If you have Family Tree Maker as your genealogy program then it is very easy to have FTM generate the reports that you would like to send to your friends by attaching them to an email rather than using snail-mail. Publishing your data to the internet at WorldConnect is also very easy and is included here to make the this available to others.
The kinds of reports are
Outline Report of Direct Descendants. Example
Ahnentafel or Ancestor Report The example is of my wife's ancestors in Charlotte Co., NB, and beyond.
Custom Reports: The use of custom reports can help you to gain further insight into possible errors or unattached persons. Example
Books See PDF Books link from HomePage for Examples at this link Example of an actual book. Privatized cannot print, and uses the password "kra01" Example
Publish to World Connect
In all cases, have FTM open on your computer screen and follow the steps as shown.
1) Make an Outline descendant tree on your screen like you would like to send.
2) Now go to the item called "Contents" and a drop down menu appears, select "Items to Include in each Entry"
3)When the screen opens, you will see all of the possible items on the left side and the ones selected on the Right side
4) Click on the items on the right side that indicate birth and death. This will highlight the item then click on the < box in the middle of the two windows. This will remove the item from the right side. Do this until you only have the name remaining on the right side.
5) Now on the left window, select Birth date/Location then click > (middle box icon) This will open a little window with items to select, I just click OK and select the default.( I also click on "Include source information")
6) Next select Death data/Location and do the same
7) Marriage date/Location and do the same
8) Sex
9) Spouse's Father (names should be First Middle Last)
10 Spouse's Mother( same as above)
11 aka: First Middle Last
12 (optional) Burial Date Comment
When you do this, the report will have to be printed using landscape view but it now contains the full info. I like this as it shows the sex of children when other reports just give the name like Jordan (could be a M or F) is sex shows Female then you know the person is a daughter.
Now when you look at the report on your screen, and you have selected the number of generations to show. Now click on "Edit" then copy from the drop down menu. This has copied the outline report to the notepad and you can now go to your email and do a paste(CTRL V) to put the item into the email text. Any spelling errors are ones that are in your database and nothing is left to typos that creep into your document when trying to remember the facts from memory.
1) From your Index of Individuals, select the primary person for the Outline Report.
2) Click on "Outline Report" icon
3) Click on "Contents" icon, select "Individuals to Include"
4) A new dialog box opens. Select "Direct descendants only from ....". Then click on "Change Secondary Individual"
5) As a result of #4, the "Index of Individuals" is shown. Select the person that you want as the secondary individual. Once this is done, the window for "Include" is shown and then you can select an additional option to include siblings of direct descendants if you so wish. Click "OK"
6) The resulting outline report shows only the "Direct Descendants" from the primary to secondary individuals. Now you can either save the file so that you can send it in an email or produce a GED file for use in DNA direct line descendancy.
Now Click "Edit" then "Copy" to save this report to the clipboard so you can paste it into an email. OR:
GED file production. When the direct line report is shown on the screen, click on the File button at the top left of your screen. Export File > Copy/Export Individuals in Outline Descendant Tree. When you click on this last item then a dialog box opens as to where you want the file stored. I use a special folder at the top level on my C: drive called GED2WWW and in that I have a folder called DNA-GED that holds all GED files that are to be used for DNA purposes. By using this approach, it is easy to find the file when you need it for further use. The file name and type must now be set by using the "Save as type" set to GEDCOM and the actual name to indicate either the primary person or the person being tested. Since more then one person being tested may be a descendant of the primary person then it is suggested that the name of the test person be used. The file extension will be .GED as that was the type of file selected. One major use of this format of GED file is for direct lineage for DNA tracking. See the following link to a group of Krause surname members on Y-Search. Click on the show link in the Pedigree column to see the kind of Pedigree as these were produced using the Direct line descendants option in FTM 2006/version 16
1) With FTM open, select the primary person that you would like to do a report on. Descendants of ...., go to "View" and left click, the drop-down menu, select "Genealogy Report". A report will be shown on the screen.
2) Now click on "Contents" and select the "# of Generations to Show" select the proper number for the report that you are viewing. then click "OK"
3) view the report with the selected number of generations and if it is not what you want then repeat step #2.
4) Select "Contents" again and this time choose "Options". When this window opens select the items. Top section, I have all checked except the "Include More About marriage facts". Middle block: "Include source information as inline notes" I prefer to see the source as I am reading the text rather than going to the end of the report to see what the source info is. This is a personal preference but inline is my preference. Try each one to see what is your preference. Bottom block: "Assume the primary individual is the immigrant ancestor" preceding generations are given letters A,B, C, etc if they exist. Now click "OK"
5) Now click "Format", drop-down menu appears then select "Genealogy Report Format" click on that item. A new window opens and you can select two different forms of Descendant Reports. The one that I prefer is the NGS Quarterly(middle item) the reason for this is that every person is numbered in the report so if you look at the end of the report you will see a number like 763 for the last person shown. This means that there are 763 descendants of the primary individual shown in the report.
