Usage As commonly encountered in everyday life, in &app; there is usually more than one way to accomplish something. 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 Save Database dialog asking to specify the name under which the new database will be stored. Choose an empty directory for your new database (create one if necessary). Opening a Database To open a database, either choose FileOpen or click the Open button on the Toolbar. The Open Database dialog will appear. Either type the full path into the Database text entry field, or click the Browse... button to get the Open File dialog in which you can select the database that you want to open. After you have selected the database, click the OK button to open it. If you have previously opened databases with &app; you can retrieve your past selections from the drop-down menu by clicking the down arrow button. Finally, if the Revision Control System (RCS) is enabled in the Preferences dialog, the check box Revert to an older version from RCS will be available. Check it to revert your database to an older RCS version. NOTE: you should open a DIRECTORY and NOT a FILE when opening &app; database. The directory you need to open should contain the database file data.gramps as well as any possible copies of media objects. Such a directory is created by &app; when you start a new database and is updated each time the database is saved. Saving a Database To save changes made to your database, choose File Save or click the Save button on the Toolbar. The statusbar will then display the Saving databasename... message, and the progressbar will advance as the saving progresses. Importing Data Importing allows you to incorporate the data from other databases into your currently open &app; database. Currently, &app; can import data from three different formats: GEDCOM, &app; database, and &app; package. All of these are available as items of File Import submenu. Both &app; database, and &app; package are native &app; formats. The package is a compressed archive containing the database file and all media objects (images, sound files, etc.) that the database refers to. The package is created by exporting data to the &app; package, see . The &app; database is a directory containing the database file and the local media objects. The database may also have references to non-local (external) media objects, therefore it is not guaranteed to be completely portable. The &app; database is created by saving the data in a usual way, see . Note that the difference between opening &app; database and importing from &app; database is that importing incorporates all the data into your currently open database, if any. After choosing an import format, you will be prompted with the Open File dialog asking you to specify the file name from which to import. For GEDCOM and &app; package, select an appropriate file. For &app; database, select a directory which stores the database and all media files (if any). 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 progressbar 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 four different formats: CD, GEDCOM, &app; package, and Web Family Tree. All of these are available as items of File Export submenu. Exporting to CD will prepare you database directory with all its contents 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. Your database directory will show up. To record it onto the CD, click the CD icon on the Nautilus toolbar, or select File Write to CD in Nautilus menu. Exporting to GEDCOM will create a GEDCOM file, according to the settings set in the following dialog:
Export GEDCOM File dialog Shows Export GEDCOM File dialog
Type the desired GEDCOM filename into the text entry box or click the Browse... button to evoke the Save File dialog. 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. Upon starting the export, &app; will display the following GEDCOM export progress window with the progressbars reflecting the current state of exporting.
Export GEDCOM progress dialog Shows Export GEDCOM progress dialog.
Exporting to &app; package will create a gzip-compressed tar archive (also known as tarball) which contains gramps database, all local media objects, and copies of all external media objects. 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;. Exporting to Web Family Tree will create the text file suitable as an input for the WFT program. Use the Filter pop-up menu to limit the scope of the export according to the stated rule. Check Restrict data on living people to limit living people's data to family ties. 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.
