daniel_james_gullo

Are there any plans to make the paths under Current Project Options > Advanced relative instead of absolute??? This has been a huge nightmare and source of frustation for me over the last year since I have purchased TMG. It would make much more sense to allow a paths such as: ..\exhibits ..\backups ..\timelines etc. Then, when if you open a project file: C:\My Documents\TMG\Blah\Blah_Family.PJC you know that the exhibits would be in: C:\My Documents\TMG\Blah\exhibits etc.

I am wondering if there is anyway to make Age a calculated field; i.e. either: today's date - birthdate or death date - birthdate. I realize that some folks (a very small percentage) might want to enter an age for a person whose birthdate they may not know (or death date). However, I think the vast majority of us would benefit from the former functionality. Anyone know if this is possible?

I am not an expert with TMG. I typically use it 2-3 times a year for a week or two at a time as I have a very busy schedule with work. I recently upgraded to 6.12. However, I seem to remember that you could double-click a person in Project Explorer (?) and it would change the primary person (select individual) in the Person View, Tree View, and Family View. Also, I don't remember the family groups being rolled-up in a tree structure in the Project Explorer; i.e. with nodes for individuals which when expanded show spouses and offspring. I have about 2500 people in my file and need a simple way to shoot to a person by name and have that become the primary person in the Person View; i.e. the person selected. I searched the forums on here and the FAQ but couldn't find the answer. Please help. Thanks.

When I change from Collapsed Surname to Surname, I still see the node boxes (i.e. the plus/minus signs). However, it is the Simple Pick List that I was thinking of. I don't see where it is available from any of the menu items. That window is precisely what I need in terms of functionality. Problem is, how do I get that to stay visible? I.e. I want to create a view with the Person/Tree/Family window and the Simple Pick List. The way it works now, as you suggested with F2, when I select someone, it jumps to that person but the Pick List window closes.

I came up through the ranks of sofware development and I am now a Product Manager. 1) It would be very easy to implement (using a default location that can be later changed, the same way MS Office and a million other programs do.) 2) It would help bring TMG to the next level of sophistication by adding value. I would love to have a 1 on 1 with their Product Manager. I have a list of features that would really add value and wouldn't be too hard to include. Like, the one I mentioned in another thread where there are multiple links to a single exhibit, rather than multiple copies of the exhibit for each link. That way, I can scan a picture from 1890, enter it as a single exhibit, and then link all the people who are in the picture to the single exhibit.

I would like to include group pictures in TMG with multiple links to the folks in the picture. E.g. I use "Insert new image > Select existing file" to import a picture of my brother John, our father Joe, and myself for my record. How do I then reference this exhibit from John and Joe's records? The idea here is not to have multiple copies of the same exhibits.

Update: I finally abandoned the idea of using TMG for cataloguing pictures as well as the genealogical links. It is a damn shame that it is not yet robust enough to handle exhibits in the manner that it should, i.e. with relational links rather than multple instances. As has been mentioned, there are other more robust tools for indexing, cataloguing, etc. I settled on Iview MediaPro which was recently acquired by Microsoft and is becoming Expression Media. It allows adding quite a bit of meta data to the media files which can include sounds, pictures, documents, etc. Problem with this program is that, even though it claims to allow scanning of images directly into the program, you have to use a third party scanning interface. It really is short-sighted for the program NOT to offer a built in TWAIN interface. Hopefully now that MS is involve, that will become a reality.

What program are you using to catalogue your pictures? Does it allow you to identify all the subjects in the photo? Does it cross-reference subjects; E.g. can you search based on John Doe and see all photos containing John Doe? Does it store one actual copy of the photo and create multiple links to it? I know TMG wasn't designed to be a photo-management program, however, as others have noted, the same issue exists with ALL exhibits. Namely, TMG stores multiple thumbnails of the same document. This occurs when you reference the same exhibit from multiple individuals. IMHO, there is a lot of benefit in being able to select an individual and see all the photos that have that person in them.

Indeed. I have been trying to simultaneously update my Genealogy information and scan about 150 years worth of photographs. I began developing a convoluted method of cataloguing the images that involved a bit for each person, arranged into groups of 5 so that a single base 32 character was capable of showing all combinations of the 5 bits. Then, the file name would consist of a series of base 32 characters, an approximate year, and a 4 digit serial number. However, I soon discovered that with 246 base 32 characters, I would only be able to represent 1230 people. (There would be a dash, then the year, another dash, then the serial number=256 characters max for a file name). You can also see that files with 256 character names would be a bit difficult to manage. Thus, I thought I might be able to import them into TMG and simply tie the subjects of the photos to the photos themselves. It would be an easy way of browsing though, creating slideshows, etc. I guess that won't be an option.

