Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Tell Family Tree Maker Not to Upload a Certain Media File

Family Tree Maker has long been the standard-bearer for desktop genealogy software programs. Indeed, our very offset issue—January 2000—included an article on using Family Tree Maker 6.0. But when Beginnings.com announced it was discontinuing the software in 2015, some genealogists left information technology for dead.

But the plan has experienced a renaissance since existence bought by Software MacKiev. Family Tree Maker 2017 was the first to allow for syncing betwixt it and a family tree on Ancestry.com. And subsequent updates take incorporated even more functionality while maintaining the same features that attracted genealogists in the beginning place.

To help yous make the nigh of the plan, nosotros've put together these tips for using Family Tree Maker.

The tips and screenshots in this commodity reflect Family Tree Maker 2019 (the most recent version at time of writing), but much of the advice will also employ to earlier iterations of the software.

Note: Despite the somewhat similar names, Family Tree Mag is not affiliated with Family Tree Maker. The software programme is created by a split up company.

ane. Import your family tree.

If y'all've already congenital a digital family tree, you can save valuable research time by importing it into Family unit Tree Maker. You can either upload a GEDCOM file (under Plan>New Tree, click Import an Existing Tree) or download a tree from Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. (Just make sure the information imports correctly!) Don't worry if you're new to family-tree-building or desire to commencement fresh—you can likewise create a new tree manually, calculation one person at a time.

2. Change your appointment preferences.

Family Tree Maker formats dates consistently beyond your tree, making it easier for you to review them at a glance. To change how dates are formatted, select Tools from the dropdown carte du jour, then choose Options. From this window, select Names/Dates/Places and a format (such as "Twenty-four hour period Month Year") for both display and input formats. (Mac users: Select Preferences, and so Dates/Names/Places.)

3. Add life events.

Y'all tin select preformatted central life events ("facts") to add to a person in your family tree. While in the Tree window, select a person and click Customize View. From there, y'all can add individual facts (baptism, nascency, burial, etc.) as well as shared facts (marriage license, divorce, etc.) You can as well add a custom fact and specify what fields y'all want associated with its entry (such as engagement or identify).

4. Take advantage of descriptions.

Each fact has a description field where y'all tin add together more than information, perfect for including details that don't fit neatly elsewhere. If you don't see the Description field, go to the Person view, then select a fact. Under Options, select Fact Properties. Then brand certain Description is included under Fact Elements.

v. Sort through conflicting data.

If your ancestor has multiple details associated with a fact (such as alien dates of birth), select which will exist "preferred." Preferred facts will more often than not be displayed in reports and other exported versions of your tree, only Family Tree Maker will nevertheless maintain this alternate data (useful if you're nonetheless determining which data is correct).

6. Clean up your names and places.

Y'all can alter how your ancestors' names are formatted in bulk under Tools>Convert Names, handy if they've been capitalized inconsistently. As well, Family Tree Maker tin can assistance standardize your place names. Under Tools>Resolve All Place Names, y'all'll see all locations that Family Tree Maker doesn't recognize. The tool provides a suggested standardized identify name, and yous can either accept the suggested alternative or ignore it birthday. Click Other to search for some other spelling of the place proper noun.

7. Document censuses.

Utilize the Census fact to indicate if your ancestor appeared in an enumeration. In the Date field, utilise the full date—including the official day and calendar month the census was taken that year. (Run into our list.) Likewise, blazon the full address in the Place field. You can also upload and attach an image of the census return (or any record prototype, for that matter).

8. Re-create facts from 1 person to another.

Adding events that affected multiple people—such as residence data from censuses—can be tedious. Relieve time past copying such facts to others' profiles. Become to the People window, then the Person tab. Make sure Facts is selected in the carte du jour, then right-click the target fact and select Re-create. Click away, then right-click the fact again and select Paste. Then click the checkmark next to the profile(s) you want to add the fact to.

9. Record addresses.

Family unit Tree Maker has three carve up identify-related fact types: Address (the contemporary place someone lived or worked, generally used for postal purposes), Property (related to real manor) and Residence (where someone mentioned in a tape lived). Select which fact best applies to the consequence you desire to record, and be consistent in how yous use that fact blazon. You can also consider indicating some of the accost in the Place field of other facts, then including the balance in the Description or Notation fields.

10. Don't misfile will and probate.

Some genealogists recollect these 2 "events" are the same, but Family unit Tree Maker has split fact types for a reason. Wills are written documents prepared before a person'due south expiry, while "probate" refers to legal proceedings after a person's death. So the Appointment and Place fields of probate facts should refer to when and where the court ruled on the deceased's case, while those fields in the wills fact should indicate when and where that document was prepared.

11. Create reports.

Family Tree Maker offers several options for reports that you can generate and export. These are great to share with family unit, friends and other researchers. In add-on, reports can help you look at your work with fresh eyes. Access reports under the Publish window.

