Conversion from FTM 2008

[Jane Neuman 0]

Hi

 

I'm new to the whole genealogy game. I've been involved for about 6 months. I initially purchased FTM 2008 and began entering data in earnest. I have about 7000 names in my database.

 

I purchased TMG v7 and would like to convert, but now I find the direct conversion feature doesn't work with FTM 2008 -- only older versions.

 

Has anyone else encountered this?

 

Are there plans to release a patch to address this?

[Guest PhilDee]

Jane,

 

There are plans to include direct import from FTM 2008 but no timetable is available.

 

Phil

Wholly Genes Tech Support

[Andy FM 0]

I am also interested in this as I quite like FTM 2008, but TMG looks like what I will want to upgrade to in the future, or at least run them in parallel! What's the best way to find out when it is available?

[Jim Byram 0]

You can always move data from FTM 2008 to TMG via a GEDCOM file. There are limitations based on what FTM exports and you need to use the Advanced Import Wizard in TMG and assign custom, unknown and EVEN TYPE (Event-Misc) GEDCOM tags to custom TMG tag types during the import.

[Andy FM 0]

Wow, thanks for the quick response. My big concern on using GEDCOM is whether the FTM output is standard enough to get it into TMG easily, and whether it includes all the data. I guess I can download the trial version and find out the hard way!

 

I am more concerned about having to reattach all the images to people, events and sources to be honest. I have no idea whether this would be done by any specific import process anyway.

 

One followup question. Supertools has an UK edition specifically for those who are from back there. Since I emigrated myself and 99% of my ancestors and relatives are from there, does TMG have the same option, or does the Gold Edition allow UK spelling etc in house?

[Jim Byram 0]

There are two TMG versions... the normal one and one with UK customizations. You can find both downloads on whollygenes.com under the respective descriptions.

 

Unless FTM 2008 has changed, the exhibits aren't exported to GEDCOM. The direct import, when it is available, will deal with exhibits.

[Andy FM 0]

Thank you so much for the time taken to answer my questions. I watched the demo film and was very impressed with TMG. I shall probably wait until direct import is available later in the year before I buy but will take up your suggestion to download the trial version and import a GEDCOM to test it out.

 

FTM 2008 is fine for data entry, but I am a bit irritated by the lack of depth of the publishing in the current version. TMG Gold looks incredibly comprehensive on that front hence my interest.

 

I started doing this only a month ago and it is darn addictive. Especially if you do it thoroughly, it is already costing me a fortune in certificates to validate links between generations. Not to mention the time it takes. At the end of the initial work, I may have the start of a damn fine tree, but no wife or rent money!

[Pierce.Reid 0]

Thank you so much for the time taken to answer my questions. I watched the demo film and was very impressed with TMG. I shall probably wait until direct import is available later in the year before I buy but will take up your suggestion to download the trial version and import a GEDCOM to test it out.

 

FTM 2008 is fine for data entry, but I am a bit irritated by the lack of depth of the publishing in the current version. TMG Gold looks incredibly comprehensive on that front hence my interest.

 

I started doing this only a month ago and it is darn addictive. Especially if you do it thoroughly, it is already costing me a fortune in certificates to validate links between generations. Not to mention the time it takes. At the end of the initial work, I may have the start of a damn fine tree, but no wife or rent money!

 

Andy,

There is one TMG feature you probably want to keep in mind if you are continuing to enter data into FTM, but plan to convert in the future.

 

TMG has a concept called Tags, which can be used, among other things, to specify events. An event Tag is generally associated with one, or maybe two, individuals, called "Principals". However, you may attach any number of other individuals to a tag as "Witnesses". A "Witness" may not actually have "witnessed" the event, they may even have been dead at that time, but somehow they are associated with the event. You can also specify the role each witness had in the event.

 

The standard person view shows all events that the person is associated with, including those the person was just a "witness" to. For example, you have a census "event" (i.e. the recording of the persons in the household on the census day). Your "Principal" is likely the Head of Household, although it could be another person more directly related to you. However, you want to record the presence of everyone else in the household. You can attach each one as a witness to the same tag, assigning each the appropriate role, e.g. "wife", 'son", "servant", "lodger", etc. To get the same effect in FTM 2008, I believe you would have to define an event for that census for each person in the household. To be really rigorous, you should also define the source of your census information for each one. In TMG, you would have only one event tag, appropriately sourced. You can use that tag to go from one individual in the household to another, just by clicking on a few links.

 

So as you are entering data into FTM, think about how you would do it differently in TMG. If you play a little with TMG you will get a better feel of your information is recorded there.

 

One thing about Wholly Genes is that they do not announce a new feature until they release the feature, whether it is a simple bug fix or a major upgrade. (Although they came close to giving a release date when they indicated the release 7 would be out by "the end of the year".) I believe that FTM 2008 has a significant change in the data base structure from previous releases, which presents a bigger challenge to Wholly Genes staff. But they will get there; FTM ass too big a market share to not support it.

 

Pierce

[RobinL 0]

One thing that annoys me is the way users enter some names into FTM, They don't follow FTM's own guidelines for entering names that do not have a surname. This becomes a problem when later creating a chart in TMG.

 

They enter "Maria" when FTM says enter "Maria\\". On import to TMG, the "Maria" case becomes a person with no given name and "Maria" as their surname. If you follow the correct \\ method, later import of the FTM file into TMG works as expected.