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 in fact creating an appropriate empty data structure and subsequent editing of 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 keybindings. The detailed reference to the keybindings 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 Add... button. &app; will filter the displayed list of people based on the relationship type as follows. The relationships Married, Unmarried, Unknown, and Other will only display people of the sex opposite to that of an active person. The relationships Partners will only display people of the same sex as that of an active person. Also, by default, &app; will limit the lists to people who could possibly be the spouse/partner (judged by the dates of birth and death) of the active person. To override this, 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 Add from file... 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. To prevent the file from being copied into your database directory, check the Do not make a local copy box. 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 Add from file... 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 Add from file... 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 Remove 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 . Edit 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 Return. 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: Move the mouse into the Active person box, then double-click, or use any of the menu items described above. 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. 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 allow you to choose the corresponding contents from the drop-down menus by clicking on the down arrow button located immediately to the right of the text entry field. The available menu choices are formed from the information already stored in the database. Also, when you start to type within these fields, &app; will try to guess the remainder of the text by using the same choices that are available from the corresponding menu. To accept the highlighted guess and move to the next field, press the Tab. The Gender radio buttons offer the choice of person's gender between male, female, and unknown. The buttons Source... and Note... allow adding or modifying the data about the sources of the name information and any relevant notes. Clicking either Edit... button located next to the birth and death Date fields will bring up a dialog allowing you to edit the corresponding event (birth or death) details. 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 check button provides the way to mark whether this person's record is complete or not. 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow the addition, modification, and removal of an alternate name record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an event record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an address record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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. NOTE: sources documenting specific events 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 in relation to the person. The buttons Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this person. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 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 generic &app; icon is displayed instead. Note that the first available image in the gallery will be also displayed in the Image area in the General tab. The buttons Add from file..., Add from database..., Edit..., and Remove 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 Remove buttons become available only when a media object is selected from the list. Note: 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete 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..., Delete, 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.
Edit Dates Anywhere in &app; where the date is entered or edited, the following rules apply: Date validity indicators &app; uses color circles to indicate the validity of the entered date. Green circle means that the date is valid and complete (e.g. May 24, 1961). Yellow circle means that the date is valid but is partial (i.e. not complete). Examples of partial dates are: 1961, about 1961, from 1960 to 1962, before 1963. While partial dates do not exactly define the date, 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). In 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 only problematic formats are XX/XX/XX or XX-XX-XX because of the ambiguity between the day and the month. The interpretation for this type of formats is configured in Getting Started dialog and can also be changed from the Preferences dialog. Besides exact dates, &app; recognizes and supports partial dates, date ranges, and alternate calendars. Partial dates define some portions of the date such as a year or a year and a month. Date ranges define the boundaries containing the date such as from January 1961 to March 1963. Alternate calendars are calendars other than Gregorian calendar. Currently, &app; supports Hebrew, French Republican, Julian, Islamic, and Persian alternate calendars. Edit 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.
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. 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 non-editable field ID displays an internal &app; ID number which identifies this relationship in the database. 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an event record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 the 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. NOTE: 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this relationship. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add from file..., Add from database..., Edit..., and Remove 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 Remove 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.
Edit 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. 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. 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 Add from file..., Add from database..., Edit..., and Remove 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 Remove 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: Source type, Object, or Value. This information cannot be modified from the Source Editor dialog. Instead, the corresponding database record (e.g. birth event) has to be brought up and its source reference edited.
Edit 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. 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a name record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this place. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add from file..., Add from database..., Edit..., and Remove 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 Remove 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete 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..., Delete, and Go buttons become available only when an address is selected from the list. References The References tab displays information about database records 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.
Edit 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 Edit Media Properties dialog:
Edit Media Properties dialog Shows Edit Media Properties 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. 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. If the object is not local (i.e. the corresponding file does not reside under &app; database directory), the Make a local copy button is available. Click it to copy the media into the &app; database directory. This will increase the amount of disk space consumed by the &app; database. However, if the external file is deleted or removed, &app; will still be able to use the local copy. 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove an attribute record from the database. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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, Object, or Value. This information cannot be modified from the Media Object Properties Editor dialog. Instead, the corresponding database record (e.g. birth event) has to be brought up and its media object reference edited in the gallery tab.
Edit 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this event. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a witness reference to this event. Note that the Edit... and Delete buttons become available only when a witness reference is selected from the list.
Edit 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.
Edit Alternate Names Alternate names are edited through the following Alternate Names Editor dialog:
Alternate Names Editor dialog Shows Alternate Names Editor dialog.
The top of the window shows the dialog title including the name of the person whose alternate 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 alternate name data: General The General tab allows editing of general information about the alternate name: given name, family name, 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. 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this name. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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.
