* Location

[teeterbug]

I'm coming from FTM and am currently using the trial file. I am entering a place of birth and the program is not populating the remaining information. For example, Phoenix, the system isn't putting Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona. I cannot tell if I am getting limited features because it's trial. How do I get it to populate the rest of the data when I put Phoenix?

[Gowermick]

FH doesn’t come with a pre-loaded list of Places, but builds its own as you progress, so will not autofill for first entry for a particular place. Once your list of placenames gets populated, it WILL prompt you with suggestions, every time you try to enter one. Of course, if you import your existing tree from FTM via a GEDCOM, the place names in the GEDCOM will get loaded along with the rest of the data.
Coming from FTM myself, it was a bit of a steep learning curve moving to FH, but overall It was very much worth it and haven’t regretted it one little bit.
As a newbie, reading some of the brilliant articles in the knowledge base will help.

One thing to note with reference to locations, is that in FH, they are usually held in two parts. One is Place, this will be the name of the Town or City (e.g. Colchester, Essex, England), the second is Address, this would contain the rest of the location, as one would use on a letter. (E.g. Post House Hotel, Manor Road). The Address and Place together make up the completer location, BUT, with FH being so flexible, you are free to enter the location anyway you wish. So if you wish to store the Complete location in the Places table you are free to do so.
If you browse the topics, you’ll find lots of different views on the subject

[teeterbug]

Thank you. I am liking FH a lot! There are things here and there that I am used to with FTM but I still have the desire to continue with FH. Just takes patience.

I have been watching the videos. I will take a look at the other information.

Thank you for the information about the "place" etc. I wasn't sure on that. I am used to FTM using the city/county/state for the place. I may stick with that and use the name of location with the address on the address line. It's a bummer that this program doesn't match up the rest of the information because that leaves more research on the smaller things but overall sacrifices can be made for the better features.

[Gowermick]

One tip I forgot to mention.
When entering street addresses, enter street name first, then house number.
i.e instead of entering 57, High Street, enter it as High Street, 57. This causes autofill to find addresses in same street, rather than addresses with same house number, which is not so useful for finding relatives living in same street.

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG.
I presume you have started with how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers which includes Places & Addresses among a lot of other advice.

Did you find how_to:import_from_family_tree_maker|> Import from Family Tree Maker (FTM)?

You say "this program doesn't match up the rest of the information". Could you please give some specific examples.

[teeterbug]

Thank you Gowermick. I have entered only a few address and can change those. Great advice!

Tatewise, I am not sure what example you are asking. Are you wanting me to list more cities than what I have in the original question? The comment I made was simply to follow up with the help Gowermick gave in the answer to my question. Please let me know what other examples you'd like.

Thanks!

[tatewise]

Sorry, I thought you were having a problem with other information not just locations.
I asked because newcomers often post one problem, and then move onto others in the same thread.

One idea might help, if you want a 'database' of 'locations' is to create a Place record for each Place name. Then FH will auto-complete any new facts using those Place names. BUT wait until you have imported your FTM database, and see how that works out first.

Also before you go too far consider Place Mapping of Lat/Longitude.
In FH this only applies to Place names and NOT Address fields.
So if you want auto-mapping of the entire location, then the full address & place must go in the Place field and the Address field left blank.

If you continue to keep Place and Address separate, then take care with Addresses that are just a Church name.
e.g. St. Marys Church
There may well be many identical St. Marys Church entries but for different Place names.
But FH treats all identical Address names as one and the same, so if you need to make a global change to perhaps add a road to one St. Marys Church then FH will change them all.
The solution is to enter St. Marys Church [[Newtown]] or wherever it is. The [[ square bracket ]] details can then be automatically excluded from Reports, etc, with a standard option.

Also consider having a fixed number of comma separated column parts in both Place and Address fields.
That allows column related sorting and searching.
So when for example entering an Address with a house number use:
High Street, 57, Westside
But if the house number is not know enter:
High Street, , Westside