Making Facts Private in FTM 2017 for Windows

Making a fact private can be very useful. When your tree is synced through TreeSync with Ancestry.com, a private fact will not appear on the online tree, but will still be viewable in Family Tree Maker.  You can make one fact private, or you can make several facts private at once.

This article discusses the following:

• Making one fact private
• Making several facts private
• Making Facts private by default

Making One Fact Private

1. From the People tab, select the person you wish to change the fact for.
2. Click the Person tab (next to the Family tab in the top left), then ensure you are on the Facts page.

   

3. Right-click on the fact you wish to make private, then click “Mark Private.” It will then show a small padlock to the left of the fact.

   

1. Select Edit in the top left, then click on “Manage Facts”.

   

2. This brings up a list of all the facts in your tree. Select the one you wish to work with, then click on “Data Options”

   

3. You will be asked if you want to backup your tree, select Yes if you wish to backup your tree, or No if you do not want to.
4. Once your backup is finished, you will see a list of all of the selected fact that you have in your tree. You can uncheck any you don’t want to change, or make sure they are all checked, if you want to change them all.
5. Select the checkbox next to Mark the selected facts as: and select “Private” from the drop down menu.

   

6. Click OK.

All of the facts you selected will now be made private and will not sync to Ancestry.com.

Making Facts private by default

1. Select Edit in the top left, then click Manage Facts...

   

2. This opens a list of all facts. Select the one you wish to work with, then click Properties

   

3. Check the Private by default box and click OK

   

   Note: This will privatize all facts of this type added after this option is selected. Facts of this type added prior to selecting this option will not automatically be privatized.