12. Back up your information.

In some ways, desktop software is a safer repository for your family unit tree than an online service like Ancestry.com. You can access your tree in Family Tree Maker without internet, and your tree isn't tied to an online subscription that could theoretically disappear. (And, dissimilar the FamilySearch Family Tree, no one tin can edit your tree in Family Tree Maker without your permission.) Still, be sure to export your family tree as a GEDCOM and shop on an external hard bulldoze or in deject-based storage. Yous never know when your hard drive could crash, wiping away years of difficult piece of work.

xiii. Follow these steps to export your tree from Family Tree Maker.

I of the nearly important advantages of using genealogy software is that once y'all've entered information on your family into a program, information technology'due south easy to share your family unit file. You might want to email a branch of your family tree to a cousin. Even if she uses different genealogy software, she can still open your file and view your tree. Or maybe you'd similar to submit your family unit tree file to GEDmatch forth with your Deoxyribonucleic acid test results, so your matches on the site can figure out how you're related. If yous want to switch to a different genealogy plan, you can make a copy of your family file to upload to the other program.

Users of the popular Family Tree Maker genealogy software were left wondering what to exercise with their family files in December 2015, when Ancestry.com appear plans to discontinue the program. Although the visitor later reversed its conclusion and instead sold Family Tree Maker to Software MacKiev, researchers were reminded of the potential for obsolescence when using whatever 3rd-party data-storage tool.

Whether you lot need to transfer your family tree to new software or you simply desire to share it with relatives, yous'll need to know how to export a family file. Hither's how to practise this in Family Tree Maker.

Family Tree Maker screenshot

1. If you maintain a Member Tree on Beginnings.com, commencement synchronize it with your Family unit Tree Maker software.

This is so your exported file volition contain the most up-to-date data. To do this, open the linked tree in Family unit Tree Maker and click on the green leaf with the up and downwards arrows, located in the upper correct corner of your screen. Then click on Sync Now.

2.You might desire your exported family file to contain only role of your tree.

Maybe you want to transport just your shared branch to a cousin, for example. Nosotros'll suggest ii ways to practise this:

  • One method is to create a chart to select people to include in the file. This is the only way that lets y'all specify how many generations of a relative's descendants you lot want to share. First, in Family Tree Maker, click the People tab and select the person whose descendants you want in the file. And so click the Publish tab, select a chart (such as the Descendant Nautical chart) under the Collection tab, and click on Create Nautical chart. Specify how many generations of descendants to include. If you don't want to include all the descendants, select simply the ones you want. Right-click on the nautical chart, click on Export and choose either Selected Persons or Entire Chart.
  • Some other manner to select whom to include in your new file is to select Export from the File menu (shown). Highlight a name and click Include to select just that person. Click Ancestors and you can specify the number of generations to include. Click Descendants to include all of a selected person's descendants. You can make multiple selections, such as someone'south ancestors and then that person's descendants. To start over once more, click the Exclude All button.
Family Tree Maker screenshot.

three. Cull an output file format.

The Family Tree Maker output option generates a fill-in file (.FTMB) that works only with the version you used to create it. Usually, you'll select some other selection, either another version of Family Tree Maker (2008/2009, 2010, 2011 or 2012) or a GEDCOM 5.5 file. The erstwhile type of file has the extension .FTM; a GEDCOM file ends in .GED.

In general, if you'll share the file with someone who uses Family Tree Maker, select the version that person has. Otherwise, cull a GEDCOM v.five file, a format compatible with nearly genealogy software and websites, such as GEDmatch. Merely if you're sharing with someone who uses RootsMagic software version seven.ane.0.1 or higher, it's improve to share a Family unit Tree Maker file. RootsMagic tin now import all versions of Family unit Tree Maker for Windows and Mac, and information technology does a better job importing a Family Tree Maker file than a Family unit Tree Maker-generated GEDCOM file.

4. Specify what data to include in the file.

If you lot opt to privatize living people, only their names volition exist part of the file. You lot tin can optionally include individual facts and notes, as well as a inquiry to-do list. If you include media files, such as photographs and document images, Family unit Tree Maker files will include them, but GEDCOM files will have just links to them. (Note that GEDCOM files created with Family Tree Maker 2011 and earlier versions won't have links to media files, either.) If y'all're sharing your tree every bit a GEDCOM file, yous'll need to transport paradigm files and other media separately.

Family Tree Maker screenshot.

5. Select the binder on your computer where you desire to salve the file.

Give the folder a name such every bit "jones-genealogy" and click OK. When the consign is finished, click OK again.

Rick Crume

Information in this article appeared in the July/Baronial 2016 (Crume) and July/August 2020 issues of Family unit Tree Magazine. An earlier version of this article (by Melanie Rigney) appeared in the Jan 2000 result of Family Tree, and covered tips for Family Tree Maker 6.0.

Go Your Gratis Essential Genealogy Inquiry Forms

Sign up for the Family unit Tree Newsletter and receive 10 research forms every bit a special cheers!

Get Your Free Genealogy Forms

"*" indicates required fields

hightowerthavan.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.familytreemagazine.com/resources/software/family-tree-maker-tips/

Post a Comment for "Tell Family Tree Maker Not to Upload a Certain Media File"