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Roy Sprunger

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Everything posted by Roy Sprunger

  1. Renumbering Person ID

    I started with one main project in 1999 and added to it over the years. I have also received two 'Family Tree Maker' backup databases, one GEDCOM file, one 'The Family Edge' database exported/imported as GEDCOM and several printed reports that had to be keyed in. The databases require much cleanup before merging and I have kept them in standalone projects. Now, I have chosen to segregate several family branches from my main project into discreet projects after weighing the pros/cons of using data sets within the same project. Having the storage space to do so, I simply copied my main database to multiple project folders and began pruning away the data I do not want associated with that branch. How do I force a renumbering of the Person ID making the progenitor #1, wife #2, first child #3, etc.?
  2. Earlier this year I had a hard drive failure. I have historically kept my program files on a separate drive from my data files, or so I had thought. When my Drive C: failed, I physically moved my data drive to a newer computer and began installing TMG versions 6, 7, and 8. I have various family projects in different categories of upgrades, so I keep all the program versions and their complimentary data files separate. V6 loads fine, although I need to do some experimenting to try recovering custom toolbars, layouts and macros that were lost when v7 put them onto my Drive C:, unbeknownst to me. V8 loads fine. But when I try to load v7, it fails and I get this: TMG 7 Error Message Fatal error: Exception code - C0000005 @ 09/01/13 12:54:14 PM. Error log file: C:Program FilesThe Master Genealogist v8vfp9err.log Before Drive C: failed, both versions coexisted fine, but now they won't. How do I fix this?
  3. My New Favorite Layout: Customizing the Workspace in v8

    Thanks, Virginia! Your tip and file really helped. The toolbars were copied okay. I had three of them, but apparently my last save was to the default filename custom.tbr. It appears Ver. 8 read that and assumed it was a new toolbar. I selected another and found I had lost only one new button, which is easily recreated. I added your file to my library of valuable tips for using TMG.
  4. Thanks, Jim. If I understand your last statement, I really did not need to backup my V7 files. I could have just copied them to a new location, opened the project in V8 and updated the database then. Correct? I have 97 GB of free storage space, so space is not a problem.
  5. My New Favorite Layout: Customizing the Workspace in v8

    Virginia, When you upgraded, did you Restore your custom toolbar or have to create a new one? I have 17 buttons on my ver. 7 custom toolbar and did make sure it was selected in the wizard during the Restore process, however, it was not restored. Will I have to recreate it or is there a way to copy over the right information?
  6. Thanks, Virginia, I found out quickly! TMG is the only program I have found where you "Restore" a "Backup" to a different version. For years it has always been you "Restore" to the same version and "Import" to a different version. Culturally it is insignificant and I only lost about ten minutes of time. The process went smoothly enough, but there was one problem I will write about in a separate post.
  7. The original question was, "Should I remove TMG v7 now that v8 upgrade is installed?" I do not see where this question was answered, so I shall attempt to answer it. As in so many areas dealing with computers, 'it depends'. My PC runs Windows XP still, with Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, and I have no intention of upgrading it until I have to, although I have become quite familiar with Windows 7 through my work. In my opinion, if you have the physical disk space to store different versions with their assorted data files and are able to keep them separate, you should NOT delete the previous version. Remember, Version 7 had to convert the Version 6 files, just as Version 8 has to convert the Version 7 files. After upgrading to Version 7, I had a need to reinstall Version 6 to open a project that I had not converted to Version 7. Since then, I have kept both versions in two different libraries. As I prepare to install Version 8, I will create a third library, copy my Version 7 backup files into it, then import them into Version 8. While this certainly does create duplicate files, especially among my reports, it is not a problem for me. When I begin to run out of disk space, I will buy another hard drive. While I can manage multiple physical and virtual hard drives easily, I have met people who can barely use one. So it is not a solution for everybody. I also use Family Tree Maker and have organized those files similarly. This method works for me.
  8. MRINs

    Thanks for the link, Jim. I had never heard of MRINs before but have been wondering if there was a way to group families by some kind of identifier. This will work for me too!
  9. Moving away from TMG

