Preparing to Transition

For those preparing to transition to another Genealogy software program.

This is one of several videos on transitioning to another Genealogy Software program. I think this is important to understand a few things about Family Tree Maker if you are going to move your genealogy database from Family Tree Maker to another program.

The move will be different based on the VERSION of Family Tree Maker that you have AND the Genealogy Program you might move to. This video is to help you find the Version of the program you are using and what you need to do just before you make that move.

Family Tree Maker started in the DOS days, and the Version numbers were just that, a version number. For example, my first version was Version 3.4. The Version number when up to Version 9, then Version 10, then Version 11. BUT in 2005, then changed to Version 2005, then 2006, then back to Version 16.

In 2008, then structure of the program was moved out of the DOS environment into the Windows environment. The Version numbers then started with FTM2008, FTM2009, FTM2010, FTM2011, FTM2012, and FTM2014.

In the Version 16 and earlier, all Media Files were INCLUDED in the FTW (file extension), making the files very large over time. This important to note for your transition.

Starting with FTM2008, the Media Files were in a < filename > Media folder. You would have a Filename for the Data, and a < filename > Media folder for all of the Media Files. Those media files would normally be in Media folder, but some users and their own filing structure for their media, maybe leaving those media files elsewhere on the computer. The program "knows" where they are so there are links from the database to those media files.

For Back Ups: as long as you manually back up, or Back Up as I demonstrate in this video, those Media Files will be in the Back Up file. For Version 16, the back up file extension would be FBC. For FTM2008 - FTM2014,the file extension is FTMB. Both the FBC and the manually generated FTMB file include those media files. IF you find a FTMB file that has the words "Automatic Back Up" that FTMB file would NOT include the media files, only the Data. The automatic back up would be generated if you just closed down the program without manually backing up the file.

In upcoming blog posts, I will deal with GEDCOM files. A GEDCOM will NOT include any media files. It is important thing to understand, with this transition, is the links to the Media Files. In FTM2008 through FTM2011 a GEDCOM file will NOT contain any information linking to the media files. With FTM2012 and FTM2014, the GEDCOM WILL include Links to those media files.

Here is a link to a number of blog posts on this

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/search/label/GEDCOM

Here is a blog post I did about transferring a GEDCOM to Roots Magic

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2013/12/blog-post-on-hold-update.html





Bottom line here, KNOW the Specific Version of Family Tree Maker that you are using and Compact and Back Up your file when the option is offered using the Compact File utility.

Me: No Change. FTM2014 and all of its features work for me.

_______________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Trouble Shooting Installation Issues

From reading the various messaging websites, where Family Tree Maker users post the problem they are having, I thought that I would put this blog post together referring to the Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker Knowledge Base Website.

There are two way's to get there.

 From within Family Tree Maker, click on Help, from ANY Workspace, then selecting Online Help Center.

That will take you to the Ancestry.com Knowledge Base website. You will get to the SAME page, from the Get Help link on Ancestry.com's WebSite.

http://help.familytreemaker.com/

This is where you enter a KEYWORD for the Online Help Center to search. I found that one word will find what you are looking for. The goes for any issue with Ancestry.com in general AND Family Tree Maker specifically.

If this case, I entered Install

 As of today, it returned 110 articles.

You would browse down through the articles that best describe the problem or question you might have.

This Blob Post is a summary of the articles that I would suggest you follow. They are all on this list, AND the KEYWORD search can be the Article Number that will be part of this Blog post.

This blog post was NOT created to provide step by step instructions, but only to point out a couple of specific things to look for and a high level summary of the steps that can be taken.
.

5250 - Issues installing Family Tree Maker - Keyword Search 5250
http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5250

One Key thing to check, as described in the article is:

Confirm windows is up to date which says

Check for any Windows Updates that may be available and pay particular attention to any that may relate to the Microsoft .NET Frameworks
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Another Key point is Avoiding conflicts with other software

This would include, but not limited to the disabling and turning off any computer anti-virus software on your computer. 

Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Windows Vista & 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us

There are other steps in that article and don't forget to turn your anti-virus software back on when you are done.

4400 - Uninstalling Family Tree Maker 2008-2012 - Keyword Search 4400
http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4400/



4848 - Manually uninstalling Family Tree Maker 2010-2012 - Keyword Search 4848
http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4848/

Before manually removing the program, please do the following: - Keyword Search 1917
http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1917

Windows XP, Vista or 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

Windows 8
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us

Reasons for a Manual Uninstall of Family Tree Maker 2010-2012

Manual Removal Steps

Clear out registry items that Family Tree Maker 2010-2012 created
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

1917 -  How to perform a clean boot of Windows - Keyword Search 1917
http://help.ancestry.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1917

Windows XP, Vista or 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

Windows 8
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us




There is a useful Software Program Uninstaller that has worked
Revo Uninstaller Pro - Uninstall Software, Remove Programs easily ...
www.revouninstaller.com/‎

Revo Uninstaller Pro helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs installed on your computer easily! Even if you have problems uninstalling ...

There is a Free Version on that website for your consideration

_______________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington

How to Change Address Format (Easy)

In an earlier post, How To Generate an Address Report we were dealing with an Address Report but wanted to change the format of the Address Fact.

In the next post, How to Change Address Format a way to make this change in format in a step by step process, just to show one way to accomplish this task.

This is another, and quicker way to perform that same task. First, Select the Address Fact to change. Since the Year will remain the same, tab into the Place field and start to type the address. As the previous post suggested, IF the address had already been used, the Fast Field option will show the previously entered Address.

When that entry is completed, and since Family Tree Maker already has this, a Change Place Name window will open. Since we only want to Change this specific field, the default "Change only this instance", is used.

Clicking OK will return to the Address Fact entry and the Description Field. This is now a duplicate of the Place field, and the Description field is high-lighted, the Delete Key can be used to remove that duplication.

The end result makes the change and the earlier change to the Source Citation information is not required.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

How to Change Address Format

In How To Generate an Address Report  there was an indication that the format for the Address Fact entry could be improved. The format that had been done is to meet the Place Workspace, Plan Name Authority format. That is City  / Town, County, State, Country format. Below is an example of that:

Address Fact: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Address Description: 810 Calvert

The desired format would be:

810 Calvert Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

It is also important to keep the SAME Citation for that entry.

One way to do this, is to click on the Green Plus sign, and an Add Fact window will open. This is where you can Add a New Fact. In this case, we want to Add a New Address, so that Address Fact is selected.

This will open a New Address Fact screen. In this specific case, the information was from the 1900 Census Record and it was important for me, for this project to capture the Date and Address for this group of people in this file. So, 1800 was entered in the Date field.

The complete address is entered:

810 Calvert Street, Baltimore, Maryland

If this field had been filled in before, you will notice that I started 81 and a window opened with the complete address. That was from a previous entry. So, going forward watch the Place field for the Address Fact, for the Fast Field feature of Family Tree Maker (if you have it turned on)

Selecting that entry, the Address Fact is completed.

Now for the Citation. Going to the original Address Fact, moving the cursor over the 1st ICON to the right of "New" is a Copy Source Citation ICON. This will allow you to copy that Source Citation to be put onto the New Address Fact.

Selecting the New Address Fact, and clicking on the Down Arrow, to the Right of "New" is a menu where you select "Past Duplicate Source Citation". This will put the Citation from the Old Address Fact, with the New Address Fact.

Since this is now a duplicate Address Fact for 1900, selecting the Old Address Fact and clicking on the Red X will delete that Old Address Fact.

The resulting Address listing is below. Each of the earlier entries were done in this fashion.

An alternate and quicker way to do this same task will follow.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

How To Generate an Address Report

This blog post will help generate an Address Report.

