On 12/24/2012 9:50 AM, RootsMagic wrote: > "Tough noogies" is such harsh language ;-) > > The sort date was designed to allow the user to sort events in any > order they prefer, rather than RM making any assumptions that the user > may not want. > Darlin' while I appreciate everything that you and the RootsMagic development team do for us, and your willingness to participate in this forum, that's a crock and you know it. Who, in their right mind wants to bury somebody, then -- oh, lets have them born! Then they might die and after that the christening! There are indeed some facts that I might want to sort differently than you, but "born, christened, died and buried" ain't them~! Susan -- Susan Farmer sfarmer@goldsword.com Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Division of Science and Math http://www.abac.edu/sfarmer http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium

Personal insults are out of line on this list. Either keep it civil, or drop the topic. Drew Smith RootsMagic-Users List Administrator

Although it is a total crock... what if I have a single birth source with a date of 1900, and a single death source with a date of 1899? Which order should we display this? Born 1900 Died 1899 or Died 1899 Born 1900 Keep in mind that whatever order you choose, someone else will want it the other way. - Bruce http://www.rootsmagic.com On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 8:25 PM, Susan Farmer <sfarmer@goldsword.com> wrote: > On 12/24/2012 9:50 AM, RootsMagic wrote: >> "Tough noogies" is such harsh language ;-) >> >> The sort date was designed to allow the user to sort events in any >> order they prefer, rather than RM making any assumptions that the user >> may not want. >> > > Darlin' while I appreciate everything that you and the RootsMagic > development team do for us, and your willingness to participate in this > forum, that's a crock and you know it. > > Who, in their right mind wants to bury somebody, then -- oh, lets have > them born! Then they might die and after that the christening! > > There are indeed some facts that I might want to sort differently than > you, but "born, christened, died and buried" ain't them~! > > Susan > -- > Susan Farmer > sfarmer@goldsword.com > Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College > Division of Science and Math > http://www.abac.edu/sfarmer > http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I get told I'm wrong all the time... have you ever visited our forums? ;-) - Bruce http://www.rootsmagic.com On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 8:12 PM, Ludlow Bay <ludlow.bay@gmail.com> wrote: > Excellent summarization, Ray. > > Bruce Buzbee has never liked being told he was wrong. > > >> /From:/Ray Hayes <rayhayes@bigpond.net.au <mailto:rayhayes@bigpond.net.au>> >> /Subject:/Re: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth,death and burial events >> when all occur in the same year >> /Date:/Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:09:58 +1100 >> >> Thanks Bruce, >> >> I appreciate the ability to manually sort events, and use the feature >> for various situations, such as when I find someone on two electoral >> electoral rolls in the one year and I know which addresses they moved >> from and to. >> >> However for basic birth, baptism/christening, death an burial/cremation >> events, very few people are baptised before they are born and very few >> are buried before they die. >> >> I've watched enough CSI and Bones episodes to know that being buried >> alive and expiring a day or two later in extreme stress is common in >> those shows, but very rare in the real world. >> >> RM should sort those basic events automatically, with the sort date >> available as it is for other scenarios. >> >> Choosing not to fix that is, in Aussie terms, a "cop out". >> >> Regards >> >> Ray > > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

You are unnecessarily muddling the issue, Bruce. When the primary life event facts share an exact-same-date, whatever value is in the fact date field is irrelevant. We want those FACTS to be sorted naturally - logically - organically - whatever you want to call it. > /From:/RootsMagic <rootsmagic@gmail.com <mailto:rootsmagic@gmail.com>> > /Subject:/Re: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth,death and burial events > when all occur in the same year > /Date:/Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:40:34 -0700 > /References:/<50D8016C.3060509@gmail.com><CA++G+pbkLm1Z4rtQ705_aQF1ocPNpwDR+zvAe1hCDeFCEe788A@mail.gmail.com><50D91CA9.4020904@goldsword.com> > /In-Reply-To:/<50D91CA9.4020904@goldsword.com> > > > Although it is a total crock... what if I have a single birth source > with a date of 1900, and a single death source with a date of 1899? > > Which order should we display this? > > Born 1900 > Died 1899 > > or > > Died 1899 > Born 1900 > > Keep in mind that whatever order you choose, someone else will want it > the other way. > > - Bruce > http://www.rootsmagic.com <http://www.rootsmagic.com/>

