Can not import file from Version 16 to Version 2009 - UPDATE

This Blog entry is an update to one previously posts, with another way to Identify the Individual causing the problem on Import from Version 16 into Version 2009.

This blog entry is to help document a problem that was observed and resolved. The issue is that a Family File that was created in Version 16 could not be Imported into Version 2009. However, that same file WAS able to be opened in Version 2008. When attempting to open the Version 16 Family File, a noticeable slowness in the Analysis process was observed, then the Error message: #1 - Import Error failed because an unknown error occurred.



Figure 26

Moving the Error Message revealed that the process stopped at Individual 358. The normal process would be to run the Control (CTRL) + Alt + C (CA+C) File Compression utility would be run in Version 16 on this Family File, from any Family Page, and the CTRL+ALT+SHFT (Shift) + UpArrow (CAS+UpArrow) File Checker Utilitiy would be run. In this case, there were NO Errors. At this point, since there are no errors in the file, the need was to Identify the Individual #358.

The Reference Number feature of Family Tree Maker will help you identify this individual. Since Version 16 is open click on Edit, Find Individual. A Find Individual window will open. #1 points to the Search Pull Down Menu. Select Reference Number (#2). Then enter the Individual number as indicated in number 2 of Figure 26 in the Right field (#3) on the window and click on Find Next.



If you do NOT have the Reference Number feature turned On, you will see:



Figure 31

To Turn the Automatic Reference Number ON, click on File, Preferences, the Reference Numbers Tab and put a Check Mark next to Individuals. You may also want to put a check mark into Marriages as well.




Figure 32

Return to the top of this article and repeat the steps. The result will be the individual's record that has a problem. If the Individual is found, please continue to the information below Figure 28.


Alternate Solution if the first doesn't work.

From Version 16, a GEDCOM file would need to be created to Identify that Individual. The File, Export File, Entire File and selecting a GEDCOM (GED) formatted file was created. Opening the GEDCOM file in a word processor, using the Find Command, and entering 358, identified that individual.



Figure 28

(note: there is no Figure 27)

For the sake of privacy, the names are not on this screen. Reopening Version 16, a Family Group Sheet for that individual should be printed. Deleting that Individual from the Version 16 Family File. This file was then re-opened in Version 2009. Reentering the data from the Version 16 Family Group Sheet completed the import of that file.

The cause of this record (Individual information) is unknown by this user.

A big thank you to a coupe other Family Tree Maker User's who have used both of these methods to resolve this problem.

Family Tree Maker Screen Shots

It's always nice to be able to see some screen shots for Family Tree Maker 2009.

Here is a link to Family Tree Maker Version 2009 screen shots.

Hope they are helpful.

Enhanced Viewer at Ancestry.com

Here is a link to an Ancestry.Com Knowlege Base article for those who may experience difficulty when trying to use the Enhanced Viewer with the Firefox Browser.

http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3809&p_created=1214337302&p_sid=Yl*8Rgcj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjUsMjUmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWZpcmVmb3g*&p_li=&p_topview=1

If that link doesn't work, Please go to this website

http://ancestry.custhelp.com/

and enter 3809 in the Keyword Search Box OR firefox. Read and follow the steps in that article.

Another Knowledge Base Article

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Source Screen

To continue with Blog Entry Source-Citation figure 25 is a look at the Source Screen for the entry. Remember that this is a new file, with only one individual and information from one Web Merge.



Figure 29

Note the Source button is hi-lited on the Family Tree Maker menu bar.

#1 Points to the Source. In this case, the 1860 Federal Census

#2 Is the Source-Citation that is seen in Figure 25 of Source-Citation. It further says that the 1860 Federal Census is for Franklin (Township), Hunterdon (County), New Jersey and the Source was from an Online Repository (where the source is located).

#3 Is the Source-Citation Information. The top box is the Source Title, 1860 United States Federal Citation. The Repository is at www.ancestry.com. The Citation Detail provides more details as to what the source-citation is. In this case it points to a Film, roll number, page number and Image number. The Citation text, indicates that the Source-Citation came from a search for the Hiram Deats record. The Reference Note is what will be in the EndNote when printed.