Edit 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this attribute. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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.
Edit 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 Add..., Edit..., and Delete allow you to correspondingly add, modify, and remove a source reference to this address. Note that the Edit... and Delete 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.
Edit 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). 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 evoke 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. Note: 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.
Merge People Sometime two people entries in the database turn out to be describing the same person. When this happens, merging people is a useful way of correcting the situation. To make a merge, exactly two people have to be selected in the People View. This is accomplished by selecting one person and then selecting another person while holding down Ctrl key. When exactly two people are selected, choose EditMerge... to evoke Merge People dialog. The dialog allows you to retain the data from either person as the primary data for the new (merged) person. The data from the other person can be kept as alternate data if you so choose. If you would like to continue editing data of a newly merged person, click the Merge and edit button. Merge Places Sometime two place entries in the database turn out to be describing the same place. When this happens, merging places is a useful way of correcting the situation. To make a merge, exactly two places have to be selected in the Places View. This is accomplished by selecting one place and then selecting another place while holding down Ctrl key. When exactly two places are selected, choose EditMerge... to evoke Merge Places dialog. The dialog allows you to retain the data from either place as the primary data for the new (merged) place. Alternatively, you may type in other data for the new place, if you click Other radio button.
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 keybindings 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. 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, 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 People To find a person in a database, choose EditFind... when in the People View, Family View, or Pedigree View. This opens a Find Person dialog which can be used for searching forward and backward. If the search is successful, the found person becomes an active person and the display adjusts according to the new active person and the current view. Finding Sources To find a source in a database, choose EditFind... when in the Sources View. This opens a Find Source dialog which can be used for searching forward and backward. If the search is successful, the found source becomes highlighted. Finding Places To find a place in a database, choose EditFind... when in the Places View. This opens a Find Place dialog which can be used for searching forward and backward. If the search is successful, the found place becomes highlighted. Finding Media Objects To find a media object in a database, choose EditFind... when in the Media View. This opens a Find Media Objects dialog which can be used for searching forward and backward. If the search is successful, the found media object becomes highlighted.
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 nicely looking reports. &app; is no exception in this regard: it offers 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 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 evoked by clicking the Reports icon on the toolbar. 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 onto 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. Relationship Graph This report creates a complex relationship graph in GraphViz format. The GraphViz dot tool can transform the graph into postscript, jpeg, png, vrml, svg, and many 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. 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 (set in the main GNOME Desktop Preferenes Advanced Preferred Applications dialog). 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. 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. 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. 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 (set in the main GNOME Desktop Preferenes Advanced Preferred Applications dialog). 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. Note that 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 evoke 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 evoked by Setup are item-specific. If you choose not to configure the item, sane 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.
View Reports View reports represent 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 This report generates web pages, either for a selected individual (active person) or a set of individuals. The options for this report are broken down into contents, privacy, and advanced options. The contents options include the filter (determine the scope of the database to consider), destination directory for the images, an optional short ancestor tree, and a link to the index page. Privacy options allow you to omit private records, restrict information on living people, skip images (either all or only those of living people), and omit comments and text in source information. Finally, the advanced options allow you to include the optional &app; ID, create a GENDEX index, and specify the extension of the resulting files.
Running Tools &app; tools allow you to perform various types of analyses 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 evoked 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 ). 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. Database Processing This section contains tools which may modify your database. The modifications will only be performed upon your explicit consent. 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;: 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. Find possible duplicate people This tool searches the entire database, looking for the entries that may represent the same person. 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;. 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;. 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. Check Return values that do not match the filter rules (invert) to negate the filter rule (e.g. inverting "has a common ancestor with I1" rule will match everyone who does not have a common ancestor with that person). 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. 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. Note that a filter you've 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).
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 Soudex Indexing System. Relationship calculator This utility calculates the relationship between two people from the database. Verify the database This utility allows you to verify the database based on the set of criteria specified by you. This tool is different from the previously described Check tool in the following. 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 of 98 (albeit 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.