Genealogy Chat

FTM is usually no good for making PDF trees to take to a printer unless it's a small sized chart.

When FTM makes a PDF the maximum page size is 55 inches, if your tree is larger than this it will be shrunk down to 55 inches during the PDF creation process.

So say if your tree is 100 inches wide in FTM then the PDF will be shrunk so the resulting tree will only be 55 inches wide, it does this by reducing the font size so in the above instance the font would come out at half the size you selected, you probably couldn't read it.

Also be aware that FTM uses a default font size of point 6 when it makes a tree, if this is reduced any further by making a large PDF you won't be able to read it, we use font size 8 bold for names and 8 normal for the rest of the text as a minimum for the trees that we print.

Ron
www.genealogyprinters.com

Richard,

Many thanks for your advice, I will get a copy of FTM and follow your advice.

Richard

As Rob said above, you first need to import your Gedcom into a program such as Family Tree Maker. This will give you a whole range of display options for your data (descendant trees, ancestor trees, etc etc). With FTM at least, you can then export these tree views to a PDF file. To do this: set up the view that you want to save then on the "File" menu select "Export Ancestor tree" (or "Descendant tree", etc - depending on the type of tree you have displayed) then select "To Acrobat (PDF)". If your tree is bigger than your current paper size (which will be A4 if you only have an A4 printer), then you will be prompted whether you want to save as multiple pages or one large page. Select "One Large Page" if you are going to print it on a bigger printer (you can still print it on an A4 printer as the printer will "tile" the print automatically). The resulting PDF file will be suitable for emailing to your contacts, who can then print it out on any printer.

Richard

Many thanks for all your advice. I thought a PDF file would print a tree with boxes as per the Genes Reunited site. The idea was to give Copyman a file which they could print on A2 etc, as I only have an A4 printer. Maybe I will import my gedcom file into Brother's Keeper 6 which I have and print using that.
Richard

the PAF (personal Ancestry file) from the familysearch site is free to download and also has a wide variety of reports.

Haven't yet investigated whether saving to pdf is possible... but its free! There's also a guide to download which you could check on the reports before you start.

If you do use it, you can then export the GenesReunited gedcom directly to the PAF.

Good luck!

Family Tree Maker 2006 is one I use and has some useful reports on it too. They have just released a 2008 version too.

Dear Community

Is it possible to convert an exported Genes Reunited gedcom file to PDF so I can get it printed A3 or larger. Is there a programme that someone could recommend.
I would like to be able to use a paper draft with relatives to help me correct and add to tree. VMT