FTM Truncating 'All-in-One' Chart

[Joe Roberts]

FTM users ...

Has anyone experienced the software truncating the 'All-in-One' chart when
exporting it to Adobe PDF?

The maximum size FTM allows for the PDF output is 54 inches in width
(landscape mode). FTM gives the usual message that it's "scaling the output
to fit the PDF file", but the scaling seems not to work.

FTM simply leaves an excessive margin (e.g. 3 inches at the top/left, and
chops off the chart at the bottom/right.

I've tweaked with the settings for left/right and top/bottom margins, and
for box widths, in 0.05-inch increments. Also I've worked with the settings
for font sizes, down to size 4. No amount of tweaking of the available
settings corrects it.

If you visualize it, you've got a 54-inch wide chart in PDF. Instead of
having the chart centered in that area, you've got a 3-inch white space at
the top and left sides. The bottom and right sides are chopped right off.
Heritage boxes in the family "tree" are lost.

In fact, the adjustments seem inconsistent. For example, adding 0.05-inch
to a margin settings shifts the output slightly in that direction, properly.
Then adding another 0.05-inch to that _same_ margin setting makes the whole
output jump 1-2 inches in the opposite direction. There seems to be no
rhyme or reason, and certainly no continuity, to incremental settings.

I'm hesitant to use the "bug" word, but this issue is certainly
non-intuitive to say the least.

This question has been raised at least twice in FTM support forums with no
'official' answer from FTM. The users seem to have backed away from the
question and let it die, as though they'd been doing something wrong and
decided to fiddle with it a bit longer. That's why this post is here in
this forum.

There are 241 names (i.e., boxes) on the chart. That doesn't seem like an
excessive amount for a family heritage. Obviously if I eliminate some names
from the heritage the chart will fit OK, but that's not the way to fix it.

One would think the software would be smart enough to do the proper scaling
to make the darned thing fit into its maximum size parameter of 54 inches.
Even if that couldn't be done, there's not much excuse for it throwing out a
3-inch blank margin at one end of the chart, while chopping off the data at
the opposite end. Minimally it would seem, it ought to at least be able to
center the chart. And adding a 0.05-inch increment shouldn't make it jump a
couple of inches in the opposite direction.

It's FTM 2005. I'm certainly willing to pop for FTM 2006 if that fixes the
problem, but would like to hear of other FTM users' experiences and ideas.

Alternatively, is there another software which outputs an "All-in-One" style
chart (i.e., all branches of the family, in one chart) to PDF?

Thanks to all for bearing with this long post, and for responding.

Joe

[John]

On Sun, 28 May 2006 22:48:42 -0400, "Joe Roberts"
<shoreheritage_at_comcast.net> wrote:

FTM users ...

Has anyone experienced the software truncating the 'All-in-One' chart when
exporting it to Adobe PDF?

The maximum size FTM allows for the PDF output is 54 inches in width
(landscape mode). FTM gives the usual message that it's "scaling the output
to fit the PDF file", but the scaling seems not to work.

FTM simply leaves an excessive margin (e.g. 3 inches at the top/left, and
chops off the chart at the bottom/right.

I've tweaked with the settings for left/right and top/bottom margins, and
for box widths, in 0.05-inch increments. Also I've worked with the settings
for font sizes, down to size 4. No amount of tweaking of the available
settings corrects it.

If you visualize it, you've got a 54-inch wide chart in PDF. Instead of
having the chart centered in that area, you've got a 3-inch white space at
the top and left sides. The bottom and right sides are chopped right off.
Heritage boxes in the family "tree" are lost.

In fact, the adjustments seem inconsistent. For example, adding 0.05-inch
to a margin settings shifts the output slightly in that direction, properly.
Then adding another 0.05-inch to that _same_ margin setting makes the whole
output jump 1-2 inches in the opposite direction. There seems to be no
rhyme or reason, and certainly no continuity, to incremental settings.

I'm hesitant to use the "bug" word, but this issue is certainly
non-intuitive to say the least.

This question has been raised at least twice in FTM support forums with no
'official' answer from FTM. The users seem to have backed away from the
question and let it die, as though they'd been doing something wrong and
decided to fiddle with it a bit longer. That's why this post is here in
this forum.