    Helge, I see nobody addressed your questions directly, but rather offered opinions. Here is my take. "These customizations will not transfer to other programs with GEDCOM?" True, for most of them. Only some may transfer, but the end result may not be what you want. "What are my options for moving away form TMG?" There are as many options as there are programs, but virtually none can import from TMG directly. You typically have to export your data to a common format, then import it into the new program. While several newer programs are using the GenBridge technology, they do not necessarily provide for exact conversions, in my opinion. "Are GEDCOM the only way of getting data off to another genealogical program?" No, but it is the most universal, in that it will likely capture the most Tags. The other formats for exporting use various columnar formatting and mostly, do not use the tags, from what I have seen, although I have not done much experimenting. I typically move data back and forth between Family Tree Maker and TMG. I agree with Michael Hannah and sam.m. Wholly Genes Software is in the business for the long haul and would not worry about them folding or giving up. Another consideration, is that, if that were to happen, the existing software will still continue to function as is. I think the question is less about TMG continuing to be available and more about data sharing with other researchers who may have a different program. That is still a 'bone of contention' for some of us who want to share our data with interested family members using different programs. For example, there is still no "Save as" an older version of TMG, such as ver. 4. You cannot even export to a previous version. C'est la vie!
  10. I created a "List of Sources" Report to capture the full text of footnotes and bibliography but TMG truncates the data at 254 characters for each field/column of data. However, Help states the following. Width Since fields in TMG are virtually unlimited, you must specify the number of characters to be allotted to each column. The default number appears in the field. The total width appears at the bottom of the screen. And it does not matter whether I choose the output "ASCII Delimited with Tab" or "Comma Separated Value (CSV)". Is there a way to increase the number of characters per column to the full width, e.g. 350 characters, that I am using? Roy Sprunger
  11. TMG Truncates Column Width

    Thanks, Jim. I dropped off the mailing list a few years ago and I guess I fell out of touch for the last two upgrades. With my background in database programs and familiarity with Excel I started with that selection. However, the Report Definition Screen | Options changed the number I entered to 254. So, I tried two more selections. I was quite surprised to find there remained any limitations for the column width of ASCII delimited output, especially after they programmed TMG to allow splitting of memos which are effectively unlimited. I shall try some of the other choices to see if any of them will accept a number greater than 254.
  12. American Townships

