Software with ability to add notes to descendant tree?

[belfhist]

Can anyone suggest a simple family tree program which has the facility to add notes and/or user defined fields to the charts, eg the descendant chart? I don’t think Legacy does this, Roots Magic doesn’t. I don’t know about all the other programs around. I tried Genbox and this is great, does what I want but a) it’s pretty complicated to use and b) I don’t think it’s very well supported anymore and I don't want to spend ages feeding in loads of information just to find out it no longer works in future versions of Windows etc. I think there are programs where you can edit the chart/tree after you've created it, and add notes etc to it then, but I want the ability to add either the notes field or a user-defined field. (example of what I want showing on the tree would be their profession, or where they lived or something like that).
Thanks very much.

[peterd]

this is what we use for bcc

http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/tr ... i=85759608


you can set you own up from here

http://www.tribalpages.com/landingpage. ... 4Qodj1gMCw

[Antie Em]

I've used Rootsmagic for years, tested a couple of others but really found Rootsmagic the best for my needs. I've used three different versions of windows with this software and not had a problem. It has the facility to add notes in defined fields and has the ability to create all kinds of reports and charts, and create a shareable CD.

I also keep a copy of my tree on Tribal Pages, for sharing my research with family members, but this is web based so you need to regularly create a backup Gedcom, just in case.

Maggie

[belfhist]

Hi and thanks to both of you for your replies. But I'm it doesn't look like the TribalPages website does what I want. Rootsmagic doesn't either as I've already tried the Essential version then emailed the company to ask them more about it. They say "You can't include notes automatically in boxes, but you can hand enter any text into any box after the fact." I don't want to add notes later as this would mean everytime I edit the tree I'd have to re-add the notes. I want to have the option of including the notes (or other fields) on the descendant tree.
Any other suggestions please?
Thanks.

[FarSide]

Hi Belfhist
Not sure what you are after, I use legacy and find it brillant, there's a free download for the standard version
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/

[Northern Lass]

Not up on this software but does Family Tree maker do it?

[belfhist]

I sent an email to Ancestry.com and asked them about Family Tree Maker, and unfortunately it can't do this either. They said: "We apologize but at the current time you can't include notes in the charts created with the Family Tree Maker program but you can include your notes with the reports."

[Northern Lass]

I sent an email to Ancestry.com and asked them about Family Tree Maker, and unfortunately it can't do this either. They said: "We apologize but at the current time you can't include notes in the charts created with the Family Tree Maker program but you can include your notes with the reports."

I thought when you had your ancestors or descendants tree up on screen
if you hover over the ancestor it brings it up like a tag
so you see the whole tree and then hover over ancestor it brings up notes

no?

[Antie Em]

Hi and thanks to both of you for your replies. But I'm it doesn't look like the TribalPages website does what I want. Rootsmagic doesn't either as I've already tried the Essential version then emailed the company to ask them more about it. They say "You can't include notes automatically in boxes, but you can hand enter any text into any box after the fact." I don't want to add notes later as this would mean everytime I edit the tree I'd have to re-add the notes. I want to have the option of including the notes (or other fields) on the descendant tree.
Any other suggestions please?
Thanks.

Sorry - I don't really understand what it is you need to do. If you add notes into any of the areas in Rootsmagic - they stay there until you delete them. You can add to them anytime. What kind of notes would you add automatically ?

[belfhist]

Antie Em and Northern Lass - thank you very much for your replies.
Sorry, I'm obviously not being very clear, I'm finding it hard to describe what I want. I'll try again....
I want to add notes to an individual and chose to have those notes print out onto the descendant chart. The notes would be fairly short and just say things like "Stone Mason" or "lived in Cornwall" or "sculptor exhibiting at Great Exhibition". I would then like to print out the chart or send it by email to relatives. The trouble with most programs is that they are very limited in what you can add to the chart/tree, most seem to allow you add birth, death, marriage etc, but that's usually about it. Some allow you to add notes to the chart once the chart is created, but presumably that means that everytime you redo the chart (eg after you've added someone, changed information etc) you'd have to add the notes in again. I think this is the case with Rootsmagic (from what the support team told me in an email), and I think that's also the case with Family Tree Maker.

Northern Lass said about Family Tree Maker:

I thought when you had your ancestors or descendants tree up on screen
if you hover over the ancestor it brings it up like a tag
so you see the whole tree and then hover over ancestor it brings up notes

but this won't help as I want the notes to appear on the chart when I print it or email it.

In Genbox software when you create the descendant tree there are lots of options to include all sorts of fields, one of these is the "notes" field. I'll probably have to stick with Genbox in the end, but I'm amazed that no other program has this facility.

I did use Brothers Keeper for a time, and I did a bit of a fiddle in order to get what I wanted - there was a "Ref" field that you could include in the descendant tree, so I used that for very short notes, but the field is very small so that didn't work too well.

I hope this makes a bit more sense, if anyone understands this and knows that their program can do this, please let me know! Thanks.

[FarSide]

Legacy will print the notes, i.e. research notes to print later very handy, you can also add notes to each census and any findings

Do you mean something like this, this is one from my pedigree printout... Some of my notes are nearly a page in length..

Noted events in his life were:
• Information: At the time of making his will James had a son
James, a son Benjamin (who married Benjamin Sidaway's sister Sarah) a daug

[Antie Em]

I can print all notes I have added to a report on Rootsmagic. You can use one of the default Narrative Reports and then choose from "Options" to add notes. I always keep just Census information in the main notes and add details to marriage, baptism, occupation, buriel, divorce, will, immigration etc. All these will then be printed as notes on the report. If there are notes you want to keep private, you can untick the private notes box.

[belfhist]

But will the notes print out on the descendant tree? I'm sure there are lots of reports that will include the notes, but I specifically want the notes to print on the descendant chart/tree. And I'd like those notes to print out next to or below the name of the individual. Really I suppose my question is: what are the options available for printing the descendant tree?

Eg in Roots Magic Essentials if I go to Reports/Charts/Box charts, then I get the options box for the descendant chart. I have the option to include Birth, Death, Burial, Marriage, Divorce, but there are no other options to include other things, eg the Notes.

I'm beginning to think that there are few programs that can do this. Genbox can, and it's very flexible indeed with the amount of options and customisation available, but it's getting outdated and I'm not sure if it will carry on bing updated.

[Antie Em]

OK .... I think I know what you mean now - you want to print notes on the chart tree, not the report.

I think you're right. Trees just contain certain information, ie birth, death and marriage. I've never tried to add notes to a tree because it would make the tree too big to print. If you add long notes on one person in a tree, they all of those people on that level would take up the same amount of space, even if they had no notes. otherwise the same generation would be on a different level.

When I print out information for anyone, I use a numbered report and then create a tree. Against everyone in that tree I then type in their individual numbers so that they can be cross referenced.

Think this is the only way you can do it. I'll have a look later and see if there is another way, as I say, I have never tried adding notes to trees because it would make it too big.

Good Luck - Maggie

[snoopysue]

I view the tree as a concise way of displaying relevant info. I agree with Antie Em that adding info would make the tree huge, and not so easy to read!