about 7 minute to generate the preview in the original release version now takes about 90 seconds. (Window XP SP3 Intel Core Dual processor 1gb memory)

I could now recommend FTM to anyone.

The bad thing is I am going to have caffeine withdrawal problems, as I will not be drinking as much coffee waiting for FTM.

I deliberately was a bit conservative about commenting on speed improvements as these can vary considerably between computers and file sizes. I therefore focused on the updated/new features, but.....

The developers claim

This update contains important improvements to the Family Tree Maker 2012 product. The improvements address issues with overall stability and performance as well as the new TreeSync feature. - General speed improvements especially in cases where notes and/or sources are included in reports.

I am glad that you have picked up this performance improvement.

I will leave it to others to decide if they also experience it with their own computer.

I suspect that users with slower computers and less RAM will see proportionally better performance improvements than perhaps those with faster computers, with a lot of RAM and smaller files.

If you look at the history of the FTM 2008 series of programs there has been a progressive improvement in performance which is welcome.

No doubt the list will comment, hopefully objectively?

However, in my view, FTM for the Mac 2 still runs a lot faster than FTM 2012.

I have both programs on the same computer (iMac with Parallels and Windows 7 both 64 bit and 8 GB of RAM each side) so I can make comparisons on the same sized file.



John D

when adding a fact - either from + drop down OR the F4 feature - the cursor is no longer automatically in that fact field for data entry. You have to use the mouse to place it.

Where to find the patch 21.00.580 for downloadind on http://familytreemaker.com/Support ?
I have to download the patch and install manually, because automatic update does not work (as usual).

Regards

Marcin

I'm very pleased to see that they've finally fixed the issue with the Historical Events feature.

Previously, if you'd tailored the events this would be overwritten at each patch upgrade, and you'd have to manually copy the earlier version. They've moved the file so it isn't under the specific patch folder (in AppData/Local in Windows 7) - meaning that folder is blank in my case.

Marcin,

What happens when you try the Update? Details please. We should get this to work for you. What version of Windows are you using?

Russ

Johndd 189 comment

"Relationship Chart

- Father and mother are both included (at top) when relationship goes through a set of parents"

Question - for a simple example

Suppose I am trying to build a relationship chart from John Smith to his grandfather Forrest Smith

Suppose the grandfather had been married twice ---the first marriage to Mary Jones and the second marriage to Mabel Brown [who is the grandmother of John Smith]

Now suppose I want to build the relationship chart from John Smith to Forrest Smith and I want Forrest Smith to be the top most person in the left hand column and I want Mabel Brown to be the person at the top right column of the chart [opposite to Forrest Smith]

I have not found a way to do this

Instead what happens is

1 I do get John Smith to show up as the bottom person in the left hand column ---- which is correct

2- I get Forrest Smith [the grandfather] to show as the topmost person in the left hand column -------which is correct

3- I do not get Mabel Brown to show as Forrest Smith' wife in the top right hand column---What I get instead is Forrest Smith's first wife Mary Jones to show in the top right hand column -----------which is wrong [It is wrong because the chart is stating/implying that Mary Jones is the grandmother of John Smith, but that is not true, his grandmother is Mabel Brown]

I have tried averything I can think of to get Mabel Brown to show up in the top right column of the chart, but have had no success

What am I doing wrong?

--Outline Descendant Report, Option to list only direct descendants between an ancestor and one descendant --

This was already in the first version of FTM2012? I don't see any refinement. Am I missing something?

-- Ability to select multiple facts in the source citation link dialog --

I don't understand this one or how to do it???

-- New Family View report Presents the ancestors, spouse, & children of a person (similar to the Family View in the People workspace) --

Now that is a great little report. A great little simple report for the grandkids - one for each grandparent. Youngsters will understand this easier than a big, thick book or report.

-- Fact Merge Ability to merge multiple instances of the same fact type for an individual --

I have been looking forward to this. Am I missing something? I am not seeing where one can do this?

Kathy Marie Ann,

I tried to duplicate your question, to see if I could duplicate it.

Which is the Preferred Spouse of Forest Smith? (People Workspace, Person View, Relationship button)

Russ