As we reported in December 2015, Ancestry.com^™ has decided to stop production on it’s landmark family tree software known as Family Tree Maker, “due to decreasing demand”. This took effect on December 31st, 2015. You can see the official announcement at Ancestry to Retire Family Tree Maker Software.

We are happy to report that because of the outpouring of comments, questions and the concerns raised to Ancestry.com^™, Ancestry.com™ has announced two new agreements that will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry.com and within Family Tree Maker.

The first agreement is with a company called Software MacKiev. Software MacKiev – with whom Ancestry has had a long-standing relationship – is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions.

The second announcement involves another family tree software called RootsMagic. The news is that Ancestry.com will be working with RootsMagic to ensure that it also has access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.com.

This is all great news for the fans of Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic. We would suggest that you continue working with Family Tree Maker until these two new options become available. According to Ancestry.com, this should happen by the end of the year.

You can read more about these new options at:
http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/02/02/good-news-for-users-of-family-tree-maker/

Thank You Ancestry.com!