Make a complete record of your ancestors with this powerful genealogy tool

What You’ll Need:

>> Mac OS X 10.5+
>> MacFamilyTree
>> 15 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

The speed with which we lose touch with our own family history is amazing. Digging deep into the building blocks of what makes up your DNA can quickly become compulsive as you rediscover ancestors long forgotten and uncover the occasional exciting – scandalous even – tidbit along the way.

The question is, what do you do with all the information, evidence, photos, audio recordings and video that you uncover? The answer lies with MacFamilyTree, a powerful tool that enables you to not just build your tree, but bring together all of the disparate resources you’ve compiled in a logical, practical way. Record the facts of an ancestor’s life, then flesh out the raw details with all the extra information you uncover using MacFamilyTree’s notes tool.

Finally, import your media (including scanned documents), link them to the appropriate individuals, family members and even specific events, and you have a complete record of your family history. You can also share it using MacFamilyTree’s impressive selection of charting, reporting and exporting tools.

That’s all to come. For now you want to get started, and version 6 of MacFamilyTree makes the process of building your tree easier than ever. Launch MacFamilyTree and click New Family Tree under Options.

You’ll be directed to choose Family Tree view from the left – click this, followed by the Add a new person button to start the process of building your tree. Start by entering your own name and gender, then switch to the Person Events tab and click Add. By default, birth is selected, so enter birth date and place details and click Done.

Next, roll the mouse over your entry in the tree and select Add Spouse from the options that appear. Enter your spouse’s basic details like your own and click Done. Now roll the mouse over the link between you and your spouse and you’ll see a pencil icon appear: clicking this allows you to add details about your own family. Start by clicking Add to enter the details of your wedding if applicable.

With your tree taking root, follow the step-by-step guide to populate it with your family’s full history.

How to put your family photos in context

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How to Record Your Family History

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  Build Your Tree

  Put together the basic skeletal structure of your tree as outlined in the main text. The Family Tree view makes this easy – roll the mouse over a person and click the option to add their parents, spouses or children. Just enter the basic details for now.

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  Flesh Out Details

  Once your skeletal tree is in place, start incorporating all the information you’ve collated: either double-click a person’s entry or select a family group from the Families tab. Use the Events, Facts and Notes tabs for this: click the + button under Family Events or Person Events.

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  Record Minute Detail

  Use the drop-down menu to select an event type, then double-click the event to record information. Use the Address field to record a street address; enter the village, town or city into the Place field under the Place tab. Use the Notes tab to record extra information.

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  Add Multimedia

  Add photos, video, audio and PDF files to family groups, individual people or specific events: just click the + button next to the Media tab to import files. Once done, double-click the file to assign it to additional events, people or families following the annotation opposite.

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  View a Map

  The Places tab on the left allows you to allocate longitude and latitude co-ordinates to each place recorded in your research. Select a place name by double-clicking it, then click the magnifying glass under Co-ordinates to find a matching entry from the list or to add one.

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  Present Your Genealogy

  All that research is of little use if you can’t share it with others. Click the Views button at the top of the program window to browse your tree or generate a chart you can print, save or export as an image file or PDF using the buttons at the bottom of the window. Click the Reports button to generate a narrative report for a range of subjects. Finally, click the Export button to convert your tree into a website that can be shared via the web or CD/DVD.

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  Quick Tip

  Want to access your MacFamilyTree file via your iPhone or iPad? Invest in MobileFamilyTree Pro ($7.99) to edit your file on the go.

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