Family Tree Maker - Books
Contents
Have you ever wanted to see your family history in print? Perhaps send a relative a book showing your family history and sharing photographs and memories or show the world the fruits of your research via a book on the internet?
Well now you can do just that by using the book option within FTM.
Creating a book does take time but it is a useful way to encourage relatives to share family history, personal memories from an elderly relative can add life to people who would otherwise just appear as names and dates in a tree. A well crafted book is well worth the effort and makes an excellent talking point with relatives and can jog memories of family stories and the characters found in every family.
What is an FTM book?
The book is just that, a book (either in PDF format or printed) complete with title page, index, numbered pages etc just as you would expect to find on any shelf in a bookshop. Images and trees can be included along with any reports you wish to add.
Text font and style can be changed to create the look you want, images can resized and positioned to give different layouts and presentation techniques as well as adding a professional look to the finished article.
Sharing your book with others
Books can be used to share your family history in several ways. A printed book can be presented to people who do not have access to a pc for example and they make a nice personal gift that will last for years.
A book can be published on an FTM website, usually in PDF format they can then be seen by anyone who visits your site, a well written book can be used to explain in more depth the story of family members, occupations, military service, and local history for a particular area.
As well as appearing on the internet the pdf format book can also be sent as an e-mail attachment, this means that it is possible to share a book almost instantly with someone anywhere in the world.
Creating a book
To create a book simply select the book menu, the illustration shows the options available from the book menu;
The options allow a new book to be created, view or edit an existing book, delete a book or to add (publish) a book to an FTM website.
