FTM2012 Calendar Feature

Its that time of the year, when you might want to generate a calendar for important dates to remember. Like Birthdays and Anniversary Dates.

The Calendar features is in the Publish Workspace, Other Collection.

There are choices on who to include in the Calendar, the Immediate Family, All Individuals, or Selected Individuals. For the purpose of this calendar, I want everyone who is still living. It's beyond the immediate family, because I want to include cousin's, aunt's, uncle's, or a broader group of people.

Here is the Calendar with All Individuals:

Pretty full, and I am guessing, that there are many dates that have more people in the file then show up in this Calendar. There are OTHER options, that I will show later. But, this is beyond what I am looking for. So, I need to do some Filtering (Selected Individuals)

Clicking on the bottom button (Selected Individuals), where I selected FILTER IN ==>, which will bring up a window, the  Birth DATE, That is After 1900. (you can choose any date you wish, but I chose this for a start with). This will move everyone from the Left side of the window to the Right window who was born after 1900.

Because this calendar will be used to sent Birthday and Anniversary Cards, I will Filter Out anyone who has passed away. Those are also important anniversary dates to remember, so at this point, you can Generate the Calendar.

To reduce the list to those living, the Filter OUT <== button will be used.

Filter Out, Death Dates that are NOT Blank. This reduce my 600 names down to 431.

Now I have a calendar for each month.

There are other options available to use, on the Calendar Options menu (first ICON in the Right Panel, just to the right of the Calendar.

The Events & Anniversaries to Include allow you to change the Color of the Event, OR if you want to include the event at all.

In the example above, not to Filter Out anyone, The "include births & marriages only if ntill living" option could be chosen.

IF you only want Birthdays, for Everyone in your file, the Filter In option would not be required.

Lesson Learned (when using the Calendar feature): Check the Calendar Options, as well as the Filter In and Filter Out feature.





Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 and AMT - Filenaming and Captions

As with much of what we do, in Family Tree Maker, or any other genealogy program, we should take a few minutes to think about how we want to handle "things". Unknown Names, for example. This isn't about Unknown names, as I have posted about that before. Suggestion has been to try it as far as Data Input, Finding that entry while working on the file, and How does it look in the Output.

FTM2012, for me, has made me go back and relook at two items. File Names and Captions for Media Files. What is new, is how the Captions appear in the Ancestry Member Tree (AMT), now that we have the TreeSync™ feature. The AMT does not deal with File Names, but it does rely on the Captions that we put on those media files.

For Consideration:

• Sorting by Filename
• Sorting by Caption
• Use of Categories
• Use of Windows Explorer (or Finder for the Mac)

We use Media files for a Person, and for a Citation image. We attach or Link a Media file to a Source, Citation so that we have easy access when working with a specific Fact that has a Citation with a Media File.

We should consider how the Gallery Looks in the AMT, for ourselves and others that find out Online Tree.

File Names:

The file name format that I use for Federal Census Reports is:

YYYY_Fed_ST_County_City-SurnamePreferredName.jpg

When the Sort by Caption is turned OFF,  in the Tools, Options menu, in the Media Workspace, all of the Census Records will be seen, sorted by the State (ST), then County, they by City or the next Jurisdiction on the Census Record. That is followed by the Head of Household's Surname, and the Preferred Name that I have selected for the Name Fact.

Note: Users may handle Census Records differently, but over time, I have found that I do all of the Census Record based on the Head of Household. It has become much easier for me. If I have a 'hit' on a child or non-head of household, I will select the Head of Household and do the Web Merge based on that Head of Household. Another User's preference.

One of the benefits of this, is when looking or comparing the number of Media files with Windows Explorer.

Note: I choose to keep ALL of the Media Files, for a family file in the < family file > Media folder.

If there is a number of files / media item difference, between with FTM2012 and in Windows Explorer, I can pretty quickly see files that are not in my file naming convention.

For Census Records, and the Caption, I reverse the format a little:

Preferred Name Surname - YYYY United States Federal Census

Again, this is something to think about. What looks good for YOU.

So, when the Sort is changed to be by Caption, then any Media file for that person will be listed and sorted.

I wouldn't look at the Media Workspace to determine WHO has a Census Record, but I would see what Census Record a person has in the People Workspace, Family View, Media Tab for the selected person (Right Hand Panel). I would also see who is listed in the Census Record by looking at the Links tab in the Sources Workspace, and selecting the Census Record Citation.

