Find-and-Replace and Less Easily Solved Problems

When writing in Register format, many abbreviations are used in the child-list sections: b., m., d., and bur. are used instead of the words born, married, died, and buried. Any month with more than five letters is abbreviated - with a period after the abbreviation: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Notice that the abbreviation for September adds an extra wrinkle; it's four letters long, not three. The names of states are abbreviated - with the standard abbreviation, not the postal abbreviation. None of these abbreviations can be easily programmed into TMG's output. Editing these can be automated in Word, however, with a Find and Replace feature many users don't know.

Take a look at Word's Find and Replace dialogue screen. Did you know that you can add formatting to the words or characters you want to find or replace? Since the child-list is the only text formatted with the 11-point font size, adding that criterion to the "Find what" area limits all changes to the child-list. It won't take long to replace complete words with the appropriate abbreviations.

Did you notice the brackets around the footnote reference numbers in the Register report? This quickly differentiates a footnote reference from a generational number, but it's another thing that cannot be programmed into TMG's output. It's very easy to create a Word macro, though, that reproduces these brackets with a simple keystroke. It doesn't take long to go through the report and quickly add these brackets to each footnote reference number.

There are some differences between this report and ones created automatically by TMG that can only be corrected by manual editing. The most significant, in my opinion, is the fact that the vital events in a person's genealogical summary follow this order in all publication style reports: birth, death, burial, followed by marriage, then birth and death of spouse. TMG's genealogical summary output is controlled by the sort order, which is chronological by default: birth, marriage, death, burial - and spouse events are written in a separate paragraph. There are cumbersome ways to get around this, but I'm a lazy person and find it easier to simply edit my report. This topic has been discussed on the Wholly Genes forum, and readers might find it interesting.

TMG produces the correct typography in the parenthetical lineage lists: italicized names and standard type for generation indicators in Register format, standard type for names and italicized generation indicators in NGSQ format. In the latter format, generation indicators are attached to the given names of all persons listed in a parenthetical lineage list, and TMG reproduces this correctly. In Register format, this generation indicator is placed after the birth surname of a married woman. This must be manually edited in the final report, if one wants to faithfully reproduce the Register format.

I use TMG for its database and analysis features, but there are many users who love exploring ways to make TMG create the perfect narrative. One of the best online examples is the study done by Terry Reigel. His report, "Producing a 'Publishable' Article," compares an actual NGSQ article with a TMG report reproducing that article, and it covers the problems he encountered and the solutions he discovered. If you want to produce a "publishable" article, you must read Terry's report.

Improving a Register Report: Microsoft Word Tips

Do you use Microsoft Word? If so, have you experimented with Word templates and Word styles? Templates and styles are not unique to Word, so if you use another word processor, the principles in this blog will be applicable, but the details will probably not be.

Take another look at the NGSQ-NEHGR-TMG styles comparison chart. Do you see all those references, "Apply styles," in the Suggestions column?

• Both the Register and the NGSQ have specific methods of formatting the first appearance of certain names in a subject's biography and in the genealogy's child lists. Although one can specify some name formatting in TMG's Report Options screen in the Names tab, one can't specify the different formatting required throughout the report. By creating styles that reproduce the required formatting, it's a fairly simple matter to apply those styles to TMG's Journal report after it's been sent to a Word file.
• Although TMG does allow one to define the fonts used in a report (Report Options > Fonts and Colors), one can't differentiate between fonts used in the report's biography section (12 point) and the report's child list section (11 point). One also can't differentiate between the font size of Memo fields used in sentences in the text (12 point), Memos that appear in footnotes or endnotes (10 point), or footnotes/endnotes themselves (10 point). Applying Word styles specifically designed to reproduce the proper formatting for the various sections of each Journal report allows the user to convert those sections to true Register (or NGSQ) style quickly and easily.
• One can also create a style for the report's title, for the author's name, for all the headings and subheadings, and even for page headings. Group all these styles together and create a Word template, with margins and everything, and save it under the appropriate name. The next time you want a professional-looking Register report, copy your TMG report into this template, and apply the appropriate styles. Voila!

