Product Description

Family Tree Maker Essentials Edition v16 is the #1 bestselling resource to create your family tree. It takes just three steps. First, use information you already know. With access to over 5 billion records, you’ll be able to find all the details. Next organize and design your family tree. Import photos and documents to professionally designed templates to create a unique keepsake. Share your findings with family and friends. Print out professional quality family albums. Enjoy bonuses ($150 Value) with an Ancestry.com Subscription, a 30 Minute Genealogy Consultation, the Monthly Newsletter And more!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3234 in Software
• Brand: Encore
• Model: 10890
• Released on: 2006-08-15
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM

Features

• 3-month Ancestry.com subscription, genealogy newsletter, training DVD, and more
• Easy and complete resource for building and sharing a family tree
• Access more than 5 billion records; search online family-history collection
• Import photos and documents to professionally designed templates
• Share unique keepsakes with family and friends; print out family albums

From the Manufacturer
Family Tree Maker Essentials Edition v16 makes it fast and easy to research your family history. The software provides an easy and complete resource for building and sharing your family tree. It takes just three steps. First, access more than five billion records and search through the world's largest online family-history collection. Next, organize and design your family tree. Import photos and documents to professionally designed templates to create a unique keepsake. Finally, share your findings with family and friends. Print out professional-quality family albums. Bonuses include an Ancestry.com subscription, a 30-minute genealogy consultation, the monthly newsletter, and more!

Features:

• Search over five-billion records
• Design your family tree in minutes
• Share keepsakes with family and friends
• Three-month subscription to Ancestry.com
• Genealogy newsletter and dictionary
• Official family-tree training DVD

Customer Reviews

Excellent Software for All Experience Levels, or "Go Back" version from FTM 2008/2009
(updated 09/20/2008)

I am an experienced family researcher and currently have just under 25,000 names in my database. I have been a Family Tree Maker (FTM) user since 1998 and have purchased every upgrade since that time. I administer two surname DNA projects and routinely help others with their family research.

* FTM v16 is currently, without question, my genealogy software of choice

Like many others in the faithful legions of FTM users, I routinely ordered FTM 2008 before it even came out on blind fath that each new version had been even better than before. Like so many other FTM 2008 users, I was truly shocked to find they had dropped approximately 39 core functions from the previous version, FTM v16, and found that I could no longer do many of the very basic reports that experienced researchers do so often. I quickly returned my copy of FTM 2008 in total disgust and went back to FTM v16 which now continues to fully meet my many needs. Not learning my lesson, I recently installed the new FTM 2009 on blind faith that surely, given a "do-over", they would restore the full functionality of FTM v16, and it's predecessor FTM 2006. They didn't.

* I heartily recommend FTM v16 as your "go back" version for anyone who ordered FTM 2008 or FTM 2009, returned either version in total disgust, and are now looking for a fully-featured version of Family Tree Maker. (Some users had "upgraded" directly from FTM 2005 to FTM 2008, for example, and had missed the fully-featured FTM v16 version in the process)

* I also believe that FTM v16 compares very favorably with RootsMagic, Legacy, and other comparable genealogy softwares.

* If you are a Vista user, all you need to do is download a patch from FTM to make FTM v16 fully "Vista compatible."

* I also strongly recommend FTM v16 to novice researchers who are purchasing genealogy software for the very first time. It is very intuitive, starts you out very gently in a guided fashion, but then also has the more sophisticated functions you will find very useful as your experience grows.

There are more sophisticated softwares out there, but in some cases, their learning curves are just not worth the trouble. I want a software that works for me, rather than me having the feeling I am instead working for the software.

* Bottom line, I was loyal to FTM v16 before "upgrading" to FTM 2008 and then trying again with FTM 2009, and now that I have returned back to FTM v16, I truly appreciate it's simple, clean, reliable, straightforward performance even more than ever before.

* Without hesitation, I fully recommend FTM v16 to family researchers of all experience levels.

CHT in Virginia

Family Tree Maker sheds the DOS look.
After many years of the same look and marginal upgrades, Family Tree Maker finally made a serious change to the look and feel of the product. There are still some awkward navigation issues, but overall, I think this is worth a look if you are a long term user and haven't upgraded in a while or are just starting out.

Having used the available online services that this company offers, I was pleased to find a new feature that integrates some of the online search functionality. Although the integration is a bit superficial, it is useful and made some of my online searches of their databases more productive. I think this is a big step in the right direction and hope they continue to add to the power of this feature as it makes the treasure trove of data they have more accessible.

Too bad they do not make a Mac version, as I prefer this to the Mac products available and so I have to use it with Parallels, which is not so convenient.

A Hesistant User
I fell in love with another genealogy software years ago and was not happy with any newer ones when support and updates stopped for my original version. When Ancestry updated this year I decided I had to try a new software package again that was compatible with the cool things you can now do on Ancestry so purchased this version. I was very pleasantly surprised and happy. I am still learning the best way to do things and occsionally get frustrated correcting info I have entered incorrectly but I would certainly recommend it. The online checking it does and ability to attach the records found online is pretty awesome.