#4 Shows the 4 Facts that use this Source-Citation.

Can not import file from Version 16 to Version 2009

This blog entry is to help document a problem that was observed and resolved. The issue is that a Family File that was created in Version 16 could not be Imported into Version 2009. However, that same file WAS able to be opened in Version 2008. When attempting to open the Version 16 Family File, a noticeable slowness in the Analysis process was observed, then the Error message: #1 - Import Error failed because an unknown error occurred.



Figure 26

Moving the Error Message revealed that the process stopped at Individual 358. The normal process would be to run the Control (CTRL) + Alt + C (CA+C) File Compression utility would be run in Version 16 on this Family File, from any Family Page, and the CTRL+ALT+SHFT (Shift) + UpArrow (CAS+UpArrow) File Checker Utilitie would be run. In this case, there were NO Errors. At this point, since there are no errors in the file, the need was to Identify the Individual #358. From Version 16, a GEDCOM file would need to be created to Identify that Individual. The File, Export File, Entire File and selecting a GEDCOM (GED) formatted file was created. Opening the GEDCOM file in a word processor, using the Find Command, and entering 358, identified that individual.



Figure 28

(note: there is no Figure 27)

For the sake of privacy, the names are not on this screen. Reopening Version 16, a Family Group Sheet for that individual should be printed. Deleting that Individual from the Version 16 Family File. This file was then re-opened in Version 2009. Reentering the data from the Version 16 Family Group Sheet completed the import of that file.

The cause of this record (Individual information) is unknown by this user.

Family Tree Magazine Annoucement for Family Tree Maker 2009

A resource to consider is the Family Tree Magazine. There is a website and you can subscribe to the physical magazine.

Here is a link to The Genealogy Insider Blog announcement for the Family Tree Maker Version 2009.

http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/Family+Tree+Maker+2009+Released.aspx

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Source-Citation #1

Documentation supporting the information in your family file is most important. After the Web Search and Web Merge was complete a review of what was added to the family file is next.

In this example, the web search included that the Birth Location was Hunterdon County, New Jersey. It had no Source-Citation in the file, as it was only the family story that said Hiram was from Hunterdon County. See Figure 18 of this post:

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2008/09/family-tree-maker-2009-people-person.html

Since that location was not documented, Right Clicking on the unwanted FACT and selecting Delete Fact, or clicking on the Red "X" just above and a little to the right of the word Preferred deleted that unwanted Fact.




Figure 25

We will look at the new Birth Fact (hi-lited across the upper left portion of Figure 25. #1 on the Right is a summary of the Source-Citation for that Birth Fact. Double clicking on that Fact (in grey in #1) will bring up the Source-Citation screen.

In Figure 23 of article, Web Search Final, the full Source-Citation was in the bottom portion of that figure. The pop-up window (#2) here, it hnow that is presented in the Source-Citation screen for this Fact.

Two points of interest on this pop-up window, is 1) This citation is linked to 4 facts, and 2) the text that is hi-lited, which says "Record for Hiram Deats". This is mentioned because when another Individual has a FACT linked to this Source-Citation, you will see who was being searched when this Source was found. Works very nicely when an entire household is included in the Web Merge.

More on this in a later posting.

There is an Online Video on this topic on this website:

http://www.familytreemaker.com/Support/Tutorial2009/Tutorial2009.aspx

Selecting Sourcing.

Knowledge Base Article

Family Tree Maker Web Sites and Links

Here is the beginning of a list of Web Pages that talk about Family Tree Maker OR are resources for this program.

