Review by Dano1988

I don’t use this product. I got it to evaluate and, to some extent, compare it to Legacy Family Tree. Family Tree Maker has lots of really cool bells and whistles but I found it a bit cumbersone. The views are nice but not a large enough print for my old eyes to see well. On the other hand Legacy is too big. I have done genealogy for over 30 years and have thousands of family members in my database. Family Tree Maker handled my database very well and it imported my GEDCOM (standard genealogy format)quickly and accuately. It has a feature that allows you to validate your entries fairly quickly but given the number of names, places and dates that I have in my database it took the better part of two days to validate them. It found obvious errors and even a few that really made me think through the information.

If I was not so proficient in Legacy I might consider going over to FTM. This is a great program and one that has been tried and true for many years. It may be difficult for a person just starting out in the family history area to learn quickly and Legacy or Personal Ancestral File from the LDS church may be a better way to start.