Michael Hannah

Look at Preferences / Program Options for various font settings. Also search the HELP with the keyword "Fonts".

For the fonts you ask for, see the Preferences / Program Options / Lists options for fonts.

...would anyone know of a means to purchase the final version of TMG at this apparently late date.

 

I do not know if they still have any, but last I heard the following authorized reseller "might" still have some copies. They recommend contacting by email:

 

Nettplassen tha.no, Norway

Web store: http://www.tha.no

E-mail: tha@tha.no

I've been using and upgrading TMG for 20 years, and I check at least once a year for a new version.

In my experience with computer software, once a year is way too seldom to check for updates for any software product. But that was your choice.

 

So I checked last month, only to discover that a new version had been released.

Yes, Version 9 was released the first week of March, nine months ago.

 

The "burden" (as mentioned in a previous post) to keep up-to-date is one which for which WhollyGenes must take some of the initiative - particularly if the business model is so dependent on people buying the newest version. Yet, in all the years I've had TMG I've never once had a notification to tell me a new version was available (and yes, I've double checked that my main email address is registered with them, and no, I don't have any anti-spam enabled, and no, I never delete emails so can be sure that I've not been notified).

It has been my experience that Wholly Genes has taken considerable initiative to notify users, more than almost any other software company I know of. First, it periodically has sent out newsletters, with examples in 2014 being:

• Feb 2014
• Mar 2014- announcing Version 9
• Apr 2014
• May 2014
• July 2014 - announcing that Version 9 would be the last version and that sales would end at the end of Sept 2014
• Sep 2014 - reminding users that sales by Wholly Genes were about to end
• Nov 2014 - reminding users that Wholly Genes would end sales of their other products at the end of the month
• Dec 2014 - announcing the final, free, update to Version 9

If users have not made a point to ensure that they receive those newsletters, that is their choice.

 

The announcement of the new Version 9 was posted on this Forum, with lots of comments and follow up posts from users. If users have not been browsing this Forum that is their choice.

 

There is an email ListServ at RootsWeb about TMG which is run by users. Wholly Genes has posted to that list at least twenty times in the past year, including announcing every upgrade and every newsletter. One can either subscribe, or simply browse that list on the web without subscribing. If users have not done either, that is their choice.

 

Finally, the software itself will check automatically for messages which are periodically sent out by Wholly Genes. If users have disabled that automatic notification check, that is their choice.

 

I would never move to the first release of a new version (I've been bitten twice by upgrading in this way).

I often take the same approach, and that is your choice. But I always buy the new version when it is released, then wait for the free first update before installing. TMG is already on the fifth free update of Version 9. Anyone who has bought Version 9, but has chosen not to install it yet, will be able to download the full installer of the V9.05 update for several months to come, and thus install the final Version 9 whenever they decide.

 

Programs don't last forever, of course, but to prevent loyal users from upgrading to the final version is truly a disgrace.

I fail to see how Wholly Genes has prevented people from upgrading to the final version. Version 9, which is now known to be the final version, has been on sale for at least 7 months. In almost all other similar circumstances I have encountered, a software company going out of business has simply closed its doors with no notice. Wholly Genes gave about three months notice of shutting down, and is still providing user support (though no sales) through the end of this month.

 

I am just a user who has volunteered to answer questions on this Forum, but in my opinion Wholly Genes has attempted to communicate regularly and often with its users. If users choose not to listen, that is their choice, but does result in consequences.

Paul,

 

If the pop-up doesn't have anything, what does the box you are hovering over say?

Paul,

 

If it does not say what person, what does it say?

 

No, I am pretty sure you cannot change to internal that way. But it is usually considered that having image exhibits as external is a much better idea. I think you would have to do a new attach as internal then delete the external one. But why would you want to do that?

Hi Carol,

 

As described in the new features for V7:

"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."

 

Yes, this feature is very much still in V9. When in the Exhibit Log if you select an image exhibit and click on the View/Edit button (or double click the image exhibit icon), you will be in the Image editor. It offers a few items on its toolbar under the "Highlight layer" heading to draw on the image or make boxes or circles on the image.

 

This image editor is not as feature-rich as a dedicated separate image editor, but it can be very useful.

 

More details can be found in the internal HELP under the topic "Add Image Highlight".

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

I suspect, Paul, that the old exhibits are still linked to something in your project.

 

You might try looking for the old exhibits in the Exhibit Log. Open the log and change the focus to "All Exhibits". If you are sure the old exhibits are images you could also limit your looking to only Type=Image. Scroll through the log and look for a missing exhibit icon. Click on it and then "hover" your cursor over the box at the bottom right above the Properties button. The Pop-up will show you if the missing exhibit is attached to a Person or an Event, and will tell you more than what shows in that box. Hopefully that information will be enough to tell you where that exhibit is still linked.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

John,

 

The most obvious suggestion is to check your backup options. I suspect that one included exhibits and the other did not.

Johnny,

 

If you had already purchased Version 9 you do not need a CD, you only need your unlock code. You can still download the full installer file from the Wholly Genes site. You can then make a copy of that on to your own CD.

