FTM2014 - Database Clean Up (?)

I was working with another user of Family Tree Maker and thought I would share a couple of thoughts about cleaning up your FTM2014 database to take advantage of some new features in FTM2014.

If you have been following this blog, I spent most of 2012 cleaning up my Sources and moving them into the Source Template feature. Up until FTM2014, the only way that you could easily tell if the Source was using a Template, was to look at the Ancestry Member Tree (AMT), if you had your file online.

Now, we have a visual indication that a Source is using the Template. That, along with the ability to have a Web Address on the Citation screen, I thought that maybe a blog about the approach I took last year, and continue to work on it now, especially since I don't have to work so hard to see if I am using the Template Feature.

The Sources Workspace has the new Indication, "Template" below. That is the indication that the select Source is using the Template. This example is the first Source in the Left Hand Column.

This example is a Census Record, where the Template format I chose was Year and Location, or State. The Template will get you to the County level. I have many people in Pennsylvania, so I want it broken down to the County Level. I made that my "standard" way to handle Census Records.

There are two indications on the right, that some folks have missed, or may not know are there. The most important one to me, is the ability to View the Source Online. That active link is the result of using the Web Merge Feature. I did a series of blog posts on what that means and how to do it. Clicking on that link will take you directly to the page on Ancestry. At the same time, there is a place to put a Web Address. That is especially helpful if the Source is on another website. Just copy the Web Address (URL) from your browser and paste it into this field.

I don't normally include that link in the Reference Notes, but I have it at my finger times, if I need to.

During my continuing project, I am going back to make sure that I have the Web Address and where appropriate the View Source Online.

Now, HOW to track that. When I first received FTM2014, I looked for a report that would help me, it's not there, so I immediately submitted Feedback link in the Online Help Center or on Ancestry.com

I am tracking the work using the Bibliography Report. To the Publish Workspace, Sources Report, and selected Bibliography Report.

 

I then printed that report.

So as I go down the report, I mark off that I have the Sources in the Template feature:

Just to get a handle on where I was, I looked at the first 5 (of 13) pages. 436 Sources, of which I had list 125 Sources 27 have not been put into the Template format. I figured that if I started with the Census Records, I would get the biggest bang for my time and it worked.

The EndNotes for the reports are so much cleaner. But that's another blog post.
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Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington