Find. Record. Share. Those are the ABC’s of family history.

You already know how Ancestry helps you find your ancestors—by providing you access to more than 25,000 databases of family history information. But do you know how it helps you record and share that information?

For more than a decade, Family Tree Maker has been the number one selling family tree software—created to help you organize and store all the names, dates, and facts you’ve gathered on your family.

I’m excited to announce that the latest version of Family Tree Maker has recently been released. Developers at Ancestry have been working on revamping the program for the last two years—instead of adding patches to the old program, they started from the ground up and completely reworked the software.

The first thing I noticed when I launched the 2008 version was the attractive new interface, which has more of a Windows look and feel. But besides that, the new version has some other new features to celebrate as well. Here are three of my favorites:

The new Family Tree Maker 2008 interface.

VIRTUAL MAP FEATURE
Family Tree Maker has combined with Microsoft Virtual Earth to give you access to maps of locations worldwide. You can view locations you’ve entered into the software and get road maps and aerial imagery to see where these places are and what they look like today.

The online mapping feature in Family Tree Maker 2008.

My personal favorite is the 3-D feature, which allows you to view the locations from an angle, rather than from a top-down, two-dimensional view.

The bird’s eye view in Microsoft Virtual Earth.

The 3-D view in Microsoft Virtual Earth.

ADDING SOURCES AND MEDIA ITEMS TO MULTIPLE PEOPLE
Those of you tired of retyping a census record citation for everyone in the family that’s on the census will appreciate the updated media and sourcing organization tools. They allow you to quickly link photographs, historical records, source citations, and other media items to more than one person.

WEB CLIPPING
Family Tree Maker makes it easy for you to search Ancestry and your other favorite genealogy sites from within the program. If you find information on a Web page that is of interest to you, you can quickly copy the text using the Web clipping tool and attach it to a person in your tree.

I also enjoy these Family Tree Maker features, some old and some new:

• An intuitive interface
• Ability to add and easily organize media items, such as photographs, audio clips, and video files
• Hints to help you keep place names consistent
• Easy source citation features, including source rating criteria
• The ability to import family tree files from previous versions of Family Tree Maker and other family tree software
• A relationship calculator to tell you how someone in your tree is related to someone else
• Printable charts and reports

Family Tree Maker is the way to keep your family history organized. I’ve also read its recently-released guidebook, The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker 2008, and found it concise, easy-to-understand, and informative. It’s a great reference work to guide you through the program step-by-step if you’re new, or give you some extra tips and tricks if you’re an experienced Family Tree Maker user. Together, they’re the perfect tool for helping you record all the information you’ve worked so hard to gather.

Purchase Family Tree Maker 2008.

Purchase The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker 2008.

Jana Lloyd is editor of the Ancestry Monthly newsletter. She can be reached at AMUeditor@ancestry.com but cannot assist with personal research questions.