Since I am untainted by using earlier versions, I can only judge by what the product is now.

Being a manualphobe I jump in and start using the product and for me, at least, it was fairly intitutive. I had it a week and already input a couple hundred members of my family tree.

How the search works is kinda strange. Sometimes when I find a relative in a census and find the parents attached in the document and I go to merge the data, no parent information is gathered. OK fine, I will write it down then go look for the parents. Sometimes it re-finds the document an sometimes it doesn’t.

I like that I can attach pictures to relatives. I raided my mom’s scrapbooks for old photos to scan in. I hate thinking of these people just vanishing. There was a picture of my great-great grandma and grandpa’s gravestone that grandma had taken years ago. I didn’t know where it was located but it clearly showed the names and dates. By back tracking up grandma’s data I found her people had come from Virginia, and that was where I found the grave site – pretty cool.

I get annoyed at it when it seems to freeze up, but if you wait patiently (aka play freecell for a little bit), it eventually settles down (on all but 1 occasion). It does not seem to loose data when this happens. I worry about overloading the thing and back it up every time I get done updating it.

All in all I would purchase again.

Word of warning however – using this software is addictive. Every time you have a spare few minutes you are on it and time gets away and it is midnight on a work night. A sympathetic spouse is a must.

I have to say that this software is amazing, its not perfect but none of them really are. I tried several and ended up with Roots Magic which is a very good software, with nice features, but it is very bothersome and time consuming retyping all the data you find, unless you have the Gedcom file to import.

I usually buy things like this from Amazon, but this time I received Family Tree Maker 2010 because it was part of a subscription package. I decided to give it a try, so I imported the Gedcom file I exported from RootsMagic.

The software lets you search from within the software from places like [...], Google, etc, and if you find legitimate information you can merge it to people in your tree, the software copies all the data for you, and even adds new people. It lets you choose what details you want to include, no more typing! Plus it automatically puts citation for the references in your tree. You can also copy media file images such as photos and images of census records. When reviewing a person in your tree all the references are right there for you to view if you need to. I wish I would have bought this sooner.

The coolest feature is that the software automatically finds matches to data [...] you will see a little leaf next to the person in the tree, click on it and it will pull up the search on Ancestry you can review all the info and if you choose you can import new info and people that you find for that person. With a few clicks I was able to add a whole new branch to my tree plus add all the media files all without typing a single name.

Awesome! Well worth the money. But if you don’t want to spend the extra money check out Roots Magic, they also have a free version on their website called Roots Magic Essentials that works very well. I used the free version for quite a while, ended up upgrading to use the extra features.

Have fun!

Recording family genealogy is one of my “bucket list” items that will hopefully help current and future generations when some family members, like myself, finally get around to wanting to know more about where they came from. As did other genealogy hobbyists, I saw the need for a data management tool very early. I have since been a Family Tree Maker user for many years dating back to the early 1990′s. What I like most about Family Tree Maker is the efforts through the years to continually maintain and improve the software with new, reliable features and functionality. Before recently upgrading from FTM 2006, my family genealogy work had taken a backseat to other interests. But now being semi-retired and with renewed interest to get on with my “bucket list”, the features in FTM 2010 Deluxe made it time to upgrade. What a great decision! I especially like the new screen designs that show on one screen information that took multiple screens in FTM 2006, the improved internet research tools, the improved source documentation features, and the DNA project which may be the only means left to determine my GGgrandfather’s ancestors. Anyone interested in becoming a long-term genealogy hobbyist should seriously consider Family Tree Maker as a means for collecting and preserving his or her family history treasures.

Outstanding product. Very user-friendly and a huge improvement over previous versions. Highly recommended for beginners and advanced users

I have used this program for over 10 years and have watched it progress into what has arguably become the best product on the market! I would recommend it without hesitiation.

Haven’t used FTM since a version about 10 years ago. This version is great – extremely intuitive and user-friendly. I didn’t read the instruction book, but found it easy to get started. I especially love the feature whereby you can log all of your source material, link it to a media file (scanned document or photo), then link these things to specific facts about specific people in your tree. I have a huge box of source material that is unorganized, and it was hard to know if I was getting the most out of my data – now I know that I am. Extremely pleased with this product. Just to note: I have not tried to incorporate anyone else’s file into my own yet, or tried to print any of this out, so I don’t know how these features are going to work out yet.