How to Customize Your View in Family Tree Maker

When you open Family Tree Maker 2010 and view your tree, you'll notice the screen is divided into different sections.

On the left is a list of the people in your tree. In the middle is the pedigree view of your tree and below that are the family details of the current person selected.  And on the right, are the details of the person selected (or currently being viewed).  This right panel is the "View" and it can be customized to make editing easier.

By default, you'll see the person's name and fields to enter that person's birth, death and marriage.  But you can other fields if you like.  Fields that I have added to my own "view" include: Burial, Cause of Death, and Divorce.   This is information that I like recording and having them on my "view" panel makes it a lot easier for me. 

Changing your "View" is easy.  Just click the button at the bottom of the right panel labeled, "Customize View".  A window will pop up when you do. 

To add a field on your view, scroll down the list on the left to see the fields available.  When you find one you want, click on it (single click) and then click the arrow pointing to the right (circled on image).  Notice once you add the new field, you can move it up or down in the list.  In other words, you can decide which order you'd like to see your fields on your view.  Be sure to click OK when finished to save the changes.

If you don't see a field that you're looking for, you can create a custom one by clicking the button on the bottom left of the window.

You'll notice that the window shown, allows you to select fields for "individuals" as well as "shared". Marriages and divorces are examples of "shared facts".

Being able to customize your view in Family Tree Maker is a nice feature, so take advantage of it.  it will make your work a lot easier!