Share Partial TMG dataset

[tmomeyer 0]

Hi, new TMG 7.0 Gold user and new to this forum.

 

I know someone that uses TMG (not sure what version) and asked them if they would share the research (TMG file?) with me and they said they have some personal info in it that they would not want to share. I looked at import and export in TMG and cannot see a way to share 'part' of a TMG file. Let's say that I don't need the most current 3 generations in their TMG file (which I assume eliminates their worry about sharing personal info), but am interested in starting about 4 generations back. I don't see info for exporting or saving part of a TMG file and the 'how to do it'. There is info how to save to other programs and to GEDCOM, and to early versions of TMG, but not for a relatively current TMG file. How does one TMG user share data with another TMG user?

 

 

Thanks, Tom

[Terry Reigel 0]

Export works essentually the same way in TMG versions 5, 6, and 7. At step 4 of the Export Wizard, you can specify 1) All people, 2) Selected people in the Project Explorer, or 3) People in the Focus Group.

 

To export a selected group, before you start the Export Wizard, you select the desired people in either the Project Explorer, or the Focus Group. The two tools work quite differently, and which is easier depends on the specification of the group you want to include in the export.

 

To use the Project Explorer, you open that tool, then "select" (highlight) the people you want to include. You can select multiple people with the standard Windows selection methods ... click one person, then hold Shift and click another to select everyone between the two, or, hold Ctrl and click on individual people to select scattered individuals. It is also possible to use filters so that only a limited set of people appear in the Project Explorer to make selection simpler.

 

To use the Focus Group, you first empty it, then add a single person. You could add others individually, but it is generally easier to use the "Add Others" feature of the Focus Group to add groups of people according to their relationship to the people already present in the Focus Group.

 

More information on use of Filters and the Focus Group can be found in my article on People Filters.

 

Don't hesitate to ask if you need more specific information.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Tom,

 

You say that you do not know the version of TMG the other person has. If you both have TMG, then there is one additional method you should consider. Rather than export, the person with the older version of TMG could create a new separate TMG project of only the people in the Focus Group. For example they could run a List of Persons report filtered for that Focus Group and set the Options for Secondary Output to produce a new TMG project. They could then do a TMG backup of that separate project and send the other TMG user that .sqz file. A person with the same or newer version of TMG can then restore that .sqz file to see the full information in that project. They could then take a series of steps to selectively merge people from that project into their own project. If you both have the same version of TMG, or the older version wants to share with the newer version, then this might be the way to share the most complete amount of information. If you choose to do this, I suggest the recipient of the .sqz file review Terry Tips about merging projects and datasets here before doing any merging.

[tmomeyer 0]

OK, Thanks for the ideas for how to share partial datasets between TMG users. I'm new at this, and this morning played around with a dataset that I got off of GEDCOM using the Project Explorer, Focus Groups, and Filters. I think that creating the Focus Group using the Add Other features and then running a report with secondary set to creating a new project worked A-OK! Thanks for ideas.

 

Tom

[Terry Reigel 0]

Tom,

 

I don't know why I didn't think of using a backup instead of GEDCOM to transfer the data, as Michael suggests. Depending on which TMG features your correspondent used, this may produce a much better result. That's because there is considerable potential data loss with GEDCOM.

 

If they only have entered basic data using simple source citations the results with GEDCOM should be pretty good. If they used things like Witnesses, certain event tags with multiple Principals, or complex sources some of the data may well not be transmitted to you.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Multiple ideas from multiple users is the whole purpose of this forum. None of us can think of everything. Glad the combined ideas of Terry and I were helpful.