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General => Technical Help => Family History Programs, Tree Organisation, Presentation => Topic started by: Runnicus on Monday 25 February 13 10:39 GMT (UK)
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Hello everyone,
My All-in-One file in Family Tree Maker 2011 contains over 2,000 individuals. It wasn't a good idea to keep them all in one file and I now realise I have to split it into four separate branches. However when I "Export", I have to individually select the persons. I don't see how I can do this if I have an average of 500+ individuals to select because I can't hold in my head all the different surnames and which line they belong to. Is there an easier way to split the file?
Very many thanks for any help.
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Hi
This is how I did mine
First create a descendant chart of the family you want to split up
right click on the individual at top of chart, then select from the drop down list, I selected ' Select person & All descendants and spouses' right click again on chart and click on export. You then have the option to export entire chart to a new file.
Hope that makes sense
Carol
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Hello there,
A person after my own heart - I too had that thought. But when I experimented and made three new files with the major options - "Select All Descendents and Spouses", "Select Person and All Relations" and "Select All", the results were rather odd.
My All-in-One file contains 2,187 individuals. But what I know should be the largest file when exported contained only 212 persons. And another snag is that if I want to make a SMITH Descendent Chart starting with the earliest known SMITH, it leaves out the earliest known BROWN member who was born before the earliest known SMITH. But if I start the chart with the earliest known BROWN member it doesn't include all the Smiths. It's a puzzle...
Thanks for your help, I shall have to continue experimenting. FYI: I phoned FTM in Dublin to be told "you can do that easily in FTM 2012". I wonder if that's a standard answer - I wasn't impressed..
Thanks again.
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FYI: I phoned FTM in Dublin to be told "you can do that easily in FTM 2012". I wonder if that's a standard answer - I wasn't impressed..
As far as I can see FTM 2012 doesn't have any additional functionality over FTM 2010 for carrying out this operation.
Harry
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Hi
Just another suggestion
create a gedcom for the Smith and another for the Browns and then merge them into a new Family tree file.
Carol
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Hello Runnicus,
You didn't explain why you thought it wasn't a good idea to keep your 2000 individuals in one tree. My sister and I prefer that way because we have found many lines and connections which would not have been obvious (or even possible to find) had we split.
All the FH programmes are based on 'databases' which means:
1- they are very good at showing lots of related information about families, see my introduction paragraph.
2-they are not very good at splitting trees into component families, whatever they boast. In fact you have to hold lots of information in your head or written down in an easily understood format should you wish to split. This is due to:
a-the fact that ancestors are so closely interwoven - where do you stop one family/group and start another?
b-cousins can pop up unexpectedly all over the place so if you split the tree, these cousins will have to be either repeated or annotated.
c-the programmes cannot decide who is closely related in one particular line, 100% of the time, human intervention is needed to make the fine decisions.
Having said all that, if you really wish to split then good luck but be prepared for lots of work.
cheers, falcybe
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Hello Falcybe,
You've got it in a nutshell and have explained the problem far more succinctly than I could.
It all began because I am putting 20-odd years of research into four illustrated books, currently on several Word documents, so that when I pop my clogs and the family chucks out the contents of the filing cabinet, their history and all my work is still there on CD or whatever format exists at that time and it won't matter (to them) if the paperwork has disappeared - the story will survive.
As part of that I wanted to create four charts that would take up only one or two pages in each book showing a single line from myself backwards through an average of seven single male (or female) ancestors, including the names of their spouses.
I couldn't find any way of doing this with FTM 2011 and my All-in-One file. So I thought it might be easier if I split the file into smaller segments. Har Har Har... This is where we came in.
As you say, it's pretty much impossible. Any ideas for my next step would be useful cos I'm stumped. I'm even thinking of dumping FTM and getting a simpler software package if there is one out there.
All the best, Runnicus
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Runnicus
Have you tried a Relationship Chart? It almost does what you want - problem is the spouses are not included.
But FTM2012 will do exactly what you want. There is an option in the Descendant Chart to print a direct line chart between any two persons, with spouses included.
Fearless Fred
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Hello Runnicus,
I have done what you want in two different ways, if I have understood your seven ancestors and spouses correctly, in other words, without lots and lots of siblings coming to the party in each generation:
In Word (which will also work in OpenOfficeOrg writer) I have created two layouts:
1) Insert shapes - text boxes and moved them about the page. My layout here is awful but I'm not going to guess what you want.
2) Insert SmartArt - Hierarchy - Horizontal hierarchy
Have a play around with all the inserts that Word offers, if you have word.
Then in Legacy Deluxe (in other words, paid for) I have a chart going back seven generations (some off the page) just on the male side for the purposes of showing you how I saw your needs.
Legacy ordinary charts are pretty rubbish like all the free FH files I have seen (except the free PAF which is a tad better if I remember correctly. If you want to see this for yourself then you will have to find and download their free charts after downloading their free FH programme). And then of course you will have to make a gedcom in FTM and import it into PAF.