For this example, I have a couple of Family Groups who lived in Baltimore Maryland for a number of years, as recorded in Census Records. Addresses were not always available or readable in some of the census records, but they were recorded in the Address Field, within Family Tree Maker.

To generate a report of those address entries, to to the Publish Workspace, Person Collection, and select Custom Report.

In the Right Hand (RH) Panel, left end, select the Items to Include ICON. This will bring up the Items To Include Screen.

Using the Red X and selecting the Birth, Marriage, and Death Facts, those facts can be removed for this report. Also, removing the Check Mark in Include Only Preferred Facts, Include Person Notes, and Include Fact Notes, will remove that information from this report.

Now add the Address Fact, but clicking on the Green Plus and the Address Fact will be included. High Lighting the Address Fact, and selecting the Address Options (at the bottom of that window), will include the Date, Place, and Description fields.

For this example, will change the Name format to Last Name, First and Middle Name, using the Name Options. Selecting the Name Fact, and Name Options at the bottom of that window.

The report will be sorted by Name, then by Address by Date.

Will change the 'default' name of this report to Addresses, and make sure that the Header and Footer contain the Header on each page, Page Number and Date on each page.

Will save this Report and call it Addresses, in the Save Report collection.

There is a problem with the above report. There are Names that have NO Address information displayed. Since we only want Names with Addresses, we continue.

In the RH Panel, select Selected Individuals. This will bring of the Individuals to Include screen. Make sure that the Right side of the screen is blank.

Selecting Include > will bring up a window where All Facts is selected, Address Fact and Is Not Blank are selected.

The revised Addresses Report is below. In this case it is sorted by Person.

Note: If I do not know a persons Name, the use of 5 underscores "_____" is used.

Going to the People Workspace, Person View, this is what is displayed. Normally, the most recent Fact is what I mark as "preferred".

But, since the address format wasn't the way I expected, as the Place Name was Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and the address was in the Description field. a New Address Fact was added to reflect the Street Address, followed by Baltimore, Maryland.

A follow up blog post will provide steps to make these changes.

This same concept can be used for Phone Numbers and Email Addresses.

Note: the way of handling the Address Fact will cause these entries to be "UnResolved Place Names" in the Place Workspace.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

Use of Filter - update

Here is an update based on the previous two messages:

How to identify Civil War Family Members

How to Identify Civil War era members of your tree (revised)

I wanted to understand what was going on a little what the difference was.

Created a test file with three (3) names. no other information. Using the same steps in the previous blog posts, the use of the Birth fact, "is blank" did not remove anyone.

I then added a birth place to one of the three. Same result, no one filtered out.

To make sure I wasn't missing anything, I filtered out Birth Place is not blank, and the person I had the birth place was filtered out.

Then, Birth Date is Blank, filtered out the same person. So far, it appears that this "logic" works when there is a Birth Fact in use for the person.

Going back to the see how to Filter Out anyone not using the Birth Fact, can be filtered out by using the Birth fact, Any Data, Does Not Exist will Filter Out that condition. Meaning not using the Birth Fact.

The observation from all of this is that the fact must be used to be Filtered Out. Or, If the fact isn't in use, then the conditions in the Filter will not evaluate the conditions in the Filter

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

How to Identify Civil War era members of your tree (revised)

As a follow up to: How to identify Civil War Family Members posted earlier today, it appears that the final step (Birth record Blank) did not remove everyone without a Birth Date by using that Filter. 

After reading a comment in that post, I re-ran the final filter with a much better set of results. I will include the text from that earlier message here.

The first screen is in the People Workspace, Family View, with the Index in the Left Hand Panel. In this file, I have 8,252 people. At the Bottom of that screen is the FILTER feature.

 

Clicking on Filter, will bring up a window where we will start to Filter people who meet our parameters. The first thing we need to do, is to click on Include All >>. This will move those 8,252 people from the Left Window to the Right Window. This is like Selecting ALL or everyone.