Helen Schatvet Ullman was my inspiration for creating Word templates for my TMG reports. Her updated Register style template is available on AmericanAncestors.org, and it can be downloaded here. My template starts with Ullman's, then adds additional styles for all parts of the TMG report. It also includes this example report and detailed instructions on converting a TMG-formatted report to one that matches Register style. I've also created a Word template that converts TMG's NGSQ-style Journal output to something that comes much closer to the formatting used by the NGSQ. If you would like a copy of either template, please feel free to contact me. My e-mail address is available in my Blogger profile.

Manual editing was still required to get this report to this final stage. The final blog on this topic gives a quick overview of some of the editing that should be done on each report and a few tricks to make that editing go a little faster.

Improving a Register Report: Important TMG Features

There are three modifications that can be made to your TMG database that will bring your TMG Register style report closer to the format of an actual New England Historical and Genealogical Register article.

The first modification is simple and can be done when creating your report. TMG's default method of indicating a missing name in a Journal report is: (--?--). Unknown names in a Register article are indicated by an underscore, _______. (I haven't been able to determine the exact length of this underscore.)

• This modification is easily made. When defining your Register style Journal report, in the Report Options screen in the Names tab, enter an underscore in the "Empty name text" box.

The Register's standard presentation of event information is place followed by date. This sequence will vary depending on whether or not all the information is known. For example, "John Smith was born in Danville, Vermont, 11 February 1866," is unambiguous. On the other hand, the statement, "John Smith was probably born in Danville, Vermont, 11 February 1866," is ambiguous. Was John Smith probably born in Danville? Was he probably born in Danville on 11 February 1866? Is there a John Smith who was born in Danville on 11 February 1866, and you think this is the correct person? When uncertainty exists, this order of information might vary to make the situation perfectly clear. "John Smith was born 11 February 1866, probably in Danville, Vermont." "John Smith is probably the John Smith who was born in Danville, Vermont, 11 February 1866." TMG's default sentence structure for most events presents information in the sequence: date followed by place. This is also the sequence used by the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. How can one cater to both sequences without editing every sentence in a Register report?

• One of the coolest features in TMG is its Language feature. In TMG, languages are not just English, French, German, etc. Languages also includes sentence structure and formatting. If you have a report that requires an unusual sentence structure, you can customize a new language for use in that report. By creating a Register Language, you can define default sentence structures in which the place precedes the date of any event. A report's output language is specified in the General tab in the Report Options screen.

When reporting an event that took place in a New England town, Register articles drop mention of the county. Of course, one can fix this with manual editing - and manual editing will be necessary, no matter how many TMG tricks one knows - but is there any way to do this in TMG?

• The user can define a "Short place template" in TMG's Preferences, under the "Current Project Options > Other" option. When defining a report, in the Report Options screen in the Places tab, one can choose "Use Short Place field." Of course, if you define your "Short place template" as City, State only, your report will be accurate and complete for events that occurred in New England towns only. This TMG option is not your best choice for this report!
• Did you know that you can edit the "Short place" field for any place listed in the Master Place List? If your report is designed to "Use Short Place field," TMG will use the "Short place template" you defined in Preferences - unless you edited a location's "Short place" field in the Master Place List. The former is the global definition of a short place; the latter is the local definition of that place, and local definitions override global definitions. By editing the "Short place" field in the Master Place List for all New England town locations, you can tell TMG to "Use Short Place field" in your Register style Journal report, secure in the knowledge that any Ohio or Pennsylvania town reference will include the county, as well. Warning! If you do this, you'll need to be aware that a New England town's county name will be omitted in all reports defined to "Use Short Place field."

Given the fact that you will still want to edit your report to minimize redundancy, editing the "Short place" field in the Master Place List may be something you decide isn't worth the effort or the potential confusion. Still, this is a very nice TMG feature, and many users are not aware that it exists.

Our Register style report still doesn't match the actual journal articles, but one of TMG's most powerful reporting features is its ability to export reports to several word processor programs. That way, one can make use of that word processor's features. The next post will demonstrate the final steps in converting our TMG Journal report from so-so Register style to something that almost matches the real thing.

