KHemmelman

I find that I still use a (now somewhat) old version of Family Tree Maker to print their 'Outline Descendant' report. (I only use this program specifically for this one report.) The Descendant Indented Chart within TMG is the closest report to this. I have found that the Family Tree Maker report is easily the most requested and desired format that relatives want. This is due to how it looks and the info that I can put in it. Over the years, I've found that I would like to eliminate FTM from my computer due to issues not important to discuss here. So of course I'd love to request a future update within TMG to the Descendant Indented Chart report to give a bit more flexibility. My wish for an enhancement to the TMG Descendant Indented Chart would be this: 1. - Add an option (checkbox) to add generation numbers in front of the individual's names on the report. What I'm referring to is that the 'starting' individual would show up as (1) John Doe. Then John Doe's children would show up as (2) Betty Doe, etc. And of course John Doe's grandchildren would have a (3) in front of their name, and so on down the line. The "tree lines" are very nice in this report, but in a 30 page report when you jump from page 4 to page 25, it's easy to get lost when trying to track what generation you're looking at and having a simple number in front of each persons name would make reading things easier. This could be a simple option that I could turn on or off as desired. 2. - Word wrap. I like that I can turn off the "Truncate to printer" option to wrap that data because I find that on multiple individuals, either due to the amount of information or level of indentation, that their information wraps at the end of the line and if you don't uncheck this option, it will simply get cutoff. However, when the info is wrapped, the next line actually 'cuts into' the "tree lines" over on the left side of the page and it just doesn't look good with that break in the lines. I find I would prefer that the line gets wrapped to the "indentation level" of that individual instead of having it wrap back to the left hand margin and cause a break in the tree lines. 3. - Ability to include "Divorce" information in the report. Currently you can check a box to include Birth, Marriage, Death, and Burial tags in the report, but any divorce tags are not included as part of the marriage tag. I have found on some occassions when giving out a report that if an invidual is divorced from someone and my report shows them as married and I neglect to reflect they are divorced, then this can create a bit of "tension". In some cases it would be very helpful if I could include the Divorce tag too in this report. 4. - The FTM report I use actually uses "dot leaders" instead of the tree lines that TMG uses. I actually like both options and I know there are various relatives that would prefer the report one way, and others the other way. I would find it helpful if I had the option to turn off the tree lines and instead use dot leaders going from the left hand margin to the indented invidual. Keith Hemmelman

I uninstalled TMG6 and installed TMG7. Prior to uninstalling TMG6, I performed a backup. I then did a restore in TMG7. However, I use a folder strucutre as listed below. The restore wouldn't let me restore to the folders I wanted to use, and instead I had to restore to the initial default of "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\Projects". I figured that was no big deal. After restoring the files, I exited TMG7 and then moved all the project files to my preferred folder location listed below. I deleted the "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structue since I won't be using them. (Note the word 'deleted' is in bold. This seems to be the key to the problem.) I then ran TMG7 and opened the project from the new location. I then went into the File - Preferences and set all the file folder locations to reflect my preferred locations below. However, when I exit TMG7 and then re-run it, it does not remember the last file opened and when I check the default project file folder location, it has reverted back to "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\Projects". I set the default project location again to the folder of my choice, but everytime I close and re-run TMG7, if the "\My Documents\The Master Genealogis v7\" folder structure doesn't exist, the next time I run the TMG7 program, it will recreate this folder structure even though I don't want to use it AND the default location reverts back to this folder instead of remembering the folder that actually contains my data. I use the below folder structure for a few reasons. I have other genealogy programs and want all my genealogy files, etc. stored under a common folder location to make it easy for me to back them up. Also, I have a folder located under this common location that contains my genealogy photos, exhibits, etc.. I did this since I can have the files stored in a single folder and have 3 programs use those same files and only have to worry about storing them in one location. \My Documents\ .........................\Genealogy\ .............................................\_Media\ .............................................\Legacy\ .............................................\RootsMagic\ .............................................\Second Site 2\ .............................................\The Master Genealogist v7\ ................................................................................ .........\Backups\ ................................................................................ .........\Projects\ I didn't list every single subfolder, but you get the idea. Basically I store things under "\My Documents\Genealogy\The Master Genealogist v7\". And I want the default project folder location to be "\My Documents\Genealogy\The Master Genealogist v7\Projects", but after setting this and exiting the program, if I delete the generic default folder of \My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\, the program will create that structure and revert back to it as the default folder location. If I leave that default folder structure that TMG creates, then it will at least remember my settings. However, I don't want the "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structure to exist since it won't be used and to avoid confusion on my part. Am I stuck with leaving the default folders that TMG v7 creates even though they aren't used? Keith Hemmelman