 

Even if your unlock code was lost with your computer crash (no backup, huh?) you can still download the installer file and contact Wholly Genes (through the end of December) with your basic purchase information and have them re-send you the unlock code.

Deselecting all windows, reselecting (then repositioning) each one in turn causes them to reappear in the bottom left of the main window.

Saving this layout appears to function as usual.

Not all the previously saved custom layouts appear in the saved list.

In addition to Jim's suspicion that you are restoring old configuration files and overwriting your updated files, some further ideas come to mind based on your above comments.

 

First, is it possible that the custom layouts were originally constructed on a computer with a larger screen size, number of monitors, and/or resolution? The saved layout positions may be defined for areas which are physically off the new screen.

 

Next, you say that "saving the layout appears to function as usual." If you recreate and save several layouts do you now see those newly recreated layouts in the saved list? If you do, then at least you only need to recreate the layouts one time. If not, that is a separate problem.

 

Finally, the lack of seeing saved layout files in the list suggests two possible issues. First, after restoring a backup which includes restoring old configuration files, you must exit TMG and then restart it so that TMG can propagate its lists from the new set of files. Second, if you still do not see the list, then check all your folder settings in Preferences, especially Project preferences. Many default folder locations are intentionally stored as part of the preferences for each project, so a user can choose to have separate folders for separate projects. The folder saved locations may simply not exist on the new computer, which is often the case if the OS of the new computer is different than the old or the username under which you are running is different. Whenever you restore a project on a different computer you will need to check and update the folders in Preferences.

 

I also highly recommend you review Terry Reigel's Tips for moving a project to a new computer posted here which give many more suggestions than the few I mention above.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

Debbie,

Your years of work are not lost at all. Your TMG version may not be current, but it should be very usable as long as your operating system will run it. What version do you have?

Hi Tom,

 

You can do this, but I don't know of a way to do it in one step. Just noticed Terry posted with the same suggestion. He types faster than me.

 

(I am assuming you have someone with such a large number of children and grandchildren that selecting the grandchildren from the Project Explorer and adding them individually to a Focus Group would be tedious.)

 

By running two fairly simple List of People (LOP) reports, one after another, you can turn on a Flag for only the grandchildren. It takes longer to describe than it will to run the reports.

 

First define a custom Flag, say called "Grchild" with values N,Y

This will initialize this Flag for everyone in the database to the first (default) value 'N'

Now run the first LOP report. Set the Filter to:

 

ID number // = Equals // ID# // END

 

where ID# is the ID of the ancestor of interest.

But be sure to check "Descendants" at the bottom and put 2 for # of generations.

In the Report Options on the Secondary Output tab set "Change Flag" of Grchild to 'Y'

Run the report. This will set the Flag to 'Y' for the Grandparent, the children, and the grandchildren.

Now run the LOP report a second time, but...
Change the Filter to have only "1" for # of generations

Also change the Secondary Output tab to set the Flag back to the default of 'N'

This will turn off the Flag of the Grandparent and the children, and leave only the grandchildren with the Flag set to a value of 'Y'

Now that the flag is set you can run any number of reports you desire using a filter of people who have this Flag = 'Y' and the report will be for only these grandchildren.

 

========

 

As a variation, you could define the Flag to have a number of values, say 0,1,2,3,4,5,6

Now run the LOP the first time with generations = 6 and set the Flag to 6.

Then run it again but changing generations = 5 and set the Flag to 5.

--- and so forth until '1'

 

Now all the descendants of the individual (up to your max number) will have the Flag set to the number of generations away. So to get a report of grandchildren simply use a filter of Flag = '2', for great grandchildren use '3', etc.

 

=======

For either of these variations, you will either need to manually set the Flag for any new descendants you add, or run a LOP report to reset all Flags to its default and then rerun the set of reports.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

The home page for John's utility is:

http://www.johncardinal.com/tmgutil/

Chris, this has been reported and answered a number of times here and on TMG-L. This is a new Windows permissions issue. One time right-click on the TMG program icon, select Run as Administrator from that right-click menu, enter your password that one time, then exit. Now run as a normal user and you should not be prompted again.

Use John Cardinal's TMG Utility to change all internal images to external as one bulk operation.

Jim is trying to describe what to do.

 

If that is not clear, here is what NOT to do. Do not initiate the upgrade from inside TMG itself. Do not use the "Check for an update" from within the TMG HELP menu. Instead exit TMG and follow Jim's directions.

When you output a report to Word you can use Word options to change the nature of the citation reference numbers, e.g. to be roman numerals.

Robin,

What I do for these situations is have a separate extra Role defined in my Death tag in addition to my default Role. For those people where I have not found sufficient data to assign reasonably accurate Birth and Death dates, and therefore any Age variable might be misleading, I use a Role whose sentence does not contain any Age variable.

I do not know of a filter to only find Dates which have a "Before" modifier, but you could use a List of Events report with a filter something like:

Tag Type Group is // Death // AND
Date // Has Modifier //       END

Scanning the Dates in the output you should be able to find appropriate event tags where you would wish to reassign the Role used.