1. The Family Tree Maker Knowledge Base website for Versions 2008 and 2009: There are at least two ways to get there. The link at the beginning of this line and the Help, Online Help Center, within the Family Tree Maker program. There are articles are of interest. There is a Keyword search available to help locate a specific article.
2. The Family Tree Maker Knowledge Base website for Versions, prior to Version 2008. This is a very good resource in the use of the Family Tree Maker program, of versions prior to 2008.
3. The Genealogy.Com Learning Center. There are a number of articles dealing with the Family Tree Maker program as well as other Genealogy articles.
4. The Family Tree Maker Home Page. There is a link to What is In Family Tree Maker, a link to an Interactive Training Tutorial, a link to Webinar's, and a link to purchase the program.
5. Family Tree Maker Version history. This is an updated version of the next link
   
6. Family Tree Maker version history. Of interest, this page provides the history of the various versions of the Family Tree Maker program.
7. Family Tree Maker GenForums: A great place to search looking for User to User help with the Family Tree Maker program. It's important to understand that the Family Tree Maker links, on this page, will take you to specific GenForums to answer questions on specific aspects of the program. For example, if you have questions on how to use the Family Tree Maker program, the Family Tree Maker: Usage and How-To Questions Get the Most Out of Your FTM Software may be the place to start. Again, it is Users helping other Users. The first point for help, AFTER the Help Menu within the program, would be the Online Help Center / Knowledge Base website (#1 above)
8. Ancestry.Com Family Tree Maker Message Board. This is another User to User message board for users of the Family Tree Maker program.

Both 8 and 9 have and option for you to be notified when someone replies to any question that you post there.

Other helpful websites will be included in this Blog as they are identified.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Web Search Final

Now is the time to Merge the information from Ancestry.Com into the Family File.



Figure 21

In the Lower Left Panel is the information in the Family File, the Lower Right Panel is the information in the Census and the information that will be merged into the Family File. (again, what is in the Right Panel is Census year specific).



Figure 22

This is the First Screen of the Web Merge process. The Name is #1. From Figure 21, the Left and Right columns here are listed as Person from My Tree, Person from Web Search, and Merged Results. (#2) for the Name.

This continues with the Birth and Residence FACTs. There are suggestions as to what you want to do with the information. Residence (#4) is a New FACT. It will be added and marked as the Preferred FACT for Residence.

The BIrth FACT will be merged as shown in the right column of #3. This is OK for the Merge, for now.



Figure 23

Depending on the number of items in the Web Merge, there may be a series of Figure 22 type of screen. Selections should be made or the default options allowed. This final screen is a summary of the previous screen, where the Preferred FACTs and the Alternate FACTs are listed. The Source-Citation information is listed there as well AND can be edited. #3 Shows that there is an image that will be merged. Clicking on Merge Now will complete this process.



Figure 24

is the result of the Merge on the People, Person, FACTs screen. What is hi-lited is the various FACTs that were added. The Birth Fact is hi-lited (in gray) is what is in the Right Panel of this screen. Note the Source-Citation information.

#1 shows that there is 1 Source-Citation (first column), a 1 in the Image tab (second column), and no extra notes.

More details on what is here to follow.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Web Search #3

In the first Web Search posting, Figure 15, #1, showed a View Original Image link. Clicking on that link brought up a screen, where the bottom of the page was the actual information on that image. Hiram and family are listed beginning at line 35.


At this point,


Figure 20

Of interest is the last name, Johnson, Ann is listed as Servant.

We know that Hiram Deats was a Foundryman, Emily O. Deats a Farmer. Ages and other information are on the image.

This is the correct household for the Hiram Deats of this example. Using this Census, the Deats household will be merged into the Family File.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Web Search #2

Continuing with the Web Search and Merge. Figure 19, below, shows three important things to help determine IF the Individual who is being searched is the same Individual in the results AND some of the details of the Web Search.



Figure 19

In this case, Hiram Deats is the person in the Web Search (lower, left box), and the Results information, (upper part of the screen) and What Information that would be merged into the file, if the Web Merge is performed.

As seen earlier, the birth location was listed as Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA. That was all of the information that we started with. The Results also shows Hunterdon County, but Franklin is also provided. (a township in Hunterdon County at the time).

What was not in the file before, but was added manually in the Web Search, is the Birth Year (1810). As indicated earlier, this was known as an approximate birth year, but not documented.