The use of Categories of the Media Files are also helpful. In use Census - Federal and Census - State Categories.

This has been helpful for me, no matter which Sort is used, Caption or Filename.

Keeping this in mind and expanding that to Person Media Files, those Media Items in the Peple Workspace, Person View, Media Tab (left, half way down the screen), the Captions that I use are very similar

Preferred Name Surname - YYYY - Event

This continues the Sorting by Date, but see the Event as well. 1955 - Birthday Party, for example. So, looking at the Media tab for a person, the sorting is by Date for that person. At this point, that format has worked for me in the AMT Gallery.

The file naming for a Person's media is different, for me, then the file naming for a Census Record. I prefer to see my Census Records grouped, both within FTM2012 and with Windows Explorer, by date. The grouping for a Person, I want to see that persons pictures grouped together.

SurnamePreferredName-YYYY-Event

When I use the term Surname, for a female, that is the Birth Surname.

Again, the Sort by Caption or Sort by File Name is not an issue but it DOES keep a person's media files organized.

But, what if I have 5 names in a row (PreferredNameSurname) how to tell the difference? I add the birth year following the Surname.

Lesson Learned: Try different ways of handling Media Files, Captions and File Names and determine what works for you.

I have redone this structure several times, and with the TreeSync feature I am revisiting it again. Thought I would share this experience here. Please feel free to comment on your  experience.

Thank you.






Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 - AMT - Clean Up from AMT Updates

Continuing working with FTM2012, an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) and the TreeSync™ feature, I wanted to post what might be consider doing when the AMT has been updated. Specifically in the area of Census Records.

When a Census Record is added to a person, in the AMT, only that person's record will include the Citation for the facts that were found. This also applies to early Census Records when using the Web Search, Web Merge feature. Here is an example of an 1850 census record that was done in the AMT.

I noted that the URL in the lower right, and that was the reminder that this Citation was created online in the AMT linked to this FTM2012 file.

Note that there are only three (3) Facts linked to that Citation. However, if I look at that Census Record (printer friendly form), we see that there are 5 people that were on that record.

These other four people do not have the 1850 Census Record linked to them.

In addition, the Source Citation and Source Information is note complete in the Citation Details nor Citation Text.

I copied the Source Citation text from the printer friendly form and pasted that into the Citation Details field. The complete Roll, Page, and Image are important for me in the Citation Details. (this is not unique to the update in the AMT, but is part of my clean up following a web merge as well)

The clean up that is done from here, is to view that print out, and add the Citation to each Fact that is gathered from that Census Record.

Each Census Year will provide different pieces of information. For the 1850 Census, I try to gather:

• No Relationships
• Names
• Ages
• Abt year of birth
• State where born
• Occupation if listed

I try to do that for every one listed.

Since there are no relationships listed, I use the Name Fact, Notes field to record the House Hold and ages of those in the household. It helps later on when relationships do start to appear in the 1880 Census.

Here is an example:

• 
  

or:

1850 Census links David Auble (32) to Sarah Auble (30), William Auble (5); Francis Auble (3); Charles Auble (1)

I have blogged about this before. This same data in pasted on each persons Name Fact Notes.

After going through everyone listed, adding new facts, or citing existing fact, the Citation usage now looks like this.

Bottom line, I went for 3 facts using this Citation to 18 facts for these 5 people.

Why do all of this: I can quickly see what Census Records I might have overlooked for that person. As I use the Residence Fact for recording where someone lived at the time the Census was taken, I can see pretty quickly what census years I need to go after.

The Name Fact Notes help me develop the relationships over time. Looking at the 1860 census record and recording it in the Name Fact Notes, I see:

• 1850 Census links David Auble (32) to Sarah Auble (30), William Auble (5); Francis Auble (3); Charles Auble (1)
• 1860 Census links David Auble to Sarah Auble (59); Wm A Auble (15); Mary F Auble (13); Chas Auble (11); Kate Auble (8); Anna Auble (1); Mary Caughlin (26) - Servant from Ireland

In the 1860 Census, Mary F appears as being 13, so where was she in the 1850 Census? Frances is gone, but she was 13. I wonder if Francis in 1850 is not Mary F in 1860. Haven't found what the F is for Mary. Wonder if it's Francis.

