Syncing Data Between Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker

Struggling to sync data between Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker? There's a reason for that ... this feature doesn't exist!

I love my Family Tree Maker software, but like many out there, bought it (over other products) because I was led to believe through ads that I could sync data between FTM and my tree on Ancestry.com.  I believe it's the ad's claim that the two are "enhanced integration" that brings one to this assumption. Integration assumes constant working relationship.

You know what they say about assumptions.  The folks at Ancestry.com need to be much clearer about this "feature".

So what does "enhances integration" mean to the folks at Ancestry.com?  It means you can download/import from either FTM or Ancestry.com any time you want.  The only problem is that you have a new tree in either case.  So it's means deleting your old tree and working with the new tree.  And this is a problem if you've taken the time to add personal notes and other media to your tree in Family Tree Maker.  Last thing you want to do is lose those by downloading a new tree.

I really don't understand why the Sync feature is non-existent in Family Tree Maker.  It's a no brainier in my mind.

I found this thread on the Roots Web forum that helps explain the sync problem in Family Tree Maker.  Below are links to a few of the more important posts in that thread.

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/5514.2.2.1.2.1.1.2.1/mb.ashx

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/5514.2.2.1.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/5514.2.2.2.1.1.1/mb.ashx

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/5514.2.2.2.1.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx

There are currently 52 posts in this thread (which is why I only highlighted a few), but if you to read them all from the beginning, you can do so by clicking here. 

If enough people contact Ancestry.com about the importance of this feature, perhaps the next version of Family Tree Maker will contain a Sync Feature (that's my hope anyway).