There are only family name "hints" from some knowledge about this family but the Census Household Members are in line with that information. The Web Merge will be performed.

Just a note of interest. The Lower Right Panel contains what will be merged, as indicated above. However, as will be seen later, different Census "hits" will include other information in the Web Merge. In this case, only the Name, Birth Year, and Location will be included. Other House Hold Member will NOT be included.

If you are interested in what information is included in a Census Page, please visit the Family Tree Magazine website that has work sheets for each Census Year.

The 1860 Census also includes the Profession; Value of Real Estate Owned; Valuse of personal estate owned; Place of birth naming state, territory, or country; Married with the year; In schold within the year; Persons over 20 unable to read & write, and If deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiot, pauper or convict are listed.

This information may be important if you want to have this additional information included in your Family File. You would want to view the actual Image and manally enter this information on the Individual FACT screen.

Examples of this will be included in another blog entry.

A Good Reference here might be "The Red Book".

Family Tree Maker 2009 - People, Person

Note: Beginning with this entry, Figure Numbers will be added to the screen shots.

Backing up from the Web Search feature is the review of the People, Person Screen.



Figure 18

The People, Person screen has Individual and Shared FACTs (#1)or Events. For the purpose of this Blog, Facts will be the term used, as that is what Family Tree Maker has used. As information is added for an individual, they will be listed here.

#2 is where Source-Citations will be listed on the Hi-Lited FACT. In this case the Sex of the Individual. No Citation is listed. The other Tabs will be covered next (#3).

#3 is as listing of the Number of Citations on the FACTs, Number of Media items, and FACT Notes. These are the numbers associated with the Tabs.

#4 is where an Individuals Notes, both Private and Public, Media, and Tasks are the tabs here.

Each of these tabs will be illustrated as this blog proceeds.

In the sequence of Blog Entries, so far, what was added is only the Individual's Name, and Birth Location. None of it has been documented with a Source-Citation yet.

Ancestry.Com Webinar

An important message from Ancestry.Com. The Text is:

We’re planning a webinar on Family Tree Maker 2009, and we’d like to answer as many questions as possible. Please post the questions you have regarding the new version. Thanks!

Please visit this Blog and post your Questions.

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/22/what-are-your-questions/

Thank you,

Russ

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Web Search #1

The People, Family screen seen in the New Tree blog entry, (3rd Screen) there is a Green Shaky leaf (#3). That indicates that there are Online information on Hiram Deats at Ancestry.Com. Returning to that People, Family Screen and clicking on the Web Search Button (#1 below) you see this screen:



Figure 12

#2 indicates that the search is at Ancestry.Com.

#3 indicates that the search will be on Historical Records (User Choice).

#4 is filled in, based on the information on the People, Family screen on the individual being searched. You will note that the Birth Year, Death County and State are hi-lited. That information was based on some hints about Hiram, but NOT entered into the database, but added to the Web Search.

#5 begins the search.

#6 shows a mini-navigation pedigree tree and will appear on many screens for ease of navigation.



Figure 13

The above in the initial web search results. For this example, there are two Hiram Deats listed. The 1870 individual was born in 1810 and the 1920 individual was born in 1871. Based on location, there may be a relationship.



Figure 14

The first entry is the 1860 Federal Census. There are two way's to view this Census. The one that is hi-lited and the second is a View Image link. For this example, at this point, Selecting the top link will provide more details.



Figure 15

This screen provides some basic information. The Home City/Town, County, and State, birth year (Abt 1810) and State. In this specific case, the Post Office is provided.

Below that is the list of the Household as provided in that Census and the approximate age of those listed.

You are again provided a link to the Census Image.



Figure 16

You may want to use the View printer-friendly link to print this page for reference later.

.
Figure 17

This is what is printed. You will note the Source Citation information, the Source Information, and Description that will be added to the file if you continue with a Web Merge.

