This is insane, as I have wasted hours the last several days with, for me at least, is the worst excuse for software I have ever attempted to use! I had surgery earlier in the week, and had "grand plans" to take my piles of paper records and conduct additional research, and finally get everything organized. Admittedly, this software was free, so my expectations should possibly have not been so high. However, I intentionally chose My Heritage Family Tree Builder due to the very high rating it was given. So I selected it, with plans I might need to upgrade to the paid version, at nearly $100 a year.
I am certainly glad I did not purchase the upgrade initially. Problems encountered include:
Unable to upload my desktop entries to the online tree 80-90% of the time
Every time, it stalls out at 69 or 70%..... consistently!
This freezes my PC, and the only way to re-boot is to unplug the PC
Memory hog!!!
I cannot imagine a database program to use so much memory, or cause all memory to be unavailable, and essentially shut my PC down when I attempt to enter data.
I have a memory monitor, it literally goes down to single digits
"No Memory" pop-up message
This message appears when only a tiny bit of data has been entered, and allows no additional entries
From a user standpoint, all that has been entered is:
49 people with basic skeletal information
1 picture
From a little more techical view:
In checking the FTB data file, it indicates ONLY 11.4Kb of disc space has been used. This is a far cry from what a user is allowed for online storage.... if I correctly recall, it is 250Mb. I guess they will never have to worry about me/users reaching that size of file, if I can only store 11.4Kb locally, and the uploads freeze at 69 or 70%.
In the data file, it indicates a capacity of 11.6Kb...... huh? Why a limitation? I have a couple hundred Gb available for storage, yet the FTB allows a capacity of 11.6Kb???
Other.....
I attempted to find a "real time" customer service for help. I thought I found one, but it turned out to be my leaving a description of the issues, and someone would respond. I have not received a response.
I attempted to download the desktop software a 2nd time, in hopes the 1st download was corrupt and the 2nd would be good. No dice. It will not install. It not only freezes the installation, but also the whole
PC. So, back to unplugging the PC to boot it again.
I saw a mention on a forum of the "No Memory" issue from April, and it said it would be fixed "soon." It is now 2 months past April..... "when is soon?" I have this week alone wasted many hours due to this and other issues.
TRUEFULLY, when will this/these issues be fixed??? I am at a 100% standstill- cannot enter data, cannot upload data, and I GUESS THE WORST ISSUE IS, WHY SHOULD I HAVE ANY CONFIDENCE IN THIS SOFTWARE NOW, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE FUTURE IF THESE ISSUES ARE FIXED, AND I MIGHT HAVE ENTERED SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DATA???
I have a decision to make..... if FTB does fix this, should I stick with them? Are there better alternatives to consider? If I change to another software solution, I hate to think I wasted even more time as I guess I would have to re-enter data- but it might be best to cut my losses and make a change now.....
I would appreciate any responses from FTB or other users.
The memory problem you're experiencing is caused by the Smart Research feature. This problem doesn't happen to everyone.
A fix has been made for this problem and will be availablein version 5 of Family Tree Builder. We're now planning to release version 5 around the end of July.
In the meantime, the best thing to do is to stop using Smart Research. It will allow you to use the program and prevent your computer from needing to be rebooted.
I've added you to the list of people who will receive the first release of version 5. You will receive the new version before we release it to the general public.
I am having the same problem as Dawson Henderson, have you fixet yhe problem?
I'm sorry you had trouble with the program.
The memory problem you're experiencing is caused by the Smart Research feature. This problem doesn't happen to everyone.
A fix has been made for this problem and will be availablein version 5 of Family Tree Builder. We're now planning to release version 5 around the end of July.
In the meantime, the best thing to do is to stop using Smart Research. It will allow you to use the program and prevent your computer from needing to be rebooted.
I've added you to the list of people who will receive the first release of version 5. You will receive the new version before we release it to the general public.
We haven't yet released Family Tree Builder, version 5. After some delays we are expecting to relase in the beginning of 2011. I've added your name to the list of people who will be contacted first with a link to download.
Thank you for your response. I wrote you back a couple of days ago with a fairly detailed response, but lost it when "backtracking" 1 screen to check my issue list. I am having better performance tonight, though still have encountered some of the familiar issues. With play with it a bit more over the next week or so, and drop you a note with specific issues/questions I might still have.
Also thank you for allowing me to be in the first distribution of Release 5. If you have a specific process/format for providing feedback, I will be happy to report back with issues and positive attributes of this new version.
When the new version comes out, I'll be in touch to let you know how to report issues.
In the meantime, if you come across something you need to report, just write to us at support@myheritage.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Each time I publish the project the same 60 something photos are uploaded to the site. It increases significantly publishing time because of extremely large size of the file to publish (something like 45 MB). Even if I change a single letter in the project and do nothing with photographs FTB always publish those photos.
I started to experience the problem when I added about 60 new photos to the project and started to publish everything to the site and then suddenly I lost connection to the Internet during publishing. Later connection was restored and I published successfully this large number of photos to the site, but since then problem described above started to appear.
What could be a solution for this? Maybe a remedyhas already been publishedin te other thread.
Actually I discovered this was fixed minutes before receiving notification, I couldn't believe just how quickly the changes were uploaded. It makes uploading from FTB much less of a drag.
Whenever I add photos to a profile card through theFamily Tree Builder they are linked to the individuals profile when published (which is what I want) but are also being saved in an album that I do not want them saved to. Each time I have to delete them from the album.
I would not mind if they went to the recently added section of the photos but they are populating in an album that I have dedicated to a theme of black and white photos.
I believe the the issue you are dealing with is that the album you use for black and white photos is actually the "Family tree photos" album. This is the album where photos from your Family Tree Builder tree are published every time you publish the family tree.
This means that if you delete the photos and then do work in this album, all the work you did will be overwritten the next time you republish.
What you should do is create a new album for the black and white photos. Drag them into the new album. Then continue to work on the black and whites from this new album.
Rename the other album to "Family Tree Builder photos" or something similar and remember that each time you publish the photos from your tree are placed here.
I'm currently using the free version of Family Tree Builder and when I go in to try to edit details on a person the "OK" and "cancel" buttons are not there and I am unable to save any changes that I make such as birth dates, death dates etc. I have expanded the box to make sure that I hadn't inadvertantly blocked out the" OK" & "cancel" buttons, but no matter how large I make the box they are just not there. I even tried opeing the 'Sample' gedcom that comes with FTB and it doesn't have the "OK" & "cancel" buttons either! I only have 34 family members on my tree. Does anyone have any suggestions please?
