...about GEDCOM files:
What is a GEDCOM file?
How standard is the GEDCOM "standard"?
How do I obtain a GEDCOM file?
Is there a limit to the size of GEDCOM file that The Complete Genealogy Reporter is able to process?
...about
The Complete Genealogy Reporter:
Why was The Complete Genealogy Reporter created?
Does The
Complete Genealogy Reporter create GEDCOM files?
Does The Complete Genealogy Reporter alter my GEDCOM file?
How large a file has been tested?
How are non-Gregorian dates processed?
Dates in my GEDCOM file are not being interpreted correctly. What can be done about this?
How are cousin relationships calculated by The Complete Genealogy Reporter?
When will the User Interface be available in languages other than English?
...about the
reports:
How big is a report likely to be?
Is it possible to produce a printed hardback book from a report?
Does the PDF output file include embedded fonts?
What is a Web Folder Report?
Can I produce DOC files (Microsoft Word)?
Is The Complete Genealogy Reporter able to produce reports in languages other than English?
...about Genealogy Program compatibility:
I use GenoPro. Why is The Complete Genealogy Reporter not incorporating marriage information?
I use Family Tree Maker, or FZip. Why is The Complete Genealogy Reporter not incorporating my picture media?
My genealogy program exports OBJE tags. Why are pictures not appearing in the narrative section?
What about Family Tree Builder's Marked Faces and Family Historian's Linked Frames. Are these supported?
I use Family Tree Maker. Why is The Complete Genealogy Reporter mixing places and occupations in the indexes?
What is a GEDCOM file?
A data file that
conforms to the GEnealogical Data COMmunication standard proposed by the
Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
How standard is
the GEDCOM "standard"?
Alas, although the standard permits the use of custom data fields for a
genealogy program's own use, many programs abuse the standard by using the
standard data fields in non-standard ways. Such programs appear to
assume that the same program will be used to import the GEDCOM file as
exported it. Nevertheless,
The
Complete Genealogy
Reporter understands many of these situations and knows how to handle them,
often via the application of a specific option setting.
How do I obtain a
GEDCOM file? From
whatever program you use to maintain your data. Virtually all
programs that create and maintain family tree data either use the GEDCOM format or
provide the ability to export the data from the program to a GEDCOM (.ged)
file. The export facility is commonly found under the File or
Tools menu. If you use one of the web-based methods for maintaining your
family tree (such as Genes Reunited or phpGedView), these too provide the ability to
download the data as a GEDCOM file on your computer.
Is there a limit
to the size of GEDCOM file that
The
Complete Genealogy
Reporter is able to process?
An unlimited number of individuals and families, limited only to reporting
only the first fifteen children in tree diagrams. However, very large files will (i)
take a longer time to process, and (ii) require a considerable volume of paper
if all individuals are to included in the analysis.
Why was The Complete Genealogy
Reporter created?
Necessity being the
mother of invention, there appeared to be no program available that could
produce personalized and comprehensive narrative reference books for use by
people with minimal computer or genealogical experience. A family
tree diagram measuring ten feet by six feet is very impressive, but is hard to
use as a quick reference guide - unless it is applied as a mural. Most
of the existing narrative reporters were also found to not incorporate all
direct relatives (e.g., cousins), did not extend to including indirect
branches through marriage or adoption, and did not include unconnected
individuals.
Does The
Complete Genealogy Reporter create GEDCOM files?
No, the program reads your GEDCOM file and produces a comprehensive
cross-referenced narrative report.
Does
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter alter my GEDCOM file?
No. The program
merely reads the data from the file. All data manipulations (such as
standardizing names and reformatting dates) are performed within the
program for the purposes of the report. No changes whatsoever are made
to your GEDCOM file.
How large a file
has been tested?
A GEDCOM file containing
181,137
individuals and 70,293 families has been processed and reported without
failure. These data included 26,484 citations of 899 sources, 55,401
notes, 289,405 date references, and 163,968 place references. Analysis for
a selected test subject
in this case resulted in 47,278 direct relations, 4,253 indirect branches
encompassing 122,990 individuals, and 10,869 disconnected individuals in
4,688
groups. The
connected individuals spanned 149 generations. A fully hyperlinked PDF
report contained over 61,000 pages (2 gigabytes), and took a few hours to
complete due to the determination and inclusion of many millions of
cross-references.
How are non-Gregorian dates processed?
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
contains date conversion routines which convert Hebrew, French Republican and
Julian dates to Gregorian equivalents. Both the non-Gregorian and
Gregorian date forms are reported.
Dates in my
GEDCOM file are not being interpreted correctly. What can be done about
this?
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
contains rigorous date
processing logic which
will correctly interpret almost all reasonably expressed Gregorian date data.
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
also contains date conversion routines for Hebrew, French Republic, and Julian
dates. Nevertheless, you may select
that dates be reported exactly as they are found in the GEDCOM file. If
you email the support address with an example of a date which
the date processing logic
was unable to interpret appropriately, we will
investigate expanding the date processing logic to handle that date format
appropriately in the next release.