Kate, Anna, are new, and were born after the 1850 Census. I also include here, the Servant. I don't, at this point, have any need to be in my database, but she, Mary, was a member of the household.

Sounds like extra work, right? BUT, look at the 1870 Census Record

• 1870 Census links Daniel Auble (53) to Sarah Auble (50); Mary F Auble (23); Charles Auble (21); Rate Auble (17); Anna Auble (10); Cora A Auble (8)

David is not Daniel, and Kate is now Rate. The census image confirms what is here, do I noted that it may have been a census recording issue.

William is gone, Francis is gone or is that Mary F. Cora is new, but only 8.

Looking at the Image itself, it's noted that David was a Boot and Shoemaker, so that was entered at his occupation in 1850. That may be useful in the future.

Lesson Learned: Review the data that was added from the TreeSync.

I have found, over time, that these few extra steps help put the family picture together.





Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 and AMT TreeSync - Clean Up, follow up

In my Blog Post,   FTM2012 and AMT TreeSync - Clean Up Genea-Blogger Randy made this comment.

 I dislike Abt Bef Aft and Bet

With the modern computer programs, I much prefer About, Before, after and Between for clarity and readability. I would also like to see Say as an option.

The Option works for Abt > About, but not the others. There need to bem ore options for these.

He is absolutely correct.

What I was really discussing, and was clear about this, is the Data Input, or the screens we see in FTM2012. Let me use this as an example:

I have the Birth Date "Abt 1769". That is the input side and what we see on the screens. I am not sure if Randy was talking about input or output, so I decided to see what our OPTIONS are on the Output side.

The first that I tried was a Chart.

b: Abt 1769 is the result on the chart. But, there are Options, in the Items to Include Menu.

Selected Items to Include (upper right), then selected Birth as a Fact, then looked at the Birth Options, which brought up my choices. The only choice was Full, Short, Abbreviated, but that was ONLY for the Fact Name. B. or Birth for example. So, no choices on the Charts.

For me, and the amount of data that you might put on a chart, I'm OK with that. Don't know Randy's reaction.

But, I wanted to look at the more formal Genealogy Reports. How was that displayed.

Well look at this. Abt is spelled out, in this more formal report. No options, but I don't think that options are needed if the formal Genealogy Report spells it out.

Not quite satisfied with this answer, I went back to the Tools, Options, Name/Dates/Places options to see what happens if I change Abt to About.

As you can see, the Abt is not About. So, returning to that Chart, Abt is not About.

Randy, Thank you for the comment to dig a little deeper into our options, both for input and output.

And if you are wondering, going back to the Input side, entering Abt 1700, will be changed to About 1700.

Lesson Learned: When working with how you want to deal with the formatting of your information in your file, check both Input and Output and what your options are. 

For example; How to handle Unknown Names. I have talked about that, but when the User is wondering how to handle such things, check BOTH Input and the Output before going in one direction or the other.

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 Update to 21.0.0.466

If you haven't done so already, please check the Help, Check Update menu, as there is an important update available. The Text of the Update says:


This is a small but important update to address a specific issue reported by the community.  The issue resolved with this update has to do with media from a downloaded Ancestry tree not linking correctly to the media items in the newly created Family Tree Maker tree.

It is important that this update be run.

This will bring you up to 21.0.0.466

When Family Tree Maker opens, it will open to the Plan Workspace. Make sure that you look at what file that you are about to open. It may NOT open to the file that you just had opened before the Update. Just double check the file that you want to open.

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 and AMT TreeSync - Clean Up

What I have learned, be it from importing a GEDCOM file, doing a Web Merge, and a TreeSync™ operation, a review of the outcome of these should be reviewed BEFORE moving forward. Especially if you have created your own "standards" on how you want information presented in your FTM database. I have covered many of mine on the Blog.

This one is very minor, but work posting what is seen and how to correct it. It's very simple.

Family Tree Maker allows for Abt, Bef, Abt, Bet, types of dates. I have mentioned before, that if I see and record a birth Year, from a census record, I prefer to have that presented as Abt. YYYY. Understanding that the recorded year is a "guess". The birth year may change over time for a person based on when the Census was taken, how provided that date, OR age, and how the census taker recorded it. In early census records, the Age was given. So the Calculator can be used to estimate the birth year. Thus Abt YYYY for my birth entries.

When doing a TreeSync, this is the observation, and I always check for.

