What are Smart Stories in Family Tree Maker?
This article discusses the following:
- What is a Smart Story?
- Creating a Smart Story
- Building a Smart Story
- Printing your Smart Story
What is a Smart Story?
Smart Stories is a narrative tool that can help you record family stories quickly by selecting facts, sources, and notes you’ve already entered in your tree; then you can drag and drop them into a special text item called a smart story. And best of all, smart story text is linked to your tree. So if you find out that Grandpa’s birth date is different than you thought, you can change it in your tree and the text will be updated automatically.
Creating a Smart Story
You can create two different types of smart stories. A Media Smart Story is a text file that exists outside your tree and is linked to a specific individual. You can share it with others or export it with your tree, and if you upload your tree to Ancestry it will be included as a media item. A Publication Smart Story is a document that exists only inside your tree and is not linked to a specific individual. If you upload your tree to Ancestry, this type of smart story won’t be included.
Creating a Smart Story as a Media Item
A media smart story is a text file that exists outside your tree and is linked to a specific individual. You can share it with others or export it with your tree, and if you upload your tree to Ancestry it will be included.
Go to the People tab and select the individual for whom you want to create a story. Click the Media icon on the right to show the media attached to this person. Click the small arrow next to New and select Create a New Smart Story from the dropdown menu.
You will be asked if you would like to Auto-populate the story with the information already entered in the tree or start with a blank page.
To access a media smart story you’ve saved, go to the Media tab. Click Stories on the left to filter the media, then double click on the story you want to edit.
You can also access a story saved in this way by clicking the Media icon for the selected person to the right of the Family workspace.
Or by viewing the media attached to a person under the Person workspace.
Creating a Smart Story as a Publication
A publication smart story is a document that exists only inside your tree and is not linked to a specific individual. If you upload your tree to Ancestry, this type of smart story won’t be included.
Go to the Publish workspace, then the Collection tab. In Publication Types, click Other. Then double-click the Smart Story (Text Item) icon, or select the icon and then click the Create Report button.
To access a smart story you’ve saved in this way, go to the Publish workspace. In Saved Publications, click Saved Reports.
Building a Smart Story
Inserting a Short Biography
This is what your story will start with if you choose to Auto-populate your Smart Story. You can insert a Personal Biography manually by following the instructions below:
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to add the biography. Then choose Personal Biography from the drop-down list in the smart text toolbar. Click Insert.
- The Smart Story will write a story using the facts that you have entered into your tree. You can tell which text is linked to your tree. Move the cursor over the text; Smart Story text will be highlighted.
Inserting Facts
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to add the biography. Then choose Facts from the drop-down list in the smart text toolbar.
- Click the fact you want to add to your book. Below the fact, you’ll see options of how the fact will be entered. You can choose to create a sentence or add specific details.
- Drag the text to your document or click Insert.
Inserting Sources
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to add the source. Then choose Fact Sources from the drop-down list in the smart text toolbar.
- Click the fact that has the source you want to add to your book. Below you’ll see any associated source citations. If more than one source citation exists for a fact, you can choose it from a drop-down list.
- Drag the text to your document or click Insert.
Inserting Notes
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to add person notes you’ve entered for an individual. Then choose Notes from the options drop-down list.
- Drag the text to your document or click Insert.
Adding a Media Item to a Smart Story
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to add the media item. Then click the Media button on the smart text toolbar.
- Click the media item you want.
- Drag the image to your document or click Insert.
Creating a Smart Story Timeline
You can use facts in a person's life as well as historical events to create a timeline.
- Place your cursor on the page where you want to create the timeline. Then click the Timeline button on the smart text toolbar.
- Click the event you want to add to your book. Below the event, you’ll see options of how the event will be entered. You can create a sentence or add specific details.
- Drag the text to your document or click Insert.
Editing a Smart Story as a Text Document
Once it has been created, you can change the smart story to a normal text document and edit it as you would a text document. Simply double-click the text or right-click and choose “Change to free form text.” However, be aware that the text will not longer be linked to your tree and will not be updated if you make changes.
Printing Your Smart Story
You can print a Smart Story from within the preview area by clicking on the Print icon in the top left.