Genealogy Chat

Hi. I want to save a copy of my tree on FTM and take it to be printed at my local copy shop. How do I go about that? Since they don't have the FTM program to open it, what are the settings I need to use to save it on the disk?

You could export it as a PDF file - most computers will be able to read this

The available file types may may depend which form of tree or report you want to print out. The standard format that a printer or copy shop ought to be able to cope with is PDF (for which the software is Adobe Acrobat). They ought to be able to magnify/compress/split into pages, according to the amount of information. Depending on the size of tree you're expecting to print, you may have to work with them to agree the exact way you want it printed out. Have a good look at the tree presentation on screen before you finalise the print file, so you can see roughly what you will get. J.

Elaine, I have an old copy of FTM (1999). When I go into View, do I copy/export? The ''save as'' type in this selection only gives me options of FTW or GED. Am I able to change it to PDF?

The official FTM answer ;Answers given for all versions of FTM programmes Question Can I share trees and reports in PDF format? Answer You can export many trees, reports, and even books from Family Tree Maker directly to PDF. Exporting to PDF in FTM 11 or later To export one of these items to PDF format in FTM 11 or later: Generate the tree, report, or book you wish to export. Click the File option from the menu at the top of the program window and choose Export/(name of tree or report)/To Acrobat (PDF) The Export dialog comes up. In the Save In field at the top, specify where you would like to save the PDF file (such as your My Documents folder). In the File Name field, give your PDF file a name you will be able to identify later. Make sure the Save as Type field says Acrobat (*.pdf). Then click Save. Creating PDFs in FTM 10 or earlier In FTM 10, click File from the menu at the top of the program window and choose Export to PDF. If there are multiple options for export, the menu item may be listed as Export to PDF/TXT/RTF. This is the first version of Family Tree Maker to provide an Export to PDF option. For FTM versions prior to FTM 10, a popular option to convert anything to PDF is to use the open source program Ghostscript. Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides, among other things: An interpreter for Portable Document Format (PDF) files, with the same abilities The ability to convert PostScript language files to PDF (with some limitations) and vice versa Follow these steps to accomplish this. Install a printer driver for a postscript printer. An example of this would be something like the HP Color Laser Jet PS. If you don't have your Windows installation CD-ROM handy (which includes many printer drivers), you can also download the postscript printer drivers from the Internet. To do this, go to HP's Web site and choose your operating system and the driver for your version of Windows that says HP LaserJet 9000 PS Printer Driver. Note: if you want to create a color PDF file, make sure you install a color printer's driver. When you install the printer driver, when asked what port/connection to use choose 'File' (and not LPT1/LPT2). Go to the main Ghostscript Web site and download and install the latest versions of both Ghostscript and GSview. Start Family Tree Maker and create the tree (or report or calendar or Book) you want. Choose to print this tree changing the printer to use the Postscript printer you previously installed. You will be asked to give the file you are creating a name. Be sure you give the file a name with the extension of .ps and also make sure you make a note of where on your computer you are saving the file. Start GSview and the .ps file you just created in Family Tree Maker. From the File menu choose Convert using the options to choosing to save the file as 'pdfwrite' and '300 dpi'. This time use the extension of '.pdf'. You will then end up with a 'pdf' file that can be read and printed by anyone who downloads and installs the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Files made this way are quite small Glen

I use 2005 and simply selected the tree,displayed it in screen and then right clicked. From the dropdown i selected 'export' and then selected 'to PDF' Not sure if your version is the same but hope this helps. Glen

Just have to run out now (dropping off resume for a job application). Thanks John and Glen - will check out your responses when I get back - hopefully I will be able to get this thing to work - want to print out a copy of the tree for the MILs 70th birthday. Margaret

This is exactly why Carol and myself started up Genealogy Printers over 6 years ago, a high street printer cannot normally print your tree, they couldn't do it then and they can't do it now. They do not have the programs to do it and you do not have the printer drivers to make it fit onto one sheet. Later versions of Family Tree Maker and some PDF creators available online allow you to save your tree to PDF Format, a high street printer can print this but there is a negative side. When FTM introduced the save to PDF format they used a 3rd party PDF creator called Amyuni (this is the extra printer you get when you install FTM) this PDF converter has page size limits, it can only produce a chart 55 inches wide at the most, if you tree is wider than 55 inches it will be reduced to that 55 inch size, all the fonts and boxes will be reduced to make it fit 55 inches, the more it is over 55 inches the more it will be reduced and hard to read especially if you use the default font size that FTM makes trees at (font size 6) which is already very small (we use 8). Trust me I'm a professional tree printer. Ron www.genealogyprinters*com Tel: 01902 836284

I think I am going to have to fiddle with my program a bit to see if I can get it to work - it isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped. (I'm going to have to just give in and buy a printer that works!!) Ron, at some point I will be getting a full printout of my tree, but at this point I just want to be able to show people where we are all related etc. I know for a fact that when I give the tree to MIL, she will have a look at it, but that it will end up being packed away with the rest of the stuff I have already given her. Plus, I want to print out a ''working copy'' to work with/write on. So I'd like to save money, until I'm ready to printout MY copy!!

Depending on what version of FTM you have you should be able to form the tree, click on file, then Export Tree and save it to a pdf file. This can be viewed on any computer without the need of having FTM on that other computer. I'm sure it was in version 10 that the option to save to PDF was first introduced. If the option to export to PDF is not there you need to upgrade to a newer version of FTM. Ron www.genealogyprinters*com

Hi Ron. I have version 7.0 so the PDF option was not yet available. Maybe Santa or the birthday fairy will bring me a newer version