Family Historian User Group

I am attempting to review FH in hopes of transferring from TMG. I've imported my TMG project into the trial version of 6.2 and have looked at many things so far, including reports. I'll start with one, hopefully, easily answered question that I have yet to find a answer for:

On a report that has the citations listed can those citations be listed on the page where it/they was/were cited? Or do the citations always have to go at the end of the report?

It is very cumbersome for a reader to constantly have to look at the back of a book to find the source of the citation.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the FHUG.

You are correct that Source Citation details are listed together in the Sources section, which comes after the Fact details.

They may not be at the very end of a Report. If for example you have chosen Publish > Individual Summary Report and selected several Individual records, then the Sources section follows each record. But the Sources can optionally be grouped at the very end of the Report and that way reduce replications.

The reasoning for that approach is to make it easier to follow the factual timeline of each Individual.
If the Source Citations were listed with every Fact then there are a number of drawbacks.

• Any Source that is cited by more than one Fact would get listed each time with potentially many repetitions.
• Each Fact could be widely separated. Imagine a Birth event with citations of a Birth Certificate, Death Certificate (that confirms DoB), and each Census record (that may have been cited prior to obtaining the Certificates). Then the next Fact could be on the next page. So the cradle to grave story could span many pages, which could also be cumbersome to follow.
• Both the above become worse the more Source details are included, such as document images, repositories, etc.

Tatewise: True, but in TMG I can select to have the Source Citations displayed in the "footnotes" area on the page where the Source is cited. The report is in a historical factual timeline, and, "theoretically," reads like a report, but, let's say there is one paragraph for an individual who has ten citations located within that paragraph, then the footnote section on that page would list the ten sources cited, rather than listing them at the end of the report along with the multitude of other Source Citations contained in the report. If the same Source was cited twice in a row then Ibid would be printed. If the Source was cited again after another Source Citation in that footnote area then a "Short Title" would be printed rather than the entire Source record.

OK, I can see that may have some advantage as long as the Source entries are just summaries and not comprehensive details including document images and transcripts, etc.

Unfortunately FH does not currently offer that feature.
It could be suggested to Calico Pie or added to our growing Wish List.

However, you can export a GEDCOM with linked Media to another product (such as TMG) that does offer that style of report.

OK. I guess that should be added to a "wish list."

To take this Sources discussion one more step, can the "Text From Source:" words actually be eliminated from the Sources listing when the option of "Text from Source" is selected on the Sources tab of the Report Options? Personally I think that is superfluous and distracting.

You need to post a request in the New Wish List Requests Forum so it can be discussed before adding to the Wish List to ensure the features are well defined.

No, the Text From Source: heading cannot be eliminated within FH.
I guess it is there to make it clear the following text is a transcript and not a continuation of some other details.
You can Save Report As > Word-Processor Document (.rtf) and globally edit to remove that heading text.

Thanks Mike for the insights. Since I am not a full user of FH, just evaluating it, I wouldn't feel justified to make a "wish," although I can't believe Calico couldn't see this as an option as many genealogical reports I've read in publications are done that way (just look at The American Genealogist volumes for one).

As for TMG, it is no longer being supported (hasn't been for several years) and I am trying to find a replacement. I was told that FH would be an option and I read that it was the #1 rated genealogical program out there, but so far I have found three things about FH that would keep me away: 1) the "Living" flag needing to be applied manually (huh?), 2) the Sources listing (see above discussion) and, 3) the "Text from Sources:" (see above discussion).

But, I will keep evaluating. I still have a little time before I have to either purchase or ??

1) There are tools that allow the Living flag to be added semi-automatically.
See for example fhugdownloads:contents:flag_living|> Query:Individual ~ Flag Living.
The concept is to run a custom Query to list 'living people' and use the Query Menu > Set Flag on Result Set Records option. Alternatively, a custom Plugin could fully automate the process. Furthermore, the need for a Living flag depends on what purpose you have in mind.

2) & 3) FH is not renowned for its Report writer features. Its main strengths lie elsewhere. So please persevere and you may find its other features outweigh those Report problems.

There are many TMG migrants here, and they may well add their opinions.

Of course if you have the skills and the time you could write a plugin to write your report directly to word using luacom and format it any way you want. I knows couple of the professional heir hunters do exactly that.