6/1/2004
By David A. Fryxell
Do your software skills need a tuneup? Use these 30 tips and tricks to harness your genealogy program's power.
Most users of genealogy software programs are more interested in begats and burials than bits and bytes, so their time spent in front of the computer screen recording research results is just dutiful drudgery. They'd much rather be combing a cemetery or squinting at microfilm than doing data entry. Who has time to poke around “under the hood” of these programs, anyway?
That's a shame, because your genealogy software can be a powerful tool not only to preserve your family tree findings, but also to point you toward your next discoveries. Not making the most of your software is like owning a race car without taking it out on the track: You're stuck in a 15-mph school zone, never seeing what this baby can do. Digging a little deeper into your program's toolbars, commands and hidden tricks — becoming a genealogy-software “power user” — can maximize your software investment. At the very least, you can learn to speed up that data entry and get back to the cemetery or microfilm reader.
We've assembled 30 tips and tricks to help you soup up your software and unlock its hidden power. Most apply to version 11 of Family Tree Maker (FTM), the latest edition of what's by far the best-selling genealogy program. (And no, there's no connection between that software and this similarly titled magazine!) We've also noted tips and tricks in other popular programs.