Excellent summarization, Ray. Bruce Buzbee has never liked being told he was wrong. > /From:/Ray Hayes <rayhayes@bigpond.net.au <mailto:rayhayes@bigpond.net.au>> > /Subject:/Re: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth,death and burial events > when all occur in the same year > /Date:/Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:09:58 +1100 > > Thanks Bruce, > > I appreciate the ability to manually sort events, and use the feature > for various situations, such as when I find someone on two electoral > electoral rolls in the one year and I know which addresses they moved > from and to. > > However for basic birth, baptism/christening, death an burial/cremation > events, very few people are baptised before they are born and very few > are buried before they die. > > I've watched enough CSI and Bones episodes to know that being buried > alive and expiring a day or two later in extreme stress is common in > those shows, but very rare in the real world. > > RM should sort those basic events automatically, with the sort date > available as it is for other scenarios. > > Choosing not to fix that is, in Aussie terms, a "cop out". > > Regards > > Ray

I have a child born, died and buried all in 1896. I would have expected the events to sort Birth, Death, Burial, however they sort in reverse order showing Burial, Death, Birth in the Edit Person window. I can change the sort date for each event, but I don't think that I should have to? I entered the Birth event, then the Death, then the Burial so it is not sorting based on which event was entered first. Any thoughts? Ray

Mine says "birth", not "Blood". But in any event, you can change this by going to the Edit Person screen for the individual, highlighting their Parents fact, and then using the drop-down menu for each parent to change the relationship between the child and the parent. Drew Smith On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 2:17 PM, <StanfordRP@aol.com> wrote: > I up graded from RM3 to 6. I noticed on the Family View all the children > have a column after the Death Place column listed as Relation. All the rows > in the Relation column have Blood writen in them. My question is what does > the term Blood indicate. I assume that it means related to the parents by > Blood. If this is true how do I change it to read adopted or step child?

Correction Blood should read Birth Thanks again Ron ____________________________________ From: StanfordRP@aol.com Reply-to: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com To: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com Sent: 12/24/2012 14:18:53 Eastern Standard Time Subj: [RMagic] Up Graded from RM3 to RM6 and need help I up graded from RM3 to 6. I noticed on the Family View all the children have a column after the Death Place column listed as Relation. All the rows in the Relation column have Blood writen in them. My question is what does the term Blood indicate. I assume that it means related to the parents by Blood. If this is true how do I change it to read adopted or step child? Thank You Ron DiNatale =================================== RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I up graded from RM3 to 6. I noticed on the Family View all the children have a column after the Death Place column listed as Relation. All the rows in the Relation column have Blood writen in them. My question is what does the term Blood indicate. I assume that it means related to the parents by Blood. If this is true how do I change it to read adopted or step child? Thank You Ron DiNatale

