Mike Many thanks for the additional help and the reference to the Help section – the birth dates are now fine. However the more I tinker the more complexities appear! I now have those people who have neither birth nor death dates (eg a distant spouse) having a hyphen showing up and nothing more – perfectly logical from what the text scheme is now specifying. I have tried amending the text scheme (eg by ticking the box marked No Data and then leaving the adjacent box blank or by putting in =IfText at the start of the text) but have not been successful. I am just beginning to come to grips with the language used in these text schemes but suspect I need something more sophisticated along the lines of If X then Y If Not X then Z. I have seen the references to Bool(ean) but can’t see how I should proceed. Rather than having to bother you again one way to try to tackle the problem would be to see the detailed structure of LifeDates but I don’t know where this is easily available. Joan

<<snippet>> ... the more I tinker the more complexities appear! I now have those people who have neither birth nor death dates (eg a distant spouse) having a hyphen showing up and nothing more  perfectly logical from what the text scheme is now specifying. ... one way to try to tackle the problem would be to see the detailed structure of LifeDates but I dont know where this is easily available. <<snippet>> Firstly, you cannot inspect LifeDates() because it is a predefined function. Secondly, there is a LifeDates2() function that behaves like your current text scheme, in that the hyphen is shown even when no birth or death dates. Thirdly, the required correction is to replace =ForceText("-") with =TextIf(Exists(%INDI.BIRT.DATE%) or Exists(%INDI.DEAT.DATE%),"-","") The TextIf() function takes a Boolean expression as its first parameter Exists(%INDI.BIRT.DATE%) or Exists(%INDI.DEAT.DATE%) This is 'true' if either a Birth Date or a Death Date exists, but is 'false' if neither exist. When 'true' the second parameter "-" is displayed, which shows the hyphen as required. When 'false' the third parameter "" is displayed, which shows nothing when neither date exists. For more details on functions see Help > Family Historian Help + Using Family Historian + Advanced Topics + Understanding Functions + Functions (by category/all) Regards, Mike Tate