mjh and wypman, the problem isn't that I can't locate my UserData folder to the folder of my choosing. The problem is the "other" UserData folder that TMG "insists" on creating and keeping in existance. This other folder is the "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structure. As I said in my original post, if I change the File - Preferences locations within TMG to "my" folder and then delete the "TMG" folder, the program will change the file preferences locations for the project that I just set back to the original "TMG" created folder. It also recreates this folder structure if it doesn't exist, which of course it didn't exist because I deleted it since I won't be using it. Keep in mind, this is "user" data, not TMG program data. If TMG has a need to create and use files for the purpose of making the program operate, that is fine, but there's no reason it should insist on this extra user data folder existing and it can store any program data elsewhere, like under the AppData folder in your profile. I fully understand about file permissions, user data locations, etc. I have Windows XP on my computer, but I have been working with Vista at work for the past several months and am the one responsible for developing our clone image to be deployed to thousands of computers. I'm intimately familiar with the change in folder structure from XP for both the profiles and user data locations within Vista. There are also other changes in Vista that are extremely frustrating to deal with, especially when deploying it within a corporate environement. However, the problem I reported is due to TMG, and TMG alone. It has nothing to do with file permissions, folder locations, the OS, or Microsoft restrictions. The TMG program insists on creating (and keeping) the original "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structure even when it is not used. This is a function of the TMG program. This initially was very confusing to me what was going on. I prefer to logically structure my data folders and get rid of the excessive and unnecessary folders since I have so many of them already. So of course that is what I did after setting my preferences but it turned out that TMG was pulling a bit of a fast one on me since I did know what it was doing. After reading the response from Virginia and Terry, there is actually a "work around" for this problem. (Thanks go to you two!) I have done this and resolved things. I had to manually create a "User_data.txt" file using the correct structure and contents and then place it in the TMG Program Files folder. If this file exists (and is created properly), the TMG program will automatically read its' contents and the end result is it will now finally use the folder I want to use and it will no longer automatically create the uneeded "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structure. So the end result is I have things working the way they should be. However, I feel it shouldn't be necessary to manually create a text file to "override" the program. This could easily be accomplished right under those same File - Preferences. And I don't feel the TMG program should need to re-create that default folder structure "after" I have specifically told it not to use it and to instead use the folder structure in the location that I want to use. This is for Duane: Duane, Terry and others are correct. TMG v7 is an incredible program with immense capabilities. (More than I use.) I'm not sure if I understand your statement about storing your files and if you meant you store them under the "C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist" folder structure. If so, as a general rule this is not a good place to store any data for any program and never has been a good place. It's too hard to track where you data is and makes it difficult to backup your data. Also, there are changes in Vista that don't like to write files to the program files folders. You can probably get around this by changing the file permissions there, but honestly, the best place to store your files on a Windows based computer is under the "My Documents" folder, or "Documents" folder in Vista. (Well, for a home user it is. For corporate environments it's best to redirect data folders to a server.) The workaround I mention above does work. Even though I feel this behavior in TMG shouldn't be occuring and posted about it, don't take that as an endorsement by me that I dislike or am somehow having problems with TMG. I love this program and other than it being somewhat sluggish compared to other programs, I feel it's a very solid program with just about everything you could ever want in a genealogy program. Keith Hemmelman

