Disclaimer & trademark notice

Ancient Family Roots is an independent business. We are not Family Tree Maker's official support channel, we are not connected to the companies that publish or own it, and nothing on this site should be read as suggesting otherwise. This page sets out exactly who we are, what we do, and where our limits sit.

1. Statement of independence

Ancient Family Roots is an independent third-party service. We have no affiliation, partnership, agency relationship, sponsorship, endorsement or authorisation from any of the following:

• The Software MacKiev Company, publisher of Family Tree Maker
• Ancestry.com Operations Inc. and its subsidiaries
• Broderbund, or any successor holding rights in earlier Family Tree Maker releases
• MyHeritage, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Heredis, or any other genealogy software publisher
• FamilySearch and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We have never claimed such a relationship and we will not. If you encounter any page, advert or message that appears to represent Ancient Family Roots as official support for any of these products, it did not come from us — please tell us so we can act on it.

2. Trademark acknowledgements

All product names, brands, logos and trademarks referenced on this site are the property of their respective owners. Their use here is nominative — that is, they identify the products we write about and provide help with, and nothing more.

We do not use any of these companies' logos, icons, colour schemes or other trade dress, and the Ancient Family Roots name and mark are our own. Use of a product name on this site does not imply any endorsement of Ancient Family Roots by that product's owner.

3. What we do, and what we don't

Being specific here protects you as much as it protects us. If something you need falls in the right-hand column, we'll tell you at the first opportunity and there will be no charge.

4. How we conduct sessions

Third-party technical support has a poor reputation, and it was earned by operators who used exactly the tactics listed below. These are commitments, not marketing:

• Screen share only. We can see your screen and tell you what to click. We do not take remote control of your computer.
• We will never ask for a password. Not for Ancestry, not for email, not for anything. If one must be entered, you type it.
• We will never ask for card or bank details verbally or by chat. Payment, where applicable, is handled by a payment processor.
• We do not create urgency. No countdown timers, no warnings that your data is about to be lost, no pressure to decide immediately.
• We do not cold-call. If someone contacts you unprompted claiming to be us, it isn't us.
• You end the session. At any point, for any reason.

5. About the guides on this site

The troubleshooting guides here are free, written independently, and offered in good faith. Some things worth knowing about them:

• They describe software published by others, which changes. Steps and menu names can differ between versions and can be altered by an update at any time.
• We check and date each guide, but we cannot guarantee that every instruction is current for every build on every operating system.
• Where a manufacturer's own documentation covers something authoritatively, we link to it rather than paraphrase it.
• You follow the steps at your own discretion. Always make a backup before changing anything — every guide says so, and it is the single most important instruction on this site.

6. No warranty

This website and its content are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the information is complete, current or error-free, or that following it will resolve any particular problem.

Data recovery in particular is never guaranteed. Where a file is damaged beyond repair, or where data has been overwritten, no service — ours or anyone else's — can recover it. We assess before charging precisely so that you are not paying for an outcome nobody can promise.

7. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ancient Family Roots accepts no liability for loss of data, loss of profits, or any indirect or consequential loss arising from use of this website or its guides. Where we perform a paid service, our liability is limited to the fee paid for that service.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

8. Your data

We do not take copies of your family tree unless a repair genuinely requires it. Where it does, we ask first, we tell you what we are taking, and we delete it once the work is complete. We never sell, share or publish customer data. Full detail is in our privacy policy.

9. External links

We link to manufacturers' support sites, archives and community resources where they are the better answer. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, availability or practices. A link is not an endorsement, and we receive no payment for the links to publisher support pages on this site.

10. Questions about this notice

If you represent a rights holder and believe anything on this site misrepresents your relationship with us, please contact us directly. We will review it promptly and correct anything that is wrong — we would far rather hear from you than not.

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