Cumberland Family Tree
 |
Current Version: 4.10 |
Why is CFT now free?
CFT is written in an obsolete programming language which will not run on newer Windows operating systems. This means that updating CFT is almost impossible. For CFT to continue it would need to be entirely rewritten in a more current programming language - an enormous effort! Thus CFT is a dying program, although it still runs fine on Windows 10. I will continue to keep my website up for now - purely as a hobby. However, future updates to CFT will be minimal. Users must be willing to accept the program as-is without expectations for improvements or new features.
CFT does work on Windows 10 and even the newer Windows 11 just fine. The above commentary refers only to my ability to work with the programming language.
Overview
CFT-Win can help you maintain your genealogical data and create your very own Family History Book (although the program still maintains the capability of printing individual reports). The body of your book will likely consist of the unique "Story" reports, which have the capability of taking your dry data - such as dates and places - and structuring them into a delightful readable form. By allowing you to add events in a persons life and attaching notes to those events you can easily create a full and complete biography on each individual in the database! Imagine showing ALL major events of a person's life in this fashion: births, church ordinances, schooling, addresses, immigrations, marriages, occupations, travels, awards, deaths, burials and any other life event you could think of!
In addition, you can easily document your data with source notes which can be end-noted when printing the story reports. The Indexed Book will keep track of all individuals as you create the book and at the end show an index of every individual in the book - plus you can print the source notes which will have been footnoted througout the book.
And if you think the Indexed Book is a wonderful idea, imagine what it will be like when you add photographs and scanned documents! A wide variety of Photo reports can also be generated: pedigree charts with photos, descendant charts with photos, family groups charts and even a photo album.
One of the main benefit of CFT-Win is data management via Selection Lists. This allows the manipulation of large databases with sub-segments.Note the colored "diamonds" to the right of the family group below. It is easy to flag/unflag an indiivdual to one of these Selection Lists with Ctrl+1 thru 8. There are also tools to automatically create Lists of direct ancestors, descendants, merge or manipulate multiple Selection Lists.
Cumberland Family Tree Feature Set
| Overall Data Capabilities | |
| Number of people per database: | 1 million |
| Number of marriages per person: | no limit |
| Number of children per marriage: | no limit |
| Number of parents per individual: | Unlimited: birth, adopted, foster, sealing, godparent, other |
| Number of events per individual: | no limit |
| Number of media per individual: | No limit (photos, sound & video) |
| Database location: | Single file, can be located on any drive or directory. Long file names supported. |
| Multi-lingual support: | All left-to-right alphabetic languages. Excludes right-to-left (Hebrew, Arabic) and character based (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). |
| Editing Functions | |
| On screen Descendant Chart & Story: | Yes |
| On screen Ancestors: | Yes (2 types: list & tree style) |
| List Icons & Right Mouse Popup Menus: | Yes |
| Name length: | 150 characters |
| Notes: | 64,000 characters. All left-to-right languages. Includes Spell Checker. |
| Number of sources: | No limit on number of sources per individual or event. |
| Types of sources: | Multi-level with predefined fields for easier entry: Source Reference (Book, Author, etc.), Source Details (vol/page/film), and Source Repository (library or location of source). |
| Dates: | Standard Date Field with additional Free-Format Date Field. |
| Calendar support: | Uses UCC (Universal Calendar Calculator) capable of many calendars of the world - currently 34 different calendars. |
| Events: | Standard (birth, marriage, death, etc.) plus unlimited user added types of events. |
| Event story sentences: | More flexible replaceable parameter sentence construction for gender and couple variations in different languages. |
| Copy & Paste Events: | Yes |
| Fix Relationships: | Yes |
| Mark to indicate preferred parents, spouse or child: | Yes |
| Tools | |
| Namesearch: | Can show sort by "normal" surname, multiple surnames and/or given name. |
| Bookmarks: | no limit |
| Selection Lists: | no limit |
| Date Calculator: | Universal Calendar Calculator embedded as part of CFT. |
| Relationship Calculator: | Yes. Shows up to 100 different relationships for two people. Can also display diagram showing how they are related. |
| Global Search: | Search and/or replace phrase in any field in database - plus search specific event types based on beginning and ending dates. |
| Database Verification: | Yes |
| Source Tool: | Yes |
| Name Case Change: | Yes |
| Unused Records: | Yes |
| Rebuild: | Yes |
