New Features in TMG v7

Easier to Use

• Beginner Buttons on the Person View make it easier to add, edit, delete, or change the primary status of tags (events, names, and relationships). Experienced users can deactivate these new buttons using a new Preference setting (Program Options > Data Entry).
  
  
  
  New Beginner Buttons
  
  
• The options and buttons on the Report Definition screen have been revised as requested by users.
  
  
• The Exhibit Log contains new buttons that make it easier to add, edit, delete, check image properties, and perform other functions.
  
  
• The method of resizing windows has been revised to be consistent with that of most other Windows applications. When you drag the border of a window with the mouse, the text stays the same size and the data space increases so that you can see more information on the screen. The base font size can be controlled by the minimum font size settings in Preferences (i.e., Lists, Project Explorer, and Memos).
  
  The new resizing method does not apply to the Family View and Tree View which would not benefit from such a change. The base fonts for those windows, however, can be specified in Preferences (Program Options > Other).
  
  Users who preferred the scaled objects of the older resizing method can revert to that behavior using a new Preference option (Program Options > Other).
  
  
• New Reminder Pop-Up Windows for Tag Types, Sources, and Source Types help you to remember how to use the fields and encourage consistent data entry.
  
  When recording a source, for instance, the window will remind you where to record each piece of data, how to use split memos (when appropriate), what to reserve for the citation detail, etc.
  
  Reminders can be customized but default reminders are applied to existing projects which use standard tag and source types.
  
  Reminder windows open and close automatically but this behavior can be disabled with a Preference setting (Program Options > Data Entry). Where reminders are available, the window can be opened and closed with a new "light bulb" button.
  
  (The background color on this sample window has been customized).
  
  
  
  New Reminder Window
  
  
• A new feature to Check for Duplicates While Adding People will help to eliminate duplication in your project. Matching rules are based on the name and birth date but can consider non-primary names and other criteria. A new Preference page (Program Options > New People) gives you control over the matching rules and thresholds (Soundex, exact spelling, number of years, etc.).
  
  When possible duplicates are found, a Picklist button allows you to examine those people without losing your work on the Add Person screen.
  
  
  
  Check for Duplicates While Adding People feature
  
  
• New buttons on the Master Source List allow you to Export and Import Sources. Select all sources or a specific subset and send them to an external file which can then be imported to a different project, shared with another researcher, etc.
  
  
• New buttons on the Source Types List allow you to Export and Import Source Types. Like sources, you can specify which source types to export and then transfer them to other projects or researchers. Researchers who specialize in different cultures can share source types along with their appropriate data entry fields, output templates, etc.
  
  
• The source output preview buttons now honor formatting codes (bold, underline, italics, etc.) rather than displaying the codes themselves.
  
  
• New buttons on the Tag Entry Screen make it easier to repeat the previous citation or select from a list of recent citations.
  
  
• A new button on the Citation Entry screen allows you to add a new source without going first to the Master Source List.
  
  
• A variety of new options have been added to right-click menus at the suggestion of users. For instance, the Focus Group list has a right-click menu option to "Select All." The Project Explorer has a new right-click option to "Change focus to this person in other windows." (This is handy when the Project Explorer is not linked to those windows.) The new Associates window (see below) has right-click options to "Add this person to the Focus Group" and "Add all of these people to the Focus Group."
  

More Research/Analysis Tools

• A new Associates Window shows all people (principals and witnesses) who share an event tag in any way with the focus person. A person might appear multiple times, each with the date and type of the shared event and the role that he or she played in it.
  
  This handy new window helps you see the "big picture" by showing the focus person's "circle of friends" all in one navigable list.
  
  By right-clicking on the Associates window, you can filter and sort it in a variety of ways or you can reduce it to a list of unique people, each showing the number of events which are shared with the focus person.
  
  The Associates window compliments other top-level windows, can be opened along with others, and is available from the Layout toolbar. Its size and position can be saved with your custom screen layout. The filter and sort settings are remembered and used again the next time that you use TMG.
  
  
  
  New Associates Window
  
  
• The List of Witnesses on the Tag Entry Screen now displays the specific name variation that has been associated with that event for each witness.
  
  
• The Picklist and Project Explorer can now be sorted by the Last Edited Date.
  
  
• The Picklist and Project Explorer now support a variety of multi-level sorts. For instance, if you have a dozen people with the same given name and surname, they can be sorted within that group by birth date or by death date. Other multi-level sorting options are also available.
  
  
• The Research Log can now be filtered by task keyword.
  
  
• The Relationship Calculator and the Automatic Relationship Tag now also display relationships as calculated through the spouse(s) of one of the two people. For example:
  o   3rd cousin of his wife
  o   wife of her 3rd cousin
  o   father-in-law (father of her husband)
  o   daughter-in-law (husband of his son)
  
  
• Y-DNA templates have been added for DNA Ancestry. The Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test now includes DNA Ancestry as a selection.
  