It is showing ABT, as it is presented in the online AMT version of this same file. To date, I have only seen this ABT vs Abt for ABT and not the other options.

To change the ABT to Abt, globally, click on Tools, then Options

Then select the Names/Dates/Places tab. Then type over Abt with Abt.
 

 This will globally change the ABT to Abt within FTM2012.

 
Lesson Learned: Review your data after a TreeSync

This has been reported to the Family Tree Maker developers:

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 - Update via AMT Clean Up

In our continuing Dialog, Genea-Blogger Randy Seaver updated the file that I have as an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT). He did a lot of work, which I certainly appreciate. Thank you Randy.

However, I now have had some observations on that means to me, and my (our) file.

This is probably my own issue, in how I maintain my files in FTM2012, but think that it's important for other users to see and attempt to understand.

I started by returning to the Places Workspace, because the Place Names from Ancestry and the AMT are NOT in the Place Name Authority (format) that FTM2012 wants. For example, AMT had this entry:

Newark Ward 4, Essex, New Jersey, United States

However, Ward 4, should be in the Description Field for Newark. The PNA wants this format:

Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA

The PNA format is important for me, as it makes the Places in a consistent format, and is important with the Map feature.

One of the clean up activities is to change the first example, into the 2nd example and move the Ward 4 to the Description field for that Fact. I do this clean up activity for the Web Merge feature and not the update from AMT.

This is an easy clean up procedure.

I am also picky about how information is recorded in my file. I want to have recorded in a Fact Entry, the same information that will be seen when looking at a Citation Record and Image. For Example: an 1850 Census Record might show the AGE of a Person and the State where that person was born.

When I reviewed the first person that was updated, I saw this entry, with many citations.

The full birthdate is entered and "probably Newton, Sussex, New Jersey, United States" was listed at the Birth Fact. That IS how the file was imported as a GEDCOM file from Randy (!). But the next Citation is from the 1850 Census. Two things are wrong with that. 1) full birth date, and 2) probably ..... States. That would NOT have been found in that census record. Clicking on the Media tab for that Citation, and locating Charles we see:

Charles was 1 year old, and a little further to the right it said New Jersey. Bottom line, for me, is that this Citation is WRONG. The is a Birth Fact of "Abt 1850, New Jersey, USA. That is where that Citation belongs.

Another Citation with the "probably Newton" was the 1860 Census. What I did for the 1850 and will show the 1860 Census, is to Detach / Unlink that Citation from the "probably Newton" entry, and re-link it to the Abt 1850, New Jersey Entry.

The ICON that is hi-lighted above, that looks like a Chain Link, is the ICON to Unlink this 1860 Census Record from the "probably Newton" birth fact.

That will bring up a "are you sure" window. It Needs to be remembered, so that it can be re-linked to the correct Birth Fact.

What was unique about this record, so what I can pick it up easily, was the iOS Application entry. There are also other details in this entry that will help select it, when it is relinked. Clicking Yes, will Unlink this Citation from this Birth Fact.

 

The above if the Reference Note for that Citation, so I know what Source and Citation that I just Unlinked.

Now to select the correct Fact, for this Citation. I selected the Birth, Abt 1850, New Jersey, USA and clicked on New, under Source, but select Use Existing Citation, as we know it already exists.

Then it's a matter of selecting that Unlinked Source.

The the Unlinked Citation.

Now that citation is on the correct Fact.

Lesson Learned: When an AMT is updated, online, a review of that data may be required in the FTM2012 file. Then Re-Synced.
Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 Web Search on Family Search / Web Clip

What if, you want to search on another website, such as FamilySearch.org.

Select the Person you want to do a search for, and go to the Web Search Workspace:

Normally, the Ancestry.com Search screen will be presented.

In an earlier post, I provided instructions on how to add a Personal Favorite Site: Adding LiveRoots.com Search Engine

For this case, I added Family Search and it's URL familysearch.org

In selecting Family Search, I am taken to the Family Search website, where information in typed in.

I entered William Knapp. The nice thing about this screen, is that in the lower left corner is some data about the person I am searching for.

In order to trim down the results, the Birth Year of 1700 was selected. (Birth years were in 100 year intervals). Death Year of 1800 (again 100 year intervals) and that the sex is male.

Scrolling down the list of hits, one was my person. Am able to check a couple of items, right from that screen to know that this IS my person. Clicking on that record shows additional information.