| Editors: | Place, Misc Data, Source, Document - plus Address, Media, Repository. Internal data structure allows quick lookup of events associated with each media, place, etc. |
| Database Configuration Options: | Yes |
| Program Configuration Options: | Yes |
| Story Options: | Yes |
| Standard Events Editor: | Yes |
| ASCII Import, GEDCOM Import/Export: | Yes |
| Old CFT Version imports: | CFT-Win Ver 2 only. (Use GEDCOM to import older versions). |
| Entire Database Tools | |
| Database Split: | Yes |
| Database Merge: | Yes. Better features / more options. Log file created. Maintain IRN numbering of first database. |
| Printed Reports | |
| Allow Font Changes: | Yes |
| Charting Flexibility: | More allowed/ disallowed features. Can define which events to show on most reports. |
| Ancestral Charts: | Ancestral Story, Ancestral Tree (4 Gen Ver), Ancestral Tree (4 Gen Hor), Ancestral Tree (6 Gen Hor), Ancestral List, Ancestral Photo Chart, Ancestral Time Line, Ancestral Wall Chart |
| Descendant Charts: | Descendant Story, Descendant Tree Chart, Descendant List, Descendant Photo Chart, Descendant Time Line, Descendant Wall Chart |
| Individual Lists: | Standard Individual List, Birthday/Anniversary List, Family Records List, LDS Ordinance List |
| Other Lists: | Events List, Place Name List, Misc Data List, Source List |
| Miscellaneous: | Individual Story, Family Group Chart, Photo Album, Individual Summary, Relationship Chart, Documents, Statistics, Database Structure |
| Publishing Features | |
| Lineage and Story RTF Book: | Allows export to RTF file which can be imported to a standard word processor and allow further editing, addition of pages, etc. Table of Contents and name index markers are included so an entire book can be created in an external word processor. |
| Indexed Book: | Multiple books, each in it's own file, can be on any drive and directory. Includes table of contents, sources & index of names. Book can be entirely pre-defined and printed all at once. |
| Generate HTML Web pages: | Yes |
| Create Electronic Database Viewer: | Copy CFT-Win in Viewer mode along with your databases to a CD or USB drive for distribution to family members. |
MAJOR CHANGES in Version 4 (from Version 3)
- Restructure of the Internal Database in an attempt to streamline and speed up certain aspects of the program. Since this is internal the change will not be noticed by users, but since the structure is different than Ver 3, a conversion must be made for old version 3 databases.
- Restructure of the Menu system to make Options easier to locate. Primarily the new "Publish" and "Database "Menus as well as a restructure of the items on the "Options" Menu.
- Languages are now within their own option (and can export and import to .csv files). This is a consolidation of the language features from Version 3 where Program Language was set in the Program Configuration while Reports Language was set within the Database Configuration.
- Multiple folders now allowed for external documents: Photos, video/Sound & Document Folders
- New Yellow Sticky Notes - which are internal to the database only. These will not print anywhere not get exported via GEDCOM, etc.
- Sources now allow external documents (such as PDF, DOC, image, etc.) to be attached directly as a source, as well as Source References and Database Notes.
- New Advanced feature in Selection Lists (which was actually introduced in version 3.50 just a couple months before Ver 4.00 release)
- Global Search can now be limited to search within a given Selection List and also allows search results to be saved to a Selection List
- You can now choose a Printer (rather than having to use the default printer)
- All fields on the Individual and Event Editors now auto-adjust fields on the General, Sources and Media Tabs
- GEDCOM import can keep IRNs if GED file was created by CFT
- Witness Tab on the Events Editor which was removed earlier in Version 3 due to bugs has been reinstated and bugs fixed. (This was actually put back in for version 3.51 just a couple months before Ver 4.00 release)
- Bookmarks can now have a short text attached. (This was actually introduced in version 3.50 just a couple months before Ver 4.00 release)
- Namesearch now allows filtering by Selection List (This was actually introduced in version 3.50 just a couple months before Ver 4.00 release)
Cumberland Family Tree Downloads
Upgrades within Ver 4, DO NOT download the full version. Download cftw410upgrade.zip instead. If you have made changes to languages (other than English) you need to change the new files stdevent.tps and ucc.tps to stdeventnew.tps and uccnew.tps before copying to your CFT v4 folder.
Cumberland Family Tree Support
I respond to all emails whether or not you have a current license for CFT, so don't hestitate to email me if need be.
- Send an email to Ira Lund at iralund@cft-win.com
- Join the CFT-WIN Google Groups Support forum:
- Click here to visit the group on line.
- Click here to join the CFT-WIN group.
- To post a message via email send an email to cft-win@googlegroups.com
- NOTE: The old Rootsweb mailing list has not been working properly since about June 2016, so please do not post there any more.
