gldaggett

Yes, you can download a gedcom of your Ancestry tree but it is unsatisfactory with media getting left behind and various info not coming down the way you expect. The only realistic way to get Ancestry tree info out of the online server right now is if you have Family Tree Maker installed and linked to the Ancestry tree. Once you have the tree info into FTM, RM7 will do a direct import from the file with good results. This will only work with version provided by Ancestry and not MacKiev (the new owners). They changed the file system which prevents direct import by RM7. Or wait until later this year when Roots Magic will be able to release their new version which will support Ancestry trees. It sounds like you have an FTM file somewhere on a computer. If you have the file, RM7 should directly import it with good results. It would be a simple process.

--Long time FTM user

A possible work around for FTM users who have applied the update from MacKiev would be to export their file to a FTM 2012 format and import that into RM7. Adds another step and I haven't thought through what might be lost in that export back to FTM 2012.

Yes, Tom they did have a mess when they first introduced it. Very mishandled by a corporate cultural where the top leaders don't even do genealogy themselves or listen to those who do. They introduced the complex synch ability to a buggy, poorly designed program that wasn't capable of good memory management so it would run out of memory and crash. But they finally slugged through the necessary updates and for the last couple of years I have had flawless synching. FTM still hangs and crashes some but recovers itself if you follow the correct steps. Actually FTM hangs & crashes even if you don't use the synch. Most of the problems seemed to be on the Windows version. I really think that synch is a doable function when implemented by qualified developers and not incompetent bean counters. 

Currently, here is what works with Ancestry & FTM:

I keep the "master" files of my Ancestry Trees on my desktop computer. At present time the Ancestry tree can only synch to one desktop. Data entered on my desktop will synch up to the Ancestry tree with updates either direction to make them identical. 

Data entry is all done on the online Ancestry tree by multiple contributors that I invite and assign a level of access. They generally use the integrated search of Ancestry and add info to the tree because of the ease and speed of the process. Or they manually update or add records to the tree.

Synch can be set to automatic but I would never do that. When it is set to manual, I am alerted that a synch is needed because something changed on my desktop file or on the Ancestry tree. When synch is initiated, I am given the choice of viewing the list of changes that shows what is changed and who did it:

People

1 Erastus Porter Daggett    Changed

Fact: Death - 18 Mar 1927 in Elizabeth, Wirt County, Wes.                          Changed

Citation: Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, ..      New

Citation: Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, ..      New

Fact: Birth - 06 Jun 1843 in Virginia                                                                      Changed

Citation: Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, ..    .New

Citation: Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census (Online.New

I can save this change list to document what happened. I can choose to cancel the synch. If I do a backup of my desktop tree before synching, I can restore to exactly the way it was before.

The synch technology was flawless for me. The host of complaints about it were primarily the fault of buggy FTM software and older desktop computers. So I believe the framework is in place for multi user online Ancestry trees and synching to a desktop.Up until the recent announcement, Ancestry rigidly held the file structure of the proprietary FTM and the API of the synching to Ancestry trees secret which blocked outside development of add-ons or enhancements.

Now that real software companies that are competent have control of the process who knows where it will go. I have gone from depressed to being excited to see what will develop now.

It is a short step from the current state of synching to full multi user collaboration.

This is the beauty of Ancestry trees that you can invite others to collaborate with you. For all of the bad feelings toward Ancestry, this is a valuable aspect. Yes, I too am plenty aggravated with Ancestry but they are too big to ignore. To set up an account is free for the host and invitees, you only pay to search their databases. All of the very technical issues of collaboration have been solved. Soon, RM and FTM users will be able to synch all of that online collaboration into their desktop for security and control. Think about multiple collaborators inputting their info into your online Ancestry tree and then synching and merging all of that work into your desktop file. I have been doing this successfully in FTM for a couple of years with very little problems.

It might be possible to do that manually with RM now by using GEDCOM and it's merge function, but that is beyond rookie knowledge of RM.