GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Mac Software

Views in Reunion 9: Switching Views

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The family card in Reunion for Mac 9 displays a wealth of information about a family group. Part of the family card is a section called the view. It is below the names of the parents and above the children. The view section is dynamic.

You can alter, add, and remove fields from views. Altering views will be demonstrated in the second video in this series. You can select from any one of seven different views that come with Reunion or to views of your own creation. Creating your own view will be covered in the third video in this series.

In this video from the MacGenealogist Archives: Views in Genealogy Software Reunion 9 for Mac: Switching Views, I walk you through:

  • two ways to switch views
  • the seven built-in views

Please open Reunion 9 on your Mac and follow along with the video screencast. You’ll learn the basics of views in preparation for the other videos in the series: Altering Views and Creating Views.

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.

Little Known Ways to Include Web Page Links in Reunion 9 Text and Note Fields

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Mac loving genealogists can insert links in Reunion 9 text and notes fields and click on them to open web sites in a web browser. This means you can have URLs in text fields and notes as well as having arbitrary, hyper-linked text in note fields. If you too, would like to know how to create the links and or how to use them, open Reunion 9 and follow along with this video from the MacGenealogist Archives: Web Page Links in Macintosh Genealogy Software Reunion 9 for Mac Text and Note Fields.

Walkthrough: iFamily for Leopard V2.463 Update

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The version of iFamily for Leopard released yesterday contained some very nice changes; some of them addressing issues I raised in the recent review of the Mac genealogy software. I recorded this video screencast in the (now in the MacGenealogist Archives), What’s New in Mac Genealogy Software iFamily for Leopard V2.463, wherein I walk through the changes in this release.

I think it will be more informative and fun to see the changes rather than just reading about them. Let me know what you think in a comment. Should I continue to make these update walk through videos?