Is Family Tree Maker the recommend program?

[Drake3287]

I see a lot written about FTM and was wondering if it's a good program to purchase for beginners. 10 years ago I had purchased FTM for my PC but when it crashed year's ago I lost everything. I've recently restarted/rebuilt my Genealogy work and although I have much of it on the typical online site tree's, I was hoping to buy a new program.

This would also be for my Mac so I assume they make a version for it. Also one quick question, on this FTM program do they allow you to build separate tree's? For example if my wife wanted to do a family tree for her side of the family does it allow you multiple tree's or do most people simply have a spouse tree being branched off your own tree?

Any advise would be appreciated!

[Drake3287]

Sorry, Recommended!

[Guy]

I would never recomend FTM as in my view there are many far better programs available, but that is a personal opinion.

I would suggest downloading and trying a number of programs to see which suit your own style of working.
I much prefer Brother's Keeper than any other to record my family history but other people prefer other programs.

Cheers
Guy

[Anne in Carlisle]

If you have a Mac computer you need to check carefully which family tree program will work best. Some will need special tweaks to enable them to work. I'm sure some Mac users will come and suggest the best for you.
Anne

[margaretmarch]

FTM works with Mac as well as PC you just need to buy the correct version.

The main benefit of FTM is that you can synchronise you tree on ancestry with the program on your device so you have your own copy of the tree and all the images and sources for the day when you stop being an ancestry member.

The other main benefit of FTM is the ability to create and print charts and reports of the data in the tree, much the easiest way to show to other folk and send by email to anyone who needs to see the tree.

But as has been said it will depend on how you work and what interface suits you personally. Try some out and see what you think.

Margaret

[FamilySearcher2702]

I absolutely love Family Tree Maker. It's the only program that i've found that really works well for me, and it's a blast to use.

[PhotoFamily]

I use Family Historian on my Mac - by running a PC environment within my Mac.