Look, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably just spent three hours merging 400 duplicate people or compacting a 200-MB file, and now Family Tree Maker 2024 is acting like it’s drunk — freezing on sync, crashing when you open charts, media thumbnails gone, the works. I feel your pain. I’ve been through this exact nightmare more times than I can count.
The good news? Nine times out of ten, the brand-new update fixes every single one of those headaches. MacKiev is actually pretty good about pushing patches that clean up the mess left behind after heavy compacting or merging sessions. So here’s the dead-simple, no-BS way I update FTM 2024 every single time something feels off.
Method 1 – The Lazy (But Usually Perfect) Way
- Close FTM completely if it’s open.
- Re-open it fresh.
- Click the Help menu at the very top of the screen.
- Choose “Check for Updates” (sometimes it says “Online Update” depending on your build).
- If it finds something, you’ll see a window pop up telling you the new version number and what it fixes. Just hit Download, then Install, grab a coffee, and let it finish.
- The program shuts itself down, installs the patch, and restarts like nothing happened.
That’s literally all most people ever need. Takes two to four minutes.
Method 2 – When the Built-in Updater Decides to Take a Vacation
Sometimes the updater just spins forever or says “cannot connect to server.” Happens to me at least once every couple of months (thanks, corporate firewall). When that happens, I don’t fight it — I go get the update myself.
What I do:
- Close FTM.
- Open my web browser and go straight to the official MacKiev update page (you can Google “Family Tree Maker updates MacKiev” — it’s always the first result).
- Scroll down until you see the section clearly marked Family Tree Maker 2024.
- The very top file listed is the newest one — it’ll have the latest date and the highest version number.
- Download the full installer (yeah, it’s big, 600–800 MB, but it contains every single fix ever released, so you’re 100 % caught up).
- Once it finishes downloading, double-click the file and run it exactly like you did when you first installed the program.
- It detects your current installation, updates everything, and leaves every single one of your trees, photos, and notes exactly where they were.
Zero data loss. Ever. I’ve done this dozens of times on multiple computers.
Special Note for Mac People
If you bought FTM 2024 from the Mac App Store, just open the App Store, click the Updates tab at the top, and if there’s a new version it’ll be sitting there waiting. Hit Update and you’re done.
If you bought direct from MacKiev (the non-App-Store version), use the same manual download steps I listed above.
What I Do the Second the Update Finishes
- Open FTM again.
- Immediately go to Help → About Family Tree Maker and check the version number at the top. Write it down somewhere if you’re a nerd like me.
- Do a quick backup — File → Backup — and save it to an external drive or Dropbox. Takes 30 seconds and saves your sanity if something ever goes sideways in the future.
- If I updated because of compact/merge weirdness, I run Tools → Compact File one more time. Usually the file size drops another 10–20 % and everything feels snappy again.
Questions I Get in the Facebook Groups All Day Long
- “Will updating wipe out my tree?” Never in the 15+ years I’ve been doing this. Your actual family files (.ftmm) live in your Documents folder (or wherever you saved them). The updater only touches the program itself.
- “Do I have to uninstall the old version first?” Nope. The installer is smart — it just overwrites the program files and keeps everything else.
- “I’m scared of big downloads.” Totally get it, but this one is straight from MacKiev’s own servers. I’ve never once had a corrupted download.
- “What if I’m still on 24.0 or 24.1 and there have been five updates since?” Doesn’t matter. The newest full installer includes every single fix. You jump straight to the latest version in one shot.
That’s it. Five to ten minutes of your time and Family Tree Maker 2024 goes from frustrating to buttery smooth again. I promise.
Go do the update right now while you’re thinking about it — you’ll thank yourself tomorrow when you’re flying through your research instead of waiting for the spinning wheel of death.
