Family Tree Maker for Windows
| PC Community Computer Users Group | |||
| Helping each other and our community use computer technology | |||
Family Tree Maker for Windows
by George Kornbluth
Family Tree Maker Version 11 for Windows 98, ME, XP is designed to allow you to capture all the typical information you would need to create a family tree, create family lists, and a whole lot more that modern computers allow. You can attach pictures to individuals, link to on line genealogy databases, and create scrapbook entries for historical information and family events.
The beauty of this software product is its ease of use. You don’t have to be a genealogy expert or understand how you get a title of “2nd cousin, once removed,” because the program figures all that out for you. The basic input you provide about people is as simple as who are the parents, who are the children. From that, the software can draw the most complex tree covering many generations and give everyone the proper relationship to whomever you request. Another feature you will appreciate is the ease in which you can change or correct names, parents, or any information you have entered. Then let the software do the rest to fix relationships – all this without having to delete and re-input information about anyone else. Some software products are very unforgiving in that they ‘lock’ relationships and then require extensive input to fix things you might have entered incorrectly. Sometimes you get information from one family member that is then disputed by another – so making corrections and additions is a reality of taking on a family tree project. I also found that handing a family member, especially an older one, a blank tree and asking them to fill it in, could be quite daunting to most older folks. But sitting down and asking who are the parents and who are the kids gets you more information, more quickly.
FTW (the acronym for Family Tree Maker for Windows) has also been designed to accept the realities of our times. Parents who divorce, maybe remarry, children with parents no longer married to each other, children of passion – all are realities that this product handles and documents acceptably. Information can also be entered in less than exact terms – dates can be specified with a prefix of before/ after/circa so that as much as is known can be recorded.
I had a much older version of FTW (Ver. 4 running under Win 3.1) and I was able to import the old files and open them with Version 11 easily. The software did all the conversion in just a few moments and no data was lost. Running the reports and trees on the newer version was a great improvement. On the old version, printing a tree that spanned pages involved cutting each sheet near the edge and trying to match up and align the boxes. Version 11 is able to format the printout so that you can place the pages against each other and have them be readable from one end to the other. There are also improved options for headings, dates and columns to be included in specific reports. FTW remembers if you customize a report by specifying what data you want to see so that the next time you print that same report, your specifications are still there.
FTW allows for “Banner” printing, which is different than printing continuous forms. Certain HP, Epson, and dot matrix printers can print banners, so rather than having margins between pages, you will be able to print without margins, and you can use this feature to print trees. You are also able to output Acrobat-compatible PDF files, which can make sharing and printing those files possible on another computer that does not have FTW installed. You can change the shape of your trees – use standard rectangular boxes or fan shaped (like an expanding ‘hornof- plenty’ look). The ability to preview before printing allows you to see exactly what the output will look like.
The major graphical outputs are complete or partial trees – descendant (traditional top down, oldest generation to youngest) or ancestor (starting with youngest and a bottom up kind of view. You can even display and print maps of regions or the world, with the cities in which family members were born highlighted.
FTW makes it easy to back up data to a CDR. You are also able to merge two data files, even if they have duplicate individuals or new individuals. If needed, you can open and work on two FTW files simultaneously, so that you can see the before and after effect of additions and changes.
Text style listings include an index of all individuals you’ve entered, an individual’s fact card, a family page, source and scrapbook information, family group sheet, genealogy and kinship reports, a time-line style calendar of life spans, and labels and cards. You also can easily add text-based notes to your family book, using drag-and-drop as well as copy-and-paste. You can customize the tabbed preference panels to your liking.
Support for FTW is extensive. The help text available is quite thorough and lets you search for key words. Also provided are PDF manuals – Getting Started Manual and QuickStart Guide – which are included on the Family Tree Maker 11 installation CD. In addition, the Online Help Center is a resource for answers to technical or customer service-related questions — 24 hours a day. Here you’ll find easy-to-understand articles, tips, step-by-step instructions, and tools for using Family Tree Maker. From the Internet menu, select Technical Support, or point your browser to www.genealogy.com/help.
The Deluxe version of Family Tree Maker include Genealogy.com Data CDs and/or Online Data Subscriptions. You can view all your online subscriptions by selecting the Internet pull-down menu within Family Tree Maker and choosing Online Data Libraries. Data CDs may be included with your software package, but more is available for purchase as part of a Genealogy.com Membership, or as CDs, or online subscriptions. You may find that in the process of researching and verifying family facts, you will discover new leads to help you add more names and facts to your family file.
Areas of information that are accessed include Marriage Records, Passenger and Immigration Lists (which could provide breakthrough clues to link American ancestors with a home overseas), and World Family Tree (finding just one ancestor here could instantly add entire branches to your own family tree). Some versions of Family Tree Maker allow you a free trial subscription to this unique data resource. In addition, you are able to interrogate Land Records, Regional Family Histories, Military Records, Vital Records (a popular index for beginning a genealogical search, for it contains the birth and death dates for more than 60 million individuals who applied for Social Security death benefits), and U.S. Census Images (allows searching fully-indexed images from the actual 1850 and 1900 U.S. Census records). These are very useful tools for anyone researching relatives who lived during the latter half of the 19th century and/or the early 20th century.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Family Tree Maker 11 requires an IBM PC or compatible with these minimum system requirements:
Optional:
50 MB of program files are copied to the hard drive; the rest of the data remain on the CD-ROMs to be accessed during program use. As with all Windows programs, a faster processor, more RAM, and more free hard-disk space will enhance performance.
List price for new or upgrade from older (pre-version 10) is $29.99; upgrade from version 10 is $19.99. On-line access to more information and purchase is available at http://www.genealogy.com/soft_ftm.html. Technical support is available on-line.
In conclusion, you can create and share heirloom-quality printouts. You enter names and other information just once, and Family Tree Maker uses it to create as many different trees, reports, calendars, timelines, scrapbooks, and customized Family Books as you wish. Let your creativity soar — adding stories, pictures, sound, and video to whatever you display or print. Then you can enjoy the reactions of family and friends at the next birthday, anniversary, or reunion. You can even publish a variety of trees, reports, books, and more to share with everyone on your own personal Internet Home Page — automatically created for you by Family Tree Maker. I like this software. It is appropriate for ineexperienced and experienced users. The beauty is that its ease of use allows a broad spectrum of users to produce very desirable results.
All reviews © PC Community and the individual authors.
| a | ||||||
| Home | For Members | Join PCC | About PCC | Contact Us | ||
PC Community, P.O. Box 55513, Hayward, CA 94540-0513
Copyright 2008
Last Updated on May 1, 2005 6:10 PM by Webmaster