 

Notice the same number is in both sides of the window. Now we want to < Filter OUT certain groups of people. In this case, we will Filter Out all Females. So, select Sex from the list of Facts, then Equals, and select Female and click OK.

 

We have a new number (4,343) (see below). Our next Filter will be to < Filter OUT everyone who was born BEFORE 1818, in this example. Selecting the Birth Fact, "is before", and entering 1818. (you can use any date you wish).

 

Again, we have a new number (3,101) (see below). Next, < Filter OUT everyone who was born AFTER 1846. Again select the Birth Fact, "is after", and enter 1846.

 

Down to 2,491. Will now < Filter OUT anyone who Died Before 1861. Selecting the Death Fact, "is before" 1861 will do this.

 

Here is where the change is. In the < Filter OUT window, select the Birth Fact, but this time select "Any Date", just below the Birth Fact, and select Does Not Exist.

 

We now have reduced our list from 8,252, down to 197.

 

Looking at the results again, there are still some names without Birth Dates in the list. BUT each of those people have a Birth Place. Go back to the < Filter OUT, Select the Birth Fact, and in the menu just below the Birth Fact, select Place, then select "Is Not Blank". This action took my list down to 102.

The list of people with the Filter Applied, are Males, who were born between 1818 and 1846 and how have not died, but have Birth Date information. A good place to start to look for your Civil Wars family members.


Note: Will have to do some more investigation into why the last filter in the previous blog post didn't work as expected.



Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

How to identify Civil War Family Members

As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, How can we identify who might have served in the Civil War? Perhaps we know some of them, but maybe not all of them.

Here is how to Filter your file down to identify those people.

The first screen is in the People Workspace, Family View, with the Index in the Left Hand Panel. In this file, I have 8,252 people. At the Bottom of that screen is the FILTER feature.

Clicking on Filter, will bring up a window where we will start to Filter people who meet our parameters. The first thing we need to do, is to click on Include All. This will move those 8,252 people from the Left Window to the Right Window. This is like Selecting ALL or everyone.

Notice the same number is in both sides of the window. Now we want to Filter OUT certain groups of people. In this case, we will Filter Out all Females. So, select Sex from the list of Facts, then Equals, and select Female and click OK.

We have a new number (4,343) (see below). Our next Filter will be to Filter OUT everyone who was born BEFORE 1818, in this example. Selecting the Birth Fact, "is before", and entering 1818. (you can use any date you wish).

Again, we have a new number (3,101) (see below). Next, Filter OUT everyone who was born AFTER 1846. Again select the Birth Fact, "is after", and enter 1846.

Down to 2,491. Will Filter OUT anyone who Died Before 1861. Selecting the Death Fact, "is before" 1861 will do this.

Reduced to 2,338. Now to Filter OUT anyone without a Birth Date. Birth Fact, "is blank".

This reduced the 8,252 people in my file to 2,304.

To remove the Filter, remove the Check Mark, on the Filter Line, and that will restore your file to everyone.

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

Family Tree Maker 2011 - Smart Stories

One of the new features in Family Tree Maker Version 2011 was the introduction of "Smart Stories™". I have posted about this in the past.

Family Tree Maker 2011 is coming

The Smart Story™ feature was briefly described.

What new features are available in Family Tree Maker 2011?

This was a Question and Answer page about the new features, Smart Stories™ being one of them.


Family Tree Maker Webinar on September 15th 

This Webinar discussed the feature and is in the Webinar Archives. The Webinar can be viewed by clicking on the above link.

Family Tree Maker Version 2011 - Smart Story - Biography 

This posting was based on my first attempt at using this feature.

Just a little background on this article and feature. My mother had just passed away. Version 2011 had just been released and I hadn't really used the feature before. As has become "something I do", I created a Book for the Celebration of her life that I made available for the gathering the followed her memorial service. The purpose of this book, and others,  were to share her life with those who attended this Celebration.