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And this is something I put up, starting with my parents/sister's parents in law (Cowans and Weirs)
You will see that three generations is comfortable on one page but perhaps your eyes are better than mine or perhaps you can arrange things differently for your purposes
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~haydencowan/generations/tree1.htm
cheers, falcybe
ps: the underlying tree may be down when you look so the links to the individuals may not work, my sis is working on the Ancestry tree at the moment.
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did anyone ever find a way round the problem. I wish to do the same thing really . I have a tree which has all my family and hubbies family on combined. I would like to split it into the relevant 2 halves so that I can send each split tree to the relevant family members without them having to have a complete set of people back to 1700's that they are not related to on it.
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If I understand the question, this is a comparatively simple operation - after you've done it the first time.
1. File > Export.
2. Tick or untick appropriate boxes, then Selected individuals.
3. Select yourself as the starting person, then click on Ancestors >
4. Select appropriate options. You can include your siblings, hubby or children by judicious selection of the last option (number of generations of ancestors' descendants to include). Then click OK.
5. Check that the names looks alright. You can fiddle with including or excluding other individuals at this point if you wish.
7. Click OK.
8. Select output format (FTM or GEDCOM) then click OK.
9. Repeat for hubby.
If you select one of the FTM outputs you will end up with a backup file. To view this file you will need to use File > Restore.
This procedure works (with slight variations) for FTM2008 and later versions. FTM2006 has fewer options to play around with. I don't know what happens if there are intermarriages between the two trees in previous generations.
Fearless Fred
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I have tried Family Tree Maker and Family Tree Builder to perform the function of splitting a tree. Simplistically, I want to split my large tree into all people in any way related to a husband and all people in any way related to a wife.
Neither program does what I want easily. The problem is with in-laws that are not related to the husband/wife directly. When the branch of the tree is split based an ancestors and/or descendants of the person in question, outlying in-laws do not end up in the new split branch. For this reason, I am writing my own freeware program to perform what, to me, seems like a common request and one that is not catered for by current programs.
I am happy to give the program to anyone who wants it. It only runs on Windows - it requires .NET framework - so it will happily run on Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 - and probably XP.
If anyone wants to help me get this program working, send me an email and optionally an export of your tree as a GEDCOM file. The reason I ask for the GEDCOM file is so I can test the program on as much "real" data as possible. If you do not want to send me your tree, do not do so. However, if you find a bug in my program, you will have to supply the GEDCOM so I can fix the bug.
Anyone interested can contact me at mikelevoi AT gmail DOT com.
Mike
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Hi
I have read this post with interest. I did not want to have one large tree, so I have 4 smaller trees going. My problem is that my immediate family belong in all 4 trees, can I "copy & paste" in between each tree rather than making one big tree.
I use family tree maker 11
thanks Gill
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The best way to split a tree in FTM is to use the facility whereby you can export all individuals on a chart to a new file.
Lets say you want to have separate trees for John Smith & his wife Mary Brown. Edit these people using Person -->Attach/Detach Person -->Detach Selected Person. Detach John from his parents, then re-input his details as a child of those parents, so you end up with 2 identical individuals, one as a spouse and one as a child. Add a new Mary Brown as a spouse of that child.
Starting from Mary Brown the daughter-->Publish-->Extended Family Chart. Ensure that "Include All Individuals" is NOT ticked, and that the number of generations of Ancestors and Descendants is sufficient. Right-click on any individual on the chart and "Select All". Then File ->Export ->Selected Individuals. Save as a new FTM file.
Exit the chart, repeat the process for John Smith the son.
You now have two new files, both containing John Smith and Mary Brown, but otherwise completely different. The only proviso is that John & Mary do not have a common ancestor or any relationship other than through their own marriage.
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Hi Falcybe,
I'm trying to create one tree, created from 18 different family trees that cover 9 generations. I managed to stuff 6100 people into one family tree using Family Tree Maker, Version 7 Broderbund. It choked in an all-in-one tree, so, I bought Family Tree Maker Delux 2014, but, they don't have an all-in-one tree. I have a desire to see all of the family lines and connections on one page. I also found out that even Adobe Acrobat XI Pro may have limits on a max dimension.
What Tree Maker software can I put that many people into, and more .... and have them all in a nice looking all-in-one tree and have a software that will allow me to store the tree so I can print it on a drum printer?
Arceneaux
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Have a look at Family Historian it will give you an all relations type tree. The trial version is the full program free for thirty days
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Hello Arcneaux,
For storage, Legacy is perfect and it is very user-friendly for organizing your family and for making direct searches for any individual. The basic programme is free but you have to pay a reasonable sum to have their very good charts.
I have seen other posts in RC concerning professional printing of trees. You should make a search :-)
Cheers falcybe
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Hi falcybe,
Thank you for the info on Legacy. I found a company for printing, that require a pdf file, but it seems as if Adobe Acrobat XI Pro has a size limit. Things are not going my way. There's even a song ..... "If it ain't one thing, it's another".
Arceneaux
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Hello Arceneaux,
Have you seen this post?
This is the company who do WDYTYA
http://www.genealogyprinters.com/
Very reasonable prices.
Lovely work, Meryl.
cheers, Arthur