One-to-one training
Learn Family Tree Maker on your own tree, at your own pace
Private, live lessons using your file rather than a demonstration one. No class to keep up with, no question too basic, and every session recorded so you can watch it again next week when you've forgotten which menu it was.
- Covers
- FTM 2024 · 2019 · 2017 · 2014
- Format
- Live screen share
- You get
- Recording + notes
Why live, when the free videos are good?
They genuinely are. Ancestry Academy has free video courses covering Family Tree Maker's workspaces, Legacy Family Tree Webinars runs a large recorded library, and the publisher publishes its own education material. If you learn well from video, start there and save your money.
What none of them can do is answer a question about your tree. That's the entire difference, and it's the reason people book:
| Free recorded courses | Group webinars | One-to-one | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free or low | Paid |
| Uses your own tree | No | No | Yes |
| Ask questions as you go | No | In a chat queue | Continuously |
| Paced to you | Pause and rewind | No | Yes |
| Covers only what you need | No | No | Yes |
| Recording afterwards | Always | Usually | Yes — of your session |
Watch a free course first — really. If it gets you where you need to be, you've lost nothing and we'd rather you kept your money. Book a session for the parts that didn't stick, or for the things that only go wrong on your particular tree.
What people ask to cover
You choose the agenda. These are the topics that come up most, roughly in the order beginners tend to need them.
| Level | Typical topics |
|---|---|
| Starting out | Getting around the workspaces · adding people and families · entering dates and places consistently · attaching a photograph · saving and backing up properly |
| Doing it properly | Sources and citations · what a fact actually is · handling conflicting evidence · notes versus facts · the Managing Relationships tool for step, adoptive and foster links |
| Working with Ancestry | How sync really works and when not to trust it · evaluating hints instead of accepting them all · what happens to your data in each direction |
| Getting things out | Charts that fit on a page · reports worth reading · publishing a family history book · printing a large wall chart · exporting a GEDCOM and why you should |
| Housekeeping | Finding and merging duplicates safely · media organisation · compacting · a backup routine you'll actually keep to |
| Moving on | Transferring to a new computer · Windows to Mac · migrating to or from RootsMagic or Legacy without losing sources |
Who this is for
Most people who book fall into one of four groups, and it's worth saying plainly that the second is the largest.
- Beginners who've bought the software, opened it, and found it larger than expected.
- Learners who aren't confident with computers — very often retired, often working on a lifetime of paper research. Sessions go at your speed, questions are the point, and nothing is assumed.
- Long-time users with gaps who've built a big tree but never got to grips with sources, or have avoided charts and reports for years.
- People migrating from another program, or from paper and a shoebox, who want to start in a way they won't regret.
On accessibility: if larger text, a slower pace or extra breaks would help, say so when you enquire and the session is set up that way from the start. It's a normal request, not a special one — this site has a text-size control in the header for the same reason.
How a session works
Tell us what you'd like to learn. A rough list is fine — "sources, and getting a chart to print" is plenty to work from.
We confirm the plan and how long it'll take. If part of it is better handled another way, we say so before you book rather than after.
We meet by screen share. You share your screen and do the clicking — that's deliberate, because you remember what you did yourself far better than what you watched. Questions whenever you like.
You keep the recording and the notes. A written summary of the steps covered, in order, so you can repeat them without rewatching an hour of video.
Societies and groups
We also run live sessions for genealogical societies, family history groups and libraries on a topic of your choosing — sync and backup practice, sources and citations, or getting a decent chart out of the software are the usual requests. Questions taken throughout. Enquire with rough numbers and the subject you'd like covered.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from Ancestry Academy or free tutorials?
Recorded courses are free, well made, and the right starting point for a lot of people. What they can't do is answer a question about your tree. These sessions are live and private, taught on your own file — so when something behaves oddly, we look at that, not at a demonstration tree where everything works.
I'm not confident with computers. Is this suitable?
Yes — it's the most common reason people book. There's no class to hold up and no question too basic. The recording matters here too: you never have to rely on remembering what was said.
Do I need to prepare anything?
Two things only: Family Tree Maker installed and opening, and a rough list of what you'd like to cover. If something on the list is better handled a different way, we'll say so at the start rather than spend the session on it.
Can you teach my genealogy society?
Yes. Group sessions run live on a topic you choose, with questions throughout. Enquire with rough numbers and the subject.
Will you just do the work for me?
That's a different service. Training is for learning to do it yourself. If you'd rather it were simply done, tree cleanup or remote troubleshooting is the better fit and we'll point you there instead.
Can you teach RootsMagic or Legacy instead?
To a point, and we'll be honest about where that point is. Our depth is in Family Tree Maker and in moving data between programs. For deep tuition in another program's own features, someone who uses it daily will serve you better.
Tell us what you'd like to learn
Free to send. We'll confirm a plan and how long it should take before you commit to anything.
We'll confirm a plan and rough length before you commit to anything.
Thank you — that's arrived. We'll reply within one working day with a suggested plan for the session.