The book is designed to help users quickly become comfortable and adept with TMG. It provides an introduction in straightforward terms, with a level of detail that helps but doesn’t overwhelm a novice user, including the following topics:

• TMG’s basic concepts
• Getting your initial data into TMG
• Finding your way around TMG
• Establishing personal standards for data entry
• Adding or editing people, events, and sources
• Creating Reports and Charts

Understanding that most users adopt TMG to make use of its superior capabilities, the book continues with an introduction to more advanced subjects, presented in a way that allows readers to explore and apply these features at their own pace:

• Customizing the program’s Screens
• Customizing Events and Sources
• Using Witnesses and Roles
• Understanding Projects and Data Sets

The book is written for TMG version 7, released in late December, 2007. While much of the material is applicable to older versions, a number of useful features described are not available in versions 5 or 6.

What Others Say About It

“This is a great introduction for new users! Terry explains complicated topics in terms a beginner can understand, and he explains the concepts as well as the specific steps to make fast, effective use of TMG. Even experienced users will learn from this book, particularly in the chapters about more advanced topics. Terry’s TMG Tips website is a great resource for TMG users, and now Terry has expanded that with A Primer for The Master Genealogist.”
     John Cardinal, author of Second Site, TMG Utility, and other companion programs for TMG

“A Primer for The Master Genealogist is a ‘must have’ for the new user. With its easy to read format and multiple illustrations even those seemingly complex features and tasks are easy to understand. I wish I’d had a copy of this book when I first started using The Master Genealogist.”
      Mark A. Cunningham, TMG user for two months

“Without reading the entire book, I was able to perform not only routine tasks but also use features that were ‘fun,’ such as changing colors of entries. I also became aware of functions that I would never have learned about on my own.”
     Judy Madnick, new user

A Peek Inside

The book is written to be easy to read and understand, with plenty of screenshots so the reader can follow the description even when away from the computer. It starts with the basics. This section explains the basic parts of the TMG's screens:

Many of the tasks users undertake are explained in step-by-step fashion, with numbered steps keyed to the screenshots. Here use of the Focus Group to collect a family group is explained:

After covering data entry, reports are addressed. There are sections about reports designed to aid research and analysis as well as those designed to share your work. Filters are useful in constructing several types of reports, so there are also step-by-step discussions of that often confusing topic.

After covering the basics, there is a chapter on customizing your workspace, including topics like setting up Accents to color-code people of interest. Then there is an introduction to the more advanced topics of Sentence Structures, Witnesses, Roles, and customizing Sources.

A detailed table of contents and a thorough index make it easy to locate particular topics.

The book is 164 pages, measures about 7 by 10 inches, softbound.

About the Author

The author is well known as an expert user of TMG and a frequent contributor to the on-line TMG user support forums. He is the author of Terry’s TMG Tips, a website with over 75 articles, many also available in German. He has written several articles about TMG for newsletters published by user groups and two chapters in the sellout book, Getting the Most Out of The Master Genealogist.