Since the Age is based on both Birth and Death, and having a Date modifier in either might be a problem, you could use a dual filter of:

( Tag Type Group is // Birth //   OR
  Tag Type Group is // Death // ) AND
  Date // Has Modifier //         END

Carefully note the parentheses. In this report sorting first on Prin1 ID and second on Tag Type Group would group the Birth and Death tags together and give you an idea if you wanted to change the Role in the Death tag.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

 

Please could someone give me some advice.

Happy to try.

First on installation. Do I need to uninstall version 9.01 before installing version 9.04?

Either way will work. You can simply run the V9.04 installer, and it will recognize that you already have v9.01 and replace it. But you could uninstall v9.01 and then run the V9.04 installer. Some of us find that more reassuring. Whichever way you prefer.

Secondly on Projects - My understanding is that I must again back up all my projects from 9.01 and then restore them in 9.04.

No, not necessary. Your V9.01 projects will be recognized by V9.04 and updated in place. However, it never hurts at least to backup all your projects first just to be safe.

It would be easier to do this if I can run both programs

Since they are the same Major version number (version 9) they are the same program and cannot both be run at the same time on the same machine. If they were different Major Versions (e.g. V8 and V9) you could run both at the same time on the same machine as they are considered different programs.

Once I have installed TMG 9.04 is it able to open TMG Projects created in versions earlier than 8?

Yes, you can simply open any project back to Version 5 in V9.04. The even earlier Version 4 projects and backups must be "Imported" but can still be read in that way. But it is always recommended to make some kind of backup of older projects, even just making a Zip file of the folder, before opening them and upgrading them in the newer program version.

 

As TMG is not going to have another Major version, now is probably a good time to do the housekeeping of upgrading all your older projects from whatever version to become V9 projects. Then they would be directly available whenever you want to use them in the future.

I also run 9.01 on an xp Netbook for taking out to the national archives. I assume I will have to use 9.04 there as well as the Projects wont be openable in both versions of TMG 9?

Correct, once you upgrade a project to V9.04 you cannot open it with an earlier program version.

I have assumed that 9.04 must be handled as if it is an entirely new version

As I mentioned above, only new Major Version numbers need to be handled as entirely new programs.

There may be other happy users of TMG who want to continue using it for research but are as confused as I am.

Hope this helps relieve the confusion. And if Wholly Genes releases another bugfix for Version 9 before January, all of the above would apply to that release with respect to already having V9.01 or V9.04 installed.

I agree with Jim's recommendation to use external exhibits. Generally you do not want to select the TMG Backup option to include Exhibits in a TMG Backup. It is recommended to backup, move, and restore Exhibits yourself separately outside of TMG using Windows facilities, like WinZip. Exhibits do not tend to change often so don't need to be backed up as often as constantly changing data, and would make a TMG Backup much larger than it needs to be.

When I attach an exhibit for example a census to a primary person. The census will usually contain relatives residing in the same household. Is there an easy way of attaching the exhibit to other persons / relatives in that household without having to attache individually. Any help appreciated.

If the other persons are linked to that event tag as Witnesses, then that exhibit is automatically also linked to those other persons. One of the options on the Exhibits tab for some reports is to "Include event exhibits" and "Include each occurrence". Depending on these options the exhibit will output for each person linked to that event tag.

 

An added advantage to external exhibits is that you can link the same Exhibit to multiple tags for multiple people without duplicating the Exhibit within TMG internal files. Linking externally only sets a pointer within TMG in each tag to the one external file. If you have the external files in the same folder on both computers, this makes it easy. But you can use the option within Verify File Integrity to easily reset the external Exhibit pointers to a different folder on a different computer.

 

I use external exhibits for all image exhibits. I only use internal exhibits for text exhibits. And as Jim mentions, if you intend to use SecondSite to create web pages from your TMG project, that program requires image exhibits to be external.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

This is a common misunderstanding. For some time now the TMG program releases have not been true "updates" containing only the changes to the program. All releases have been full and complete installers. If the new full installer is for the same major version of TMG which is already installed on that computer (e.g. the installer for V7.04 when you already have V7.01 installed), it will completely replace that existing older version. But if you do not already have that major version installed (e.g. have a V7 version installed but installing V9), the new full installer will install as a completely separate program and leave the older version untouched. That will give you both major versions installed.

 

Once you have a newer version installed, you should now upgrade your project data files to the new version.

 

Hope this helps explain,

I agree with Jim. I see no value in transferring to an intermediate version. If you are upgrading, go straight to the most current version, V9.04.

Of course, if you are bothering to upgrade anyway, why not to V9? Or did not not purchase that while you could?

Some resellers may still have copies to sell.

Not with TMG itself, or Version 9. But problems can be caused by also running some program in the background, like an automatic backup/mirroring program or a real-time virus checker, which monitors/touches/backs-up TMG files while TMG is running. Be sure to exclude all the TMG folders (or any folders of a database program) from actions by such programs. That is the most common issue I have seen reported for any version of TMG, and such programs seem to be more prevalent in running and including all disk folders by default in Windows 8 and 8.1.

Since Version 7 and Version 9 are enough different, I would suggest you change to and get used to Version 9 as soon as possible.