How are cousin
relationships calculated by
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter?
There is a choice between two methods for English reports:
The "asymmetrical" method is arguably
more correct and is consistent with the methods used by other languages; but
it is rarely used nowadays.
With this method, the distance between the two individuals of different
generations is different for each to the other and is one less that the
number
of generations traversed back to the common ancestor from the person viewing the relationship.
Removal is the number of generations separating the two individuals. Thus if the common ancestor were to be my
great-grandfather (three generations back) and your
great-great-grandfather (four generations back), you would be my second (one less than three) cousin,
once (one generation apart) removed, and I would be your third (one less than
four) cousin, once removed. In other words, the cousin distance is
calculated "horizontally" based upon an individual of the same generation as the person viewing
the relationship to the other, then the "vertical" removal factor is applied.
The simpler "symmetrical" method is the one that is now more commonly
documented. With this method, the distance between the two individuals
is one less that the smaller number of generations traversed back to the
common ancestor, and removal is the number of generations separating the two
individuals, as with the asymmetrical method. Thus if the common
ancestor were to be your great-great-grandfather (four generations back) and
my great-grandfather (three generations back), we would be second (one less
than the lesser of four and three) cousins, once (one generation apart)
removed.
Note that the symmetrical method applies only to the English definitions.
Other languages
use the asymmetrical methodology in that the cousin distance is always calculated
horizontally at the generation level of the person
viewing the relationship to the other.
When will the User Interface be available in languages
other than English? This is an issue that is under continuous review.
The difficulty is not that of the interface itself, but of the considerable volume of help
documentation which describes its use. Because The Complete Genealogy Reporter is continuous improvement software, frequent improvements are made to the program and a need to delay
each update until the help documentation changes were translated would not be acceptable.
How big is a report likely to be?
Typically, a report
will generate about twelve pages per one hundred individuals without tree
diagrams or indices of places and dates. If tree diagrams are included, the size would be closer
to twenty-five pages per one hundred individuals. Media, notes, sources and
additional indices will
increase this size. Therefore a report encompassing 500 individuals
would average about 60 pages without tree diagrams, or approximately 125 pages
with tree diagrams. (If you wish to obtain a rough estimate of the size
of the report before it is produced, there is a "Size?" button which will
provide this.)
ls it possible to produce a printed hardback book from a report?
The creator of
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
has
used the service provided by www.lulu.com
to obtain a 650-page hardback reference book of his own report. The result is
impressive and professional, and the cost for a non-color report is very
reasonable - about the same that one might pay for a textbook of a similar size
at a
book store. (Nigel Bufton Software has no connection with
www.lulu.com.)
Does the PDF
output file include embedded fonts?
Yes.
What is a Web
Folder Report? A Web
Folder report is a collection of HTML formatted web pages that exactly
corresponds to a PDF or printed report. The web pages are extensively
hyperlinked and provide powerful and rapid navigation of the report.
All web pages and images are placed in a single folder that may be easily
transferred to your online web space if you wish.
Can I produce DOC files (Microsoft Word)? Yes,
this was introduced in version 2010. However, it is extremely slow due
to the overhead of Microsoft's Word Automation interface.
Alternatively,
there are many 3rd-Party products that will convert PDF files to DOC files. BlueSquad's PDF-to-Word, a relatively inexpensive example of such a
product, has been tested quite successfully with PDF files
created by The Complete Genealogy Reporter. (Nigel Bufton Software has
no connection with BlueSquad.)
Is
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter able to produce reports in languages other than English?
Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German,
Italian,
Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Spanish, and Swedish are
also supported. Support for other languages will be added to future
releases according to demand and the availability of volunteers to assist with
the correct translations.
I use GenoPro.
Why is The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
not incorporating marriage
information? See "Compatibility"
section (GenoPro).
I use Family Tree
Maker, or FZip. Why is
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
not incorporating my picture
media? See "Compatibility"
section.
My genealogy
program exports OBJE tags. Why are pictures not appearing in the
narrative section?
See "Compatibility" section. However, if
you do not use one of the programs which export primary image tags, and if
your image data is organized in an appropriate manner, you may instruct
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
to treat the first image for each individual as the primary media item for
that individual.
What about Family Tree
Builder's Marked Faces and Family Historian's Linked Frames. Are these
supported?
Yes,
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
calls these
images "cutouts". Not only are the individual cutouts included within
the report, but you may specify that the original images from which they are
extracted or cropped are to be included also. Moreover,
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter will distinguish
what appears to be an extraction from what appears to be a crop and permit
you to not include those originals that appear to have been merely cropped
to define the cutout.
I use Family Tree
Maker. Why is
The Complete Genealogy
Reporter
mixing places and occupations in the indexes?
See "Compatibility" section (Family
Tree Maker).