Terry Reigel

Ruth, The "(---?---)" has nothing to do with Sentence Structures. It comes from the report settings, specifically the "Empty name text" field on the Names tab of report Options. You can change it to anything you like, including leaving it blank, which will remove it from reports. You have to do it on each report definition you use.

You're welcome, John.

At last report serial numbers were available from the two sources listed in my article The Future for TMG Users.

If you have updated to Windows 8, or more likely now, Windows 10, you need to follow Jim's advise to permanently unlock. The issue with the number not being accepted is generally caused by: 1. Entering a new email address rather than the one used at the time the serial number was purchased. 2. Using a serial number from an prior version of TMG 3. Manually entering the serial number and making a mistake. 4. Entering a different name than used when you bought the serial number.

Dennis, I never noticed, but you can't create a new topic from there. I'm sure I have from other forums, and then selected a section from there. Guess this one is different.

Dennis, For next time, or for lukers, you don't see this?

Valeire, I think Mozy and the like are a great way to get copies of your backup files way from your home, for the majority of us who are not disciplined enough to regularly get a physical copy to a safe place. However, do not let Mozy or other cloud services have direct access to the folders where you keep either your TMG project files or where TMG makes the backup. Either can cause corruption of your files. Instead, make backups then copy them to a folder accessed by your cloud service. There are programs that will make these copies automatically. See my article on Protecting Your Data for some suggestions.

You're welcome. The only issue I can think of is the conversion of some variables when you go from an early version of TMG9 to a later one. That will occur when you open the Project in TMG 9.05. It likely has no real impact on you. See my article on Changes in Role Variables for details. The only other issue, which I thought was ver 6 to 7, was to move the default location of the project files from under the program files to proper user space to comply with requirements of Windows Vista and later. You may have already done that yourself, but if not using the backup/restore method of moving the data to the new version takes care of that.

There is no need to install any prior version. Just install version 9.05. If you have a disk of an earlier version of TMG9, do not use that, but download (and save for future use) the current installer. You do not "Import" from one version of TMG to another. You "Open" the full file, or "Restore" a backup. There is no reason to "hope for the best" - it will work as it always has.

Better yet, in my view, send the report to Word where you can do any necessary editing, then use the PDF output of Word to create your PDF.

Alan, Yes. And if you intend on continuing to use TMG, as many of us do, you need to keep a copy of the installer, and the key, in a safe place in case it is no longer available for download in the future.

Doris, Jim meant that you should use the 9.05 installer to update your installation. That is the last version.

Mark, The reason you are getting the "Expired Trial Version" is because the unlock code has not been recognized. That's why the various options are unavailable. The most common reasons that an unlock code is not accepted is because of entering a current email address rather than the one used when the code was obtained, and using a code from a different version of TMG. If you are successful in unlocking while running TMG after starting normally, Win 10 will remove the code again in short order. To solve this you have to use the "Run as Admin" trick. While TMG is still locked, right-click on the normal TMG shortcut and and select 'Run as administrator' to open the program. Then enter the correct registration information. If you successfully unlock it it should remain permanently unlocked.

Virgil, That will indeed be a version 4 serial number, which will not work in version 6. And no, you cannot open or restore a project used in a later version with an earlier version. I understand that someone does still check the emails to Wholly Genes Support occasionally, and can generally retrieve lost serial numbers, though the process appears to not be quick. On the other hand, there have been a number of new features since ver. 6, including the ability to output to Word Processors with a modern (that is one running a 64-bit version of Windows) computer. I suggest that while the opportunity remains to get ver 9 it would be a good idea to do so.

Teri, Why do you need a mapped drive? Why not just use the File > Open command from the laptop, navigate over the network to the copy of the Project on the desktop, and open it?

That means you are using the wrong serial number. Either you have omitted part of it, or you are using a TMG4 or earlier serial number. Do you still have your TMG 6 on your old computer available? If so you can recover it from there. Use the Help > Technical Support command to create a Trouble Report. Copy that report to the new computer. Then near the top of that report you will see the serial number, which you can copy and paste into your new installation. I think that's about the regular price Wholly Genes charged for a non-upgrade version, which is what you are getting. That's what you would have had to pay WG if it was available there, since you did not buy version 7 or 8. Harry's email appears in multiple posts here. It is harry.goegebeur@genea.be But I think you will find him asking about the same price, since that is (was?) the regular WG price.

You're welcome, Joe. The issue with the footnote seems to be that you only got CD1 to appear. The usual reason for that is checking the "Unique Endnotes" box in the report Definition.

Michael, I don't understand. You say you use a "lumper" approach, but the example you give looks to me like a "splitter" source definition. Joe's example seems to call for a Source to be defined for each newspaper title, a modest "lumper" style to my thinking. But your example seems to call for a Source to be defined for each individual article - a full "splitter" approach it seems to me. Am I missing something in your example?

Joe, You cannot use CDs in the Bibliography. That's because there is a single bibliography entry for each source cited in the report, even though there may be an unlimited number of such citations, each with different values in their CDs. Which set should appear in the bibliography? That's one of the issues when using split CDs to format the footnotes - you have to write the bibliography template so it works without the CDs, which means that information you might want in the bibliography can't appear there. This is one of (many) reasons that drove me to give up "lumper" sources with split CDs and convert to "splitter" sources where all the information can appear in the bibliography.

You're welcome, Doug. But your thanks for maintaining the site belong mainly to Bob Velke, who is paying the bills. I and the others who are responding are volunteers who are just trying to help out.

At last report serial numbers are available from two sources, as listed in this article on my website.

Let me see... you bought an unlock code for a product that was no longer supported by its producer, and you didn't keep a copy of it in a safe place? What did you expect to do when you had to install again? The dealer you bought it from is most likely the Dutch dealer, Harry Goegebeur, since he's the only one I know of who had codes for sale in Nov 2014. I have no idea whether he is able to recover the lost code for you, but you might try emailing him to see. His address is Harry.Goegebeur@genea.be

To add one thing to what Jim said... The Picklist does not say you have 329 people, but that you have 329 names. You will have fewer people than that because of maiden names, nicknames, and other alternate names. I suspect that the 249 people count is right. What is the highest ID# you have?

Mary, I am continuing to use TMG because I can't find another program that has some of the features I use heavily. I think upgrading to TMG 9 while you still can is a good idea. There are a number of useful features, and I suspect (without clear knowledge) that your chances of using the TMG import features of another program should you decide to do that will be more successful from the current version. There is currently no other program that offers all the features of TMG. How important that may be for you depends on which features of TMG you use and find important. I would suggest you look at my article The Future for TMG Users for some suggestions, including sources for TMG 9 and links to the TMG Refugees list where you may learn more about converting to other programs.

John, I suspect there is more than one way, but my article on Useful Tricks offers some suggestions.