Home > Security Error or Blank Page in Web Search in FTM 2017 and FTM 2019

Security Error or Blank Page in Web Search in FTM 2017 and FTM 2019

We are aware of issues affecting FTM 2017 and FTM 2019 users, where they may see a security error or blank page when trying to view an Ancestry record or hint in Web Search.  We have been in communication with Ancestry, and our engineers are committed to assist in any way we can, while the problem is investigated and a fix is found.

The good news is that there are several easy workarounds in the meantime:

  • Click here to download a simple utility that lets you change the default Ancestry site that Web Search is using from Canada, Australia or the UK to the US.  Make sure to run the utility after you download it.  Best if you're actively working and viewing many records.
     
  • If you're only looking at a record or two, you can go to the Address bar inside Web Search and edit the web address for the record to change "ancestry.ca" (or .com.au or .co.uk) to "ancestry.com".  Here's a screenshot that illustrates where to make the edit, also showing what the error message itself looks like:


     
  • If you prefer, you can do your work on Ancestry in your web browser outside of FTM (such as Chrome or Firefox), then use FamilySync in FTM to sync any changes back to your FTM tree.
     
  • If none of these suggestions help, we'd suggest as a workaround that you use the built-in functionality for searching Ancestry in the FTM Web Search, which should function properly, but not use Web Search to navigate Ancestry as you would on the website normally. In other words, do your searches and add records as normal in FTM, but if you want to browse the Ancestry site for records instead of doing individual searches do it in a browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

Please do not contact Ancestry support for this - their agents are not trained and do not provide support for Family Tree Maker or any related issues.  Our agents are always glad to assist you and are available 24/7 through live chat.

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