* Where within Source field

[E Wilcock]

This field is really annoying me.
Plus the knowledge base search engine doesnt seem to allow one to search for the field by name to discovered whether this has been discussed before. A search for Where in Source even strips out all the terms except in!

I know it was discussed previously because the import from TMG landed the "where in source" in the "text from source" field. Mike wrote a plug in to correct this - but the reason could have been that TMG allowed carriage returns in this field.
It infuriates me that fh does not.
A typical German citation reference to where in source has two lines on ancestry (I have changed the numbers - these are not true record references)

Certificate Number: 1127
Laufendenummer: 30612

GR birth marriage and death indexes similarly have several lines

Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1925
Registration district: Liverpool
Volume Number: 5b
Page Number: 67

I am used to copying and pasting in these references - but in fh I have to put them in the notes field and then delete out any carriage returns and then copy and paste into the correct field. It is a bother and one risks losing or mis typing part of the reference.

I do not understand why genealogy software should fail to provide a field where on can paste in these page and certificate numbers straight from the web. Has no fh user ever noticed this and complained?
Or do you use the text from source field?
Or am I simply missing something and doing it wrong?

[dewilkinson]

I suspect your frustration in part may be because of the use of carriage returns. In TMG I recorded BMDs for example as "Ipswich 1843 Q4 vol:12 page:264" without any carriage returns. When I moved to FH whilst these ended up in the wrong field, running the plugin moved it to Where Within Source. I have the Source recorded as "E&W Death Index1837 - 2007".

I wonder of you can run the Search and Replace plugin (which I have used many times) to remove the carriage returns and reduce the length of your citation text. I have attached an image to show how these appear for me.

[mjashby]

@ EWilcock,

You are not doing anything wrong, but I'm afraid here you are attributing blame to FH, as the data receiving program, for doing exactly what you are telling it to do, i.e. you are copying text from a website through your browser which includes formatting codes and expecting FH to strip out those codes, but how can it possibly understand your (or any other user's) intentions. Some people will want to retain as much formatting as possible, some will want to remove all formatting; and others will want to reformat the copied text after transfer.

Some web browsers do have extensions available which offer formatting choices when coping text directly from websites, e.g. there is a Firefox extension called 'Copy Plain Text 2', but others don't.

EDIT: - Chrome and Firefox already include shortcuts for pasting regular text out of the box. In both browsers, simply press CTRL + Shift + V to paste text without the extras, no matter where you copied it from! This is a built-in operating system Shortcut that Mac OS and Linux users have general access to Windows Users don't!

For Windows, there is also a free utility called PureText, which reportedly works across all Windows apps - see http://stevemiller.net/puretext/ for more information if you want to check it out.

[tatewise]

@ EWilcock, I can understand your annoyance & infuriation, but in your frustration your are making typing mistakes.

I have just searched for where within source and "where within source" in both the Forum Search and the Knowledge Base Search and they all worked perfectly. Do NOT search for where in source because that is NOT the field name. When the Forum Search says it ignored: where source that is exactly what it means; it ignored those two words when adjacent in that order, but for me still found 2233 matches for where within source, or where, or within, or source, etc.

It is not entirely the fault of FH that Where within Source does not allow multiple lines, because that is defined by the GEDCOM specification. If all products adhered to that specification, then these problems would not arise.

However, I agree it would be more useful when copying such multiple line text, if FH converted each newline code to a space character. Try submitting a problem report to Calico Pie and maybe they will fix it.

[Coolgarra]

Hi Mike

What is the name of the plugin which changes the "text from source" to "where in source" ?

Thanks!

[tatewise]

There are two Plugins.

1) Move Citation Text Fields is attached to Importing citation details (12745) and unconditionally moves Text From Source to Where within Source and then also Note to Text From Source.

2) Move some Text From Source to Where Within Source is attached to Citations from TMG (14565) with instructions on setting conditional text to trigger the move from Text From Source to Where within Source.

[Coolgarra]

Thanks Mike! I'll try them both.

[E Wilcock]

It is not entirely the fault of FH that Where within Source does not allow multiple lines, because that is defined by the GEDCOM specification. If all products adhered to that specification, then these problems would not arise.

However, I agree it would be more useful when copying such multiple line text, if FH converted each newline code to a space character. Try submitting a problem report to Calico Pie and maybe they will fix it.

You understand perfectly Mike. I didnt know it was a gedcom rule and will do.

Chrome and Firefox already include shortcuts for pasting regular text out of the box. In both browsers, simply press CTRL + Shift + V to paste text without the extras, no matter where you copied it from! This is a built-in operating system Shortcut that Mac OS and Linux users have general access to Windows Users don't! For Windows, there is also a free utility called PureText, which reportedly works across all Windows apps - see http://stevemiller.net/puretext/ for more information if you want to check it out.

Thanks for that info - I use Chrome. I found that Control Shift didnt take out the carriage returns, but possibly because I paste in via Clip Mate.
But encouraged by your info - I have found that if I control click an icon on Clipmate it will remove the carriage returns and paste into the single line allowed in fh / Gedcom.

I am grateful for all the replies - I learned a lot.