Problems with Tree Syncing between Ancestry and FamilyTree Maker and RootsMagic

Tree Syncing with Ancestry.com family tree seems to put stress on Ancestry’s servers. If MacKiev and Rootsmagic both go live with syncing this problem will get worse.

The concept of constant syncing with our online trees has attracted many users lineage software as a great tool. Saving Ancestry results to our family tree provide the researcher with a convenient place to store research. The tree could be online at Ancestry or offline on lineage software such as FamilyTree Maker(FTM). I believe that this dynamic drove the popularity of FTM. The addition of TreeSyncing added to the popularity of FTM. Researchers who had family trees on Ancestry and offline lineage software had to decide which was their primary family tree to be maintained and updated with current information. Tree syncing allowed researchers to use their smart devices to search and save information to their Ancestry trees without overtaxing the memory of their devices. Ancestry would then download the new information to FTM, and both family trees would be current.

However, there were complaints of problems with the sync, and Ancestry chose to discontinue FTM rather than solve the problem. They quickly sold FTM to MacKiev who promised to continue support and updates for FTM. However, yesterday’s stress test by MacKiev of their new version of FTM indicates Tree Syncing may push the limits of the online servers at Ancestry and make the connections unstable.

If Tree Syncing endangers the functionality of the databases on Ancestry.com, should it be part of lineage software?

Hopefully, hints, search, and merge with Ancestry.com databases will be allowed to continue because these are also useful functions and do not overtax the Ancestry.com.