The other format is the Register(Descendant Ordered), this is the default one and only shows numbers for those that have additional information. Now way of knowing how many descendants are in the report. Try each method to see what you prefer. (NOTE examples of both methods are available as indicated at the top of this page)
6) Now you have the report on your screen that you can either print to your printer or save an electronic copy for sending to someone else. Click on "File" and from the drop down menu, select "Export Genealogy Report". If you have FTM version 11 then the additional menu appears on the right side and you can select from this list PDF, TXT, or RTF. I like the PDF as I have two computer systems side by side and can view the report on one screen while I enter the data into my database on the other computer. Select whichever one you want then, when the screen opens as to where you want the file stored, it is important to keep these files in a separate folder that is very easy to find. I like to create a new folder in my C drive top level and call it 00-Gen-Reports. Create this folder and make sure you click on that folder so the file will go into it. Click "Save" The file is produced. Now you should be able to shut-down FTM and go to your Documents by clicking START>Documents> the list will show the name of the file just written. Click on that name and the proper program will open with the file you just created. This is not required every time that you do this creation process, just suggested it now so you can check it out.
7) Now go to your email program and write whatever note you want and then click on the attachment icon and select "File", search for it on C: and you will see the folder that you created 00-Gen-Reports, click on that and you will see the file. Select the file and the name will appear in the name of the file that you are attaching. I think the dialogue is "Save". Now you are back in the email program and can either add more info or just send it. Try one and you will see how it works.
If you want to produce a report that shows the ancestors of an individual then do the following:
1) Use the "Index" icon to find the primary person.
2) Now follow the steps 1-4 in the section on Reports. In step 5 in that same section select the third format for Ahnentafel Report.
3) Adjust the generations to the desired number then either print or "Export" in the desired output format.
One form of custom reports that I find very useful is one that provides information on a group of selected people with a given surname and determines if the person is attached to their parents as Natural, adopted, or no parents. The list is sorted so that all persons who show no parents are at the top of the list then the ones that show only one parent or if they are adopted, and finally the ones that have both a Natural Father and Natural Mother.
The steps required to set up this kind of report is to do the following:
Select the icon for "View", "Reports", then select Custom. Note that the first time you use this it may take a long time as the default setting seems to be to include all persons in your database into an unknown custom report. This is a bug as far as I am concerned.
Select the icon for "Contents" when the report is shown on the screen. Select "Individuals to Include" to reduce the set of persons that will be in the report to a given family surname.
Now select the "Contents" icon again and select "Items to Include" When the dual window opens select from the left window the items that you want and move them to the right window. I select the items in this order:
Name (use Last, First Middle)
Birth Date (use full date)
Birth Location
Parental relationship (adopted...)
Spouse: (use Last, First Middle)
Once you have the items selected then click "OK" and your first report will be generated.
Now select "Format" then "Sort Report" and you are allowed two different sorts for any given report. Select the first to Sort by: "Parental relationship" and the order as "Ascending". This will cause all unattached persons to be found at the top of the list for ease of printing etc. The second should be Sort by: "Name" and the order as "Ascending"
The resulting report will have to be tailored to fit on the page of a printer so go to the "File", "Print Setup" and select the Default Printer, Landscape, and whatever items you wish as these options will be maintained for any custom report that you do and no effect the normal printing of other reports.
Another "Format" you will require is to set the "Maximum With for Each Column". I use the option "Choose widths manually" and set the width to show the name to a value of 4.08(NOTE: all of my measurements are metric) and spacing of 0.63( this is the same value used for all columns); Birth date: width of 3.17; Birth location: 4.63; Parental relationship: 3.51 (this with shows Natural Father, Natural[Mother is clipped] but you know the relationship to the mother was Natural); Spouse: 5.08. The sum of all the widths show a total width of 23.01 cm or one page. If you are using inches then the values will have to be adjusted to fit your measurement system. Now click "OK" and you should see your report in the format that you desire. If it is not correct then adjust the values to suit your needs.
An example of a report based on the surname Cheney from my database is provided to see what one looks like. PDF example. Look at the last line of the report and you will see that the mother is shown as a Step-Mother which indicates an error in the relationship in my database or a situation where the father has two wives and Arthur Cheney is the son of the either the first wife or the second and indicates that more research is required.
Other formats of custom reports can be
tailored to fit your needs. You be the judge!
Writing a Book is much easier than what most people think.