That's just the way it works. Getting a fix for this problem has possibly been the most wished for item in all of RootsMagic land for many, many years. However, the RootsMagic designers seem to believe very sincerely that the current design is correct and that therefore nothing is broken and that therefore nothing needs to be fixed. The underlying source of the disagreement seems to be the following situation. Suppose you had a birth date of 1896 and a death date of 1895. Let's defer for a moment a discussion of why such an apparently illogical situation might occur. The designers do not believe that the birth date of 1896 should go in front of the death date of 1895 simply because there is a rule that birth should always come before death. They want to go by the date only without regard to which facts are involved, and to give you as the user total control and flexibility rather than having the program assuming something that might not be true. My argument (and the argument of most users) is that the "birth before death before burial" logic should take over only when the dates are the same, and that a death of 1895 should still come before a birth of 1896. But this argument seems to fall on deaf ears. As to why you might enter a death that comes before a death, it could be a data entry error on your part. Or, it could be that you have multiple and conflicting sources and that as a result you enter multiple birth and/or death facts that result in one of the death facts coming before one of the birth facts. Or you might have a birth date of 15 Aug 1896 and a death date of 1896 (month and date unknown), and a date of 1896 without a month and day sorts as if it were 1 Jul 1896. Different users handle these kinds of situations differently. For example, I only enter one birth fact and one death fact no matter what, and I handle multiple and conflicting sources by describing the source situation in birth notes and death notes. Other users enter multiple birth and/or death facts. In the case of a death date of 1896 sorting as if it were 1 Jul 1896, I have to use a sort date to force it to sort after the birth date of 15 Aug 1896. I have a little sympathy with the designers when I consider the complexities of these issues, but really very little sympathy. The program should be smarter than it is with dates for facts that have a logical progression such as birth/death/burial. Jerry -----Original Message----- From: Ray Hayes Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 1:20 AM To: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com Subject: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth, death and burial events when all occur in the same year I have a child born, died and buried all in 1896. I would have expected the events to sort Birth, Death, Burial, however they sort in reverse order showing Burial, Death, Birth in the Edit Person window. I can change the sort date for each event, but I don't think that I should have to? I entered the Birth event, then the Death, then the Burial so it is not sorting based on which event was entered first. Any thoughts? Ray

That's been a longstanding irritant for many who have repeatedly wished for an automatic natural order that can be overridden if necessary but is likely to cover 99% of the cases. I came up with a workaround that can provide such an order in seconds for even very large databases, described at http://sqlitetoolsforrootsmagic.wikispaces.com/Dates+-+Same+Day+Sort+Order . I should think that it would be quite feasible for RM to be revised to provide natural ordering by assigning SortDates with offsets as I have, at the time of data entry. In both cases, the user is free to revise the SortDate for those exceptions where the programmed order may not be to their liking. And with the default offsets in steps of 10 or even greater, there is room to add other same day events and put them into the proper order in between the 'natural' events. Tom -----Original Message----- From: Ray Hayes Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 1:20 AM To: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com Subject: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth, death and burial events when all occur in the same year I have a child born, died and buried all in 1896. I would have expected the events to sort Birth, Death, Burial, however they sort in reverse order showing Burial, Death, Birth in the Edit Person window. I can change the sort date for each event, but I don't think that I should have to? I entered the Birth event, then the Death, then the Burial so it is not sorting based on which event was entered first. Any thoughts? Ray =================================== RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Good! I use it especially when I have a death place but no date or a marriage with no date. J. Davis The sort date was designed to allow the user to sort events in any order they prefer, rather than RM making any assumptions that the user may not want. - Bruce http://www.rootsmagic.com

"Tough noogies" is such harsh language ;-) The sort date was designed to allow the user to sort events in any order they prefer, rather than RM making any assumptions that the user may not want. - Bruce http://www.rootsmagic.com On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 12:17 AM, Ludlow Bay <ludlow.bay@gmail.com> wrote: > Yeah, you'd think it would work the way you described. However, the official > line (paraphrasing) is: "tough noogies - deal with it". > > See this forum post for the official wording: > http://forums.rootsmagic.com/index.php?/topic/11808-rootsmagic-6/#entry53897 > > > > > > >> /From:/Ray Hayes <rayhayes@bigpond.net.au <mailto:rayhayes@bigpond.net.au>> >> /Subject:/[RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth,death and burial events >> when all occur in the same year >> /Date:/Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:20:26 +1100 >> >> >> I have a child born, died and buried all in 1896. >> >> I would have expected the events to sort Birth, Death, Burial, however >> they sort in reverse order showing Burial, Death, Birth in the Edit >> Person window. >> >> I can change the sort date for each event, but I don't think that I >> should have to? >> >> I entered the Birth event, then the Death, then the Burial so it is not >> sorting based on which event was entered first. >> >> Any thoughts? >> >> Ray > > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Yeah, you'd think it would work the way you described. However, the official line (paraphrasing) is: "tough noogies - deal with it". See this forum post for the official wording: http://forums.rootsmagic.com/index.php?/topic/11808-rootsmagic-6/#entry53897 > /From:/Ray Hayes <rayhayes@bigpond.net.au <mailto:rayhayes@bigpond.net.au>> > /Subject:/[RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth,death and burial events > when all occur in the same year > /Date:/Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:20:26 +1100 > > > I have a child born, died and buried all in 1896. > > I would have expected the events to sort Birth, Death, Burial, however > they sort in reverse order showing Burial, Death, Birth in the Edit > Person window. > > I can change the sort date for each event, but I don't think that I > should have to? > > I entered the Birth event, then the Death, then the Burial so it is not > sorting based on which event was entered first. > > Any thoughts? > > Ray

