Genealogy Research on Sale Today

Genealogy is on sale.

Family Tree Magazine 10 year archive on DVD is down to $50

http://www.shopfamilytree.com/product/10-years-family-tree-magazine-dvd/?r=ftemail011812&et_mid=534429&rid=2684660

the online Irish genealogy course is only $15 http://www.shopfamilytree.com/product/irish-genealogy-online-w8729/?r=ftemail011812&et_mid=534429&rid=2684660

and even more is on sale today http://www.shopfamilytree.com/category/special-sale/?r=50%sale_halfsky&icid=50%_halfsky

How about fold3.com for $49.95 instead of $79.95 until the end of the month!

Celebrate Fold3's 5th Anniversary with a
Special Limited-Time Offer.

Join Fold3 today and Save $30

I did not want you to miss these great opportunities. Don’t forget that GenealogyBank.com provides a full 30 day trial.

Happy Hunting!

Family Tree Maker 2012

The New Family Tree Maker  (FTM) 2012 arrived today and I still took time to cook dinner!

First impressions – on the surface the program looks much like the 2011 version but “under the hood” there are a bunch of enhancements and new tools. These have been covered in other media, blogs, articles, and reviews. What I want to take some time with are the "Options" under the "Tools" Menu.

These Options found under the Tools menu at the bottom do not seem to have changed from 2011 to 2012 but …I never bothered to look at them before!

Options Screen in FTM 2012

So, even if you have an older version of Family Tree Maker you may want to check out these settings. It’s possible that you can personalize the software to suit your needs better. The first thing I’m playing with is the color theme! The classic theme gives a black and white tone to the borders and menus. The Windows theme changes the greens to blues. It’s the little things!

The other setting I was quick to change was the Internet speed. This helps optimize uploads and downloads. My broadband connection speed is considered “Corporate” in Family Tree Maker.

You’ll note that the other setting changes on the above screen include using large fonts and using captions instead of filenames for media.

The one setting I’d not noticed before is the “Exclude Ancestry Family Trees from automatic search.” Now, as much as I like the online trees, I hate when a leaf is waving at me and when I click on it – it’s my cousin’s online tree – AGAIN. So, now I can turn the online tree hints off until I’ve exhausted the documented links.

There will be more to come as I work with this new version of Family Tree Maker. The important thing to remember – the features you may want may be there in an older version if you check the tools menu.

Happy Hunting!

New Family Tree Maker with Discount

 I don’t usually promote specific pieces of software since this choice is very personal but the new version of Family Tree Maker (version 2012) will have some significant improvements.

For those of us with online Ancestry.com trees the new version offers 2-way synchronization! This is critical to those of us who have updated information on our home tree and updated different information online and now don’t know what is where. This will also help if you’ve been reluctant to store a copy of your tree online for your personal use or for sharing.

There are substantial benefits in storing your tree online, unshared, at Ancestry.com. The first one is automatic date fills on forms: you start to type a search and Ancestry.com references your tree and fills in the rest of the pertinent data. The second one is Ancestry.com hints about what records other members are saving to their own trees about the same people. The third one is the ability to quickly add data, records, and sources to the online tree when you are not using your home computer.

This last feature is where most of us got into trouble. I use Ancestry.com when I’m away from home. I’ve found and attached source data to my online tree that I want on my home tree. I’ve added people to my home tree since I uploaded my online tree. If I just upload a new gedcom , then the attached records used to be orphaned. NOW – YEAH, with Family Tree Maker 2012, I can synchronize the data both ways!

I was not a beta tester and will have to wait for the software but comments from beta testers have been very positive. I mention all of this now because there is a discount from Family Tree Maker if you pre-order the software. The discount expires on Monday the 26^th because the software will be shipping that week. So there is very little time left to get this discount. More information is available at http://www.familytreemaker.com.

Happy Hunting!

Getting Specific with Family Tree Maker

I use Family Tree Maker software version 2011 but these hints work in most versions – so give it a try.

First don’t enter unknown (or an abrieviation) or a “?” when you don’t have the first name or surname. I’ve seen trees online with a surname of “unk” or “mnu” (maiden name unknown) and then people copy that and think it’s really a name. So how do you let the software know that you don’t know?

If you know the given name but not the surname, you should enter two backslashes (the key that is usually above the “enter” key on a PC) in place of the surname. This will make the given name show up properly in reports and trees as a given name instead of as a surname. This is very handy for many great great grandmothers in my tree. So Ann Unknown should be entered as Ann\\ and Native American Sitting Bull becomes \Sitting Bull\ \\.

The same backslash symbols are also used when the surname has a space or is two words. This keeps the pieces of the surname together without having to remember arcane keyboard combinations like “ALT+0160” for a non-breaking space. This means that “Van Wagner” could be entered in Family Tree Maker as \Van Wagner\ instead of VanWagner. This may work in other software but I’ve not tried it.

See my blog entry “We may need a little space” for other hints regarding names with and without spaces.

Happy Hunting!

Today's the day

Yup, today is the day I get more organized. No, No, I really mean it this time. It was so frustrating yesterday. I spent hours tracking down my great-great grandparent's marriage record and celebrating my success when I found it at FamilySearch.org.  I dutifully saved it to my surname organized family history folder on my computer WITH THE OTHER TWO COPIES. AARGH. I already had the information and did not know it. So frustrating. So ....


Today's the day I will open my Family Tree Maker (FTM) software and attach the records I've saved to my computer to the appropriate people. I'll have the program copy the media files to the FTM folder so I don't have to worry about where the media files are when I back-up the file from FTM.


Then I'll do the final step. I'll delete the original media file in the original file folder so I won't think it's not attached to proper person in Family Tree Maker.


Yup - today's the day.