TMG's NGSQ and NEHGR Reports

Have you ever printed a Journal report using TMG's default settings for Register (NEHGR) or Record (NGSQ) style? If so, you might have said to yourself, "This doesn't look much like an article from one of those journals." Face it. No matter how sophisticated and powerful your genealogy software is, it's designed to help you think. It cannot do your thinking for you. If you want to create a professional genealogy, you need to engage your brain in the process. TMG and a word processor, though, can help. We investigated both the NEHGR and NGSQ styles in our January 2013 meeting. Because it requires a few more interesting tricks, this blog will report only our NEHGR findings.

We first created a two-generation genealogy Journal report using TMG's default Register (NEHGR) style options. This style choice restricts some of the available report options. These are the unrestricted options we chose.

1. In the Sources tab, we checked "Footnotes" and "Combine consecutive footnotes/endnotes."
2. In the Memos tab, we checked "Footnotes."
3. In the Tags tab, we checked "Selected" and checked only "Birth," "Burial," "Divorce," "JournalConclusion," "JournalIntro," "Marriage," and "NarrativeChildren."
4. In the Dates tab, we checked "Months spelled out."
5. In the Places tab, we checked "Use place styles."
6. In the Names tab, we checked "None" under Identifiers.
7. In the Fonts and Colors tab, we changed all fonts to 12-point Times New Roman, with the exception of the Title, which was changed to 14-point, bold, Times New Roman.

Comparing that output to articles in the October 2012 issue of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register led to some quick changes in these default options. To change these options, it's necessary to change the style from Register (NEHGR) to Custom.

1. In the Names tab in the Report Options screen, we checked "Include surname" under Child names.
2. In the Miscellaneous tab in the Report Options screen, we checked "Include spouse events" under Format.

Here's a PDF of the resulting report. Although the generation numbers and the generation line in this report are (almost) correctly formatted, it still doesn't really look like an article from the NEHGR. The differences are really too numerous to list in this blog, but most of them are enumerated in this comparison chart. Note that this is not an official comparison chart; it's one I compiled after studying the references listed at the end of the chart and comparing them to TMG's NGSQ and NEHGR reports.

Although creating a professional genealogy report in an approved style will always require manual writing, or rewriting, combining some great TMG features with the styles feature in Word (or your own favorite word processor) will allow us to come much closer to that approved style. Here's our final computer-driven report. Doesn't it look a lot more like an article in the NEHGR? Check out the next post to see how this report was created.

Cemetery Report -- with Pictures!

TMG allows the user to add exhibits - photographs, text documents, OLE objects, etc. - in a wide variety of locations.  What you add and where you add it depends upon how you want to use the exhibit.  Are you like me?  Do you love walking through cemeteries photographing tombstones, whether they belong to your family or not?  Do you have thousands of digital tombstone photographs scattered on your hard drive?  They're just waiting for you to figure out what to do with them, aren't they?

• Photographs can be linked in TMG to: People, to Events, to Citations, to Sources, to Repositories, and to Places.
• Linked photographs will appear in reports only if they are linked to  People, to Events, to Citations, or to Sources.
• Therefore, if you want tombstone pictures to appear in a report, do not link them to Repositories or Places.  Of course, you can link them to more than one person and more than one entity.

Not every report type allows the user to print exhibits (photographs).  To help me figure out what report types allow what options, I created this simple chart (PDF file). This chart shows that:

• The Descendant Indented Narrative, the Individual Narrative, and the Journal reports are the only reports that provide all photograph options.
• The Ahnentafel report prints photographs linked to People and Events.  This report is limited in the people it includes, so I seldom use it.
• The Family Group Sheet and Individual Detail reports print only the Primary Person exhibit.  Therefore, unless you link your tombstone photograph to a person and make it the primary image, these two reports won't serve the purpose.

It looks like our cemetery report with tombstone photographs must be one of the three narrative-style reports.  Practice with each one to see what works best for your purposes.  Examples and instructions can be found on our instruction pages, specifically "Cemetery Reports: Including Tombstone Photographs."

Here are some ideas, comments and questions that came up in our discussion.

• How do you enter a tombstone transcription?  Or is a transcription even necessary?
• What about a tombstone that memorializes more than one person?  How should that be handled?
• How do you create a report that shows who is buried next to whom?
• My only cemetery records came from Find-A-Grave.  How should I report them?

Before these questions are discussed more fully, it would be a good idea to practice with a few cemetery reports on your own.  You may come up with some of the answers on your own.