FTM - I'm no good at sources - Help!

[Lorna Allison]

Hello Folks

Anyone out there who feels that they have cracked how to add sources, facts and notes? I would like to be able to send Reports to contacts that give them the necessary GROS ref, census addresses and occupation but without the complete text of certificates and possibly sensitive notes on lives etc?

I seem to get too little or far too much. As a result of trying different methods I am now getting in a complete fankle.

Had a family group sheet the other day from an 82 year old gentleman who started his tree 25 years ago and made up his own sheets on an Amstrad. It is just so nice and clear but also concise. Really could not face that though - too far down the line.

Any ideas!

Needless to say I have read and re-read the "Book" and still no further forward. Any pointers much appreciated.

Regards

Lorna

[Russell]

Hi Lorna

I use an old version of FTM.
To send information in the form of a Word document select the name of the individual you wish to start with then select 'Genealogy Report' from the options on the top tool bar. Once it has been prepared select 'Options' from the boxes on the right side of the report page and you can include or omit a range of different information from the report. You can also reduce or increase the number of generations covered using another of the right hand optional tools.
If you export the resultant file to another part of your directory it can be printed off or the file attached to an e-mail because the file is not too large.
You can stop short of living relatives when the report is formatted.

Russell

[emanday]

I use FTM as well and, when I want to add or remove some information or just "Fancy up" a report, I export it as an RTF file.

In the report view click on File, Export (Type of report) and you can choose either PDF, Txt or RTF. I choose the latter as it comes out pretty much in the same format as the FTM one printout.

Then I just edit it as I need to.

[Russell]

Oooh clever clogs Mary
=D> =D> =D>

I never thought of that

That means you can edit any which way you want and use any other font style too.

With a simple text box or two and a few lines you could add in a basic tree if you felt so inclined.

Russell

[emanday]

I started to use it mainly because I wanted to pop a few piccies in amongst the details in the Genealogy Report. Of course, once you start playing around with it, the imagination takes over and it can really be "tarted up"

It also meant that I could "edit out" some bits about our Great Grandfather that my sister wouldn't want to know

My brother got the full story, though!

[Ina]

Mary

I do exactly as you do. I export mine to a word doc. I find it frustrating that FTM seems to repeat a lot of info over and over. When it is in word I can edit out the duplications.

FTM has just come out with a new version. I've heard that it is an improvement over the last version. I believe there is a generation chart included on the home page.......at least that's what I've been told. Not sure if I want to pay for another upgrade or not.

My biggest complaint with FTM is when you try to publish a book, it does not include the photos and BDM's that I have included for each individual.

Ina

[emanday]

I'm afraid I gave up on the book thing. I find that exporting individual reports to a more editable format gives me the chance to do it my own way.

I'm tempted by the new FTM version, but I'll wait and see what kind of comments are made by other users first.

[Ina]

Mary,

We have a lady at my genealogy club who gives a lesson once a month on the FTM program. She is claiming that is much better than the one we are using now. I think I'll wait until she gives her first class and have a look at it myself.

Ina

[emanday]

If you do, let us know what you think.

Aren't they doing a trial period for it? I might have given it a go if they were.

[Isabel H]

In FTM's Source citation box you can check or uncheck "Include citation text in footnote". With the box checked, it prints the details and complete text of the source in reports.
However, if you uncheck this, and then print out a genealogy report, it will show the date of the event, followed only by the nature and location of the source depending on how you entered the data in the first place In my case it shows something like "Death cert. for X. GRO(S)."
The snag is that you have to manually change each source citation ... unless anyone knows of a way to do them all at once?