    Why have American townships been ignored and continue to be ignored, by TMG (at least since version 4), as a viable location when so many sources and repositories have made them important in identifying locations in rural or Early America? What was the rationale? Does anybody know anymore? While the members have often found workarounds to include Townships in their location places, they are just that, workarounds. I am very curious about why they have been ignored for so many years. Storing the information in fields other than where it belongs, between City and County, requires a lot of extra effort in managing the data, unnecessarily, in my opinion, especially when identifying where records are or were kept. Roy
  13. Where can I find an explanation for all of the default abbreviations used in the Tag Type List? I look at the Tag Type List, see an item I think may be appropriate, but there is no explanation for the abbreviated text. So, I start looking for an explanation for any of the abbreviated items in Help. Then I search the Users Guide. Then I search GTMOOTMG. I cannot find an explanation anywhere. So, now, I also want to know why there is no explanation for the default abbreviations in the Tag Type List? Do you assume that every user already knows the meanings? I intentionally withheld the specific reference I am looking for because I want a consolidated explanation, not an individual explanation. In my experience, most software makers with an established clientele eventually begin filling in the gaps of their documentation. That does not seem to be the case here. I already started supplementing the information provided with TMG and want to know if I should ever expect to find comprehensive documentation listing every error message and dialog box that may present itself within the program. Roy
  14. John, thank you for your explanation. That is what I concluded from my continuing search. Terry, thank you for the effort you put into creating the list of full terms. I will add it to my "toolbox". After posting my original questions, I continued searching and accidentally found what you both have stated, regarding "the Sentence". The initial column width in the List of Tag Types was too narrow to make the terms readily obvious. After several attempts, I made the width wide enough so that I could see the whole sentence structure for each Tag Type. However, lets review my original questions. Where can I find an explanation for all of the default abbreviations used in the Tag Type List? Answer: I cannot. There is no "one" source that names "all" of the Tag Types with full disclosure of the terms in plain English. I also want to know why there is no explanation for the default abbreviations in the Tag Type List? Answer: There is in an oblique, off-hand way through the sentence structure for each tag definition. Do you assume that every user already knows the meanings? Answer: Unknown. To be answered by the software developer. While I now have the information needed to create my own reference tool, there is still nothing available within the existing documentation. Once again, I have to supplement the original documentation with my own as I expand my knowledge and use of TMG, which apparently is how GTMOOTMG came into being. Roy
  15. Jim, No, Terry did not. You completely missed my point. You and Terry focused on the abbreviations used in the Tag Type definition field "for" abbreviations, which appear to be uniformly three characters long. I am asking about the abbreviations used in the *label*, and offered a few specific examples of labels with abbreviations that I do not understand. Birth-Covt; Excommuntn, Father-Fst and Father-Ste I cannot find any explanation for "Covt", "Fst" or "Ste". And what kind of a word is "Excommuntn"? Perhaps it is wrong to call them abbreviations, but that is what they are, abbreviated, concatenated or otherwise shortened words. The Tag Type Labels have many of these shortened words but there does not appear to be any sort of explanation for what they mean in the online help or the users guide. In an effort to make sense out of it, I ran a List of Tag Types report and added a column for "Long Labels" where I can add a full interpretation/explanation for these short-hand words once I learn what they mean. But I really hate having to create my own tools to do this when they should be clearly defined in the documentation, 12 years after I started using TMG 4a. But enough ranting. If you cannot find the right tools, make your own. I will just have to Google the abbreviations I don't recognize and make the best of it.
  16. No, Terry, I am not. I am talking about the abbreviations used in the 'label' column of the following list of default Tag Types. Some are obvious to knowledgeable people, while others are not, such as: Birth-Covt; Excommuntn, Father-Fst and Father-Ste, to name a few. label abbrev iscustom Address add. No Adoption ado. No AFN afn. No Age age. No Anecdote ane. No Annulment ann. No Associatn ass. No Attributes att. No Baptism bap. No BaptismLDS bap. No BarMitzvah bar. No BasMitzvah bas. No Birth b. No Birth-Covt bct. No BirthIlleg b. No BirthStill b. No Blessing bls. No BlessngLDS bls. No Burial bur. No CancelSeal can. No Caste cst. No Census cen. No Christning chr. No Codicil cod. No Communion1 com. No Confirmatn cnf. No ConfirmLDS cnf. No Criminal crm. No Death d. No Descriptn des. No Divorce div. No Divorce Fl dvf. No Education edu. No Emigration emi. No Employment emp. No Endowment end. No Engagement eng. No Event-Misc msc. No Excommuntn exc. No Father-Ado No Father-Bio No Father-Fst No Father-God No Father-Oth No Father-Ste No GEDCOM ged. No Graduation grd. No History his. No HTML htm: No Illness ill. No Immigratn imm. No JournalConclusion nar. No JournalIntro nar. No Living liv. No Marr Bann mbn. No Marr Cont mcn. No Marr Lic mlc. No Marr Sett mst. No Marriage m. No Milit-Beg mlb. No Milit-End mle. No Misc msc. No Mother-Ado No Mother-Bio No Mother-Fst No Mother-God No Mother-Oth No Mother-Ste No Name-Baptm nam. No Name-Chg nam. No Name-Marr nam. No Name-Nick nam. No Namesake nsk. No Name-Var nam. No NarrativeChildren nar. No Nationalty nat. No Natlzation nat. No Note nt. No NullifyLDS nul. No Num Child #c. No Num Marr #m. No Occupation occ. No OrdinacLDS ord. No Ordinance ord. No Ordination ord. No Parent-Ado No Parent-Bio No Parent-Fst No Parent-God No Parent-Oth No Parent-Ste No Probate pro. No PrsmCancel prs. No Psgr List psg. No Ratificatn rat. No Rebaptism rbp. No Reference ref. No Religion rel. No Reseal rsl. No Residence res. No Restoratn rst. No Retirement ret. No SealChild sc. No SealParent sp. No SealSpouse ss. No SSN ssn. No Stake stk. No Telephone tel. No VoidLiving vdl. No WAC wac. No Will wil. No Roy
  17. Is there any way to fix the Surety column positions, in maximized or windowed mode, to prevent the shifting from right to left to right again or is there a way to turn off the Surety columns from displaying? In using TMG 7.04 (Advance) on Windows XP SP3 when adding new people, this is a disturbing behavior. When entering the Surety values for 12DPM, after putting a value in the P column, the screen advances to the right, unnecessarily I might add. I have tried various methods to reposition the window, both as a window on the screen and maximized & adjusting the column width, but nothing sticks. Each time I access the Add Person window again, and enter the data again, the screen jumps to the right, again. There is no reason for it and there is no slider bar to reposition the columns within the window. When the window is maximized, there should not be any shifting within the window. When this happens the left-most columns disappear off screen and a gap opens up on the right of the Surety columns. The only way to return the display window back to normal seems to be using the Tab key or the Enter key. I also tried changing the column width of the Value column to pull the Surety columns closer to the middle of the screen, thinking that would help and it does, until I close the window. Roy
  18. 'Add Person' Window Behavior