Terry and Virginia, thank you for the reply and the pointer to the section in the Help file. However, after reading the information, I have to admit I'm rather disappointed in this change in the TMG program. These are simply recommendations from Microsoft on where UserData is stored, they should not be requirements. All of Microsoft's own programs allow me to change the default "UserData" path to any drive/folder of my choosing. After I change the path, there is no requirement by Microsoft that the previous default UserData folder exist like there is in TMG. I realize that the Help File states that it will create this UserData folder structure if it doesn't exist, but it doesn't explain why. It appears it is TMG that is requiring the old user data path to exist and not some obscure requirement by Microsoft. Since that old UserData folder structure is not used by me to store any data in, why does it need to exist? The manual interaction of creating a Data_Paths.txt file to store files where I want to store them is far too confusing for most folks and there are enough warnings in the Help file to scare most folks off from further pursuing this. (There's no reason this step couldn't be automated under the File - Preferences of TMG.) Doing this procedure to gain control over my UserData path is also not something that is a Microsoft recommendation, this is a TMG solution to a problem created by TMG's requirement that the old (and unused) UserData path exist. I appreciate that I can (hopefully) follow these instructions so I can have control over the UserData folder I want to use, but this change from TMG6 to TMG7 with regards to the UserData path folder seems unecessary. I mean why even have the ability now in TMG 7 for me to set the various user folder paths under the File - Preferences if the underlying intention of this program is that I don't change them from the initial defaults? I'm sorry to vent like this. Please don't take my comments personally because I'm grateful for the help offered here, but like I said, I'm rather disappointed in this change in TMG 7. I just don't understand why there is a requirement by TMG (not Microsoft) that the "\My Documents\The Master Genealogist v7\" folder structure exist when it will never be used. Hopefully I can follow the instructions on creating the Data_Paths.txt file and not destroy my data and then have control over the folders created underneathy the "\My Documents\" folder. Keith Hemmelman

FYI, the original poster had the problem before v6.08 existed and there didn't appear to be any replies that solved the problem, but since it was quite some time ago, I assume the problem got resolved one way or another. I replied to this old thread since I experienced the same problem and found it while searching here. (It seemed appropriate for me to reply to this thread.) I did update my TMG to v6.08 and it didn't help. However, I completely uninstalled and reinstalled TMG and now it functions properly without any errors. I probably should have done this before I searched the forums here, but since I had changed nothing with TMG, it seemed a rather odd problem to just pop up out of nowhere. So in the end, other than a bit of confusion and an un-answered question as to what happened, I'm back up and running. Keith

I did a search on this problem and found this thread. I'm having the same problem as of today. I added a new father to an individual and the "Image" window I had on screen closed. When I select "Window" - "Image", the 'Focus Group' window opens instead. (If I select "Window" - "Focus Group", nothing opens.) I was using a custom layout and it still showed I was using that layout. I made no changes to my layout though since all I did was simply add an individual and the window disappeared. All my other windows in my custom layout are in place where they should be. I was running TMG v6.05 and tried to reindex/optimize, but that did not help. I then updated to v6.08 and still have the same problem. The menu command "Window" - "Image" still opens the Focus Group window. The same thing happens if I click the "Image window" button on the toolbar. I can find no way to open my Image window now and when I try to open it, the wrong window opens. Another thing that is weird is when I select "Tools" - "Exhibit Log", none of the images show up. It shows 9 thumbnails placeholders for the 9 images for the person I pulled up, but they are blank (gray) with no actual image. It also shows the description for each one if I click on them, but no image. If I try to double click on one of the gray images, I get an error message of below: "OLE error code 0x. 218 FRMEXHIBIT.MVIEWEXHIBIT" It has 'Abort', 'Retry', 'Ignore' buttons. Clicking all of the buttons do not help. I have not moved my exhibit location. Was there ever a resolution to the original poster of this issue or is there something else to try or something going on with my images? Keith Hemmelman