Standardizing locations in Family Tree Maker

Family Tree Maker contains a database of more than 3 million place names. When you import a GEDCOM or other genealogy file, or you manually enter a location name into your tree, Family Tree Maker automatically checks each place name against its database looking for misspellings and missing data, such as missing counties. If any errors are found, or if the place does not match any locations in the FTM database, a question mark icon appears next to the location’s name in the Places workspace. Many people like to include more detail in their locations. Examples of this might include address, or the name of a church, or cemetery, etc. We have updated Family Tree Maker 2014 to be able to keep this detail and still be able to resolve the place name.

This article discusses the following:

• Editing a Single Location
• Editing Multiple Locations

Editing a Single Location

1. Click the Places button on the main toolbar.

   

2. Double click the question mark icon next to the place name.

   

3. The Change Place Name window opens. Click the button next to the new place name to resolve the Place Name.

   

4. The Resolve Place Name window opens. You will see a list of the closest matching place names below your entered place name. In the case shown, the “Provo Cemetery” is making it difficult to resolve. Click the small arrow next to the place name to move the first segment of the place name to the Detail box.

   

5. Once the detail is removed, the program can find the closest matching place name. You can click the Search button if the search is not automatically done. Click Replace once you have found the correct place name.

   Note: In some cases, you’ll want to leave the name exactly as it is. For example, if the town or city no longer exists, or the county boundaries have changed over the years, you’ll want to keep the location’s name as you found it in the record. In this case, click the Ignore button.

6. The Change Place Name box will come up again, and the place name may not look different here. The detail will still be listed at the beginning of the place name. Click OK.

Your place name will now be resolved, and listed in the appropriate place in the hierarchy of place names.

Editing Multiple Locations

If you’ve imported a new tree or merged another person’s tree into your own, you’ll likely have many place names that don’t match the other locations in your tree. Instead of updating each location one at a time, you can resolve many place names at once.

1. Click Tools. Select Resolve All Place Names. Or click the Resolve Place Names button just above the list of places.

   

2. If you want to back up your file before you update your locations, click Yes. If you want to proceed without backing up your file, click No.
3. The Resolve All Place Names window opens. Each location that Family Tree Maker doesn’t recognize is listed—along with a suggested replacement location.

   

4. For each location listed, check one of these fields:
   • Unrecognized Place Name - Click this checkbox if you want to keep the place name as it is currently listed.
   • Suggested Place Name - Click this checkbox if you want to change the current location’s name to the suggested name.
   • Desc - Click this checkbox if you want Family Tree Maker to move this place name from a fact’s Place field to its Description field.
   • Ignore - Click this checkbox if you want the unrecognized place name to be considered “recognized.” The place name will not be considered an error in the future.
   • Other - If the suggested place name is incorrect, or you want to see other choices that might match the current place name, click Other. The Resolve Place Name window opens. You will see a list of the closest matching place names below your entered place name. Click the small arrow next to the place name to move the first segment of the place name to the Detail box.

   

   Once the detail is removed, the program can find the closest matching place name. You can click the Search button if the search is not automatically done. Click Replace once you have found the correct place name.

   Note: In some cases, you’ll want to leave the name exactly as it is. For example, if the town or city no longer exists, or the county boundaries have changed over the years, you’ll want to keep the location’s name as you found it in the record. In this case, click the Ignore button.

5. When you’ve chosen an option for each location, click OK.

   Your place names will now be resolved, and listed in the appropriate place in the hierarchy of place names.