O Help! What on earth has happened to my tree?

[Shirley silver surfer]

I clicked on the icon for family tree and when it opened it started telling me how to begin from scratch! I have been using FTM 2011 for a long time now on my PC running Windows 7 and the file was there yesterday. I searched around each partition of my hard disc and was unable to find anything except a not-very-recent backup which is minus all my latest updates. Has anybody else had this problem? Have I done something silly?

[Elaine ..Spain]

When you open the program, click on PLAN (top left)
On the right hand side of the page, in the box which has a heading of TREES - can you see your file. If so double click on it and it should open.

[Elaine ..Spain]

If you cannot see it there, open up MY DOCUMENTS. You should have a folder called FAMILY TREE MAKER. Open the folder - can you see your file there?

[Shirley silver surfer]

No luck I'm afraid.......I'm completely mystified. I did a search for .FTM files and only found the old one.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Has the Family Tree Maker folder in My Documents disappeared?

[Elaine ..Spain]

Check your Recycle Bin. Can you see a Family Tree Maker folder or any ftm files in there?

[Shirley silver surfer]

It's still there but only contained a version dated 28/04/2012 which I have rescued. Trouble is I don't know exactly what I haven't done (if you know what I mean!)
Nothing in the recycle bin either!

[Elaine ..Spain]

Do you have multiple logins on the computer or are you the only user.
Are you logged in under your own user account.
Can you see other documents/files that you have created/saved recently?

Have you checked the Recylce Bin?

[Elaine ..Spain]

Sorry - trying to think of other things.
Click on START at the bottom left of your screen (probably round blue circle with windows icon in it)

Does Family Tree Maker show up in the listing that pops up - if so if you hover over it can you see a listing of recently used files. Is the one you were using yesterday there?

[Shirley silver surfer]

O thanks so much Elaine. I tried out various places in the list and eventually found it - I still don't know what happened though.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Phew, that's good. Now the first thing you should do is BACK IT UP !!!

[Shirley silver surfer]

As a follow-up I have a new copy of FTM 2012 deluxe. Do you think I can be trusted to load it without losing the file?...And how can I backup to somewhere I can find it again?

[Elaine ..Spain]

Before you install the 2012 version, back up the file that you are currently using.

There is a link here which explains how to back up.
http://ftm.custhelp.com/app/answers/...ck%20up%202011

You should really back up on to an external device, such as a memory stick, CD or external hard drive -do you have any of these, if not I would suggest you treat yourself to a reasonable sized memory stick or even an external hard drive. It's no good backing up on to your computer because if the hard drive fails then you lose the backup as well!

Once you have done the back up, then install the new program. It is very easy to do, just follow the instructions on the screen - once you have installed the new program it should find your FTM 2011 file automatically, but if for any reason it doesn't then come back and let us know, and someone will give you some help.

[Shirley silver surfer]

Thank you again Elaine. I do have an external drive which Norton uses for backups. No problem there then!

[Shirley silver surfer]

Backed up and loaded FTM 2012. Thanks for all your help.

[Linda from Murton]

Thank you from me too, for the reminder to back up my files. Just done so to an external HDD. :D