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  1. #1
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    France
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    Default A 'fillable' family tree for idiots

    Not exactly writing up my family history because I'm fairly well on with it. But, I'd like to find a good way of presenting the family in a diagram. Previously, I have used Publisher with little boxes and typed in names and drawn lines etc. but there must be a better way. As the tree grows it gets unwieldy, going over several pages, boxes changing size etc. etc.

    Everything I find on line seems to be a PDF for printing and then writing the information in by hand. I want to download something, fill it in on my computer and then print or not as I need.

    Any ideas what I can do ..................

    Thanks in advance.

    AudreyF

  2. #2

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    Are you using a genealogy programme for your data? Most of them can produce such trees, with options about who to include... I use Family Tree Maker (other software is available), and it does most things (although I've had to keep FTM 2005 running as well since the next version deleted my favourite format).

    I find that non-genealogists find the traditional ancestor trees (here's X and X's parents and grandparents, etc) to follow, but the descendant (here's your ggradfather, and his kids and their kids) is also popular as long as youkeep it reasonalbly simple - that's the joy of letting your genealogy software generate different trees, depending on who you're going to talk to.

  3. #3
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default

    Well, I have two distinct needs.

    The first thing is to provide a 'direct line' only tree for my children with them at the bottom, rising up through my husband and I, our parent, grandparents etc. No siblings or second marriages of anyone - just a very direct blood line.

    The second requirement is to produce a tree for a distant cousin/his family where our common ancestor is a great grandfather and it goes back three generations above him. For that tree (as a 'one off') for him who is a 'layman' I want a tree which shows a second marriage in every generation, siblings, children of second marriages - basically everyone in a reasonably small family/timescale.

    I do have FTM but use it mainly as a local 'back up' to Ancestry if I decided to unsubscribe so I haven't really got to grips with FTM and printing from it.

  4. #4
    Wilkes_ml
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    I also use family Tree maker, but I break my family up into smaller individual trees with just a couple of main surnames per tree.....that way I can find which branch of my family I want quickly and the trees never get too big. I also play around with the publishing features in the FTM programme. I now update all my trees via ancestry and synchronise them with FTM programme, so they can be backed up.

    Each tree can be individualised....I make the boxes for men and women different colours and shapes, and you can add as much or as little into each box.

  5. #5

    Default

    A lot depends on the FTM version, but you can certainly do all of that. As Wilkes says, it's a good idea to break things into little trees, especially if you're going to print on A4.....

    The assorted reports and trees can probably be found under "publish" unless they've moved them since ver 2011...

  6. #6
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    Oct 2004
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    Hampshire. Near Basingstoke
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wilkes_ml View Post
    I break my family up into smaller individual trees with just a couple of main surnames per tree.
    Does this mean that each tree is within a separate file within FTM?

    I can see why doing this would be helpful but I can't see how it would work within the same file. I don't use FTM but the principle would be the same in any such programme I guess.
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  7. #7
    Wilkes_ml
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    Quote Originally Posted by tony vines View Post
    Does this mean that each tree is within a separate file within FTM?
    Yes I have a separate FTM file for each "family"...basically I have a folder on my PC divided into maternal & paternal, then every surname has a separate subfolder.... I save each FTW and backup file to each subfolder, along with all scanned documents ect, so when I open family Tree maker, I can have multiple trees in the "drop-down" menu that is on my 2012 version. If I re-install family Tree maker on a new PC, I have all my FTW. files and back up files on an external hard-drive, and now the cloud, so I can just load them back in to family Tree Maker.......if that makes sense!

    I also have another separate tree which is just direct ancestors from myself, with the bare basic information so I can quickly view all my ancestors, or print a very basic ancestor tree rather than a descendant tree.

    p.s. I did this right from the start of my research so, it was a habit I got into, and I never ended up with a enormous file that was difficult to find my way around. It also meant that if for some reason one file became "lost" or corrupted, it wasn't so much work to re-do it (that was before I backed up my back ups after an unfortunate death of my PC)

    Michelle

  8. #8
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default

    Thanks Michelle, that sounds very sensible. I have one tree for everyone and one for my wife's line, the contents of which are also in the first one. But they make for very complicated trees and finding simple views much harder. The problem I have with trying to do what you do is that I use an Apple Mac and MacFamily Tree 7. Apple require all App developers to use the Apple system of hidden files. I do have folders and files for stuff I create using other Apps but I'm not sure that I can instruct the software to look for the files there - I don't think that's possible any more. MFT would simply insist on re-filing them in accordance with its permission issued by Apple i.e. hidden.

    However I like your idea so much that I'll investigate ways to find the filing system and hopefully to order it like yours, although I suspect that there is no order as such.

    Tony
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  9. #9

    Default

    Audrey, you don't have to have stored everything in sections, you can tell FTM that you only want the descendants of X or he ancestors of Y...
    Play with the software a bit.

  10. #10
    Brick wall demolition expert!
    Join Date
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    Default

    I use FTM 2012, and have a single file covering all the different branches of my tree(s). When I want to print anything off there are a number of ways of tailoring it to meet specific requirements.

    So if I want to print a tree of my direct ancestors only, I go to me in the “family or person” view, and then select “publish”, and then from the left hand side box under “publication types” I select “ vertical pedigree chart”. It then produces a preview, and from there you have to work the options to ensure that it looks as you want it to. Mine will print out on 3 pieces of A4 in landscape view, and that includes one line with 12 generations.

    If I wanted to produce a one-off tree of the sort you describe for your distant cousin, I would probably “export” the individuals concerned to a new tree. You can do that under the “file” menu. The advantage of doing it that way, for me at least, is the original tree continues to contain those individuals and the exported tree is used solely for printing off the required tree.

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