The problem is simple, if you move the data around or have a removeable/external HDD that is assigned a different letter occasionally, the absolute paths in the Exhibit references is broken. If it were relative, TMG would say "Ok, the project was opened in J:\Blahblahblah\gobbledy-gook\TMG, so, the exhibits are in J:\Blahblahblah\gobbledy-gook\TMG\exhibits, since he put ..\exhibits" There are many programs in the world that allow you to do this. It's nothing unusual.

I tried that. However, when you go to view ALL exhibits, it creates multiple copies of the same picture when you do that.

I have been evaluating TMG for the last two weeks now. The reason I considered switching to TMG is because it places more emphasis on documentation and evidence than other programs do. However, I see a major shortcoming in the basic structure of items such as source documents, exhibits, etc. Sure, you can indicate whatever path you like in the Preferences\Advanced section. However, it would make much more sense to also allow relative paths based upon the location of the entire collection of data or what I am calling the Master Data Repository. For instance, there would be an optional field for Master Data Repository and then the user could indicate relative paths to this path: ..\pics ..\Timelines ..\Reports This way, when you scan images and such in TMG, the image wouldn't be saved with an absolute path and consequently be broken when/if the data is moved because it would always use the relative path to whatever is indicated in the Master Data Repository. It's the same principle behind coding web pages that has saved hours and hours of frustration. At this point, I can't justify investing my time to input all of this data when I know for sure in the future, I will need to move it; perhaps even several times. -DJG

Precisely, John. That's a good summary of my suggestion as well. In my case, I have a central server in my house and anyone in the family can access the TMG repository. To acheive this, I have indicated the path in TMG on all machines as: \\servername\shared_tmg_folder If/When I migrate the data or if I want to burn the repository on to a DVD or whatever and send it to my other relatives, the paths will all be screwed up. Relative paths would go a long way to remedy sharing/distribution issues.

I have a file server which holds all of my data. Sometimes I work on the console, and sometimes I work on my laptop and my wife also has a laptop. The project file is on a shared drive and we can each access it. The problem is that the project has source documents with exhibits in the log which I have painstakenly scanned. However, each time I scan a document, it stores it in the local Pics folder under C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist. I want the pictures to be kept with the project files. This will avoid problems when moving/migrating/distributing the project file to others. Is there an easy way to fix this?

Actually though, there is a problem in that the reference path for the items I have already scanned is not changed. I.e. if I scanned ma_and_pa.jpg and saved it as c:\program files\the master genealogist\pics\ma_and_pa.jpg, changing the path to, say, G:\Genealogy\pics has no effect. The exhibit still points to the path on C: It would be pretty damn ridiculous if I had to go back through and change the path for every single exhibit I have scanned thusfar. This is another reason for my assertion that there should be relative paths rather than absolute. -D

Fantastic! Thanks.

Also, I think it would make more sense to have a relative path for the images based upon the project location: E.g. ..\pics\ma_and_pa.jpg NOT C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist\pics\ma_and_pa.jpg That way, no matter where you move the project data, the images can be referenced.

Is there a stock tag that is intended for generational numbers; e.g. James II, Thomas IV, etc.?

Nevermind, I found it. Suffix.

Over the years, I have used almost all of the different genealogy programs at one time or another. One feature I would like to see is what I call a "Butterfly" chart. Essentially, this is a double-pedigree chart for an individual. The way it would work is you select an individual and indicate "Butterfly" chart. Then, there would be a line going up from that individual to the line between his parents; the father on the left and the mother on the right. From there, the father would have a regular pedigree chart only instead of "branching" to the right, it would branch left; going progressively further backward as the chart goes to the left. For the mother, the chart would essentially be a traditional pedigree chart; the kind that can be found in almost ALL programs. I would even settle for an option in the pedigree chart that indicates "left branching" or "right branching" because then I could just print two pedigree wall charts and tape them together. The former solution would be the prefered method, however. I have attached a JPG example of what the chart would look like: Does anyone know how to achieve this easily and quickly with Master Genealogist v6? Is there another program that can do this? -D