Family Matters 5.00 Beta Download Page

Welcome to the MatterWare™ Family Matters^® Genealogy Software Web page, for the new beta version, 5.00.xx, initially 5.00.01 and now 5.00.12 as of June 18. Once out of beta it will be designated 5.01. Development is ongoing with Microsoft Access 2016, and will be free to all registered users. In addition to the upgrade to a newer version of Access, the following features and changes have been incorporated:

• Picture View now shows the picture and the associated data on the same landscape-oriented page;.
• Person List and Family List Views combined, and expanded to include Sources, Repositories, Birthdays, and others ;
• Separate Help and Manual files now integrated into the program;
• Mouse scroll wheel allows scrolling within large text (aka memo) fields;
• All form views and report previews remember their last size and position;
• Output reports in PDF and other formats;
• Menu bar and button bar integrated into Microsoft "fluent" ribbon;
• Bug fixes reported and collected over the last few years.

Download-wise, I will post the zip files here: Famat500.zip

If Access 2016 is already installed in your computer, or the Access 2016 runtime is installed, that's all you will need. As luck would have it, .accde files are different for 32-bit Access and 64-bit Access. Family Matters is developed and compiled with 32-bit Access 2016.

The zip-file includes all needed files with:

• Famat500_versiondate.accde - the 32-bit Family Matters program, compiled with 32-bit Access 2016.
• FMempty500.accdb - empty Family Matters data file for use when a New file is created (do NOT rename)
• ReadMe500.txt,

Installation is simply to unzip the files into a folder such as ...\My Documents\Family Matters\. If you were a past user of Family Matters 97, you may choose to unzip them into ...\My Documents\Famat97\, though the former will be the preferred location going forward. There isn't a setup file to run. To run the program just run Famat500.accde with your 32-bit Access, version 2010 or later. If you are using Windows 10 your computer may set up the Access 2016 Runtime for you. If you do not have any version of Access, go to the Microsoft web site to download and install the free 32-bit Access 2010 Runtime at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10910, the Access 2013 Runtime at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39358 or the Access 2016 Runtime at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50040. Note that Access 2016 the file format of Family Matters is also compatible with Access versions 2010 and 2013. Lastly, even if you do have a full version of Access installed, you may choose to use one of the runtime programs because the standard Access ribbon menus will not be in the way of the Family Matters menus.

Known shortcomings:

• The menu-bar and button-bar as not as integrated into the ribbon as I'd like. They are located in the ribbon-tab identified as Add-ins.
• Only compatible with the 32-bit versions of Microsoft Access 2010, 2013 and 2016.

Should you decide to participate, please email me with the following information:

• Do you have any version of Microsoft Access installed, and what version. (Once running, the "About..." dialog will identify the version.)
• Did anything do wrong with the installation. If so, describe it.
• Did any error messages or errant operation occur when running Family Matters. Please be as explicit as possible.
• What version of Windows are you using?
• Did you have an earlier version of Family Matters installed, and if so what version.
• What version of the Family Matters beta release did you attempt?
• When running Family Matters, bring up the About dialog, click it, and send me the information file that is stored.
• Send information describing any mis-operation, error messages, and anything you'd like to see different.