One reason to print this page is to note the individuals in the Household including those individuals with other Surnames. They may or may not be included in the Web Merge. You may wish to make notes on this piece of paper as you continue.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Place Name Authority

In the New Tree Blog entry the location was indicated that the Place Name authority (the Place Button) needed to be resolved.




Figure 7

1 - The ICON has the Question Mark indicating that there is a need to Resolve the Place Name.

2 - Gives some suggestions of what the place name might be In the suggestion box, the word Hunderton is spelled Hunterdon. The place name really should be Hunterdon.



Figure 8

The Resolve Place Name only showed New Jersey, USA but the screen has a reminder about the Spelling may be place name was not found. Not of the Suggestions were correct. The hint from the previous screen offered the correct spelling.



Figure 9

Changing the spelling and clicking on Search brought up Hunterdon, New Jersey, USA. In 2009, the County abbreviation (Co.) is dropped in the display of the place name. The User has the ability to Ignore the suggested place name.




Figure 10

You will notice that the Question Marks are no longer on the ICON and the red push pin is in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.



Figure 11

The above is the full Place Name screen for Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - New Tree

We will begin a New Family Tree.


Figure 4 (from Plan, New Tree)

Beginning a new Family File. Known is the Name: Hiram Deats, and where he was Born: Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He is a noted historian in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Opening Family Tree Maker, the Plan Screen opens, with the option to work on an existing file, or to create a new file. For this example, the file will be created by hand.

1 - The word PLAN is hi-lighted when you open the program. To Create a New File, select New Tree. This one will be entered from this screen.

2 - The default is Import a tree from an existing file.

3 - Enter what you know is selected in this post. What is known is the Name, Sex, and Birth Place.


The name of the New File is normally the Surname of the individual in the Name field. In this example, the filename will be BLOG. You will see the filename filled in, when you enter the name. Clicking on the Continue Button will take you to the next screen.

Figure 5

Here is the completed screen. based on the information known. Please note the Birth Place field. Hunderton, New Jersey, USA was entered. More about this entry below. Also note the New Tree Name that was changed, and Continue is hi-lighted.

Clicking on that button will take you HERE.

Figure 6

1. The Filename followed by the Version number is listed at the top of the screen [ Blog - Family Tree Maker 2009 ].
2. The People Button and Family Tab are hi-lighted.
3. The Name of the individual is in dark blue. In this example, you will note the "shakey leaf" ICON. This is an indication that there is information on Ancestry.Com on this individual. How to use that will be in a future post.
4. There is a ICON with a Question Mark [?] next to Hunderdon County. This is an indication that there is something wrong with this entry. OR more accurately, the way that entry is at this point is Not in the Place Name Authority part of Family Tree Maker 2009.

How to resolve the Place Name Authority will be covered shortly. In this example, it was entered in correctly on purpose.

Our Home person is in the file with basic information, but a hint that there is information about this person at Ancestry.com and there is a problem with the Birth Location.

Knowledge Base Article

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Plan, New Tree

After the Family Tree Maker program opens you have the ability to import an existing file or creating a New file. This item is for the Plan, New Tree screen (1) and looks like this.

Figure 4

From here, you can Import an existing file (2), or you can Create a New Tree (3). The post covers the Enter What You Know.

Most of us have heard, when starting to do Genealogy Research, Start with what you know, yourself, then work backwards. This screen does that. You should enter all Names as complete as possible. That is FULL First Names, any Middle Names, and the Surname(s). When this tree is created, this first name, You in this example, will become the HOME person, or focal person, in this tree. It CAN be changed later.

For the Family Tree Maker program, Upper and Lower Case name entry should be used. Later you will see that you can control how these names will be displayed in reports, charts or trees.

There are special instructions for entering names that can be found under Help, Index, and typing Name and selecting Enter.

After the name is entered, use the Tab key to move to the Next field. In this case, you will be taken to the Sex field, where there is a drop down menu

The Tab key will take you to the Birth Date and Birth Location for this individual. After completing these two field, the Tab key will take you to the Parents Names.

