Is your tree file really corrupted?
Most trees people call corrupted are not corrupted at all. Four ordinary faults get mistaken for it, and they have easy fixes, while the repairs for genuine corruption can cost you data. Spend five minutes telling the two apart before you restore anything over the top of your working file.
- Applies to
- FTM 2024 · 2019 · 2017 · 2014
- Platform
- Windows & macOS
- Time
- ~10 min
Check before you repair
The repairs for genuine corruption cost you something. Rebuilding through GEDCOM drops publications, tasks, saved charts and some citation formatting. Restoring an older backup discards every change since that backup.
Both are reasonable prices for rescuing a damaged file. Both are pure loss when the file was never damaged. Spend ten minutes here first.
Four faults mistaken for corruption
| What you see | Usually is | Not corruption because |
|---|---|---|
| Every photo shows a broken link | The media folder moved | Names, dates and sources are all intact |
| Tree will not open from a cloud folder | An online-only placeholder | The file is not on the disk to open |
| "Cannot open this file" | An older edition opening a newer file | Formats only upgrade, never downgrade |
| Everything crawls | Tree size and media volume | Slow is not damaged |
Broken photographs are the most frequent false alarm by a wide margin. Family Tree Maker stores images in a folder beside the tree and records where they live. Move the folder and every link breaks at once, which looks like catastrophe and is a five-minute fix — see missing media files.
The three-minute test
Run these in order. Each one rules out an impostor.
Does the file open at all? If it opens and your people are there, you do not have corruption. Whatever is wrong is cosmetic or a link problem.
Check the person count. Compare it against what you remember. A count that matches means the data is present.
Check where the file lives. A tree inside OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive is frequently a placeholder rather than a real file. Copy it to the desktop and open that copy.
Check the edition that made it. A file from FTM 2024 does not open in FTM 2019. That is a version mismatch, not damage.
Run a compact. If it completes without error, the internal structure is sound.
Back up before testing, not after. Every step here is safe, but a file that is genuinely damaged degrades further each time it opens. Two minutes of backup protects the position you are in now.
Two routes to check before you assume the worst
If a cloud upload is what raised the alarm, the alert itself usually carries a Compact and Try Again button, and clicking it resolves a fair share of these on the spot. And if the file really has gone, the emergency restore service brings your tree back from the cloud copy, provided you subscribe to TreeVault. The entry-level plan holds tree data without media, so a restore on that tier arrives complete except for the photographs.
What real corruption looks like
Genuine damage shows a different pattern. One of these alone is worth investigating; two together make corruption likely.
- People or facts vanish between sessions with nobody deleting them.
- Compacting fails or reports errors rather than completing.
- The same action crashes every time, reproducibly, on the same record.
- The person count drops without explanation.
- Sync fails repeatedly at the same point while other trees sync normally.
If you recognise two or more of those, treat it as damage and work through repairing a corrupted file, starting with the least destructive option. Stop using the tree in the meantime, because continuing to work in a damaged file adds new data that a restore then discards.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my Family Tree Maker file is corrupted?
Genuine corruption shows people or facts disappearing on their own, a compact that fails, the same action crashing reproducibly, or a falling person count. A file that opens with your data intact is not corrupted.
All my photos show as broken links. Is the file corrupted?
Almost certainly not. Broken images mean the media folder moved. Names, dates and sources being intact proves the tree itself is fine. Relink the folder and the images return.
My tree will not open from OneDrive. Is it damaged?
Usually it is an online-only placeholder rather than a real file on the disk. Copy it to your desktop and open that copy. Keep working trees off cloud-sync folders.
Family Tree Maker says it cannot open this file. Does that mean corruption?
Not on its own. An older edition cannot open a file saved by a newer one, because the format upgrades and never downgrades. Check which edition created the file first.
Is a slow tree a damaged tree?
No. Slowness comes from tree size and media volume. Compacting helps, but slow performance alone indicates nothing about the file structure.
Should I keep working while I investigate?
Stop if people or facts are disappearing. Working in a damaged file adds new research that an older backup then discards.
Not sure which one you have?
We assess the file for free and tell you plainly whether it is damaged.