There are 241 names (i.e., boxes) on the chart. That doesn't seem like an
excessive amount for a family heritage. Obviously if I eliminate some names
from the heritage the chart will fit OK, but that's not the way to fix it.

One would think the software would be smart enough to do the proper scaling
to make the darned thing fit into its maximum size parameter of 54 inches.
Even if that couldn't be done, there's not much excuse for it throwing out a
3-inch blank margin at one end of the chart, while chopping off the data at
the opposite end. Minimally it would seem, it ought to at least be able to
center the chart. And adding a 0.05-inch increment shouldn't make it jump a
couple of inches in the opposite direction.

It's FTM 2005. I'm certainly willing to pop for FTM 2006 if that fixes the
problem, but would like to hear of other FTM users' experiences and ideas.

Alternatively, is there another software which outputs an "All-in-One" style
chart (i.e., all branches of the family, in one chart) to PDF?

Thanks to all for bearing with this long post, and for responding.

Joe

I just tried an 1100 person chart in GeneLines and got an "Exceeds 25
feet" error message. I think it might work for you

John

[john]

Joe Roberts wrote:

FTM users ...

Has anyone experienced the software truncating the 'All-in-One' chart when
exporting it to Adobe PDF?

The maximum size FTM allows for the PDF output is 54 inches in width
(landscape mode). FTM gives the usual message that it's "scaling the output
to fit the PDF file", but the scaling seems not to work.

FTM simply leaves an excessive margin (e.g. 3 inches at the top/left, and
chops off the chart at the bottom/right.

I've tweaked with the settings for left/right and top/bottom margins, and
for box widths, in 0.05-inch increments. Also I've worked with the settings
for font sizes, down to size 4. No amount of tweaking of the available
settings corrects it.

If you visualize it, you've got a 54-inch wide chart in PDF. Instead of
having the chart centered in that area, you've got a 3-inch white space at
the top and left sides. The bottom and right sides are chopped right off.
Heritage boxes in the family "tree" are lost.

In fact, the adjustments seem inconsistent. For example, adding 0.05-inch
to a margin settings shifts the output slightly in that direction, properly.
Then adding another 0.05-inch to that _same_ margin setting makes the whole
output jump 1-2 inches in the opposite direction. There seems to be no
rhyme or reason, and certainly no continuity, to incremental settings.

I'm hesitant to use the "bug" word, but this issue is certainly
non-intuitive to say the least.

This question has been raised at least twice in FTM support forums with no
'official' answer from FTM. The users seem to have backed away from the
question and let it die, as though they'd been doing something wrong and
decided to fiddle with it a bit longer. That's why this post is here in
this forum.

There are 241 names (i.e., boxes) on the chart. That doesn't seem like an
excessive amount for a family heritage. Obviously if I eliminate some names
from the heritage the chart will fit OK, but that's not the way to fix it.

One would think the software would be smart enough to do the proper scaling
to make the darned thing fit into its maximum size parameter of 54 inches.
Even if that couldn't be done, there's not much excuse for it throwing out a
3-inch blank margin at one end of the chart, while chopping off the data at
the opposite end. Minimally it would seem, it ought to at least be able to
center the chart. And adding a 0.05-inch increment shouldn't make it jump a
couple of inches in the opposite direction.

It's FTM 2005. I'm certainly willing to pop for FTM 2006 if that fixes the
problem, but would like to hear of other FTM users' experiences and ideas.

Alternatively, is there another software which outputs an "All-in-One" style
chart (i.e., all branches of the family, in one chart) to PDF?

Thanks to all for bearing with this long post, and for responding.

Joe

For about the same cost as FTM 2006 upgrade you could get Genbox (and
there is a full 30 day free trial download if you want to try it out) -
it has very flexible charting and you can use a PDF printer such as
PDFCreator or pdf995 (both max. size 200 x 200 inches).

[Joe Roberts]

"john" wrote:

For about the same cost as FTM 2006 upgrade
you could get Genbox (and there is a full 30 day
free trial download if you want to try it out) -
it has very flexible charting and you can use a
PDF printer such as PDFCreator or pdf995
(both max. size 200 x 200 inches).

Many thanks, John. I'll check out Genbox.

Joe