David, >From the RM help file: Abbreviated place name - You can enter an abbreviated place name. The abbreviated place name can be called up by using the [place:short] field option to show the shortened version. You would add the :short field option in the Customize sentence field to subsequent uses of a place name after the first full-length place name is shown. (Since there is no automated application of the full-length verses :short field option, it is not advisable to apply this field option to the [place] field in all the fact type sentence templates or the role sentence templates.) Ron Bernier Woonsocket, RI -----Original Message----- From: rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David E. Cann Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 12:07 PM To: RootsMagic Users List Posting Subject: [RMagic] Function of the "Abbreviated place name (if any)" field In the Edit Place dialogue of RM6 (and earlier) the bottom available field for data entry is labeled "Abbreviated place name (if any)." I am going through more than 5,000 place names and standardizing them all to use the new Place Detail feature, and I keep seeing this Abbreviated place name field and wondering what it is used for. I never abbreviate any place name, I standardize everything spelled all the way out such as the "Garrisonville, Stafford County, Virginia" where I live, so I have never used it. However, in bringing up my Edit Place dialogue so often and looking at the ONLY field in it that is not used, my curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I am asking another curious question. In short, what is this field used for and what does it do? Is this field where we enter a standard abbreviation for each place name, and if so, where does that abbreviation appear in the great scheme of things in the world of RootsMagic? I cannot find any reference to this in the program helps, nor has my limited experimentation with entries in this field revealed anything, so now I am asking. For the first time ever, I didn't buy the printed book with my upgrade but maybe I should have. My editing process for my place names is currently down to "F" though, so if I can find out what this place name field is used for then now is the time to begin using it if I am going to do so, before I have too many more place name entries to redo than A-F. Given the date, I suspect that most subscribers to this list "have a life" involving family festivities at this time of year and NOT genealogy, but I am obviously not one of them. :-( I suspect for this reason I may not get an answer to this for a few days at least, but I would appreciate hearing from someone who knows the function of this optional field. What have I been missing all of this time? Thank you for the help. David E. Cann decann@infionline.net =================================== RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

