In preparation for delivering some help sessions at my local genealogical society, I am working to become proficient in three genealogy applications: Family Tree Maker (FTM), RootsMagic (RM) and Legacy Family Tree (LFT). I used an early version of FTM in the late 90’s and I’ve been a user of LFT since 2008. RM is completely new to me. RootsMagic and Legacy FamilyTree offer a free version of their software with a limited set of features. Since FTM does not have a similar free option, I decided to use the paid versions of each software package. This series of blogs will document my impressions of and experiences with these three software packages.
In this post I will review creating a family tree file and entering a bit of data in Family Tree Maker. I entered a snippet of the maternal side of my family tree: my grandmother, her husband and her parents. For each person, I entered dates and places for birth, marriage, death and burial.
Family Tree Maker, version 21.0.0.580 – www.familytreemaker.com
I started the program and chose the “Enter what you know” option. I entered Ida’s name. After I entered her last name, the program automatically put that name into the “New tree name” field. Since that was not what I wanted, I was glad that it allowed me to change the database name as well as select the location where the file would be stored. A place names lists is already populated (similar to what I had seen on Ancestry.com), so the first time I began to type Cincinnati, there was a list that I could select from. Subsequently, the list just contained the place names I had entered.
The workflow of FTM encouraged me to enter parents’ names before I entered any additional detailed information for Grandma Ida.
After I entered information on the initial screen, I was given the option to allow Family Tree Maker to search Ancestry[.com] automatically. I chose “No.” After I clicked on “OK” the following screen came up, where I was able to enter death and marriage information for Ida.
The Custom View button near the bottom of the screen allowed me to add the fields for Burial information to this initial data entry screen.
Entering the cemetery name after the city resulted in an error icon after the burial place name, so I removed the cemetery name from the location field. I did not see a way to attach the name of the cemetery to the burial event.
Entering the additional detailed information for Ida’s parents and husband was simple and intuitive. The family tree view made it easy to navigate from one person to another. Since I’ve been a user of Ancestry.com for several years and FTM bears a strong resemblance to that web site, the user interface feels very familiar.
Here is a summary of the information entered.
Summary
Family Tree Maker was easy to use for initial data entry. The screens were very intuitive. I never had to search around for how to enter the next person’s information. One possible disappointment is the lack of a place to enter cemetery information on the burial event.
Next time: Data entry in Legacy Family Tree