The article above tells how I used the Smart Story™ feature to create a piece of the book. There are step by step instructions on how that story was created.

A fellow Genea-Blogger, and friend, Randy Seaver has posted a couple of posts about this feature as well.

Adding a Smart Story to Family Tree Maker 2011 - Post 1

Randy describes his experience with this feature. I encourage you to read Randy's Blog Post. He goes into some different uses of the Smart Story™ feature.

Then earlier this week he posted this article.

Adding a Smart Story to Family Tree Maker 2011 - Post 2

Again, Randy goes into great detail on this use of this feature. He also raises a couple of interesting findings in his use of the feature.

Then, today, he posted this article:


Dear Randy: Do Family Tree Maker 2011 Smart Stories have any practical function?


He was responding to a Comment made on a previous Blog post.

So, I would like to take a minute to talk about the "Practical Function" of the Smart Stories™ feature.

For me, this feature works very well, at least for me, when I created the book for my mother's celebration  that I talked about above.

One of her Ancestors was a Revolutionary War veteran who served and traveled with General George Washington. Trying to tell "his story" in the book, since I know this story would be missed in a bunch of genealogy reports that were also include, I wanted to have a Chapter in the Book that told Jacob Lurvey's story.

 Without going into the step by step for either the book feature, nor the Smart Stories feature, I want to show some screen images that will show a little more detail.


This first one is within the Book Feature, with the Chapter shown on the Left (Jacob Lurvey, Revolutionary War), the Smart Story information screen on the Right, with the Edited story in the center.

All of the FACTs about Jacob are in the Right Panel. They are inserted in the Center Panel then Edited. As a reminder, the FACT Name and Text (Date, Location, and Description) can NOT be edited from this screen. Going back and make the changes in the Person's Page has to be done and then the FACTS brought into the Center Pane. So, I found it best to try it once, and look carefully at each Fact and Edit on the Person page as required.

To look a little closer at the details:

Focusing on the Military FACTs a bit, you see that the Dated Military FACTs are at the top, as all of the FACTs are 'sorted' in the Right Panel by Date, and the Undated Military FACTs are at the bottom.

The Editing that was done, was to put all of the information in Date Order and putting all of the Military FACTs together.

The end results looks like this:

To add a little more to his story, in the chapter before this was a Time Line, still within the book feature, and also introduced in Family Tree Maker Version 2011, helped set up this Smart Story.

 The time line shows that the Revolutionary  War started when he was 13 and joined Washington's army at 14.

This is one example, for me at least, of the Practical use of this feature.

Thank you Randy for reminding me to post this blog.


Disclosure:  I am not an employee or contractor for Ancestry.com or its subsidiary entities. I have accepted travel expenses and Family Tree Maker software from Ancestry.com in the past.  I was not remunerated to write this post.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington

Family Tree Maker Webinar - 02/16/11

Family Tree Maker Webinar on February 16th

Posted by Tana L. Pedersen on February 3, 2011 in Family Tree Maker, Webinars

Share

Family history is a great way to connect with your past. And Family Tree Maker can help you illustrate your family story and share it with friends and family members. Join us on Wednesday, February 16th at 8:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time) for a free webinar that focuses on creating charts, reports, and slide shows. You’ll learn how to design and print charts, run effective reports, discover what print functions are on each workspace, create individual and family slide shows, and more. To attend the Family Tree Maker 2011 Charts and Reports webinar, click here to register.

If you have questions you’d like answered, please enter them in the Comments section below. We’ll try to respond to them during the webinar or on the blog. (Please limit your questions to functionality available in Family Tree Maker 2011.) We appreciate your questions and look forward to talking to you soon. Thanks!

Have you missed past webinars? You can view them any time at FamilyTreeMaker.com.

About Tana L. Pedersen

Tana has been writing for the technology industry for fifteen years. She is author of The Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2011, five editions of The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker, and co-author of The Official Guide to RootsWeb.com.

Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington