# Usage

As commonly encountered in everyday life, there is usually more than one way to accomplish something in &app;. The alternatives to some actions will therefore be listed as appropriate.

## Starting a New Database

To start a new database, choose

File New .

You will then be prompted with the Create GRAMPS database dialog asking to specify the name under which the new database will be stored. The new database will be created in the BSDDB format, with `.grdb` as the default extension.

### Selecting file

This version does not require selecting a directory for the database. Please select filename, as you would in any other application.

## Opening a Database

To open a database, either choose

File Open

or click the Open button on the Toolbar. The Open database dialog will appear.

The filetype filter in the Open database dialog allows you to display files of a certain type. If the All files filter is selected (the default), all the files will be shown. The type will be determined by the extension of the selected filename.

### Selecting file

Unlike the version 1.0.X of &app;, this version does not require selecting directory for the database. Please select filename, as you would in any other application.

If you do not have write permissions for the selected database, it will be opened in a Read Only mode. In this mode, the data may be viewed, but no changes will be made to the database. To indicate this mode, the title of the main window will be appended with (Read Only) text.

### Opening XML and GEDCOM databases

This version allows direct opening and editing of &app; XML and GEDCOM databases. Please keep in mind that, unlike using the native grdb format, these formats require holding all data in memory. This leads to performance and memory consumption problems which grdb was designed to solve.

While direct opening of a &app; XML or GEDCOM file is convenient for a small database, it may prove burdensome for large databases. If you experience this, please consider creating a new native (grdb) database and importing your XML or GEDCOM data into it. This will make accessing your data much more efficient and quick.

### GEDCOM Editing

Please keep in mind that some information in a GEDCOM file may be lost during import into &app;. Simply opening and viewing the file will not change it. However, if any changes were made and they were not abandoned upon exit, exiting &app; will save the data, with possible data loss.

To open a recently opened database, choose

File Open Recent

and select the filename from the list. You can also use

Actions Recent Documents

from the GNOME Actions menu.

## Saving a Database

A consequence of the new database backend is that the changes, once approved by the user, are applied immediately. Once you click OK in the Person, Family, Source, Place, Media object, or Event editor, all the changes made to this object are recorded in the database. No saving is necessary, or even possible.

Choosing Edit Undo allows you to undo the changes you made, one step at a time.

### Reverting the whole session

If you would like to revert the whole editing session, choose File Abandon changes and quit. This will be analogous to quitting without saving any changes in other applications.

If you would like to save your database under a different name, you can do so by choosing File Save as... and specifying the name (and, optionally, format) of your new database.

### "Save as" continues editing

If you use the Save as... function, the editing in the main window is performed on the newly made copy. If this is not what you want to do, please consider using Export... instead.

## Importing Data

Importing allows you to incorporate the data from other databases into your currently open &app; database. Currently, &app; can import data from the following formats: &app; database (grdb), GEDCOM, &app; XML, &app; package, and GeneWeb. All of these are available by choosing

File Import and selecting an appropriate file.

&app; database (grdb), &app; XML, and &app; package are all native &app; formats in that there is no information loss resulting from reading from and writing into these formats.

&app; database (grdb)

  The native &app; database format is a specific form of Berkeley database (BSDDB) with special structure of data tables. This format is binary and architecture-dependent. It is very quick and efficient, but not generally portable across computers with different binary architecture (e.g. i386 vs alpha).

&app; XML

  The &app; XML file was the default format for the previous stable version of &app;. Unlike the grdb format, it is architecture independent and human-readable. The database may also have references to non-local (external) media objects, therefore it is not guaranteed to be completely portable. The &app; XML database is created by saving ( File Save As... ) or exporting ( File Export... ) data in that format

&app; package

  The package is a compressed archive containing the &app; XML file and all media objects (images, sound files, etc.) to which the database refers. The &app; package is created by exporting ( File Export... ) data in that format.

### Opening vs importing

The difference between opening &app; database (in any format) and importing from &app; or GEDCOM database is that importing incorporates all the data into your currently open database, if any. In contrast, opening the database will switch from editing your current data to editing another file.

After choosing an import format, you will be prompted with the Import database dialog asking you to specify the file name from which to import.

### Selecting file

This version does not require selecting a directory for the database. Please select filename, as you would in any other application.

Upon starting the GEDCOM import, &app; will display the following GEDCOM import dialog with the summary of the information about the data. The information is updated as the import progresses.

### GEDCOM Import

Shows GEDCOM Import Window.

Upon starting the &app; database or &app; package import, &app; will display the progress in the progress bar of its main window.

If a media file is not found during import, the following dialog will prompt you for the possible actions:

### Missing Media dialog

Shows Missing Media dialog.

- To remove the object corresponding to the missing file as well as all the references to that object from various database records, click the Remove Object button. This will alter your database so that it will be in a consistent state, but all the references to the missing file will be gone. Use this option if the file is irrevocably lost and there is no possibility of ever replacing it.

- To keep the reference to the object corresponding to the missing file, click the Keep Reference button. This will leave things as is, i.e. in an inconsistent state. You could supply the missing file later, in which case you will have to copy it into your database directory. Choose this option if the replacement is possible, but not available right now.

- To supply the missing file during import, click the Select File button. This will copy the file you select in place of the missing file. No references will be altered in the database, and it will be in the consistent state. Use this option if the replacement is readily available.

- To automatically use the selection made in this dialog for all missing media files, check the Use this selection for all missing media files box. This will remember your choice and use it for all media files missing during this import, so that no further dialogs will be presented. Use this option if you anticipate many missing files and want to deal with all of them in the same manner.

## Exporting Data

Exporting allows you to share any portion of your &app; database with other researchers as well as to make your database completely portable to another computer. Currently, &app; can export data to the following formats: &app; database (grdb), &app; XML, GEDCOM, &app; package, Web Family Tree, and GeneWeb.

### Export is saving a copy

Exporting will create another file with the copy of your data. The database currently opened in your &app; window is NOT the file saved by your export. Future editing of the currently opened database will not alter the copy produced by the export.

To export data, choose File Export . This will bring up the Export druid. Its pages will guide you through the format selection (see ), file selection, and format specific export options (see ). After a final confirmation page, the export will be performed according to the choices you have made. At any time, you can click the Back and revise any selection, and then go forward to redo the export.

### Export druid: format selection

Shows format selection page of an Export druid

### GEDCOM export

GEDCOM export options allow you to fine tune your export (see ). Choose the desired Encoding of the exported file. Use the Filter pop-up menu to limit the scope of the export according to the stated rule. Use the Target menu to select the desired GEDCOM dialect. Select your copyright statement from the Copyright menu. Check Do not include records marked private to disable the output of private records. Check Restrict data on living people to limit living people's data to family ties. With this option, information concerning birth, death, addresses, various events, etc. will be omitted in the exported GEDCOM file. If this option is selected, you can further choose whether to use the word "Living" as first name, exclude notes, and exclude sources for the living people. Check Reference images from path to tell &app; to use the specific path for your images when writing image references in GEDCOM.

#### Export druid: GEDCOM options

Shows GEDCOM options page of an Export druid

### Export into &app; formats

&app; database (grdb) export

  Exporting to the native format will simply make a copy of your data under another name. It also may be useful if you have directly opened XML or GEDCOM file and would like to save it as the grdb file.

&app; XML database export

  Exporting into &app; XML format will produce a database compatible with the previous versions of &app;. As XML is a text-based human-readable format, you may also use it to take a look at your data.

&app; package export

  Exporting to &app; package will create a gzip-compressed tar archive (also known as tarball) which contains gramps database and copies of all media objects files. This is a useful format for moving your database to another machine or for sharing it with somebody, while retaining all the features provided by &app; .

Export to CD

  Exporting to CD will prepare your database and copies of all media objects files to be recorded to the CD. This is done through the burn:/// location in Nautilus. After exporting to CD, go to the burn:/// location by selecting Go CD Creator

  in Nautilus menu (unless this location is already displayed by &app;). Your database directory will show up. To record it on to the CD, click the CD icon on the Nautilus toolbar, or select File Write to CD in Nautilus menu.

If a media file is not found during export, the following dialog will prompt you for the possible actions:

#### Missing Media dialog

Shows Missing Media dialog.

- To remove the object corresponding to the missing file as well as all the references to that object from various database records, click the Remove Object button. This will alter your database so that it will be in the consistent state, but all the references to the missing file will be gone. Use this option if the file is irrevocably lost and there is no possibility of ever replacing it.

- To keep the reference to the object corresponding to the missing file, click the Keep Reference button. This will leave things as is, i.e. in the inconsistent state. You could supply the missing file later, in which case you will have to copy it into your database directory. Choose this option if the replacement is possible, but not available right now.