If you like to have person names in narrative reports always presented as prefix, given, surname, suffix then you probably would want places to always come out town, county, state, country and have no desire for abbreviated place names such as town just as you have no desire to see a person's names as just Given. Other users find that to be far too wordy and repetitive. Tom On 2012-12-23, at 1:40 PM, "David E. Cann" <decann@infionline.net> wrote: > Ron, > > Hmmmmm, I'll have to take a closer look at this and think about it before I > get much further editing my place names. My initial reaction is to wonder > why would I want to use an abbreviate version of place names in text > sentences, where there is no real restrictions on length and I've already > consistently and purposely spelled them out after all these years. > > Thank you for the quick reply. I will take another look at this before > going much further. > > > David E. Cann > decann@infionline.net > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ronald Bernier > Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 12:48 PM > To: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [RMagic] Function of the "Abbreviated place name (if any)" > field > > David, > >> From the RM help file: > > Abbreviated place name - You can enter an abbreviated place name. The > abbreviated place name can be called up by using the [place:short] field > option to show the shortened version. You would add the :short field option > in the Customize sentence field to subsequent uses of a place name after the > first full-length place name is shown. (Since there is no automated > application of the full-length verses :short field option, it is not > advisable to apply this field option to the [place] field in all the fact > type sentence templates or the role sentence templates.) > > Ron Bernier > Woonsocket, RI > > -----Original Message----- > From: rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David E. Cann > Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 12:07 PM > To: RootsMagic Users List Posting > Subject: [RMagic] Function of the "Abbreviated place name (if any)" field > > In the Edit Place dialogue of RM6 (and earlier) the bottom available field > for data entry is labeled "Abbreviated place name (if any)." I am going > through more than 5,000 place names and standardizing them all to use the > new Place Detail feature, and I keep seeing this Abbreviated place name > field and wondering what it is used for. I never abbreviate any place name, > I standardize everything spelled all the way out such as the "Garrisonville, > Stafford County, Virginia" where I live, so I have never used it. However, > in bringing up my Edit Place dialogue so often and looking at the ONLY field > in it that is not used, my curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I am > asking another curious question. > > In short, what is this field used for and what does it do? Is this field > where we enter a standard abbreviation for each place name, and if so, where > does that abbreviation appear in the great scheme of things in the world of > RootsMagic? I cannot find any reference to this in the program helps, nor > has my limited experimentation with entries in this field revealed anything, > so now I am asking. For the first time ever, I didn't buy the printed book > with my upgrade but maybe I should have. My editing process for my place > names is currently down to "F" though, so if I can find out what this place > name field is used for then now is the time to begin using it if I am going > to do so, before I have too many more place name entries to redo than A-F. > > Given the date, I suspect that most subscribers to this list "have a life" > involving family festivities at this time of year and NOT genealogy, but I > am obviously not one of them. :-( I suspect for this reason I may not get > an answer to this for a few days at least, but I would appreciate hearing > from someone who knows the function of this optional field. What have I > been missing all of this time? Thank you for the help. > > > David E. Cann > decann@infionline.net > > > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Ron, Hmmmmm, I'll have to take a closer look at this and think about it before I get much further editing my place names. My initial reaction is to wonder why would I want to use an abbreviate version of place names in text sentences, where there is no real restrictions on length and I've already consistently and purposely spelled them out after all these years. Thank you for the quick reply. I will take another look at this before going much further. David E. Cann decann@infionline.net -----Original Message----- From: rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ronald Bernier Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 12:48 PM To: rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [RMagic] Function of the "Abbreviated place name (if any)" field David, >From the RM help file: Abbreviated place name - You can enter an abbreviated place name. The abbreviated place name can be called up by using the [place:short] field option to show the shortened version. You would add the :short field option in the Customize sentence field to subsequent uses of a place name after the first full-length place name is shown. (Since there is no automated application of the full-length verses :short field option, it is not advisable to apply this field option to the [place] field in all the fact type sentence templates or the role sentence templates.) Ron Bernier Woonsocket, RI -----Original Message----- From: rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:rootsmagic-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David E. Cann Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 12:07 PM To: RootsMagic Users List Posting Subject: [RMagic] Function of the "Abbreviated place name (if any)" field In the Edit Place dialogue of RM6 (and earlier) the bottom available field for data entry is labeled "Abbreviated place name (if any)." I am going through more than 5,000 place names and standardizing them all to use the new Place Detail feature, and I keep seeing this Abbreviated place name field and wondering what it is used for. I never abbreviate any place name, I standardize everything spelled all the way out such as the "Garrisonville, Stafford County, Virginia" where I live, so I have never used it. However, in bringing up my Edit Place dialogue so often and looking at the ONLY field in it that is not used, my curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I am asking another curious question. In short, what is this field used for and what does it do? Is this field where we enter a standard abbreviation for each place name, and if so, where does that abbreviation appear in the great scheme of things in the world of RootsMagic? I cannot find any reference to this in the program helps, nor has my limited experimentation with entries in this field revealed anything, so now I am asking. For the first time ever, I didn't buy the printed book with my upgrade but maybe I should have. My editing process for my place names is currently down to "F" though, so if I can find out what this place name field is used for then now is the time to begin using it if I am going to do so, before I have too many more place name entries to redo than A-F. Given the date, I suspect that most subscribers to this list "have a life" involving family festivities at this time of year and NOT genealogy, but I am obviously not one of them. :-( I suspect for this reason I may not get an answer to this for a few days at least, but I would appreciate hearing from someone who knows the function of this optional field. What have I been missing all of this time? Thank you for the help. David E. Cann decann@infionline.net