Donations
Cumberland Family Tree is now support by voluntary donations starting in 2020. You are under no obligation to donate. Thank you for your support!
The Paypal button works with or without a Paypal account. On the next screen you can choose to either login to your Paypal account or Pay with a Debit or Credit card.
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I upgrade my old CFT Database to the new Version 4?
First of all I recommend that you install the new Version 4 to a different folder than your older version. This way you can keep both versions on your computer at the same time.
1. If your old version is 3, then when you run Version 4, click the Browse button at top of opening dialog. Locate and select the old ver 3 database (.cft extension). The program will detect that it is an older version and prompt to convert to version 4 (.cft4 extension). The program does not touch the ver 3 database, but creates a new .cft4 database and moves/convets the data.
2. If your old version is 2, you could first convert to ver 3 and then ver 4 per instructions above. Or you could create a GEDCOM file, create a new ver 4 database within CFT4 and then import the GEDCOM file.
3. For all older versions you should create a GEDCOM file from within the old program. Create a new ver 4 database within CFT4 and then import the GED file.
If you are struggling with any conversion, send me the data files via email and I will take a look. I can often get things converted for you.
Q: I am having troubles with Photos. I cannot get them to display in CFT. Can you help?
All your photos (or other media) need to be placed in a single folder somewhere on the computer. Use Windows Explorer to create a Photos folder (such as in "My Documents"). Then copy all photos to that location. Secondly, your CFT database needs to know "where" that folder is. Inside CFT, go to Options Menu -> Database Configuration -> DB1 Tab. Click the MEDIA button on right and navigate to the Photo folder. Now all should work correctly.
Q: I have Windows Vista and keep getting a "Word not found" error. How do I solve this?
In Windows Vista this problem is being caused by what is called "User Account Control" which will not allow certain files to be renamed by CFT on startup.
Try one of the following methods:
1. Using Windows Explorer or "Computer" on right of Start Menu navigate to C:\Program Files\Cumberland Family Tree. There are two files: stdeventnew.tps and uccnew.tps. Rename them without "new": stdevent.tps and ucc.tps - this will fix the error.
2. Go to Control Panel - User Accounts and last item "Turn user account control on or off" when you click there you must remove check so that User Account Control is turned OFF. Then the computer will ask to reboot. You must reboot. But after this CFT will run.
Q: I press "Help" and it won't work. How can I view the Manual?
The CFT Manual is the Help. The Help button attempts to load CFTW.PDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, CFT cannot always find the Adobe Reader and can fail to launch the Manual. The best way to resolve this is to simply locate the file CFTW.PDF and open it manually - ie. double click from within Windows Explorer. (The file will be in the default Program Folder - C:\Program Files\Cumberland Family Tree).
Q: I am having trouble restoring a backup. How can I solve this?
A CFT backup file is simply a copy of the CFT database with the file extension changed from .CFT to .CFTBAK or .CFTBAK01 or some other variation. Therefore the sure way to recover a backup is simply to copy it to the location you want it. Then rename the file (using Windows Explorer) to have an extension of .cft. Then when you are at the opening dialog of CFT, click the BROWSE button to locate and open the database.
Q: I have a Mac, can I run CFT on it?
CFT is a Windows Program, but can be run on a Mac as long as you have a program on your Mac that will allow you to run Windows software. Many CFT users have reported good success with VMWare Fusion which creates a Windows 7 virtual window. The upside of VMWare is there are many user groups with many subscribers for support.
Q: Where do I enter the User Code sent when I paid for CFT?
Once inside a CFT database, go to Help Menu -> User Code. I recommend to copy and paste the code from email so as not to confuse things like letter O with number 0. If all else fails make sure to send me an email. I will make sure you are up and running.
Q: The scollbar on NameSearch (and other lists) behaves a bit strangely. How do I fix this?
When one starts getting more than a few thousand names, it is best to make sure to set "Use accurate scroll bar indexing" off (remove checkmark - Options Menu-> Database Settings -> Display tab). And then ignore the scroll bar for most part.
CFT does not load into memory all the names in the database, but only brings up a handful (enough to fill the list window). Thus it can't really tell "where" in the database it is really showing - and the nice idea where the names would scroll by as you mouse the scroll bar down would require the program to load ALL names to memory so it can flash them by. This would require so many resources that all would slow to a crawl.
So it is best to ignore the scroll bar - and always search by typing names. I leave my NameSearch with "All Name Parts" and Start at "Last Name Search". Thus I can search by given or surname and when I exit Namesearch and go back in it is right where I last left off.