- To supply the missing file during export, click the Select File button. This will copy the file you select in place of the missing file. No references will be altered in the database, and it will be in the consistent state. Use this option if the replacement is readily available.

- To automatically use the selection made in this dialog for all missing media files, check the Use this selection for all missing media files box. This will remember your choice and use it for all media files missing during this export, so that no further dialogs will be presented. Use this option if you anticipate many missing files and want to deal with all of them in the same manner.

### Export into other formats

Web Family Tree

  Exporting to Web Family Tree will create the text file suitable as an input for the WFT program. Specific options include filter selection and the ability to restrict data on living people, that is to limit living people's data to family ties.

GeneWeb

  Exporting to GeneWeb will save a copy of your data into a popular web genealogy format. To find out more about GeneWeb and its format, visit this site.

vCalendar and vCard

  Exporting to vCalendar or vCard will save information in a format used in many calendaring and addressbook applications, sometimes called PIM for Personal Information Manager.

## Editing Data: Quick Start

Editing any portion of data allows you to amend and/or modify information stored in the database. The available editing options include editing personal data, relationship data, data about children and parents, and information about sources, places, and media objects used in the database. In short, any data stored in the database can be edited! Adding a new piece of information is the process of creating an appropriate empty data structure and subsequently editing that empty structure.

This section refers mainly to the menu items and buttons as the main way of interacting with &app;. In addition to this, &app; provides an extensive set of key bindings. The detailed reference to the key bindings is found in the .

### To Add a Person

To add a person to the database, switch to the People View () and then click the Add on the toolbar. Enter any data you know about this person into the Edit Person Dialog (see for details). To edit information about a person already present in the database, select an entry you would like to view/modify, and then click the Edit icon on the toolbar.

You can also use Add... and Edit... menu items available under the Edit. Or you can right-click on the person and select Add... or Edit... from the invoked context menu.

### To Specify a Relationship

To specify a relationship, first switch to the Family View (). Then click one of the two top buttons on the right of the spouse box. The topmost button adds a new person to the database and to the relationship, while the second top button adds a person that is already in a database to the relationship.

If using the second button, select the spouse/partner from the list and specify the relationship using the menu at the bottom. If necessary, you can add a person to the list by clicking the + button. &app; will filter the displayed list of people based on the apparent relationship possibility. Specifically, shown are the people who could possibly be in relationship with the active person, as judged by the available birth and death information. To override this and display all people from the database, check the Show all box.

To edit information about a relationship already present in the database, move the mouse over the Spouse box and double-click. If the relationship lists has more than one person, you can specify the preferred spouse/partner by selecting an appropriate item from the context menu available upon right-clicking into the spouse box. Also, most of the above function are available from the items of this context menu.

### To Specify Parents

To specify parents of an active person, first switch to the Family View (). Then click the + button on the right of the active person's parents list box. Select the parents from two lists and specify the parents' relationships to the active person using menus at the bottom. You can also specify parents' relationship to each other. If necessary, you can add a person to the list by clicking the Add... button.

The top and bottom lists contain males and females, respectively. By default, &app; will limit both lists to people who could possibly be the parents (judged by the date of birth) of the active person. To override this, check the Show all box for each list.

To specify parents of the active person's spouse, switch to the Family View and then click the + button on the right of the spouse's parents list box. To edit information about parents already present in the database, move the mouse over the corresponding parents' box and double-click. All these functions can also be performed by right-clicking on the parents' box and selecting an appropriate item from the context menu.

### To Specify Children

To specify children of an active person, switch to the Family View () and then click either the second or the third button from the top on the right of the children list box. The second button adds a child to the database and to the family, while the third button adds a child already present in the database to the family.

If using the third button, select a child from the list and specify the child's relationship with father and mother using menus at the bottom. If necessary, you can add a person to the list by clicking the Add... button. By default, &app; will limit the lists to people who could possibly be the child (judged by the date of birth) of the active person. To override this, check the Show all box.

The relationship of the child to the parents can be modified by selecting an appropriate item from the context menu available upon right-clicking into the children box. Also, most of the above function are available from the items of this context menu.

### To Add Images

You can add images (as well as other media objects) to individual people, events, sources, places, as well as images generally related to the database (e.g. group family photos).

To add images related to a single person, switch to the People View (), select a person, and then click the Edit icon on the toolbar to invoke the Edit Person Dialog (). Then, select the Gallery tab, and click the + button to invoke the Select a media object dialog. Type the filename or select a file with the image, then provide a title for that image. Keep adding images until you are done.

To add images related to a relationship (e.g. marriage), switch to the Family View () and then double-click on the Spouse box invoke the Marriage/Relationship editor dialog. Select the Gallery tab and click the + button to add an image.

To add images related to a source or a place, first switch to the Sources View () or Places View (), respectively. Then select the appropriate source or place and then either double-click on it or click the Edit icon on the toolbar to invoke the Source Editor (or Place Editor) dialog. Select the Gallery tab and click the + button to add an image.

Finally, to add images that are generally related to the database but not limited to any person, relationship, source, or place in particular, switch to the Media View (). Then click the Add icon on the toolbar to add an image. If you have already added any images to any individual galleries, you will also find them listed in the Media View.

In any gallery, you can also use the Edit and - buttons to edit image information and to remove the image reference from that gallery. Note that in all galleries removing the reference to the image does not remove the image from the database. To completely remove the image from the database, delete it from Media View by first selecting it and then clicking the Remove icon on the toolbar.

### To Edit Sources and Places

To add a source or a place to the database, switch to the appropriate Sources View () or Places View (). Then click the Add icon on the toolbar to add a source/place. Enter the information into the Source Editor (or Place Editor) dialog.

To edit information about sources and places already present in the database, switch to the appropriate view, select an entry you would like to view/modify, and then click the Edit icon on the toolbar. Alternatively, you may double-click on the entry to edit it.

## Editing Data: Complete Description

This section provides a complete description of all editing options for all pieces of data in the &app; database. It refers mainly to the menu items and buttons as the main way of interacting with &app;. In addition to this, &app; provides an extensive set of keybindings. The detailed reference to the keybindings is found in the .

### Add, Remove, and Edit buttons

In order to save precious screen space, most of the Add, Remove, and Edit buttons no longer are labeled with text. Instead, the first two use + and - icons, and the third uses the icon depicting a pen on top of a paper sheet.

Reference the latter as the Edit button, while using + and - to denote the former two buttons.

### Personal Information

Editing of personal data can be performed in the following ways:

From the People View:

  Double-click the name of the person whose data you would like to edit, or select the name by single click and then click the Edit icon on the toolbar. You may also select the name and then press Enter. Finally, you may select Edit... from the Edit menu of &app; or choose Edit from the context menu that appears upon right-click on the name.

From the Family View:

  To edit active person's data, move the mouse into the Active person box, then double-click, or use any of the menu items described above. To edit Spouse's data, Shift-click desired spouse entry. Also, from Spouse and Children boxes you may select the desired person, right-click, and then select the menu item from the context menu to edit the selected person's data.

From the Pedigree View:

  Move the mouse into the box bearing the name of the person whose data you would like to edit, then double-click.

With either method, the following Edit Person dialog will appear:

#### Edit Person dialog

Shows Edit Person dialog.

The top of the window shows the name of the person whose data is being edited. The main part of the window displays ten notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes. If any of the data in any tab were modified, the alert window will appear with the choices of closing the dialog without saving changes, canceling the initial cancel request, or saving the changes.

Clicking OK will immediately save changes to the database (write on disk). This version of &app; does not have a separate saving function, all changes are immediate.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of personal data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of general information about the person. This includes the text entry fields of Given name, Family name, Family prefix (such as de or van), Suffix (e.g. Jr. or III), Title (e.g. Dr. or Rev.), Nickname (Bob for Robert), Type of the name (birth name, married name, etc.) and Date and Place of birth and death. Some of these (Family name, Type, and both Place fields), also provide autocompletion feature: as you type in these fields, the menu is displayed below the field with the available entries from the database that are compatible with your partial input. This allows for a quick selection of an available entry by selecting it from the menu, either using the mouse or arrows and Enter key.

  The Edit button located by the Family name entry allows editing the preferred name in complete detail, by invoking the Name Editor dialog (see ).

  The Gender radio buttons offer the choice of person's gender between male, female, and unknown. Clicking the colored circle buttons (green, yellow, or red, also called LED buttons) located next to the birth and death Date fields will bring up the Date Selection dialog allowing detailed modification of the date, see . Clicking either Edit button located next to the birth and death LED buttons will bring up a dialog allowing you to edit the corresponding event (birth or death) details, see . The field ID displays an internal &app; ID number which identifies the user in the database. The Image area shows the first image available in the Gallery of this person (if any exist).

  Finally, the Information is complete and Information is private check buttons provides the way to mark whether this person's record is complete or not and whether it is a private record.

Names

  #### Edit Person dialog - Names

  Shows Names Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Names tab displays information concerning alternate names of the person and the controls allowing their modification. The bottom part displays the list of all alternate names of the person stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected name in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow the addition, modification, and removal of an alternate name record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an alternate name is selected from the list.

Events

  #### Edit Person dialog - Events

  Shows Events Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Events tab displays information about the events relevant to the person and controls allowing its modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such events stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected event in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an event record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an event is selected from the list.

Attributes

  #### Edit Person dialog - Attributes

  Shows Attributes Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Attributes tab displays information about the attributes of the person and controls allowing their modification. These could be any personal attributes of a person whose description naturally fits into Parameter-Value pairs (e.g. enormous generosity can be stored as the parameter "Generosity" with the value "Enormous", etc.). The bottom part displays the list of all attributes stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected attribute in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an attribute is selected from the list.

Addresses

  #### Edit Person dialog - Addresses

  Shows Addresses Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Addresses tab displays information about the addresses of the person and the controls allowing their modification. The bottom part displays the list of all addresses stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected address in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an address record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an address is selected from the list.

  Some reports allow you to restrict data on living people. In particular, that option will omit the addresses of people who are currently alive.

Notes

  #### Edit Person dialog - Notes

  Shows Notes Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Notes tab displays information about the notes concerning the person. These could be any notes which do not naturally fit into the Parameter-Value pairs available to Attributes. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

Sources

  #### Edit Person dialog - Sources

  Shows Sources Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Sources tab displays information about the sources related to the person and controls allowing its modification. These could be any general sources which refer to the person but do not describe specifically any event. For example, Aunt Martha's memoirs may mention her great grandson Paul, so the researcher may assume that this person (Paul) existed and cite the memoirs as the source for this assumption.

  Sources documenting specific events are better recorded in relation to those events, under the Events tab. The person's Sources tab is best used for general source references.

  The central part displays the list of all source references stored in the database in relation to the person. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this person. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Gallery

  #### Edit Person dialog - Gallery

  Shows Gallery Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Gallery tab displays information about media objects associated with the person and controls allowing subsequent modification. The central part shows the list of all such media objects. For media object which are valid image files, previews of images are displayed. For other objects such as audio files, movie files, etc., a corresponding file type icon is displayed instead.

  The first available image in the gallery will be also displayed in the Image area in the General tab.

  The buttons +, Select, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add a new image, add a reference to an image already stored in the database, modify, and remove a media object reference to this person. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a media object is selected from the list.

  Removing a media object from a person's gallery does not remove it from the database. It only removes the reference to that object from this person's record.

Internet

  #### Edit Person dialog - Internet

  Shows Internet Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The Internet tab displays information about Internet addresses relevant to the person and the controls allowing data modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such Internet addresses stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected addresses in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an Internet address record from the database. The button Go allows opening a web-page with the corresponding address with your default browser. Note that the Edit, -, and Go buttons become available only when an address is selected from the list.

LDS

  #### Edit Person dialog - LDS

  Shows LDS Tab of Edit Person dialog.

  The LDS tab displays information about LDS ordinances of the person and controls allowing modification. These are LDS baptism, Endowment, and Sealed to parents ordinances, as labeled inside the tab. Each ordinance is described by its date, LDS temple, and Place where it happened. An additional pop-up menu Parents is available for the Sealed to parents ordinance. Each ordinance can further be described by its status through the selections available in the Status pop-up menu and can also be referenced by sources and notes via corresponding Sources... and Note buttons.

### Dates

This section describes the details of entering and modifying dates. Dates are important in genealogical research, so &app; goes a long way to preserve and use any date information available.

#### Date types and validity indicators

&app; uses color circles to indicate the validity of the entered date.

##### Date LED buttons

The color circles are also referred to as the LED buttons. Clicking on an LED button will invoke the Date selection dialog described in detail below, see

- Green circle means that the date is valid and complete regular date (e.g. May 24, 1961). In simple terms, green means that the date is uniquely defined up to a day.

- Yellow circle means that the date is valid but is not a regular date. This could be the date of an alternative type: a before date (before May 25, 1962), an after date (after May, 1960), an about date (about May 23, 1961), a range (between May 1, 1961 and May 31, 1961), or a span (from May 1, 1961 to May 31, 1961). It can also be a complete single date, but with quality of Estimated or Calculated. Finally, it could be a partial date, i.e. a regular quality single date missing some portion, e.g. May 1961 or 1961.

  While partial dates do not uniquely define the day, they allow at least for some type of comparisons between the dates.

- Red circle means that the date is not recognized as a valid date (e.g. "Christmas week of 61", or "the summer when I had surgery"). n that case the date will be stored as a text string. Therefore, no comparison with other dates will be available. It is best to avoid such date entries. Same information can be entered as a note for the event of interest instead of a date. In the example considered, a better things to do is to enter December 1961 as a date and "Christmas week of 61" as a note.

#### Acceptable date entries

&app; recognizes many formats of exact dates. The numeric formats are determined by the default environment &app; is running under. Most European countries use DD.MM.YYYY, the US commonly uses MM/DD/YYYY, and so on.

Besides exact dates, &app; recognizes many dates that are not regular: before, after, about, ranges and spans. It also understands the quality: estimated or calculated. Finally, it supports partial dates and many alternative calendars. Below is the list of date entry rules to allow precise date parsing.

##### Date parsing rules

The list below is only valid for English. If you are using localized version of &app;, your version may or may not provide a localized date parser. At the time of this writing, localized parsers exist for French, Russian, and Spanish languages.

If the localized parser is available for your version, chances are that other rules are in effect. If there's no manual in your language yet, you may try following your instinct and go with the common ways of denoting dates in your language. If all else fails, use the Date selection dialog described below.

- Regular single dates can be entered just as you would write them in the letter: May 24, 1961 or January 1, 2004.

- Dates that are not regular should start with the quality: estimated or calculated, if applicable. Regular quality does not need to be specified, as it is the default. Example: est. 1961, or calc 2005.

- Next should appear the type: before, after, or about. Ranges are denoted with "between DATE and DATE" and spans use "from DATE to DATE" patterns, where DATE stands for a single date.

  Examples: est from 2001 to 2003, before June 1975, est about 2000, calc between May 1900 and January 1, 1990.

- Partial dates are entered simply by omitting unknown information: May 1961, 2004.

- Alternate calendars are calendars other than Gregorian calendar. Currently, &app; supports Hebrew, French Republican, Julian, Islamic, and Persian alternate calendars. To specify the calendar other than the default Gregorian, append the name of the calendar to the date string, e.g. "January 9, 1905 (julian)".

#### Graphical User Interface for entering dates

While the above rules provide a quick and easy way for entering most common dates, sometimes there is a need to either build a complex date or simply check the date using graphical user interface. The Date selection dialog can be invoked by clicking the color circle button (also known as the LED button) next to the date entry field.

##### Date selection dialog

Shows Date selection dialog.

The Calendar menu allows the choice of any supported calendar. The Quality menu provides choices of Regular, Estimated, or Calculated quality. The Type menu allows to adjust the exact date type: Regular, Before, After, About, Range, Span, and Text only. A set of controls labeled Date allows setting the day, the month, and the year for a date. The second set of controls, Second date, is disabled for all dates except for those of Range and Span type. For ranges and spans, the Second date controls allow setting the details of the second date. Finally, the Text comment text entry field allows storing an arbitrary text string along with the date.

If you enter the date outside this dialog, i.e. as a text in any date entry field, that text will be copied and stored as the text comment string during parsing of entered text.

Therefore, the comment only lives until the next parsing. If you have some important text corresponding to the date, you are probably better off by saving that text as a Note for the corresponding event.

### Relationship Data

Editing of relationship data is performed in the following Marriage/Relationship Editor dialog which appears after double-clicking on the spouse box in the Family View. Alternatively, you may invoke this dialog by right-clicking into the spouse box and selecting Edit relationship item from the context menu.

#### Marriage/Relationship Editor dialog

Shows Marriage/Relationship Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the names of the people whose relationship is being edited. The main part of the window displays seven notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes. If any of the data in any tab were modified, the alert window will appear with the choices of closing the dialog without saving changes, canceling the initial cancel request, or saving the changes.

Clicking OK will immediately save changes to the database (write on disk). This version of &app; does not have a separate saving function, all changes are immediate.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of relationship data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the relationship: the relationship type. The available types (such as married, partners, etc.) can be chosen from the drop-down Relationship type menu. The ID field displays &app; ID number which labels this relationship in the database. The Last changed label shows the last modification time for this relationship. Finally, the Information is complete check button provides the way to mark whether this relationship's record is complete or not.

Events

  The Events tab displays information about the events relevant to the relationship and the controls allowing modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such events stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected event in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an event record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an event is selected from the list.

Attributes

  The Attributes tab displays information about the attributes of the relationship and the controls allowing modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such attributes stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected attribute in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an attribute is selected from the list.

Notes

  The Notes tab displays information about the notes concerning the relationship. These could be any notes which do not naturally fit into the Parameter-Value pairs available to Attributes. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about he sources related to the relationship and controls allowing its modification. These could be any general sources which refer to the relationship but do not describe specifically any event. For example, Aunt Martha's memoirs may mention that her great grandson Paul was married, so the researcher may assume that this relationship (between Paul and his wife) existed and cite the memoirs as the source for this assumption.

  Sources documenting specific events such as marriages or divorces are better filed in relation to those events, under the Events tab.

  The central part displays the list of all source references stored in the database for this relationship. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this relationship. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Gallery

  The Gallery tab displays information about media objects associated with the relationship and the controls allowing modification of such. The central part shows the list of all such media objects. For media object which are valid image files previews of images are displayed. For other objects such as audio files, movie files, etc., a generic &app; icon is displayed instead. The buttons +, Select, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add a new image, add a reference to an image already stored in the database, modify, and remove a media object reference to this relationship. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a media object is selected from the list.

LDS

  The LDS tab displays information about the LDS Sealed to spouse ordinance of the person and the controls allowing modification. The data can include date, LDS temple, and Place where it happened. The ordinance can further be described by its status through the selections available in the Status pop-up menu and can also be referenced by sources and notes via corresponding Sources... and Note buttons.

### Source Data

To edit source data, switch to the Sources View and select the desired entry in the list of sources. Double-click on that entry or click the Edit icon on the toolbar to invoke the following Source Editor dialog:

#### Source Editor dialog

Shows Source Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the Source Editor title of the dialog. The main part of the window displays four notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

Clicking OK will immediately save changes to the database (write on disk). This version of &app; does not have a separate saving function, all changes are immediate.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of source data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the source: its title, author, abbreviated title, and publication information. This information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the source. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

Data

  The Data tab displays Key/Value pairs that may be associated with the source. These are similar to the attributes used for other record types. The difference from these Key/Value pairs and the attributes is that the attributes may have source references and notes, while the Key/Value data may not.

  The central part shows the list of all Key/Value pairs, if any. The buttons + and - allow you to correspondingly add and remove pairs. To modify the text of Key or Value, first select the desired entry (may be an empty entry when new pair has just been added). Then click into either Key or Value cell inside that entry and edit the text in place. When you are done, click outside the cell to exit editing mode.

Gallery

  The Gallery tab displays information about media objects associated with the given source and controls allowing its modification. The central part shows the list of all such media objects. For media object which are valid image files previews of images are displayed. For other objects such as audio files, movie files, etc., a generic &app; icon is displayed instead. The buttons +, Select, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add a new image, add a reference to an image already stored in the database, modify, and remove a media object reference to this source. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a media object is selected from the list.

References

  The References tab displays information about database records that refer to this source. If the source is not referenced from any database record, the tab shows an empty list. If the source is referenced from many records, the tab will list all of them. The list can be ordered by any of its column headers: Type, ID, or Name. Double-clicking on the list entry opens up an editor for a corresponding record allowing to view or modify the record.

  Only primary objects can be shown in the References tab: Person, Family, Event, Place, or Media object. The secondary objects such as Names and Attributes, although may refer the source, will only show up through their primary objects they belong to.

### Place Data

To edit place data, switch to the Places View and select the desired entry in the list of places. Double-click on that entry or click the Edit icon on the toolbar to invoke the following Place Editor dialog:

#### Place Editor dialog

Shows Place Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the Place Editor title of the dialog. The main part of the window displays seven notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

Clicking OK will immediately save changes to the database (write on disk). This version of &app; does not have a separate saving function, all changes are immediate.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of place data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the place: the title which labels it in the database, city, church parish, county, state, country, longitude, and latitude. This information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields.

Other names

  The Other names tab displays information concerning other names by which the place might be known and the controls allowing their modification. The bottom part displays the list of all other names of the place stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected name in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a name record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a name is selected from the list.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the place. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about sources relevant to this place and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such source references stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this place. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Gallery

  The Gallery tab displays information about media objects associated with the given place and the controls allowing its modification. The central part shows the list of all such media objects. For media objects which are valid image files previews of images are displayed. For other objects such as audio files, movie files, etc., a generic &app; icon is displayed instead. The buttons +, Select, Edit., and - allow you to correspondingly add a new image, add a reference to an image already stored in the database, modify, and remove a media object reference to this place. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a media object is selected from the list.

Internet

  The Internet tab displays information about Internet addresses relevant to the place and controls allowing its modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such Internet addresses stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected addresses in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an Internet address record from the database. The button Go allows you to open a web-page with the corresponding address with your default browser. Note that the Edit, -, and Go buttons become available only when an address is selected from the list.

References

  The References tab displays information about database records (events or LDS ordinances) that refer to this place. If the place is not referenced from any database record, the tab shows an empty list. If the place is referenced from many records, the tab will list all of them. This information cannot be modified from the Place Editor dialog. Instead, the corresponding database record (e.g. birth event) has to be brought up and its place reference edited.

### Media Data

To edit media data, switch to the Media View and select the desired entry in the list of sources. Double-click on that entry or click Edit on the toolbar to invoke the following Media Properties Editor dialog:

#### Media Properties Editor dialog

Shows Media Properties Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title. Below the title is the preview of an object and the summary of its properties (ID, path, and object type). The central part of the window displays four notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

Clicking OK will immediately save changes to the database (write on disk). This version of &app; does not have a separate saving function, all changes are immediate.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of media object data:

General

  The General tab allows editing the title which labels this object in the database. The title can be typed in the appropriate text entry field. The Date field allows entering the date by typing, while the LED button beside it will invoke a Date selection dialog for setting the date graphically.

  &app; no longer has a concept of local media objects. Every media object is referred to by its path. The users are responsible for keeping track of the object files. &app; will only reference and display the contents, not manage the files themselves.

Attributes

  The Attributes tab displays information about the attributes of the media object and controls allowing its modification. The bottom part displays the list of all such attributes stored in the database. The top part shows the details of the currently selected attribute in the list (if any). The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when an attribute is selected from the list.

Notes

  The Notes tab displays information about the notes concerning the media object. These could be any notes which do not naturally fit into the Parameter-Value pairs available to Attributes. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

References

  The References tab displays information about database records that refer to this media object. If the object is not referenced from any database record, the tab shows an empty list. If the object is referenced from many records, the tab will list all of them. The list can be ordered by any of its column headers: Type, ID, or Name. Double-clicking on the list entry opens up an editor for a corresponding record allowing to view or modify the record.

  Only primary objects can be shown in the References tab: Person, Family, Event, Source, or Place. The secondary objects such as Names and Attributes, although able to refer the media object, will only show up through their primary objects they belong to.

### Events

Events are edited through the following Event Editor dialog:

#### Event Editor dialog

Shows Event Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title including the name of the persons whose event is being edited. The central part of the window displays four notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of the event data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the event: its type, date, place, cause, and description. The type can be selected from available types listed in the Event type drop-down menu. The rest of the information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields. Check the Private record box to mark this event record as private. This will give you a chance to omit this event from being included in reports, if you choose so among the report generation options.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about sources relevant to this event and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such sources references stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this event. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the event. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

Witnesses

  The Witnesses tab displays information about witnesses relevant to this event and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such witnesses stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a witness reference to this event, see . Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a witness reference is selected from the list.

### Source Information

When adding source references to events, places, etc., the following dialog appears:

#### Source Information dialog

Shows Source Information dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title. The central part displays the source information. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The source can be selected from available sources listed in the Title drop-down menu. If the source you are referencing is not present in the database yet, you can enter it into the database. To do this, click the New... button and enter source information into the invoked Source Editor dialog. You can also set the details specific for this particular reference: confidence, volume/file/page, date, text, and comments. Choose the confidence level from the Confidence drop-down menu. The rest of the details can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields.

Information in this dialog is specific to the particular reference. A single source can be referenced many times, and all such references will have in common the overall source information. This dialog lets you provide reference-specific data, such as relevant quotes, comments, confidence, page numbers, etc, to further specify and document the reference.

### Names

Names are edited through the following Name Editor dialog:

#### Name Editor dialog

Shows Name Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title including the name of the person whose name is being edited. The central part of the window displays three notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of the name data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of general information about the name: given name, family name, patronymic (a form of father's name used in some languages, e.g. Russian), family prefix, suffix, title, and type of the name. The information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields. The family name and the type can be also selected from available choices listed in the appropriate drop-down menus.

  Options allow you to adjust specific grouping, sorting, and displaying properties of this name, as well as to provide the date corresponding to the name. The Grouping field provides an alternative grouping node for a given name, overriding the default grouping based on the family name. This may be necessary with similar family names that need to be grouped together -- for example Russian names Ivanov and Ivanova are considered the same, but difference in gender is reflected in different spelling. To enable typing into this field, check the Override check button. The Sort as and Display as determine the manner in which the name appears in the People View and in the reports. The Date can provide information on the validity of this name -- use spans as necessary. Check the Private record box to mark this name record as private. This will give you a chance to omit this name from being included in reports, if you choose so among the report generation options.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about sources relevant to this name and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such sources' references stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this name. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the name. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

### Attributes

Attributes are edited through the following Attribute Editor dialog:

#### Attribute Editor dialog

Shows Attribute Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title including the name of the person whose attribute is being edited. The central part of the window displays three notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of the attribute data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the attribute: name of the attribute and its value. The information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields. The attribute name can also be selected from available choices (if any) listed in the Attribute drop-down menu. Check the Private record box to mark this attribute record as private. This will give you a chance to omit this attribute from being included in the reports, if you choose so among the report generation options.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about sources relevant to this attribute and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such sources references stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this attribute. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the attribute. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

### Addresses

Addresses are edited through the following Address Editor dialog:

#### Address Editor dialog

Shows Address Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title including the name of the person whose address is being edited. The central part of the window displays three notebook tabs containing different categories of available information. You can bring any tab to the top for viewing or editing by clicking on the appropriate tab heading. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made in all tabs and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The tab labels reflect the presence of corresponding information: if the tab contains any data, its label appears boldface; if the tab has no data then its label appears regular (not bold).

The tabs provide the following information categories of the address data:

General

  The General tab allows editing of the most general information about the address: date, street address, city or county, state or province, country, the postal code, and the phone number. The information can be typed in the appropriate text entry fields. Check the Private record box to mark this address record as private. This will give you a chance to omit this address from being included in reports, if you choose so among the report generation options.

Sources

  The Sources tab displays information about sources relevant to this address and controls allowing its modification. The central part displays the list of all such sources references stored in the database. The buttons +, Edit, and - allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this address. Note that the Edit and - buttons become available only when a source reference is selected from the list.

Note

  The Note tab displays any notes concerning the address. To add a note or modify existing notes simply edit the text in the text entry field.

  The Format option allows you to set the appearance of the note in the output (i.e. in reports and web pages). Selecting Flowed will replace all multiple spaces, tabs, and single end-of-line characters with single space in the output. The two consecutive new lines (i.e. an empty line) denote a new paragraph. Selecting Preformatted will honor all multiple spaces tabs, and new lines, so that the output will appear as it is entered into the text entry field.

### Witnesses

Witnesses are edited through the following Witness Editor dialog:

#### Witness Editor dialog

Shows Witness Editor dialog.

The top of the window shows the dialog title. The central part of the window displays information about the witness. The bottom part has OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking the OK button at any time will apply all the changes made and close the dialog window. Clicking the Cancel button at any time will close the window without applying any changes.

The witness name can be entered in two ways, depending upon whether the witness is a person already stored in the database or not (unrelated person).

If the person you would like to add as a witness is in fact a member of the database, it is better to use the first method below.

Person from the database

  If the person's data are stored in a database, check Person is in the database box. Then click the Select button to invoke Select Person dialog. Choose the person from that dialog and click the OK button. The Person text field will display the name of the person you selected.

  Even though the person's name is displayed in the Person field, it is not available for direct editing.

Unrelated person

  If the person is not in the database, make sure that Person is in the database box is unchecked. Then enter the name or any description of a person into the Person text entry field. This information is stored as entered, and this is the only place it is stored. In other words, there is no reference to that person in the entire database except for this witness reference. If the person is in fact a member of the database, it is advised to use the former method.

The Comment text area allows you to enter any comments concerning the witness. To add a comment or to modify existing comments simply edit the text in the text area.

### Merging records

Sometime several records in the database turn out to be describing the same object: same person, same place, or same source. It could happen either when the data is entered twice by mistake, or when new information reveals that the two entries refer to the same person. It can also happen after importing GEDCOM obtained from a relative, whose database overlaps with your existing data.

Whenever you detect duplicate records, merging them a useful way of correcting the situation.

To make a merge, exactly two records have to be selected in the appropriate view (People View, Sources View, or Places View). This is accomplished by selecting one entry and then selecting another person while holding down Ctrl key.

#### Merge People

There are two ways of merging personal records: Compare and Merge and Fast Merge, both available from the Edit menu.

Merging people does not discard any information with either method. The decisions you make during the merge only affect which data will become primary and which will become secondary for the resulting merged record.

Compare and Merge

  When exactly two people are selected, choose Edit Compare and Merge... to invoke Compare People dialog.

  ##### Compare People dialog

  Shows Compare People dialog.

  The dialog allows you to make a decision on whether or not the selected records should be merged. If you decide that the records should not be merged, despite similar names, you may click Cancel to close the dialog without making any changes. If you decide to proceed with merging, select the appropriate Select radio button to specify the record to be used as the source of primary data, then click Merge and close.

  The data from the other record will be kept as alternate data. Specifically, all names from the other record will become alternate names of the merged record. Similarly, parents, spouses, and children of the other record will become alternate parents, spouses, and children of the merged record, and so on.

Fast Merge

  When exactly two people are selected, choose Edit Fast Merge to invoke Merge People dialog.

  ##### Merge People dialog

  Shows Merge People dialog.

  The dialog allows you to quickly merge two records, specifying the record to be used as the source of primary data. The data from the other record will be kept as alternate data. Specifically, all names from the other record will become alternate names of the merged record. Similarly, parents, spouses, and children of the other record will become alternate parents, spouses, and children of the merged record, and so on.

  If you are not certain whether or not you need to merge the records, or which record to specify as the source of primary data, use Compare and Merge method described above..

#### Merge Sources

When exactly two sources are selected, choose Edit Compare and Merge... to invoke Merge Sources dialog.

##### Merge Sources dialog

Shows Merge Sources dialog.

The dialog allows you to make a decision on whether or not the selected records should be merged. If you decide that the records should not be merged, despite similar titles, you may click Cancel to close the dialog without making any changes. If you decide to proceed with merging, choose the appropriate radio button to specify the title, author, abbreviated title, publication information, and the ID to be used for the merged record, then click OK.

#### Merge Places

When exactly two places are selected, choose Edit Compare and Merge...

to invoke Select title dialog.

##### Merge Places dialog

Shows Select title dialog.

The dialog allows you to make a decision on whether or not the selected records should be merged. If you decide that the records should not be merged, despite similar titles, you may click Cancel to close the dialog without making any changes. If you decide to proceed with merging, choose the appropriate radio button to specify the title of the merged record, or specify Other and enter new text, then click OK.

## Navigation

As long as any database is open, &app; is focused on a single person usually referred to as an Active person. This allows you to view or modify the data concerning this person, his or her immediate family, etc. Navigating in the database (i.e. moving from person to person) is in fact nothing else but changing the Active person. This section describes many alternative ways to navigate through the database using both the complex and the convenient interfaces &app; provides. All these ways eventually accomplish the same thing, but some are more convenient than others, depending what you are doing in &app; at the moment.

### Using the People View

The most intuitive way to select an active person is to use the People View (see ). When in the People View, just select the name of the desired person from the list by clicking that list entry. The person you have selected becomes active. The statusbar updates to reflect the change of the active person.

### Using the Family View

When in the Family View (see ), you can easily navigate between the members of the displayed family as follows:

- To make the currently selected spouse the active person, click the double-arrow button to the right of the active person box. Alternatively, right-click into the spouse box and select Make the selected spouse an active person item from the context menu.

- To make the currently selected parents the active family (thereby making father the active person and mother the selected spouse), click the right-arrow button to the right of the active person's parents box. Alternatively, right-click into the active person's parents box and select Make the selected parents the active family item from the context menu.

- To make the currently selected spouse's parents the active family (thereby making father the active person and mother the selected spouse), click the right-arrow button to the right of the spouse's parents box. Alternatively, right-click into the spouse's parents box and select Make the selected parents the active family item from the context menu.

- To make the currently selected child the active person, click the left-arrow button to the right of the children box. Alternatively, right-click into the children box and select Make the selected child an active person item from the context menu.

In addition to this, &app; provides an extensive set of keyboard navigation options. The detailed reference to the key bindings is found in the .

### Using the Pedigree View

The Pedigree View (see ) also allows you to move along the family tree. The benefit of this method is that you can see more than one generation of the family tree. Also, you can jump directly from a great-grandson to a great-grandfather without going through the intermediate generations.

Note that after changing the active person in the Pedigree View, the display is re-adjusted to show four generations, starting from the newly selected Active person. When in the Pedigree View, you can easily navigate between the members of the displayed family tree as follows:

- To make any displayed person the active person, double-click the line that connects to the left side of the corresponding box.

- To make a child of the currently active person (if any) the active person, click the left arrow button to the left of the corresponding box. If there is more than one child, the button expands to the menu listing the children to choose from.

- To move the whole family tree one generation back, click on the corresponding right arrow button on the right-hand side of the display area. Clicking the upper button will move the tree along the paternal line. Clicking the lower button will move the tree along the maternal line.

  Clicking either of these buttons is completely equivalent to double-clicking the lines connecting to the left of the corresponding boxes for father and mother.

You can also quickly access any of the spouses, siblings, children, or parents of any displayed person. To do this, move the mouse over the desired person's box and right-click to invoke a context menu. The appropriate menu items will contain submenus listing all spouses, siblings, children, and parents of the corresponding person.

#### Advantages of using right-click menus

- Direct access to spouse and siblings

- Complete lists of all member of all categories, not only the preferred members.

### Setting the Home Person

One and only one person in the database can be selected as the Home person. Once the Home person is selected, moving to that person becomes a matter of a single click, regardless of which view you are using at the moment.

To set the Home person, first navigate to that person using any method you like. Then choose

Edit Set Home person .

Once this is done, you can move to the Home person from anywhere in the database by simply clicking the Home icon on the toolbar. You can also choose

Go Home

from the menu or select Home item from any context menu available on the right click.

### Using history-based tools

&app; also features a powerful set of history-based navigation tools. These tools are similar to those commonly used in web browsers. They include Back and Forward items available from the

Go

menu, context menus (available in People, Family, and Pedigree views), and the toolbar buttons. They also include the list of the recent selections available under the

Go

menu that allows you to jump directly to any of the recent selections. Finally, right-clicking on the Back and Forward toolbar buttons invokes the popup menu with corresponding portion of the history. Select any item from the menu to jump directly to it.

### Bookmarking People

Similar to setting the Home person, you can bookmark other people from the database to simplify further navigation. To bookmark a person, first navigate to that person, then choose

Bookmarks Add bookmark .

To move to that person from anywhere in the database, choose

Bookmarks Go to bookmark Person's name .

You can manage your bookmarks by choosing

Bookmarks Edit bookmarks... .

This opens the following Edit Bookmarks dialog with the list of bookmarks and the controls to modify this list.

#### Edit Bookmarks dialog

Shows Edit Bookmarks dialog.

### Finding records

To find a record in a database, first switch to the appropriate View that provides the list of the desired records: People, Sources, Places, or Media. Then start typing the name of a person or the title of a Source, Place, or Media object that you are looking for, respectively. You may also press Ctrl+F to turn on the search mode, but simply staring to type is also enough.

#### Type-ahead find

Shows type-ahead find.

As you type, the first record in the list that is compatible with your input will be selected.

#### Finding People

For more complex people searches you may want to use filters. Enable filter controls by choosing

View Filter ,

select the desired filter, and click Apply. For details, see

## Generating Reports

Reports are the most common form of the output produced by genealogical research. The majority of genealogical software puts a lot of emphasis on developing nice looking reports. &app; is no exception in this regard, offering a choice of a variety of reports. &app; can generate reports in a multitude of open formats, both text based and graphical. &app; can also produce screen based reports that are convenient for viewing a summary of your database. Finally, &app; can generate a web site suitable for immediate posting on the Internet. All of these are almost infinitely flexible. If you wish to modify or extend the default format of &app; report, you can design and choose the style for each of your reports.

All reports can be accessed through the menu by choosing Reports Report Type Particular Report . Alternatively, you can browse the complete selection of available reports along with their brief descriptions in a Report Selection dialog invoked by clicking the Reports icon on the toolbar.

### Substitution Values

Many of the graphical reports allow you to customize the information on the display. Variable substituions are used to substitute date for a particular symbol. There are two styles of variables. The difference between the two styles is how empty data is handled.

The first style of variables are preceeded by a '$'. If the variable evaluates to an empty string, the variable is replaced with the empty string. The second style of variables are preceeded by a '%'. If the variable evaluates to an empty string, the line that contains the variable is removed from the output.

$n/%n

  Displays the person's name in the form of FirstName LastName

$N/%N

  Displays the person's name in the form of LastName, FirstName

$i/%i

  Displays the GRAMPS ID associated with the person.

$b/%b

  Displays the person's date of birth

$B/%B

  Displays the person's place of birth

$d/%d

  Displays the person's date of death

$D/%D

  Displays the person's place of death

$s/%s

  Displays the name of the person's preferred spouse in the form of FirstName LastName

$S/%S

  Displays the name of the person's preferred spouse in the form of LastName, FirstName.

$m/%m

  Displays the marriage date of the person and the preferred spouse.

$M/%M

  Displays the place assocated with the marriage of the person and the preferred spouse.

### Books

Currently, the only available report under this category is the Book Report.

The Book Report creates a single document (i.e. a Book) containing a collection of graphical and textual reports. Consequently, this allows for a very rich set of documents that &app; can produce.

When Book Report is selected, the following book configuration dialog appears:

#### Book Report dialog

Shows Book Report dialog.

The Book name text entry field is used to save the book (a set of configured selections) for future use. The top pane lists the items available for inclusion in the book. The bottom pane lists the currently selected items in the order they will appear in the book.

The horizontal set of buttons by the Book name field operates on the whole book. Click the Clear button to clear all items from the current book. Click the Save button to save the current book (under the name typed in the Book name text entry field) for future use.

Saving the book also saves the configuration for each item.

Click the Open button to load the book from the list of previously saved books. Finally, click the Edit books button to invoke the editable list of available books.

The vertical set of buttons to the right of the bottom pane operates on the selected book item. Click the Add button to add selected item from the available list to the current book. Click the Remove button to remove an item from the current book. Use Up and Down to change the items order in the current book. Click the Setup button to configure the options of the selected item of the current book.

The configuration dialogs invoked by Setup are item-specific. If you choose not to configure the item, same defaults will be used for all needed options. The common option for almost all book items is the center person: the person on whom the item is centered. Thanks to this option, you can create a book with items centered on different people (e.g. your mom's and dad's ancestors as separate chapters). By default, the center person is set to the active person.

Almost all items available for inclusion in the book are textual or graphical reports, and are therefore available in the form of standalone reports. The exception is the following items which are only available as book items:

Title Page

  This item produces a customized Title page. You can configure the text of title, subtitle, and the footer of the page. An image can be optionally placed between the subtitle and the footer. Because of its configurability, this item can be used to create title pages for the whole book, its chapter, or even a single item.

Custom Text

  This item produces a page with three paragraphs, each containing custom text. The appearance of the text can be adjusted by using custom styles. This item was meant to be used for epigraphs, dedications, explanations, notes, and so forth.

### Code Generators

This category contains reports that produce code intended to be run through the computer, rather than the usual formatted output for human reading. The only code generator currently available in &app; is the Relationship Graph producing the GraphViz description of the graph.

The Relationship Graph creates a complex relationship graph in GraphViz format. The GraphViz `dot` tool can transform the graph into postscript, jpeg, png, vrml, svg, and other formats. GraphViz tools are freely available from the GraphViz site. Specific options for this report include filter and number of generations considered, as well as several GraphViz-specific options related to pagination, color, and details of the graph.

If you are not interested in GraphViz code itself and just want to generate graphical output, &app; can do it for you under the hood. Look for Relationship Graph in the Graphical Reports category,

### Graphical Reports

Graphical reports represent information in forms of charts and graphs. Most of the options are common among graphical reports, therefore they will be described only once, at the end of this section. The few options which are specific to a given report will be described directly in that report's entry.

