Best Practices for Syncing Family Tree Maker with Ancestry

It is very important to keep your Family Tree Maker synchronized with Ancestry to keep your genealogy research secure, accurate, and up to date. However, you can encounter issues if you do not take precautions in time. By following some Best Practices for Sync Family Tree Maker 2019 and 2024 with Ancestry, you can easily control the risk of sync errors, broken links, or data loss. Whether you are looking to sync your tree for the first time or updating it regularly, the tips in this guide will help you protect your genealogy data. This will bring a stable connection between Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.

Family Tree Maker: Sync Family Tree Maker 2019 and 2024

With the below given practices you can easily sync your Family Tree Maker with Ancestry. Have a look at them one by one: 

1. Prepare Your Tree Through Compaction

Before syncing, ensure your tree is compacted. This will optimize the database by removing unnecessary space, which can contribute to synchronization issues.

In order to have the best outcome

• Open Tools>Compact File.
• Run the process several times till the reduction value drops to 0.00%.
• Enable the extended analysis so that the family tree maker can check and repair any data issues.

2. Don’t Sync Without A Manual Backup

If you are syncing your tree, wait a while to create a manual backup using File>Backup. It is one of the easiest ways to protect your genealogy data if something goes wrong.

To get the best results:

• Include your media files.
• Enable the “Allow restored file to resume syncing” option so that you can reconnect with Ancestry right after being restored.
• Do keep in mind, auto backups are not complete- they don’t save media or the information that is required to restore the sync connection.

3. Select The Right Time To Sync

To enjoy a smoother syncing experience, try to sync during off-peak hours when Ancestry servers are less busy. You can do so in the morning or late evening, as you won’t face delays or interruptions.

4. Sync On A Regular Basis

Sync frequently instead of waiting until you make various changes. Small, frequent changes are fast and do not cause issues.

5. Enable Manual Sync

With manual syncing, you can have a more stable synchronization process than automatic sync. It also includes the information needed to relink your tree and includes associated media files.

How to switch to manual sync:

• Select it properly right before syncing your tree for the first time

OR

• Click the Sync Indicator in the upper right corner and open sync options to make changes in the settings.

6. Verify The Internet Connection

Check your internet connection before creating an antenna tree or syncing your data. A wired connection with a speed of 1 Mbps or faster will help you reduce interruptions and improve transfer. If you are not sure about the connection speed, you can test it by using speedtest.net.

7. Take Help of a Single Editing Location

To have a better synchronization experience, make updates to your tree at a particular location between sync sessions. Do it in either Family Tree Maker or Ancestry, but do not do it in both before syncing. One-way synchronization is an efficient method and helps in minimizing the risk of synchronization conflicts.

8. Avoid Renaming or Moving Your Linked Tree

In order to prevent syncing issues between Family Tree Maker and Ancestry, keep your linked tree file in its original location. Don’t rename, move, or replace the file, as it can easily break the synchronization connection.

To move your tree into another folder or drive

• Go to File>Backup.
• Include media files.
• Select allow restored file to resume syncing.
• Keep the backup in the new location
• Restore the tree from the backup.

Conclusion! 

Smooth syncing is not a matter of chance but adherence to the right steps. With proper preparation of your tree, data backups, regular syncing, and a stable connection, you can easily avoid many synchronization issues.

All these Best Practice For Syncing will collectively protect your family and keep your syncing fast and more dependable. If the issues still persist, contact the Family Tree Maker support team for further guidance.