Multimedia Enhancements

• Exhibit Highlighting allows you to "draw" on an image to annotate it. You're actually drawing on a invisible layer above the image, however, so the original is not changed.
  
  You can select any color, use various drawing tools, and even specify the transparency level of your annotations.
  
  If the highlighted image is made primary, it will be displayed in the Image window and output in box charts and other reports which support images.
  
  At any time you can click "reset" to erase the highlighting and return to the original image.
  
  
  
  Exhibit Highlighting
  
  
• In addition to the interface changes mentioned above, a new option on the Exhibit Log's right-click menu is Insert New Exhibit (other). It lets you more easily link Word documents, Powerpoint presentations or other non-standard exhibit types. The same thing can be achieved by clicking on the new <Add> button and then changing the file type to "All files (*.*)".
  
  
• A new Preferences page (Program Options > Exhibits) allows you to specify whether new images that you add to the Exhibit Log will be made internal or external by default (or ask each time).

New Narrative Controls

• A new Sentence Preview helps you to predict what a sentence will look like in a report. By being able to immediately see the effect of your changes, you'll gain more control over these advanced features and produce better narrative reports. (Source citations are not shown in the sentence preview)
  
  
  
  New Sentence Preview
  
  
• A new sentence code, [+], when placed at the beginning of a sentence will cause it to be added to the end of the previous sentence when a report is generated. This makes it easier to output compound sentences, including embedded source citations, for example:
  
  He died on 31 March 1936²¹ and was buried two days later in Evergreen Cemetery, Roanoke, Virginia.²²
  
  
• A new sentence code, [:NP:], tells TMG to add no punctuation to the end of the sentence. Among other purposes, it might be entered as the sole value in a sentence in order to output an event exhibit at a specific point without any accompanying sentence.
  
  
• You can now use characters that would otherwise have a special meaning in TMG by "escaping" them. The escape character is a backslash (\) and it tells TMG that the character which immediately follows it should be output literally and not interpreted as a special character. The backslash itself is not included in the output.

  For instance "\{1820\}" will be output as "{1820}" rather than being interpreted as sensitive data. Similarly, "\[ED\]" in a source template will be output as "[ED]" rather than being interpreted as a source element. The backslash itself can also be escaped ("\\").

  The escape character is recognized in memos (tag, witness, citation, source, and repository), sentence structures, source templates, source fields, and the citation detail.

• A new standard tag type, NarrativeChildren, can be used to override the standard "Children of X and Y were:" text when introducing a list of children or the "There were no children of X and Y" text in a Journal report.
  
  
• The Options>Tags tab has a number of new options to provide more control over the content of the list of children in the Journal report. Among other uses, you can limit the report to 1 generation (on the General tab) and then use the new options on the Tags tab to limit the text for all children, thereby producing a narrative for a single person (and optionally his/her spouse) that includes a brief list of children.
  
  
• Embedded citations now support inclusion of the citation memo, e.g., [CIT:]124; citation detail; citation memo[:CIT].

New Reporting Tools

• A new Columnar Option on the List of Citations report allows you to specify the fields to be included and supports export to spreadsheets and databases for external processing.
  
  
• Likewise, a new Columnar Option on the List of Sources report provides more flexibility than the default formatted report.
  
  
• The List of Events and List of Witnesses reports now allow you to output the specific name variation that has been associated with each event participant (not just his/her primary name).
  
  
• Hundreds of New Filter Options allow you to search your data by even more criteria.
  

Even More Customization Options

In addition to those mentioned above....

• A new Preference option (Program Options > Tag Box) allows you to turn off the memo and source columns in the Tag Box.
  
  
• The custom toolbar can now include one or more buttons to load specific layouts.
  
  
• New Preference settings (Current Project Options > Advanced) let you specify the default folders for exports, report output, configuration files, repeat files, slideshows, and timelines (among other earlier options).
  
  
• A new Preference option (Program Options > Prompts) lets you control whether or not to search for embedded citations when deleting a source.
  

Other

• TMG v7 is native to Windows Vista. It will also run on Windows XP and Windows 2000. (Windows 98 and NT are no longer supported).
  
  
• TMG 6 and TMG 7 can both be run on the same machine without conflict (but not with the same project).
  
  
• The TMG installer now allows you to select the installation language. English, German, Dutch, and Norwegian are currently supported.
  
  
• The Help File has been updated to include the new features of TMG v7 and now uses the more modern HTML-help format, including support for full-text search.
  
  
• A long list of bug fixes have been included as detailed in the change log.