The following graphical reports are currently available in &app;:

Ancestor Chart

  This report generates the chart of people who are ancestors of the Active person. Specific options include the number of generations considered and the format of the displayed entries.

Ancestor Chart (Wall Chart)

  This report is similar to the Ancestor Chart report. It provides more options which make it useful for generating huge charts suitable for a poster or a wall chart. These options include the ability to compress the report (getting rid of an empty space) and the option to fit the whole chart on to a single page. In the latter case, the contents of the chart is scaled down appropriately.

Descendant Graph

  This report generates a graph of people who are descendants of the Active person. Specific options include the format of the displayed entries.

Fan Chart

  This report produces a chart resembling a fan, with Active person in the center, parents the the semicircle next to it, grandparents in the next semicircle, and so on, for a total of five generations.

Relationship Graph

  This report creates a complex relationship graph in GraphViz format and then converts into graphical output running it through the the GraphViz `dot` tool behind the scene. Specific options for this report include filter, options for dates and places for the events, and whether to include URLs and IDs for individuals and families. There are also several GraphViz-specific options related to pagination, color, and details of the graph.

Statistics Chart

  This report can collect and display a wealth of statistical data about your database. Specific options include filter, sorting methods, and additional birth- and gender-based limit for inclusion into statistics. You can also set the minimum number of items to qualify for the bar chart, so that the charts with fewer items will generate a pie chart instead. The Chart Selection tab allows you to check which charts you want to include in your report.

Timeline Graph

  This report outputs the list of people with their lifetimes represented by intervals on a common chronological scale. Specific options include filter, sorting method, and the title of the report.

Common options for graphical reports are the filename of the output, the format of the output, selected style, page size and orientation. Optionally, the reports can be immediately opened with the default application.

The options used in reports are persistent: each report remembers its options used last time.

### Text Reports

Text reports represent the desired information as formatted text. Most of the options are common among text reports, therefore they will be described only once, at the end of this section. The options which are specific to a given report will be described directly in that report's entry.

The following text reports are currently available in &app;:

Ahnentafel Report

  This report lists the active person and his or her ancestors along with their vital data. The people are numbered in a special way which is an established standard called Ahnentafel. The active person is given number 1. His or her father and mother have numbers 2 and 3, respectively. This rule holds for every person while going back in generations: father's parents are numbered 4 and 5, and mother's parents are numbered 6 and 7, fathers always numbered with even and mothers with odd numbers. Therefore, for any person having number N in this tree, the numbers of father and mother are 2N and 2N+1, respectively.

Complete Individual Report

  This report provides individual summaries similar to that of the Individual Summary report. The advantage of this report is the specific filter option. Depending on the filter choice (active person only, his or her descendants, his or her ancestors, or entire database), the report may contain from one to many individual summaries. Another option for this report is the inclusion of source information when listing events.

Comprehensive Ancestors Report

  This report produces a comprehensive description of ancestors of the active person. The highlights of this report include elaborate layout, images of children, present and former spouses, and source citations. Specific options: number of backward generations to consider, whether to cite sources, and whether to break pages between generations.

Descendant Report

  This report produces a brief description of descendants of the active person. Specific options: number of forward generations to consider.

Detailed Ancestral Report

  This report covers in detail the ancestors of the active person. It includes vital data (birth and death) as well as marriages. Specific options: number of backward generations to consider, as well as a variety of options regarding the exact contents to include.

Detailed Descendant Report

  This report covers in detail the descendants of the active person. It includes vital (birth and death) information as well as marriages. Specific options: number of forward generations to consider.

FTM Style Ancestral Report

  This report creates an ancestral report similar to that produced by the Family Tree Maker (tm) program. It covers in detail the active person and his/her ancestors It includes vital information as well as marriages, children, and notes. Specific options: number of backward generations to consider.

FTM Style Descendant Report

  This report creates a descendant report similar to that produced by the Family Tree Maker (tm) program. It covers in detail the active person and his/her descendants. It includes vital information as well as marriages, children, and notes. Specific options: number of forward generations to consider.

Family Group Report

  This creates a family group report, showing information on a set of parents and their children. Specific options: the spouse (available only if the active person has more than one spouse).

Individual Summary

  This report produces a detailed summary on the active person. The report includes all the facts known to the database about that person.

Common options for text reports are the filename of the output, the format of the output, selected style, page size and orientation. For HTML reports, there is no page information. Instead, HTML options include the choice of the HTML template, either available in &app; or a custom template defined by you. Optionally, the reports can be immediately opened with the default application.

The options used in reports are persistent: each report remembers its options used last time.

### View Reports

View reports are representing overall summaries of the database information available immediately for on-screen viewing. The following view reports are currently available in &app;:

Number of ancestors

  This report displays the number of ancestors of the active person.

Summary of the database

  This report displays the overall statistics concerning number of individuals of each gender, various incomplete entries statistics, as well as family and media statistics.

### Web Page

The only available report in this category is the Narrative Web Site report. It generates a web site (that is, a set of linked web pages), for a set of selected individuals.

#### Narrative Web Site

Introduction

  &app; 2.0.6 introduced the Narrative Web generator. The new tool provides considerably more functionality than the older web generator. Instead of using HTML templates to customize the pages, CSS style sheets are used.

  More information is now displayed about each person, along with information about sources, places, and media objects. Introduction pages can be added to provide additional information, such as family history.

Selecting the output

  Genealogy records can generate a lot of files. Many web servers have a difficult time with many files in a single directory. The Narrative Web Generator strives to keep the number of files per directory to a managable level. To do this, a hierarchy of directores is created. The generated files names are not intuitive, but are unique per person. Subsequent runs will geneate identical file names, making it easy to replace files.

  By default, the output files are written to the specified directory. Because of the number of files and directories that are created, it may be difficult to transfer the files to an external web host. To aid in this, you may directly create a gzip'd tar file to more easily upload the data. This is the format that should be used if you would like to take advantage of the free genealogy page hosting at the GRAMPS web hosting site.

  To select the gzip'd tar file, select the Store web pages in .tar.gz archive option.

Applying a filter

  Like the previous web page generator, and most of the other &app; reports, you can control what is included in the output by choosing a filter. Several default filters are provided for you, but you are free to use the Custom Filter Editor tool to create your own.

  Any person matching this filter who is not excluded due to the privacy rules, will be included in the output. The default filter includes all people in the database.

Applying a style sheet

  GRAMPS provides six built in style sheets for your web page. Each of these style sheets produces a unique look for your pages. The generated style sheet is named `narrative.css`. You may edit this file if you wish to further customize your site.

  If you make modifications to your style sheet, you need to be aware the regenerating the pages with the same output directory will overwrite your changes to this file. To prevent this from happening, make sure you choose No style sheet for subsequent runs.

Character set encoding

  Because of GRAMPS internationalization ability, the default character set for the HTML pages is UTF-8. This provides support for virtually all characters.

  The Apache web server is sometimes misconfigured to override the character set specified in an HTML page. This causes problems with the UTF-8 character set generated by GRAMPS, distorting characters on the screen.

  If your web server is misconfigured and you do not have priveledge to fix the configururation, you may solve this problem by overriding the default character set to match what your web server may be expecting.

Copyright notice

  International copyright law reserves all rights to your data. You own the data, and people must get your permission to use it. In genealogy, however, sharing data is a common ideal. It this case, you may wish to grant the user more rights.

  While the default for GRAMPS is to place a notice indicating that all rights are reserved, we give you the option to place your site under one of several of the Create Commons licenses. With a Creative Commons license, you grant user's certain permission to use your data without requiring them to contact you directly for permission.

  See the Creative Commons web site for more information.

Controlling page generation

  Three additional pages can be generated by the web page generator. The Home page is a page that will display an image and a whatever text you wish. To enable this page, choose a Media Object from the Home Media/Note ID menu on the Page Generation tab. If the Media Object contains an image, the image is displayed at the top of the page. If the Media Object contains a Note, the Note's text is used for the text of the page. A second page, the Introduction page, works similarly. Just choose the Media Object in the Introduction Media/Note ID menu.

  If you choose to include a contact page, the researcher information stored in the database is displayed, along with the information specified in the Publisher contact/Note ID menu. Please use this page with caution, since you may consider your contact information to be private.

Privacy

  Privacy of personal information is an important issue on the web today. &app; tries to give you control over the information that is presented.

  &app; provides two options to control the privacy of your information. If you select the Do not include records marked private option, any data that is marked as private will not be displayed on the generated site. If you select Restrict information on living people, &app; will attempt to determine which people have the potential of still being alive, and will omit these people from the database. Some countries have laws that indicate that a certain number of years must pass after someone's death before information can be published. The Years to restrict from person's death option allows you to specifiy how many years a person must be deceased before the information is included.

