Virginia Blakelock

Have you tried entering the registration information directly, not using copy/paste? Virginia

You will see this if you are in Beginner mode (Preferences option) or a filter option is ticked. Rightclick in the Details window and on that menu go to the 'Filter for' option and untick whichever option is ticked. Virginia

Michael The occupation, education, etc. information would go in the Memo field. See the tutorial below for guidance in entering your data: http://tmg.reigelridge.com/data-entry-tutorial.htm Also, open the Sample project and look at the tags there for examples of data entry. On the Help menu in TMG is an option to download the TMG Guided Tour. The format is bit outdated, but the basics have changed little. On the guided tour menu, click on 'Record' on the left menu for info on entering tag information. Virginia

Esther - Assuming you have installed the TMG files in the default locations. Try this: Go to the Ancestor Box Chart and click on the 'Reset Defaults' button under the Configuration name. Then follow only the three steps below to create the default chart. Let us know if that works. Tick 'Use the Current Focus Person Tick 'View in Visual Chartform' Click 'Create Chart'. You may also want to visit the VCF forum here where there are many chart examples. Virginia

Are you following the guidelines in the pinned message at the top of this forum for running TMG on a Mac with Parallels? Virginia

The layout files have the .lo extension. You can backup and restore your layout files or simply copy the .lo files to the new computer. The layout files are in the User Program Data Files location. In TMG, on the top menu, click on Help and cursor down to Access Folders to see the path for those files. For more information on your data files, see Help / Data File Storage. Virginia

Greg - This is usually caused by another program running at the time. Make sure no other programs - including antivirus programs and cloud services like Dropbox - are running when you create the GEDCOM. Virginia

Ruth Ann - Try this: Rightclick on your desktop TMG icon, select Run as Administrator and enter your registration information in TMG. Do this only one time and see if TMG retains the key. Virginia

Janice - Was it previously accepting the registration key? Are you using the same e-mail address as when you registered? Typing it in rather than pasting? Virginia

Janice - Rightclick on your desktop TMG icon and select Run as Administrator. Enter your unlock key. Do this one time only. See if that will hold permanently after that. Virginia

See the forum thread here for a discussion and example of a custom toolbar. Virginia

When TMG 'freezes', go to Window on the top menu in TMG and click on 'Center the current window' if that option is available (not dimmed). Occasionally a window waiting for your reply will open behind the layout. If that is the case, 'Center the current window' will bring it to the front and 'unfreeze' TMG. Virginia

Judy - If you have a physical printer attached to your computer, that printer would normally be selected as your default printer. If you created large charts in VCF you may have downloaded the CutePDF driver to create a pdf file for a commercial printer. Virginia

Judy The CutePDF writer is a separate unrelated program from TMG. You may have installed it to use with VCF to output large charts. Virginia

Kim - I would try the option to view the Ancestor box chart in VCF, and then save it from there. See if that works. I don't know what the size limit is for the compressed pedigree report - but could you break it down into smaller family units? You may want to do the same with the VCF chart - so you don't end up with a chart too large to display. If you go to the Visual Chartform forum you will see some examples of compressed wall charts, particularly those posted by Robin. http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index.php?showforum=18, Virginia

Robin - You might try editing the .rpt definition in Notepad for the pedigree report and change all the place No's to Yes. It is a simple text file and easy to read and edit. And check any other place settings there that might apply. You always have the .bak report definition that you can restore. The report definitions have the *.rpt extension in your Configuration files folder. See Help (on the top menu) / Access folders, for the path to that folder. Virginia

An alternative is the Ancestor box chart version of the pedigree chart. You can include all places in a chart. The VCF pedigree booklet uses fancy frames, but the same chart can be constructed using no frames or box lines at all, much like a conventional pedigree chart. You can find links to it on the VCF forum, also here. In that thread, message #6, are the settings for a pedigree chart. Virginia

Mike - In TMG, go to Preferences / Current Project Options / Colors, and see if the text color (button A) is set to the same color as the background color (button with 3 dots). Virginia

See examples of user web sites built by Second Site here. Virginia

MJ - Start / All Programs / Accessories / Windows Explorer. For how to use the Windows Explorer, see the Microsoft guidelines here. Virginia

Rob - Is the problem not limited to VCF- you are seeing it in other TMG reports? Virginia

Rob - I assume you created the chart in VCF and then tried to print to the default TMG PDF printer. I do not believe that will work - and I get the same error message. You are able to print charts to one of the virtual PDF printers (BullZip, PDF995, etc.) - all free for the download. See the pinned message re printing charts to PDF at the top of the VCF forum here. Virginia

In Step 2 of the Backup Wizard (Select backup file), do you have the backup path set correctly for the v9 backups location? In Preferences / Current Project Options / Advanced, do you have the backup path set correctly for that project for the v9 backups location? Check that all those paths are set to the v9 paths. Virginia

You are welcome, Tracy. Other programs running at the time are usually the problem with incomplete GEDCOMs. Virginia

Tracy - Create the GEDCOM with no other programs running - particularly a cloud service like Dropbox or an anti-virus program. Virginia