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

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