The next Tab key will take you to the Name of File field. By Default it will be the name of the Home person. However, it can be changed. The File Location, by Default will be in your My Documents folder and a New Folder will be created called Family Tree Maker. The defaults can be changed. A note as to what the Filename and Location should be noted, if you are new to the Family Tree Maker program. Like other fields, they can be changed.

The Continue button will complete creating this new Family File. If you were to close Family Tree Maker at this point, the next time you open the program, you will be automatically taken to this tree.

As you close the program, you will see that the File is Saved. A note, the file will be updated each time you leave a field.

Terms: A FILE is what was just created. It will contain RECORDS for each Individual, and Each record will have a series of FIELDS containing various bits of information on that individual

Link to Knowledge Base Article

This is a link to the Getting Started Guide for Famliy Tree Maker 2009.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Menu's

This is a summary of the Menu's available from most screens.

Figure 2

This is a listing of Menu selections under each of the above Menu Items. The Menu selections may or may not be active on the specific screen that you are on.

File Menu: (Now that you have the program open, and you do not want to work on the current file, you can...)

1. Open - an existing file, and close the currently opened file
2. Open in New Window - open an file in a new window
3. Import As New Tree - Import a file into a new tree (Family File)
4. Merge - Merge information from another file into the currently open file
5. Close - Close the existing File
6. Export - Export the existing file
7. Backup - Back Up your Existing File
8. Restore - Restore a file from an existing Back Up File (one created by #7 above)
9. Privatize File - Family Tree Maker allows you to assure the privacy of others (as well as your own) by designating certain facts as private. This prevents this information from being imported/exported, printed, copied, or published on the Internet (more details in the Help Menu)
10. Go Offline - Will allow you to work Off Line from the Internet
11. Exit - Close the Existing File and Close the Family Tree Maker program

Edit Menu: (basic editing, depending on the screen you are on) - Details to follow

1. Undo
2. Redo
3. Cut
4. Paste
5. Delete
6. Select All
7. Insert Symbol
8. Edit Person
9. Find Duplicate Person
10. Find Individual
11. Find and Replace
12. Manage Facts
13. Manage Sources
14. Manage Repositories

View Menu: Another way to navigate what you want to look at. They do the same of the Buttons at the top of the screen. Details to follow

1. Back
2. Forward
3. Plan
4. People
5. Places
6. Media
7. Sources
8. Publish
9. Web Search

Tools Menu:

1. Date Calculator - Helps you calculate the date of an event, the amount of time between events, or the age of a person.
2. Relationship Calculator - Shows how two people from the tree file are related.
3. Soundex Calculator - Displays the Soundex code for a name.
4. Resolve All Place Names - Helps you find the correct spelling for a place in your tree file.
5. Compact File - Reduces the memory size of the tree file while fixing possible database errors.
6. Convert Names - Changes the surnames in the tree file to either mixed case (capitalize the first letter of the name) or upper case.
7. User Information - Lets you enter your personal information so it can be included on charts and reports.
8. Plugins - Lists the applications that work with Family Tree maker to extend its functionality. All of the installed plugins are listed in the Manage Plugins dialog box. For information about installing plugins and how they work, see the documentation that comes with the plugin.
9. Options - Opens Family Tree Maker's system settings.

Help Menu: (F1 Key)

1. Help for Family Tree Maker - Built in Help program
2. Online Help Center - Access to Technical Support and the Knowledge Base Website
3. Training Tutorials - The Family Tree Maker website will open and let you run various Online Tutorials on the use of the program.
4. Register Family Tree Maker - Ancestry.com offers registered users of Family Tree Maker the following special benefits: the powerful Family Tree Maker Web Search feature and the ability to merge Ancestry.com records into your tree; access to dynamic maps; discounts on future versions of Family Tree Maker; and notifications of updates.
5. Activate Ancestry Subscription - If you are already a member of Ancestry.com or if a free membership came with your Family Tree Maker purchase, you can activate your subscription within the software. Once you’ve activated your account, you can use the Web Search feature to merge Ancestry.com records into your tree.
6. Check for Update - Ability to check to see if there are any updates to this version of Family Tree Maker.
7. About Family Tree Maker - Will provide the current Product Version of the program. [ Family Tree Maker 2009, Version 18.0.0.95 is the current version ]. Information from this screen is important when seeking help from the various Message Boards and Email lists that address the Family Tree Maker program.