Now, how to get that information into Family Tree Maker.  The Web Search Workspace, in the Lower Right box, has a Web Clipping feature. This is where you select data and create information that will be merged into Family Tree Maker.

The above in in the Lower Right box. Hovering the mouse over that 1st ICON on the Right, and clicking on that ICON will Enable the Clipping feature.

Once it is enable, you hi-light (drag your mouse across) the Name, in this case. With the Name selected this window will open where you select that type of information that you have selected. In this case, Name.

You then go to the next piece of information you want

Will select the Death Date, and in the pop-up window, select Death, Date.

Other items were also selected. But want to point out that somethings there will be another window that opens. I wanted to capture that he was a Shoemaker. Selecting Shoemaker the only Fact that is offered is Other, and will want shoemaker into the description field.

 Here is where the other window appears. It will be a list of Facts in your file, in this case, Occupation is that Fact.

So now the Shoemaker information will be in the Description field for the Occupation Fact.

As you select these fields, they will appear in the lower right box. This is where you can compare this new information against the data in your existing file for this person.

Once this is reviewed, then you click on the Merge ICON.

You now will be presented with the normal Web Merge Screens, where you can further define what you want included in the Merge.

I noted that in the third choice, the Shoemaker description was going to be discarded. I don't want that information to be discarded. I had a date and locate in the Left Panel (information in my file), but in the Family Search screen, it only provided the occupation. So, I need to change Discard to Alt. That is done with the pull down menu on the right end of Discard.

The Next button will provide the Merge Summary.

Merge Now will complete the transaction.

Returning to the People Workspace, Person View, we can review what was just done.

The birth date and location is hi-lighted above, and the Citation is in the RH Panel.

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 - Practical AP and FTM2012 TreeSync™ test

In our continuing dialog, Randy Seaver posted two Blog posts while he was using the iPhone Ancestry AP. His first blog post was not successful, nor as expected. Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPhone Ancestry App. One of the Family Tree Maker developers, Mr. Duff Wilson, posted a reply, as did I. 

I also posted my experience using the iPad2 Ancestry AP. Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPad Ancestry App

In turn, Randy posted a more recent experience: Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPhone Ancestry App - Post 2

The file that I am using, in FTM2012 is uploaded any is Synced in my Ancestry Member Tree (AMT). Randy is an Editor to that file. So, he made some updates, using his iPhone to the AMT. When I opened FTM2012 I had indications that the AMT had been updated, in the Plan Workspace.

The text and the Down Arrow are my indications that something was updated as well as the three time stamps. I selected the SyncNow button.

Here is a brief summary of what as done.

One new person, 7 people changes, 3 new sources added, 13 citations added. Randy must have been busy.

Clicking on the View Details button:

Provides some additional detail of what happened. This is only the top part, but the next screen will be at the end of this list.

There are the 3 new Sources and the 15 Citations that were added.

Note: the Sync Process is NOT yet complete as the Media files need to be downloaded.

Will check the Media Workspace when the download is complete.

Check mark and In-Sync, with the Media Complete status in the lower left corner of that screen. So the Media files should be in the Media Workspace.

They are. Just to ensure that they are there, I used Windows Explorer, to look at what was in the Media folder associated with this Family File.

Please note the date/time stamp of these files, specifically for the 1850 Census Media file. The bottom one, 1850 United States Federal Census.jpg is the file I downloaded in my earlier post, so the 1850 United States Federal Census-1.jpg file, and the files in between, are the images that Randy had merged in the AMT with his iPhone.

I won't describe how I handle these filenames, as I have done so in the past. But, I want to see what the Sources Workspace looks like, since these Media Files are linked to the Citation.

This is the Sources Workspace, with the Citation with the 1850 Census Image is linked to. By clicking on the Media Tab, the Details of that image are resented and confirmed the Filename of that image.

The Name and Facts are listed on the right. So, to Charles Auble's People Workspace, Person View.

The first column indicates a Citation is there and it has that Media file, the #1 in the second column. With the Media Tab in the Right Hand Panel selected, that same image is presented there.

Thank you Randy for updating this "joint project" with your iPhone. The results were the same as when I updated the same AMT with the iPad2.

Lesson Learned: The mobile APs from Ancestry, with FTM2012 and the new TreeSync™ feature, worked as expected..

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington