TreeVault has stopped syncing
Before troubleshooting anything, work out which service stopped. TreeVault and Ancestry syncing are two different things that fail independently, and half the frustration around this comes from people fixing the one that was working fine.
- Applies to
- FTM 2024 · 2019 (TreeVault subscribers)
- Platform
- Windows & Mac
- Time
- ~25 min
- Updated
TreeVault vs Ancestry syncing
These get confused constantly, including by people who've paid for both. They do genuinely different jobs.
| Ancestry syncing | TreeVault | |
|---|---|---|
| What it's for | Keeping your tree and your online Ancestry tree matched, and getting record hints | Holding an exact cloud copy of your tree |
| Cost | Included with an Ancestry tree | Paid subscription |
| Direction | Two-way. Changes travel both ways | Upload only. Your tree goes to the cloud |
| Carries the change log & web links | No | Yes |
| Runs when | You start a sync yourself | Continuously in the background |
| What it unlocks | Record hints, online tree sharing | Emergency tree restore, the companion mobile app |
The genuinely useful difference: TreeVault carries things Ancestry syncing leaves behind: your change log and web links. If either matters to you, that's the actual argument for paying for it.
A cloud copy is not a backup. TreeVault mirrors your tree as you work, so a bad merge or an accidental deletion is copied upward too. There's no dated version to return to. Keep making proper backups with media included — TreeVault doesn't replace them.
The two trees TreeVault talks about
Error messages use two names, and they are easy to mix up. Getting them straight makes every alert on this page readable:
- Your Source tree is the file on your own computer. It is the one you work in.
- Your Antenna Tree is the copy TreeVault keeps in the cloud. It is what the phone app reads, and what Emergency Tree restore pulls from when the local file has gone.
So a message about the Antenna Tree concerns the cloud copy, and a message about the Source tree concerns your own file. When an alert offers a Compact and Try Again button, it has found a problem in your Source tree that stops the cloud copy building. Click it. The file gets compacted and the upload picks up again by itself, which resolves most of these.
Step 1 — Work out which one stopped
Do this first Two minutes, saves the wrong repair
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Are you still getting Ancestry record hints, and do changes still reach your online tree? If so, Ancestry syncing is fine and only TreeVault has stopped.
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If both have stopped, the problem is more likely your sign-in or connection than TreeVault itself. Start with the sync guide.
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If only TreeVault has stopped, carry on down this page.
Step 2 — Check the subscription
Most common cause It stops quietly when it lapses
TreeVault is a paid service, and an expired subscription looks exactly like a technical fault. The cloud copy stops updating without much fanfare.
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Check whether the subscription is still active and when it last renewed.
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Card expired, payment bounced, or auto-renew switched off are the usual culprits. None of them announce themselves inside the software.
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Subscription and billing questions go to the publisher, not to us. We can't see your account and wouldn't ask you to share it.
Step 3 — Signed in, and not offline
Easily missed Offline mode pauses it silently
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Confirm you're signed in inside Family Tree Maker.
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Open the menu. If it offers "Go Online", you are currently offline, and the cloud copy has been paused the whole time. The menu shows the action available, not your state.
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This catches out anyone who went offline to speed up a large tree and forgot to go back.
Step 4 — Restart, then leave it alone
Often all it needs Give it uninterrupted time
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Close Family Tree Maker completely and reopen it with your tree.
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Leave it running and online. A cloud copy that's fallen behind has to catch up, and after a long gap that takes real time.
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Don't keep closing the program to check on it. Every restart interrupts the upload it's trying to finish.
Step 5 — If the upload keeps stalling
Underlying cause The file, not the service
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A fragmented or lightly damaged tree file stalls uploads the same way it stalls syncs. Compact the file with extended analysis ticked.
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Very large media holds up the process. See reducing oversized media.
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If it stalls at the same point every time, that's a specific item it can't process rather than a general failure.
