GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Ben Sayer

Will Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 Features Match Windows?

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Since the Family Tree Maker 2012 pre-sale and release date announcement, I’ve been asked whether the Mac version will have all the same features as the Windows version. I asked that question of my contact at Ancestry.com and quickly got the reply that all the features of the PC version will be in the Mac version [I have since recieved a retraction email from the Family Tree Maker Product Manager; please disregard the optimistic remainder of this post]. Feature parity is great news for Mac genealogists.

We made it through the awkward period of Family Tree Maker 2011 on the PC and 2010 on the Mac. We get a sort of double Christmas; we get all the enhancements from the 2011 and 2012 versions with only a four to six week delay. More importantly, it signals an intent to maintain equality between PC and Mac versions.

I’m all for this change. Mac genealogy needs some serious competition to move it forward.

Add an Existing Person as a Spouse in Family Tree Maker

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Adding a spouse in genealogy software Family Tree Maker is intuitive when it’s a person you haven’t yet added to your tree. What’s not intuitive is how to connect two people who are already in your tree. Take heart though; it’s easy once you know the trick.

The term for linking people in Family Tree Maker is attach. Without knowing that it can be difficult to find the topic in the built-in help index. Looking in the table of contents for “add spouse” will yield instructions for adding a new spouse, but not attaching one. You won’t need the built-in help though because I made a video to show you how it’s done.
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How to Chart a Direct Line of Descent in Family Tree Maker 2012

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It’s sometimes helpful to have a chart showing an ancestor and only those descendants in a direct line of descent to another person. There is a descendant chart in genealogy software Family Tree Maker, but before FTM 2012 it included all of the descendants of the selected ancestor.

Family Tree Maker 2012 introduced an option on the descendant chart that enables you to focus the list of included descendants on just those in one line of descent.
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Family Tree Maker 2012 Blended Family View

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One of the new features in Family Tree Maker 2012 will help you see the relationship of children to parents at a glance. It’s called blended family view.

Blended family view is activated by clicking a new button above the children list on the person view in FTM 2012. When on, the list of children includes all the children of the selected person, even those born of another partner. Watch this video to see Blended family view in two different scenarios.
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Pre-sale of Family Tree Maker 2012

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The pre-sale has begun. The Family Tree Maker 2012 release date is set. Ancestry is temporarily offering 40% off an upgrade or 20% off a full copy. That makes the upgrade price $23.99 and the full version $31.99. The sale ends September 28th. Click here to learn more and buy Family Tree Maker 2012.

Be sure to click the “Upgrade Info” link under the “Buy Now” button if you need the upgrade.

What else is new in Family Tree Maker 2012 besides the much anticipated TreeSync?

  • Blended family view — shows combined families, including stepfamilies and adoptees at a glance
  • Improved Smart Stories — give you new tools for adding and editing details
  • Chart personalization — lets you personalize charts by adding text and displaying generation labels such as parents, grandparents and great–grandparents
  • Index of individuals report — lists every individual in your tree, plus their birth, marriage and death dates
  • Customized fact sentences — let you change wording and choose what data is included in sentences that Family Tree Maker generates for certain reports and Smart Stories
  • Descendent charts between two people — make it easy to choose two individuals in your tree and create a descendant chart that shows their relationship

P.S. There is now a coupon code for Family Tree Maker 2012 that takes an additional %20 off the pre-sale price.