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Printing Family Tree Maker Charts
Family Tree Maker is an excellent program that can easily produce a variety of gorgeous genealogy charts ready for printing. Since it is the most popular genealogy program in use today, here are some simple design tips that will help Family Tree Maker users keep their printing costs as low as possible. We highly recommend that you use a version of Family Tree Maker prior to the 2008 version as some of the features shown below are no longer part of the program. Additionally the 2008 version currently does not show your chart size as previous versions have. For this reason, almost all of our customers have preferred to continue using their pre-2008 versions. You can still purchase earlier versions of Family Tree Maker on Ebay and Amazon if you don't already have this wonderful genealogy program. Including Photos or GraphicsIf you'll be including photos or graphics on your chart, they should be re-sized prior to including them on your chart. Although Family Tree Maker allows you to scale the size of the photos you place on your chart, the program is still saving the original full-size photo. This can create problems when it comes time to print your chart if you have a large number of photos that have large file sizes. For example, if you're adding a photo that would normally print as a 5 X 7 or an 8 x 10, and it will only be appearing on your chart as a photo that is 2 inches tall, resize the photo before importing it into FTM if you can. This will dramatically reduce the file size of the photo and keep FTM from choking during the printing process. So, if you are going to be scaling down the dimensions of a photo or graphic that will appear on your chart, please try and do so before adding it to FTM to avoid printing problems later.
Family Tree Maker Page BreaksIf you've ever printed a small family tree chart using 8.5 X 11 inch paper, you already know that you don't want your boxes to be cut in half at the page breaks. Since we'll be printing your family tree chart on continuous roll paper, you'll be doing the exact opposite. You'll want to change the settings in Family Tree Maker to allow the boxes to overlap page breaks that you see on your screen. This is accomplished by right clicking anywhere on your chart, and then selecting "tree format". Make sure the overlap page breaks box is checked as shown below. This will eliminate a lot of wasted white space, reduce the width of your family tree chart, and keep your printing costs low.
Family Tree Maker Box Sizes and PlacementAnother thing that you can do to fine tune the size of your printed genealogy chart is to adjust the width of the boxes. For exceptionally long family tree charts, this could trim a few feet off the total size and reduce your cost. This is accomplished by right clicking anywhere on your chart, and then selecting "maximum box width". If you have previously selected "word wrap" under "options" in "items to include in each box", long lines will simply wrap, creating a taller box, but saving you on the width. You should never use FTM feature that allows you to drag individual boxes or branches of your tree. Although everything may appear the way you want it to look on your monitor, when it comes time to print, your chart won't print correctly.
Family Tree Maker Font SizesAlthough it won't have a major impact on the size of your family tree chart, selecting a good font size and style is important. If you select too small of a font in order to keep your chart small, you run the risk of it not being easily readable by relatives with less than perfect eyesight. The default font size in Family Tree Maker for most items is 6 or 7 points which is way too small to use for printing. While it may look fine on your monitor when you zoom in on an entry, you'll probably want most of your font selections to be between 8 and 12 points. It's usually a good idea to make the person's name one font size larger than the rest of the data entries and also selecting bold type. In Family Tree Maker, this is accomplished by right clicking anywhere on your family tree chart, and then selecting "text font, style and size".
Family Tree Maker Chart DimensionsAs you go about fine tuning the layout of your family tree chart, you'll always be kept up to date by Family Tree Maker about the size of your chart. The measurement of your chart always shows up in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen as shown below. Unfortunately this feature is currently not a part of the 2008 version. As a result, you will need to use a prior version of FTM in order to know your chart dimensions. Family Tree Maker version 16, FTM 2006, and all prior versions have this essential feature. If you've already updated your version to 2008, you will want to transfer your data back to an earlier version of the program to do your chart design and printing.
Setting Your Date PreferencesFTM allows you to select the date format that will be used in your printed chart. When you submit your order to us, it is essential that you let us know the date format that you prefer. Although all of your other design choices will normally be saved within your FTW file which you send us, your date preference will not be saved in your FTW file. There is a space on our order form for this information. If you are not sending us a physical order form, and are instead sending us an e-mail with your FTW file attached, please let us know in your e-mail the date format to use.
We're so sure you'll love our family tree printing services that we confidently provide a complete money back guarantee on all family tree chart orders. Please call us at 630-653-8400 or e-mail us at sales@ancestryprinting.com if you have any questions.
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Watch video about adding photos to your family tree chart
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