Keep them that way, if you merge them it will be to large, trust me. Been there and done that! If you put them all in just one file, FTM after so many names throws out the ones that you put in first! So your data vanishes................................................ YES FTM has unlimited space YES if you put each family seperate it seems. I was told this by the makers of FTM them selves Gail ~~~~~~~ Gail Although this list may not be the place to talk about FTM software, I wonder how many people you are talking about having in your FTM file? Also, how many folks did FTM tell you would be too many? I use FTM 11.0, and have over 30,000 folks with notes, obits, photos, census returns, etc., for quite a few of those... I have never had any of my information 'vanish'. I regularly back up my family file so I won't lose anything, in the event of a power failure or computer crash, etc. I merged all my files into one single file about 3 years ago, and didn't lose any information. (That is why I recommended making a back-up BEFORE you merge your files, in the event that something goes wrong, or you don't understand exactly what it is you are telling the software to do.) Anytime someone wants info on someone in my file, I can easily create a genealogy report, then export the report to a .pdf or text file. Then, it's as simple as sending an attachment with an e-mail of whatever file I am sending. There is a very informative list for Family Tree Maker users at the following address, and many users on that list have a lot more folks in their files than I have, so I wonder why your information vanishes. If anyone is interested in learning more about FTM, I highly recommend subscribing to this list: [email protected] I'm not trying to get an argument started, I am merely sharing my experiences. Sherry