Descendant tree in book form

LeslieJCrouchman1 · Post by **LeslieJCrouchman1** » 05 Apr 2012 22:01

Before I switched to Family Historian 3 I had been a long time user of Family Tree Maker. I missed the facility to print a descendant tree in A4 or A3 book form so I export the data to FTM to produce/print it. Now that I've upgraded to FH5 I want to stop the reliance on FTM for printing. Does anyone print the descendant tree in book form, without a family member being spread over 2 pages, and can advise me how to do it?

ID:6111

Post by **tatewise** » 05 Apr 2012 23:30

There are a number of ideas that immediately spring to mind.
I presume that you have a large number of descendants in the tree diagram.

1) Descendant Diagram
Having created the Diagram use the two toolbar buttons to the left of the + and - buttons.
Their tooltips are Show Page Boundaries and Avoid Page Boundaries.
These will display the page boundaries and automatically avoid boundaries splitting boxes.

Additionally, you can change page orientation using File > Page Setup.
You can adjust how many pages the tree occupies by altering its Diagram > Options > Scaling.
You can adjust the tree position on page by dragging the page boundaries, and there are other ways too.

2) Output File Format
You can Save Diagram As a JPEG or PNG or other graphics format, one page at a time.
You can Save Diagram As a PDF and either try to fit Diagram into One Page, or Use Current Page Layout, which results in a multi-page PDF file.

3) Publish Book
There is now a Publish > Books option.
Among its features you can include a Descendant Diagram and edit its position on the pages, Avoid Page Boundaries, etc.
I believe you can change the Printer Setup from A4 to A3 and the Book Diagram will adjust.
Books are an extensive new feature in FH V5 and we are still learning about how to use them.

LeslieJCrouchman1 · Post by **LeslieJCrouchman1** » 06 Apr 2012 00:49

Thanks tatewise.
I have a lot of family members in our tree and I have found that printing on A4 allows some less mobile persons to view the tree and data, like reading a book on their lap.

At first glance in FH5 I notice that when the tree passes from one page to another there is no page reference given. FTM does.

Post by **tatewise** » 06 Apr 2012 12:20

You are correct.

I think it was discussed as part of the FH V5 Beta Testing and development, but unfortunately was not implemented.

I have not tried it, but the Diagram > Family Connection Mapper may offer a solution.
Select the option and select two boxes linked across a page boundary, and apply the Route.
Repeat this with different style Routes for each pair of boxes.

There may be other methods using something similar, that would be less onerous for large Diagrams with many cross boundary links.

LeslieJCrouchman1 · Post by **LeslieJCrouchman1** » 07 Apr 2012 21:45

Tried the Diagram; Family Connection Mapper. 2 boxes is the maximum it will allow.

Is anyone aware of the Family Tree Maker printing Ancestor/Descendant tree in book form option? Surely I'm not the only person who has found this useful.

Post by **tatewise** » 08 Apr 2012 00:56

The Family Connection Mapper allows as many Boxes to be selected as you like.
Just like selecting files in Windows Explorer, hold down the Ctrl key and click with the left mouse button.
Then tick the Route format you want to apply.

You can also create many New Route formats of different colours, for different cross boundary links.

Click the Help button in the Family Connection Mapper window for full details of all the options.

Family Historian User Group