GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Ben Sayer

Late to a Game of Tag

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It looks like I’m late to a game of genealogy blogger tag. The game was started Tuesday by Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog. Judging by that site, the last of the bloggers got tagged yesterday evening while I slept off a migraine. That left me out of the game and up and blogging at 2 a.m. The bright side is that I can take advantage of the quiet, still night to work on my review of MacFamilyTree 5.3 beta.

I was tagged twice. The first tag was by my pal, Lisa Louise Cooke, of the Genealogy Gems Podcast. Finally, as I slept, I was tagged by Donna Moughty of  Donna Moughty’s Genealogy Resources.

The fun part is that the game consists of each tagged blogger answering five questions with five answers each. Here we go!

10 years ago I…

  1. switched from Windows98 to Mac OS 9 on a lovely, new PowerBook
  2. was 35 years old
  3. worked on a datacenter divergence and consolidation project for a client
  4. was childless
  5. didn’t know what I had been missing

Five things on today’s to-do list:

  1. correct the discontinuity in comments that theKiwi reported yesterday
  2. finish the review of MacFamilyTree 5.3 beta
  3. contact Kinko’s to determine lead-time on printing large poster boards
  4. prepare some data for printing on said, large poster boards
  5. collect photos and remaining data for poster boards

Five snacks I enjoy:

  1. bananas
  2. apples
  3. grapes
  4. guacamole
  5. nuts of all varieties except hazelnuts

Five places I’ve lived:

  1. Jacksonville, Florida
  2. Norfolk, Virginia
  3. Whitmore Lake, Michigan
  4. Saline, Michigan
  5. Ann Arbor, Michigan

Five jobs I’ve had:

  1. mucking out an elephant stall
  2. computer geek at ComputerLand
  3. computer geek at Electronic Data Systems (EDS)
  4. computer geek contractor for too many clients to list
  5. Manager of Software Quality Assurance

Thanks to Lisa and Donna for the tags. At least I wasn’t last to be tagged.

How to Quickly and Accurately Enter Text in any Genealogy Software

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Do you find yourself typing the same things over and over again? How about “birth date” or “death place?” How often do you type the current date? You may not even realize it, but when documenting your research you frequently, needlessly repeat yourself. These phrases are just the tip of the iceberg. In this article and video I’ll show you how to avoid much of this typing and still get the information entered, without typos.

A simple, low-cost piece of software and a little help is the secret to avoiding all this typing. I’ll get you up and running in no time. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Download a (free trial) copy of Typinator (if you’re not the trusting type, watch the video first)
  2. Download the MacGenealogist Abbreviations
  3. Play this video from the MacGenealogist Archives: How to Quickly and Accurately Enter Text in any Mac Genealogy Software, and follow along
  4. Add your own abbreviations

This program is useful for more than just genealogy. There’s a great demo video that will show you other uses. Best of all, it’s on sale now! Give Typinator a try; your wrists will thank you. After you give it a try, leave a comment to tell us what you think and share the abbreviations you setup and use.

Short Dates

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Short dates are a space saving feature in the Mac genealogy software, Reunion 9. They consist of two dates separated by a dash. Short dates appear below the parent buttons on the family card (see the image below) and can be included in charts and reports.

The short dates on the family card can be set to either the full date or just the year. This setting can be found on the appearance preference panel.

There are name options on some charts and reports that combine a name and short dates. Choosing one of these options enables you to conserve space vertically by replacing two lines of data (name and dates) with one. This option is in the “Name Setup” layout setting for pedigree, descendant, and relative charts as well as descendant reports. This video from the MacGenealogist Archives: Short Dates in Macintosh Genealogy Software Reunion 9 for Mac, will take you step-by-step through using short dates to conserve space in a relative chart.

Here is a Method That is Helping Reunion 9 Users Deal With Unknown Birth and Death Dates

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Do you have unknown birth and death dates in your Reunion 9 family file(s)? If you do, then you understand how those holes can impede your family history research. It’s easier to find information when the date range is constrained. When a death date is not known, it is helpful to use the burial date as the upper date limit. Similarly, the christening date (give or take a year) can be substituted for the birth date. Sure, you could try to remember to check for a burial date when the death date is unknown, but why bother when the software will remember for you?

Reunion for Mac 9 has a feature appropriately called “substitute events.” It will automatically substitute one event for another if the later is not populated. The substitution can be displayed where short dates are used, such as the family card and pedigree chart. Don’t worry. The substituted date is prefixed by an abbreviation, so it won’t be mistaken for the birth or death date.

Please launch Reunion 9 and play this video from the MacGenealogist Archives: Substitute Events in Macintosh Genealogy Software Reunion 9 for Mac. In it, I’ll show you how to make the necessary changes and how the substitute events display.