In this third installment, we'll look closely at the Family View of Family Tree Maker 2005. Each of the icons associated with it will enable you to more easily enter and store your family history information in a useful format.

Under the primary individuals in the Family View screen are the following icons: 1) edit, 2) spouse(s), 3) scrapbook, and 4) web search. These buttons allow you to add and view details about the individual. Edit takes you to a new Edit Individual dialog box, which is a combination of the old Individual Facts Card and the More About screen. (See more information about the Edit button below.) The Spouse button opens up the Spouses Of… dialog box and allows you to add information about another spouse. The Scrapbook button tells you how many scrapbook items you have for that particular individual and allows you to add images and other multimedia. Finally, the new Web Search button takes you to the Web Search Report that searches the databases at Ancestry.com for more information on that individual.

You'll also note an icon at the right of each data field. This Sources icon allows you to record all the documentary evidence you have of the particular individual. Clicking on the scroll icon will take you to the source, or simply click Ctrl-S to add a new source. (Note: if you are installing Family Tree Maker 2005, your sources as well as all other data will be imported from earlier versions of the software.)

Another addition to the Family View screen are the blue arrows beside the two primary individuals and each of their children. These arrows allow you to conveniently move between generations. For example, click on an arrow beside a child field at the bottom of the Family View screen to move that child into the primary position on the page. You can then view the next generation of children (if any). To reverse this action, simply click on the arrow of the parent to return them to the primary view.

You can also record marriage information just below the primary individuals on the Family View page. Three icons are associated with the marriage box: 1) source, 2) edit (marriage), and 3) marriage scrapbook. These icons act just as the icons below the primary couple, but are specific to marriage data.

A Closer Look at the Edit Individual Box
Clicking on the Edit icon from the Family View takes you to the Edit Individual dialog box. This screen has five tabs across the top—General, Notes, Medical, Address, and Options. Under the General tab, the view is very similar to an Excel spreadsheet and has some similar characteristics. Click on any column in the header row to sort the column, or select the header row arrow and drag the column to make it wider or narrower. You'll want to experiment with some of these features to get accustomed to using them.

Buttons under the General tab allow you to add, edit, and delete information. To add a fact, click the Add Fact button and the type of fact you want to enter from the drop-down list (e.g., baptism, education, property). Then, type in the appropriate details in the date and place fields before clicking OK to save the fact. The fact will now be listed in the General tab. You can also edit or delete a fact by clicking on a specific fact and clicking the Edit Fact or Delete Fact buttons.

Also in the General screen are the Source and Make Preferred buttons. The Source button allows you to view or add source information for a fact. The Make Preferred button allows you to choose a likely fact when you have two conflicting “facts” (e.g., two different birthdays for the same individual).

You'll notice that the Lineage tab, which was on the Individual Facts Card in previous versions of FTM, is not in the new Edit Individual dialog box. In this version of FTM, you can easily add lineage information on the husband or wife in Family View. Simply click on the name, then click on People Menu, then Other Parents.

The Notes tab in the Edit Individual dialog box allows you to enter general text about individuals. Space is limited, so you'll want to enter source information and specific facts in the Source and Add Fact dialog boxes under the General tab. In the Notes tab, you can increase the text size by simply clicking the Increase button. This will allow you to view larger text but fewer lines on the screen. To copy to the clipboard, select the text, right-click the mouse, and click on Select All. You can also paste text into Notes from other word-processing programs, but there are no formatting options once the text is pasted into FTM.

One of the great features of the Edit Individual dialog box is the new Resizable Notes button located at the bottom of each tab. Click on this button to open the Notes window and resize it by clicking on a corner of the window and dragging to make the window bigger or smaller. You can also use the increase and decrease buttons, as well as the spell check button from this window. (Remember to complete the spell check and then click OK to ensure that your changes are saved to the Notes.)

The new Family Tree Maker 2005 has some gems you'll want to discover. While many of the features in the Family View are obvious, the little things like resizable notes and column manipulation make using the software much easier.