To Upgrade or not

[BazzerLondon]

Hello

After a break of 5 years I have returned to family history research having started about 20 years ago.

I was pleased to find that despite PC software upgrades (most significantly the freebie from W7 to W10) my version of Family Tree Maker (FTM2011) still functions and processes files that have been inactive for this period of time.

I am aware that things have moved on, specifically that the forum of which I was a member closed down and that a new company has taken over the FTM software (now FTM2017 I believe).

I would be most grateful for some advice/pointers as to where I should go from here, eg :-

- Should I purchase FTM2017?
- Would FTM2017 be of benefit and how?
- Would FTM2017 provide all the functionality present in FTM2011 or has anything been removed? Specifically, are all the chart/report facilities (standard and custom) available?
- Can FTM2017 read and process FTM2011 files (ie .ftm files)? If not, how does one migrate - if by export/import of GEDCOM how reliable is this?

At this point I should add that despite being a subscriber to ancestry.co.uk I have never posted trees on to their website, nor for the time being at least do I intend to.

Any help would be most appreciated.

BazzerLondon

[rockyfowler]

You can just use 2017 but for real benefit need to sync with Ancestry site http://www.mackiev.com/ftm/

[BazzerLondon]

Thanks for your response, Rockyfowler.

However, unfortunately my detailed queries remain unanswered so I'm still in limbo land.

Also, you say "for real benefit ....". What's the benefit?

[rockyfowler]

Best to stick with what you`ve got if it works ok , just read what you say. the new one is very good working with trees on Ancestry syncs perfectly does reports etc also you can make books (extra £)