1) click on "Books" in the top list of items, a drop-down menu appears and then select "New Book", fill in the boxes in the window with the desired information
2) Book Title "Reid's of Charlotte Co., NB"
3) Author "Your name" When you press "OK" the book format opens. You can view the Title page be clicking on that item in the right window and then click "Edit", the title page opens so now you could add the date or whatever you want. Just click at the end of your name and press the "Enter" key as many times as you want then enter the date i.e. 15 Feb. 2004 Now click "File" and in the drop down menu click "Save" then do this again but now click "Close". Just found a new feature that they added in version 11 of FTM that if you click "Close" without saving first then a new window opens that asks "Save changes this book item?" click "Yes" if you want to save the changes.
4) Now you want to add some items to your book. First lets add either a Preface or Introduction. To do this click on "Text Item" this is located in the second grouping on the left window. When you highlight the "Text Item" the "Add>" item in the middle is highlighted, just click on "Add>". This opens a new window which has several items that will determine what the Text Item is about, click the one that you want. This just creates a blank page with that item title at the top. You add info to that item by doing the same as the "Title Page"
5) Now lets a "Table of Contents" by clicking on "Table of Contents" on the left window then Add that item
6) Now we want a genealogy
report on the some family. These are selected by the items in the left window.
You will see that the reports are all based on the person that you last looked
at when in the normal screen for FTM. IF you want to move to a new family just
click on your "Index icon" located at the left end of the icons at the top of
your screen. When you do this, your normal Index of Individuals" appears, find
the person you want then click "OK". Now the names on the left side of the
screen indicate different types of reports for that individual. If you want a
Genealogy report like explained in the Genealogy Reports section shown in the
previous section then click "Genealogy
Report", this is the 3rd from the bottom in the top grouping on the left window.
Now click" Add>", a window opens and you select the desired format". Again, I
select NGS Quarterly Report If you want to check the amount of info
for that chapter then click on that item in the right window then click "Edit".
This puts you into that report on your screen, check the number of generations
and set it to the desired amount. You can also set the printer Characteristics
that you want to use for this chapter of the report. One main change in printer
characteristics may be landscape vs. portrait view. Also make any other modifications then click
the big back arrow icon and if you have made any changes you are asked if you
want to "Save the Changes" click "Yes" Now you have
that chapter functioning the desired way. The niece thing about these books in
FTM is that all the characteristics that you want in this book are saved with
the book item and export to different versions of FTM. I use this to go from FTM
version 16 to FTM version 11 when I need to do a special version of a book that
I don't want to be saved in my regular database on FTM version 16.
When entering chapters into you book using the method shown above, all of the
new items are added at the end of the list. If you want that chapter to be
closer to the top of the list then there are two ways to move the chapter up the
list. One is to use the "Move Up" icon to move the chapter up one level for each
click. The second and easiest is to click on the chapter that you want to move
and drag it up the list to the proper position then use the "Move Up" or "Move
Down" icon to select the desired location.
One thing that is important when doing a book is that the genealogy reports in the book use the default number of generations last used for a report generated while in the normal FTW screen. Saves lots of editing if you have this preset to what you want before doing the book items that contain many reports. I have one book that has over 60 chapters so this is worth knowing.
7) Now you could add the "Index" for the book by clicking on the "Index" item found in the second grouping on the left window.
8) Once you have done this, you can Preview the Book by clicking on that item in the center icons. The book is produced and a PDF version is viewable with your PDF reader. (Version 11 of FTM has a bug if your PDF book report is very large, 900+ pages.)
9) If you want to make an electronic version of your book so that you can email it to any of your relatives then just click on "File" and in the drop-down window, click "Export Book To Acrobat (PDF)". A window will open asking where you want to save the book and what name you want. I create a file folder at the same level as "My Documents" called "My PDF Docs". Once you have this folder then select whatever name you want i.e. "Book-Reid-Feb-2004" and it will be produced for you.
Now you could email this as an attachment to any of your cousins etc.
Play around with books and you can design your own layout that is easier for others to follow. One method that I use is to take the Primary individual and do a Genealogy Report on them but keep the number of Generations to 1 or 2. This gives the names of all of the children in that family then make separate chapters for each child. By doing this if you have 10 children in that family and you have descendants for 8 of these children but 2 either died young, never married, or just no further info, you would produce a chapter for each of the children set the number of generations to the desired amount so that all persons are included.
You are allowed 30 different book titles so play around with different formats and methods of doing books. Look at them electronically and save a tree. When all is the way you want, then you can produce a hardcopy of your book and really impress your friends.
Example of an actual book. Privatized and uses the password "kra01" Example. When you click on the link, the book will open and when it is loaded then the password is requested, enter the password which is "kra01". Don't enter the "" marks, just the kra01. Anyplace in the book where you see HTML code that looks like gibberish, just click on the portion in the "" area and you will be taken to the link. If this item is viewed on WorldConnect then the HTML code is shown as a proper link but FTM doesn't know how to interpret the code so you see the total code. Pity!!
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Last updated: 20 August, 2007