GEDCOM type for notes that holds a sort date

[efcharvet 0]

I want to post memos and notes in TMG with a GEDCOM tag type that recognizes dates that will sort. I know NOTE does not.

 

(When I share my data with people who use Heredis, Legacy, or a genealogy website, anything with the GEDCOM type NOTE ends-up not sorted chronologically.)

 

What GEDCOM type might be most suitable? Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Earl

[Terry Reigel 0]

As I read Earl's post, he wants to use a different GEDCOM tag type that will output Dates, not TMG's Sort Date. Is that correct, Earl?

[Michael Hannah 0]

Earl,

 

The GEDCOM export is controlled in TMG for each Tag Type in its Tag Type Definition on the "Other" tab. If you change the export from the "standard" type of NOTE to the general purpose type of EVEN with a subtype that will be the name of the TMG Tag Type, then you should get complete output of standard fields. You are correct that the TMG Note tag normally produces only the limited structure defined by the GEDCOM standard for a NOTE of:

1 NOTE This is the memo for the NOTE tag

The GEDCOM standard does not define a capability of linking a date to a NOTE. But if you change the export option for the TMG Note Tag Type to export using the EVEN GEDCOM tag, then all your TMG Note tags will output a structure like:

1 EVEN2 TYPE Note2 DATE 01 JAN 20112 NOTE This is the memo for the NOTE tag

This produces a GEDCOM Event (called Note) which has both a DATE and a NOTE linked to it. Alternatively you might wish to create a custom TMG Tag Type for such notes. Custom TMG Tag Types default to export using the EVEN GEDCOM tag. That might also lessen the possibility of confusing some other software that was importing those tags since you now have an event tag type called the same as a standard GEDCOM tag. It shouldn't be a problem, but you never know.

 

Of course, while the GEDCOM standard is so old it cannot handle a lot of the modern features in TMG, I think? this should help with what you are asking.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[efcharvet 0]

Earl,

 

The GEDCOM export is controlled in TMG for each Tag Type in its Tag Type Definition on the "Other" tab. If you change the export from the "standard" type of NOTE to the general purpose type of EVEN with a subtype that will be the name of the TMG Tag Type, then you should get complete output of standard fields. You are correct that the TMG Note tag normally produces only the limited structure defined by the GEDCOM standard for a NOTE of:

1 NOTE This is the memo for the NOTE tag

The GEDCOM standard does not define a capability of linking a date to a NOTE. But if you change the export option for the TMG Note Tag Type to export using the EVEN GEDCOM tag, then all your TMG Note tags will output a structure like:

1 EVEN2 TYPE Note2 DATE 01 JAN 20112 NOTE This is the memo for the NOTE tag

This produces a GEDCOM Event (called Note) which has both a DATE and a NOTE linked to it. Alternatively you might wish to create a custom TMG Tag Type for such notes. Custom TMG Tag Types default to export using the EVEN GEDCOM tag. That might also lessen the possibility of confusing some other software that was importing those tags since you now have an event tag type called the same as a standard GEDCOM tag. It shouldn't be a problem, but you never know.

 

Of course, while the GEDCOM standard is so old it cannot handle a lot of the modern features in TMG, I think? this should help with what you are asking.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

 

------------------------------------------

 

You lead me to my answer... I was looking for a miscellaneous TMG Tag associated GEDCOM's EVEN tag (which holds dates in GEDCOM transfers), and one already exists. Great!

 

Instead of selecting TMG's « Misc » or « Note » Tags, I will simply enter all of miscellaneous notes using TMG's « Event-Misc » Tag, with carries GEDCOM's EVEN tag.

 

This should do it, right??

 

Can John Cardinal's utility search and replace all of the TMG's « Misc » and « Note » Tags with « Event-Misc »?? Let's hope so, or I have a lot of work ahead of me!

 

Thanks for the reply, Michael. It was a big help.

 

Earl

[Terry Reigel 0]

John's TMG Utility has a function (separate from the Search and replace function) that will change the Tag Type of existing Tags. But why bother? It's simple to go to the Master Tag Type List and edit the GEDCOM tag type of those two Tag Types as Michael suggests. It just takes one click to do that on the Other tab of the Tag Type Definition screen.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Glad to help, Earl, but as Terry's observes, you don't need to use John's TMG-Utility. As I explained, just change the GEDCOM export options as part of their Tag Type definitions for both TMG's "Note" and "Misc" Tag Types. Nothing else is required to cause any current or new tags of those Tag Types to export as GEDCOM EVEN structures which include their dates.

 

Yes, the "Event-Misc" TMG Tag Type does default to using the EVEN structure for GEDCOM export. If for some reason you don't wish to change the default GEDCOM export options for your existing Tag Types you could decide to use that different Tag Type for notes with dates. And its name does make it clear that this is an "event" instead of a "note". But it sounds like you already have lots of information including dates in existing TMG tags, so why bother? Simply changing the "Note" and "Misc" Tag Types' export options will also do what you want. The added advantage of changing their options is that you don't have to remember to use the "Event-Misc" tag type instead of the "Note" or "Misc" tag types when you want to assign and export a date with the comment.

 

If you are interested in some ancient GEDCOM history, the lack of a Date as part of a GEDCOM NOTE structure was a change between GEDCOM version 4.0 and GEDCOM version 5.5. The Date was intentionally removed from the GEDCOM standard for a NOTE because it was felt that only events have dates. You can see this if you select to export your TMG using that even older GEDCOM 4.0 format. In that format dates will export as part of a GEDCOM NOTE structure.

 

Also due to GEDCOM history you need to be extra careful about using the TMG Tag Type "Misc". "Misc" is not the same as the "Event-Misc" TMG tag type. The GEDCOM export option for the "Misc" TMG Tag Type defaults to a "MISC" GEDCOM structure. While a MISC structure existed in GEDCOM 4.0 and included a date, that structure was entirely removed from the GEDCOM 5.5 standard. If you don't change the "Misc" TMG Tag Type's GEDCOM export option and generate the default GEDCOM 5.5 output, nothing from a "Misc" Tag will be exported since the 5.5 standard has no GEDCOM structure defined for that. (Yet one more example of something that you can record in TMG but cannot be expressed in GEDCOM.) On the other hand, this removed feature in GEDCOM 5.5 does allow you to intentionally use the TMG "Misc" tag type with its default options to record information that you do not want to export to GEDCOM 5.5.

 

To summarize: if you don't change these TMG Tag Types' GEDCOM export options for GEDCOM 5.5 output, "Note" will export as only a NOTE structure with only the memo and no dates or locations, "Misc" will not export at all, and "Event-Misc" will export as a full GEDCOM EVEN structure. If you do change their export options, all three Tag Types will export as full EVEN structures.

 

Hope this somewhat helps to explain the convoluted world of GEDCOM,

[efcharvet 0]

... As I explained, just change the GEDCOM export options as part of their Tag Type definitions for both TMG's "Note" and "Misc" Tag Types. Nothing else is required to cause any current or new tags of those Tag Types to export as GEDCOM EVEN structures which include their dates.

 

I mindlessly assumed that changing it in the Tag Type would not affect existing entries. Sometimes I just don't think things through. (My grey matter must be shrinking. Hopefully it's not senility.)

 

Thanks a million.

Earl

[Michael Hannah 0]

Glad to help you avoid a lot of work.