    Thank you, Virginia. This idea works! In consideration of the positive improvements between versions 5/6, you would think nothing would be lost in the upgrade to version 7. I appreciate your perseverance! Roy
  19. 'Add Person' Window Behavior

    Michael, I do not understand. 'Cause when I resize the window and let go of the mouse button, all the surety columns snap to the right most position. The columns hug the right side of the window no matter what I do. If I manually click & drag the surety columns to the left, then resize the window, they snap back into position hugging the rightmost side of the window again. No, I did not change the font size. This is a new project and the only defaults I changed were the paths to the files. Apparently the position of the surety columns within the window is hardcoded to reset to the defaults each time the window is opened. I even tried widening the surety memo column, then shrinking it to leave some white space, saved the layout again, but to no avail.
  20. 'Add Person' Window Behavior

    I did and the changes were not saved. Roy
  21. 'Add Person' Window Behavior

    Jim, I don't understand what you mean by "Tag Box". I do not recall ever seeing the Add Person window referred to a such. However, I am familiar with custom layouts. After making changes, I saved my custom layout changes, twice. After each time, the changes were lost. Roy
  22. How do I edit the Exhibit Log exhibit properties to update the filename & path after copying the files to a new path? Every time I upgrade TMG to another version, I copy all my data files to a new path & update my Preferences. Once the data has been imported/upgraded to the new version, I copy the old data to a backup drive and delete them. However, the Exhibit Log is unable to find the files I recorded in the log, in their new location. If I have to delete the old records and add a new records, then I'll have to reconsider using exhibits.
  23. Exhibit Log 'File Not Found' Error

    Thanks, Guys. Roy
  24. Exhibit Log 'File Not Found' Error

    Well, Jim, there is a problem. And I wonder if it may be related to the file type. I have four exhibit files. They are all Adobe .PDF files. I read the following Help sections. Validate File Integrity. Missing Exhibits. Moving Exhibits. List of Folders for Validate File Integrity. All of them confound me because they assume something that is neither evident, nor obvious. When I choose File > Maintenance > Validate File Integrity the program warns me that it may take a while, then runs. It does not present me with a 'List of Folders' window, nor do I see an option for 'Search for missing external exhibits'. And there is not an option to Specify the folders to search. My version is 7.04.0000. Is there something I am missing? Meanwhile, when I look at the Exhibit Log, the program is not displaying the frown face even though that is what my Preferences are set too. So, I have decided to simply delete the old placeholders and add new ones, 'cause whatever was supposed to happen is not happenin'. Roy
  25. Exhibit Log 'File Not Found' Error

    Thanks, Jim. I've never used it and wouldn't have associated it with file management. Roy
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