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Stop the computer sleeping while it works. This one catches people out badly. If the machine sleeps for more than about five minutes during a cloud-copy build or an emergency restore, the process can be cancelled outright, and it starts again from the very beginning rather than resuming. People set a large tree uploading, walk away, and come back to find it back at zero. Turn sleep off for the duration.
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Don't go offline or sign out while it runs. Same result: the whole build or restore restarts from scratch. FTM 2019 version 24.1 and later block signing out during a build for exactly this reason, but the original 24.0 release still lets you do it.
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Use a wired connection if you have one. The published guidance is 1 Mbps or better. A large tree with heavy media over patchy Wi-Fi is the usual reason an upload never finishes.
Three causes people rarely guess
These account for a fair share of the cases where everything looks configured correctly and nothing happens anyway.
- You renamed, moved, or overwrote your tree file. That breaks the link between your file and its cloud copy, so updates quietly stop. Nothing warns you at the time. If your backups stopped on the same day you tidied your Documents folder, this is why. Moving a tree between computers has its own procedure, and doing it by dragging the file is what breaks the link.
- The account is busy somewhere else. An alert saying the account is currently in use means a TreeVault job is already running: in a second Family Tree Maker window, on another computer, or in the phone app. Only one can run at a time. Finish or cancel the other one and try again.
- Someone activated your Next of Kin certificate. If you set up a Next of Kin successor and gave them the certificate, their activating it locks your account. You then cannot sign in, build a cloud copy, or have updates applied. It is designed to work that way, because the service assumes the account holder has died. If you are locked out for no apparent reason and you issued a certificate, ask your successor whether they activated it by mistake, then contact the publisher to unlock it.
Is TreeVault worth keeping?
A fair question, and one we're asked more often than how to fix it. Honestly:
- If you already sync to Ancestry, you have an online copy of your research. TreeVault's additions are the change log, web links, emergency restore and mobile access.
- Emergency restore has real value for anyone whose backup habits are shaky. It is the route back when the local file is gone and no usable backup exists. Check your tier before you count on it, though: the entry-level plan stores tree data without media, so a restore returns your people and sources with every photograph missing.
- It is not a substitute for backups. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
- If you don't sync to Ancestry at all, TreeVault is doing more work for you, and the case for it is stronger.
Not sure which service stopped?
We'll work out what is actually running in one short session, and tell you plainly if the answer is that your subscription lapsed and there is nothing to fix.
Frequently asked questions
What is TreeVault and how is it different from syncing with Ancestry?
Two separate services people constantly confuse. Ancestry syncing keeps your tree file and online tree matched so you get record hints. TreeVault is a paid cloud service holding an exact copy of your tree, including the change log and web links that Ancestry syncing does not carry. It also powers emergency restore and the companion mobile app.
Is TreeVault a backup?
It's a continuously updated cloud copy, not a traditional backup, and the difference matters. Because it mirrors your tree as you work, a mistake you make locally reaches the cloud too. A dated backup you can return to is still necessary.
Why has TreeVault stopped updating when Ancestry syncing still works?
They're independent, so one can fail while the other carries on. The commonest cause is a lapsed subscription. It is a paid service and stops quietly when it expires. Working in offline mode also pauses it with no obvious warning.
Do I need TreeVault if my tree already syncs to Ancestry?
Not necessarily. Ancestry syncing already gives you an online copy. TreeVault adds an exact mirror with the change log and web links, plus emergency restore and mobile access. Whether that's worth a subscription depends on how much you'd miss those — a fair thing to weigh before renewing.
Can I get my tree back from TreeVault if my computer fails?
That's what it's for. The cloud copy supports the emergency tree restore service, which exists for exactly the case where the local file is gone and there's no usable backup. It only helps if the subscription was active and the copy was current when things went wrong.
Does TreeVault include my photographs?
It's designed to mirror the tree rather than serve as a media archive, and media is where expectations most often diverge from reality. Don't rely on it as the only home for your photographs — keep a manual backup with the media box ticked.