  Please note that it is your responsibility to double check all information in the pages for any privacy information. &app; cannot be held responsible for any privacy issues.

Adding custom code your pages

  If you are not interested in customizing your pages, you may skip the section.

  The previous web generator allowed you to customize your pages using HTML templates. Your data would be substituted for certain markers in the code.

  This method proved to be too cumbersome for most users. The Narrative Web Page Generator introduces a simpler mechanism. On the Page Generation tab, you may specify text (including HTML code) that will be inserted into each page, separately for the header and the footer.

  To create this code, you need to create a Media Object marked as an internal note. To create this, add a new Media Object in the Media View, and select the internal note option. You may then enter your HTML code.

  To insert the code from the internal notes into the web pages, select the appropriate Media Objects from the HTML user header and HTML user footer menus. Two div sections will be added to the pages - userheader and userfooter. The corresponding HTML code is inserted into the HTML page surrounded by div markers. You can customize your style sheet to provide additional formatting and positioning information to control these sections.

## Running Tools

&app; tools allow you to perform various types of analysis of your genealogical data. Typically, the tools do not produce output in form of printouts or files. Instead, they produce screen output immediately available for the researcher. However, when appropriate, you can save the results of running a tool into a file. Tools present one of the major strengths of &app; compared to the most genealogical software.

The tools can be accessed through the menu by choosing

Tools Tool Section Particular Tool .

Alternatively, you can browse the complete selection of available tools along with their brief descriptions in a Tool Selection dialog invoked by clicking the Tools icon on the toolbar.

### Analysis and Exploration

This section contains tools which analyze and explore the database, but do not alter it. The following analysis and exploration tools are currently available in &app;:

Compare individual events

  This tool compares events across the selected group of people. The people for this comparison are chosen with the use of custom filters. The custom filters can be created in the Custom Filter Editor (see ) that can be invoked by clicking the Custom Filter Editor button. The resulting table produced by this tool can be saved as a spreadsheet.

Interactive descendant browser

  This tool builds a tree with the active person being the root. Children branch from their parents in the usual manner. Use this tool for a quick glance of a person's descendants.

  Double-clicking on tree node will bring up the Edit Person dialog allowing to view or modify the personal data.

### Database Processing

This section contains tools which may modify your database. The tools from this section are used mostly for finding and correcting errors in the data. The following database processing tools are currently available in &app;:

The modifications will only be performed upon your explicit consent, except for the automatic fixes performed by Check and repair database tool.

Check and repair database

  This tool checks the database for integrity problems, fixing the problems it can. Specifically, the tool is checking for:

  - Broken family links. These are the cases when a person's record refers to a family while the family's record does not refer to that person, and vice versa.

  - Missing media objects. The missing media object is the object whose file is referenced in the database but does not exist. This can happen when the file is accidentally deleted, renamed, or moved to another location.

  - Empty families. These are the family entries which have no reference to any person as their member.

  - Parent relationship. This checks all families to ensure that father and mother are not mixed up. The check is also made that parents have different gender. If they have common gender then their relationship is renamed to "Partners".

Extract information from names

  This tool searches the entire database and attempts to extract titles and nicknames that may be embedded in a person's Given name field. If any information could be extracted, the candidates for fixing will be presented in the table. You may then decide which to repair as suggested and which not to.

Find possible duplicate people

  This tool searches the entire database, looking for the entries that may represent the same person.

Fix capitalization of family names

  This tool searches the entire database and attempts to fix the capitalization of family names. The aim is to have conventional capitalization: capital first letter and lower case for the rest of the family name. If deviations from this rule are detected, the candidates for fixing will be presented in the table. You may then decide which to repair as suggested and which not to.

Rename personal event types

  This tool allows all the events of a certain name to be renamed to a new name.

Reorder &app; IDs

  This tool reorders the &app; IDs according to the defaults of &app;.

### Debug

This section contains debugging tools that are not of general interest for many of the users of &app;. If you're not interested in debugging or developing &app; you may safely skip this section.

Python evaluation window

  Enter expression into the Evaluation Window, get the output in Output Window. Any errors should end up in the Error Window.

Reload plugins

  Makes an attempt to reload all plugins.

  This tool is itself a plugin, but it will not reload itself!

Show uncollected objects

  Provides the window listing all uncollected objects. Depending on the system settings, recently abandoned GUI objects may still be uncollected.

### Utilities

This section contains tools allowing you to perform a simple operation on a portion of data. The results can be saved in your database, but they will not modify your existing data. The following utilities are currently available in &app;:

#### Custom Filter Editor

The Custom Filter Editor builds custom filters that can be used to select people included in reports, exports, and other tools and utilities. This is in fact a very powerful tool in genealogical analysis.

When you launch it, the User defined filters dialog appears that lists all the filters (if any) previously defined by you. Click the Add... button to define a new filter. Once you have designed your filters, you can edit, test, and delete selected filters using the Edit..., Test..., and Delete buttons, respectively. All the filters displayed in the list will be automatically saved along with your database and will be available with subsequent sessions of &app;.

The changes made to the filters only take effect when you click the Apply and close button.

Clicking the Add... button invokes the following Define filter dialog:

##### Define filter dialog

Shows Define filter dialog.

Type the name for your new filter into the Name field. Enter any comment that would help you identify this filter in the future into the Comment field. Add as many rules to the Rule list as you would like to your filter using Add... button. If the filter has more than one rule, select one of the Rule operations. This allows you to choose whether all rules must apply, only one (either) rule must apply, or exactly one (either) rule must apply, in order for the filter to generate a match. If your filter has only one rule, this selection has no effect.

Check Return values that do not match the filter rules to invert the filter rule. For example, inverting "has a common ancestor with I1" rule will match everyone who does not have a common ancestor with that person).

Clicking the Add... button invokes the following Add Rule dialog:

##### Add Rule dialog

Shows Add Rule dialog.

The pane on the left-hand side displays available filter rules arranged by their categories in an expandable tree. For detailed filter rule reference, see . Click on the arrows to fold/unfold the appropriate category. Select the rule from the tree by clicking on its name. The right-hand side displays the name, the description, and the values for the currently selected rule. Once you are satisfied with your rule selection and its values, click OK to add this rule to the rule list of the currently edited filter. Clicking Cancel will abort adding the rule to the filter.

A filter you have already designed may be used as a rule for another filter. This gives you nearly infinite flexibility in custom-tailoring your selection criteria that can be later used in most of the exports, reports, and some of the tools (such as comparing individual events).

#### Scratch Pad

This tool provides a temporary note pad to store database records for easy reuse. In short, this is a sort of the copy-and-paste functionality extended from textual objects to other types of records used in &app;.

Scratch Pad makes extensive use of drag-and-drop technique.

To invoke Scratch Pad, either choose

Tools Utilities Scratch Pad

or click the ScratchPad button on the toolbar. The following window will appear:

##### Scratch Pad tool

Shows Add Scratch Pad tool.

Scratch Pad supports addresses, attributes (both personal and family), events (both personal and family), names, media objects references, source references, URLs, and of course textual information of notes and comments. To store any type of these records, simply drag the existing record on to the Scratch Pad from the corresponding editor dialog. To reuse the record, drag it from the Scratch Pad on to the corresponding place in the editor, e.g. Address tab, Attribute tab, etc.

Some objects are showing the link icon on the left. This indicates that dragging such selection will produce a reference to an existing object, not copy the object itself.

For example, the media object file will not be duplicated. Instead, the reference will be made to an existing media object, which will result in the local gallery entry.

Scratch Pad storage is persistent within a single &app; session. Closing the window will not lose the stored records. However, exiting &app; will.

#### Other tools

Generate SoundEx codes

  This utility generates SoundEx codes for the names of people in the database. Please visit the NARA Soundex Indexing page to learn more about Soundex Indexing System.

Relationship calculator

  This utility calculates and displays the relationship of any person to the active person.

Verify the database

  This utility allows you to verify the database based on the set of criteria specified by you.

  ##### Difference between Verify tool and previously described Check tool

  The Check tool detects inconsistencies in the database structure. The Verify tool, however, is detecting the records that do not satisfy your particular criteria.

  For example, you may want to make sure that nobody in your database had children at the age of 98. Based on common sense, such a record would indicate an error. However, it is not a consistency error in the database. Besides, someone might have a child at the age of 98 (although this rarely happens). The Verify tool will display everything that violates your criteria so that you can check whether the record is erroneous or not. The ultimate decision is yours.