Using the Index of Individuals in Family Tree Maker

Family Tree Maker lists all the individuals included in your tree in an Index of Individuals you can see to the left of the People tab. This Index can be very useful, and there are several ways to view the information in it.

This article discusses the following:

• Showing or Hiding the Index
• Sorting Individuals
• Including Dates
• Filtering Individuals
• Using Bookmarks
• Viewing History

Showing or Hiding the Index

You may not see the Index of Individuals when you first open the program, or you may hide it to make more space for the other information in the People Tab. You can do this by clicking the folder icon just to the right if the Index.

Note: in older versions (2008 and 2010) the Open Index button will look like this

Sorting Individuals

By default the Index will show the people in your tree sorted by their Family, then Given Name. This means you will see people with last names beginning in A starting at the top moving down the alphabet. You can change this by clicking the dropdown menu next to Sort at the top of the list.

This can be useful if you can only remember the first name of the person you are looking for. You have a few more options for how the individuals are displayed in the Index in the Options menu. You can access this by going to the Tools menu, then clicking Options.

Go to the Second tab named Names/Dates/Places. There are several more options for displaying names in the Index here.

Note: Family Tree Maker 2008 will have fewer options than the ones shown here.

Including Dates

Sometimes you may have several people with the same name in your tree, as names are frequently handed down in families. It can be easier to keep from mixing up the individuals if you also display a date in the Index. You have the option of displaying the Birth Date, Marriage Date, Death Date, or Lifespan. You can find these by clicking the icon in the top right of the Index.

If you feel the entire date is taking up too much space you have the option of choosing to display only the Year (only available in Family Tree Maker 2012 and 2014).

Filtering Individuals

You can choose to only display certain individuals in the Index. This can be very useful if you have a large tree with many individuals. Click the Filter button at the bottom of the list.

This lets you pick who you want to see in the Index. You have many options for filtering individuals, by relationships, or by fact criteria.

Once you have created the filter, you can quickly turn it off or on by clicking the checkbox next to Apply Filter at the bottom of the Index.

Using Bookmarks

Family Tree Maker allows you to bookmark people. These may be people you want to come back to later, or ones you sometimes have a hard time finding. You can add a bookmark by right clicking on their name in the Index, then clicking Add Bookmark.

Once a person is bookmarked, you will see a small book icon next to them in the Index.

You can also view a list of all the bookmarked individuals by clicking the Bookmarks tab at the bottom of the Index.

Viewing History

Family Tree Maker keeps a History of the changes you make in your program.

The History list displays all of the most recently modified records with the most recently opened source citation at the bottom of the list. Move the cursor over a name to see when the record was edited and what edits were made.