Find and fix errors in your Family Tree Maker tree
Family Tree Maker ships with five checks that find problems you will never spot by browsing. They surface images the program has lost, citations attached to nobody, and dates that contradict each other. None of them sit where you would expect, which is why most trees have never had them run.
- Applies to
- FTM 2024 · 2019 · 2017
- Platform
- Windows & macOS
- Time
- ~45 min
When to run these checks
A tree accumulates small faults quietly. Nothing warns you, and nothing breaks, until a merge or a sync spreads the damage. Run the five checks a few times a year, and always before one of these:
- A large merge or GEDCOM import. Errors multiply when the tree doubles in size.
- An upload to Ancestry. A sync copies problems to your online tree at the speed it copies corrections.
- A move to a new computer. Broken media links are far easier to fix while the old machine still works.
They also make good work for an evening when the internet is down, because every one runs entirely on your own computer.
Check 1: media the program has lost
Family Tree Maker stores the location of each image rather than the image itself. Move a folder and the tree keeps pointing at an address that no longer exists.
Open the Media workspace and choose All media.
Click the dropdown arrow beside the Media icon in the top menu.
Choose Find Missing Media and let it run.
The tool matches on file name, so it finds files that moved and misses files that were renamed. Anything it cannot find needs relinking by hand, which is covered in missing media files.
Checks 2 to 4: sources attached to nobody
A source can lose its link to every person and fact while staying in the tree. It becomes invisible during normal work and turns up years later as a mystery. Three separate lists find them, and all three sit at the very bottom of a long list where nobody scrolls.
| Check | Path | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Not linked to people | Sources → By Person → bottom → Unlinked | The citation belongs to no one |
| No source title | Sources → By Source Title → bottom → Unlinked | The citation has no parent source |
| No repository | Sources → By Repository → bottom → Unlinked | Often correct, so review only |
Investigate before you delete. An unlinked source often took an afternoon in a record office to find, and recreating it costs far more than reading it. Work out why it lost its link, then decide.
The third list needs the lightest touch. Plenty of sources have no repository and need none, so treat that list as a review rather than a cleanup queue.
Check 5: the Data Errors Report
This is the most useful of the five and the most buried. It compares dates, relationships and facts across the whole tree and lists everything that contradicts itself.
Open the Publish workspace.
Choose Collection, then Person Reports, then Data Errors Report.
Click Individuals to Include and set how wide the check runs. One branch at a time beats the whole tree on a first pass.
Click Errors to Include and choose the error types. This button decides whether the report is useful or unreadable.
Some error types return far more hits than they are worth. A person carrying two birth dates produces an error saying the birth date precedes the preferred birth date, and careful researchers record alternate dates deliberately. Switch that type off when it buries everything else, then run the report again.
Work through one error type at a time. A report listing four thousand items gets closed and forgotten. A report listing forty gets fixed.
Spell checking without losing a week
Family Tree Maker spell checks notes and fields, and running it across an entire tree produces a queue nobody finishes. Check one branch at a time instead, or spell check individual fields and person notes as you work in them.
The order that saves time
Run the checks in this sequence. Each one reduces the noise in the next.
Back up first, with media included. Every check below leads to deletions, and deletions have no undo worth relying on. See backing up a tree file.
Find Missing Media. Fixing paths first stops the same images appearing in later reports.
The three unlinked lists. Review, do not clear.
Data Errors Report, one error type at a time.
Compact the file once the deletions are done, to reclaim the space they leave behind.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find errors in my Family Tree Maker tree?
Run the Data Errors Report from the Publish workspace: Collection, then Person Reports, then Data Errors Report. Set which people to include and which error types to check, because some types return far more hits than they are worth.
Where is the Data Errors Report in Family Tree Maker?
Publish workspace, then Collection, then Person Reports, then Data Errors Report. Two buttons control it: Individuals to Include sets how wide the check runs, and Errors to Include chooses which error types appear.
What are unlinked sources in Family Tree Maker?
Unlinked sources are citations attached to nobody. Find them in the Sources workspace under By Person, By Source Title and By Repository, at the very bottom of each list under Unlinked.
Should I delete unlinked sources?
Investigate each one before deleting it. An unlinked source that took an afternoon to find is hard to recreate. Work out why it lost its link and whether the tree still needs it.
Is a source without a repository an error?
No. Many sources have no repository and need none. The By Repository unlinked list is worth reviewing rather than clearing.
Why does the Data Errors Report show so many birth date errors?
A person carrying two or more birth dates triggers an error saying the birth date precedes the preferred birth date. Alternate dates are normal in careful research, so switch that error type off when it drowns out everything else.
How often should I run these checks?
Run them a few times a year, and always before a large merge, an upload to Ancestry, or a move to a new computer. Errors found early cost minutes. The same errors found after a sync spread to your online tree.
Report listing thousands of errors?
We work through them with you and separate the real faults from the noise. No fix, no fee.