Getting Started Guide

The Getting Started Guide can also be viewed as a PDF on your computer. If you chose to include the guide when you installed Family Tree Maker 2009, follow the steps below to find and read the guide. If you didn’t install the guide on your computer, you can find it on the CD-ROM.

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.
2. Double-click the icon labeled C: (the default location for installing programs).
3. Double-click the Program Files folder.
4. Double-click the Family Tree Maker 2009 folder (or the folder you chose to install the software in, if different).
5. Double-click the Manuals folder.
6. Double-click the Getting Started Guide (Guide.pdf).

If you are not able to view the PDF version of the manual, you will need to install Acrobat Reader, which is available for free download from the Adobe website <www.adobe.com>.

This is a link to the Getting Started Guide for Famliy Tree Maker 2009

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Plan Screen

Family Tree Maker Version 2009 is here. I have just installed the program and plan on educating myself in its use, and plan on sharing some of my learning's on this blog. The opening or Plan screen is below. There is a lot of information on this screen. I will try to indicate what information is here that may be important to others.

Figure 1

This screen is the opening screen of the current file that I have opened. The Home Person, the Current Person is listed, along with the Date that the file was created, Last Saved, and Last Backed Up. Don't be confused by the Date the file was created, as it was created by Version 2008 and opened by Version 2009. This happened automatically upon installation of Version 2009, as expected.

What is obvious, is that a Back Up of this file be done soon. Once the file is backed up, that Back Up date will be updated.

There are some numbers on the screen to be pointed out, briefly, below:

1 - Is the list of files that have been opened, the Date when they were last opened, and the file this is currently opened. In this case, MasterFile is currently opened.

2 - Indicates the number of People or Individuals in the file, the number of Marriages, Generations, and Surnames included in the file, along with the Size of this File.

3 - A list of Tasks (or ToDo List) that has been entered in General or by Individual. This will be covered in more detail in another Blog Entry.

4 - The Web Dashboard indicates that I am logged into various online offerings at The Generations Network. There is a link to Log Off of these websites, if I so choose.

As the Plan Button on the Family Tree Maker Tool Bar has a different color, that is the screen that is currently opened. Other buttons will be high lighted in future Blog Entries.

Family Tree Maker 2009 - Tasks

On the Plan or Opening Screen, is a list of Tasks to be done in this file and some notes that I want remind me of what or why somethings are in this file.

Figure 3

FTM 2009 Task List

When the Task is created (topic and details later) there is a choice to place a priority on the task or note. This is the High Priority List in this file. This contains the Task Description, the Task For, Category / Location, Due, and the Date Created. Remember that this is just a summary.

Here is what is indicated here:

1. Task Description - A brief description of the Task or Note. For example, the first one is "?? Fort or Ft. ??" . It is marked as Follow Up in the Category / Location column. This is a note for me to make a determination on how I want to "name" a military location, like Ft. Dix, New Jersey, in the Location or Description fields.
2. Task For - In the screen above, the Task For is a General Task. In another part of the full Task List, might contain the identify (and link) to a specific individual that needs to be followed up on.
3. Category / Location - In this example, I have Follow Up or Notes. The Notes are for my general notes on why certain things appear in the data base. For example, I have a number of Place Names that have not been resolved. There are two entries that start "Do Not Resolve" as a reminder as to the plan to resolve this Place Names. (more later)
4. Due - A Date can be entered here. The Date of Completion will be entered when the Task Is completed.
5. Date Created - The date when the entry was created.

My use of this feature is to remind me what I am doing and why AND a ToDo List that need to be followed up on. In an earlier Blog Entry, the full opening (Plan) screen showed that there are several Family Files that are being used. Each file, when opened, will bring up its own ToDo List.