Discover, Organize, and Share Your Family History

Changing a Source Citation to Use a Source Template in Family Tree Maker 2011

3 Apr 2011 by Leave a Comment

Are you using the source template feature introduced in genealogy software Family Tree Maker 2011? It can help you and other genealogists locate the sources you’ve cited and determine the quality of the source. These important capabilities are the result of having the necessary information about the source.

The new feature makes available source templates for the quick formats created by genealogy expert Elizabeth Shown Mills and published in her book, “Evidence Explained:Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace 2nd Edition”.
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Duplicate Place Cleanup in RootsMagic 4

12 Mar 2011 by 2 Comments

You may be surprised by the number of different ways you’ve entered the same place-name in your RootsMagic 4 software. This is especially true if you don’t routinely check for and correct duplicate place-names. I recommend putting this on your calendar to do periodically just like checking for “duplicate people.”

In this video you’ll learn how to quickly detect and clean up duplicate place-names.
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RootsMagic 4 on Your Mac

22 Jan 2011 by 19 Comments

RootsMagic 4 in the Mac OS X DockLast week there was a post on the RootsMagic blog about running RootsMagic 4 on a Mac. I’ve had this topic on my list of future videos for a while and this post pushed it to the top.

As the post says, there are a few options for running RootsMagic on your Mac. You can use a virtual PC program like Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, but those require you to buy and install a copy of Windows. Another option is to use the Windows emulator called Wine. I prefer a re-packaged version of Wine produced by CodeWeavers, called CrossOver Mac. It’s much easier to install! For only $39.95 you can run some Windows applications like RootsMagic on your Mac without the expense of Windows.

If you’ve wanted to run RootsMagic or are interested in checking out this fantastic genealogy software on your Mac, download the RootsMagic trial version and CrossOver Mac trial version, then follow along with this video which walks you through the fifteen minute installation of CrossOver Mac and RootsMagic 4.
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Creating a Filtered Pedigree Chart in Family Tree Maker 2011

11 Dec 2010 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes you want a chart or report that’s limited to a line of descent. For example, this is useful for submitting a pedigree chart to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or their counterpart the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). Unfortunately, Family Tree Maker (FTM) 2011 doesn’t enable you to simply select people in a line of descent, but I have a technique I show you in the accompanying video.
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Faster Census Entry with RootsMagic 4 Shared Events

5 Dec 2010 by Leave a Comment

Entering census events is more time consuming than for other events. The same information is needed for each person enumerated in a household. RootsMagic 4 speeds up the process of adding the same source and event for multiple people with a feature called shared events.
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Store Your RootsMagic Backups Off Site with DropBox

26 Nov 2010 by Leave a Comment

DropBox.com LogoYou can get peace of mind by configuring RootsMagic to automatically store backups of your data both on your computer and off site (on the secure servers at DropBox). All it takes is a free (up to 2 GB) account and this video to show you how to configure RootsMagic. Click here to get your free DropBox account (and earn me a small increase in space for the referral—thanks!). There’s a nice video on the DropBox page that will walk you through the installation and usage.

By the way, don’t try to store and use your database from your DropBox folder. It won’t work properly and may cause you to lose data. Just stick with backing up there.
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How to Update Family Tree Maker 2011 on a Windows 7 PC

19 Nov 2010 by Leave a Comment

Windows 7 security prevents Family Tree Maker 2011 from detecting and updating Family Tree Maker 2011 if it’s not run as an administrator. This video will show you step-by-step, how to update your genealogy software despite this “protection.”
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Family Tree Maker 2011 Updated to 20.0.0.376

19 Nov 2010 by Leave a Comment

The first bug-fix release is out for Ancestry.com’s PC genealogy software Family Tree Maker 2011. The update lists the following fixes:

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  • General performance improvements throughout the program
  • Resolved memory usage and performance problems with larger images in Smart Stories
  • Performance and size improvements to enhancing merged images from Ancestry.com
  • Re-enabled right-click functionality in Web Search
  • Resolved issue of media not being merge properly during Ancestry.com Web merge
  • Resolved issue of extra media links appearing after file import
  • Resolved issue with multiple empty pages in book preview after importing file from previous version
  • Resolved issue where user is unable to modify reference notes in Sources workspace

It also states that there’s full list of fixes here.

Where are Notes About Facts in Family Tree Maker 2010?

13 Nov 2010 by 5 Comments

Notes attached to characteristics and events (so called facts) are a good place to store proof statements and arguments. Strangely, these are not enabled by default in Family Tree Maker 2010. In this video I show you how to enable fact notes and provide some valuable tips about how these notes export in GEDCOM format. I also show you where the same type of notes can be found in other PC and Mac genealogy software. This may make it easier to figure out which notes go where when importing a GEDCOM in Family Tree Maker 2010.
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Charting Direct Descendants in Family Tree Maker 2011

17 Oct 2010 by Leave a Comment

I noticed a question about charting direct descent that went unanswered on the ancestry.co.uk Family Tree Maker software forum (actually, there was one answer, but it said there was no feature to accomplish this). Here is the kernel of the question:

“Along these lines is there a way of naming two people and creating the chart showing how one is descended from the other?”

There is a way to do this. It’s called a relationship chart. In this video I show you how to create a relationship chart that shows direct line of descent.
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