In the Edit Place dialogue of RM6 (and earlier) the bottom available field for data entry is labeled "Abbreviated place name (if any)." I am going through more than 5,000 place names and standardizing them all to use the new Place Detail feature, and I keep seeing this Abbreviated place name field and wondering what it is used for. I never abbreviate any place name, I standardize everything spelled all the way out such as the "Garrisonville, Stafford County, Virginia" where I live, so I have never used it. However, in bringing up my Edit Place dialogue so often and looking at the ONLY field in it that is not used, my curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I am asking another curious question. In short, what is this field used for and what does it do? Is this field where we enter a standard abbreviation for each place name, and if so, where does that abbreviation appear in the great scheme of things in the world of RootsMagic? I cannot find any reference to this in the program helps, nor has my limited experimentation with entries in this field revealed anything, so now I am asking. For the first time ever, I didn't buy the printed book with my upgrade but maybe I should have. My editing process for my place names is currently down to "F" though, so if I can find out what this place name field is used for then now is the time to begin using it if I am going to do so, before I have too many more place name entries to redo than A-F. Given the date, I suspect that most subscribers to this list "have a life" involving family festivities at this time of year and NOT genealogy, but I am obviously not one of them. :-( I suspect for this reason I may not get an answer to this for a few days at least, but I would appreciate hearing from someone who knows the function of this optional field. What have I been missing all of this time? Thank you for the help. David E. Cann decann@infionline.net

Laurie, in this particular case I think you were bitten by a curiously confusing and illogical design in the user interface. "Change Fact Type" really isn't an option. It's an action, and you shouldn't be expected to look for an action under Options. "Change Fact Type" really needs to be a free standing action that's visible on the tool bar anytime an event is highlighted. The only other menu item under Options is "Show Shared Events". I think it's also very confusing what "Show Shared Events" is supposed to do. Of course, it really is an option so showing it under Options does make sense in a way. The confusing aspect of the "Show Shared Events" is what is its scope. It always defaults to ON. If you turn it OFF, it seems to apply only to the current person, and as soon as you go to a different person (or even if you close out and go back into the same person), it seems to turn itself back ON. So I don't understand what it's trying to accomplish. Jerry -----Original Message----- From: Laurie Nelson Thanks, Kevin. I didn't think to try the options button and I didn't find what I needed in Help either. This works beautifully. Then when I read your post, I realized that the reason I have two user-defined Move facts is because one is for family and one is personal. So I don't want to change those after all. Laurie Nelson >From: Kevin Benson Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 2:58 AM To: Laurie Nelson ; rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [RMagic] Any Way to Change Fact Type? In the <Edit Person> screen, click to highlight the fact you wish to change, then click the <Options> button and choose <Change fact type>. Individual facts can only be changed to other Individual fact types. Family facts can only be changed to other Family fact types. -- -- -- --Ô¿Ô-- K e V i N< >>On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 4:21 AM, Laurie Nelson <lane-nelson@q.com> wrote: I don't think this can be done, but thought I'd ask. Luckily I have only a few fact types that I want to change to another fact type. I think I remember that this capability was in RM 4 or 5, but my memory ain't so good sometimes. e.g., I want to change a Miscellaneous fact to something like a Property fact without having to copy and move everything to the Property fact. Is that possible, even though the facts are different? Also I somehow wound up with two very similar user-defined facts from 3-4 years ago, but I only need one. The one I want to get rid of is only used for two people. Is it possible to combine the two facts? TIA.<< =================================== RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message