Tuesday's Tip - Options: Dates (Beginner)
July 09, 2019
Tuesday's Tips provide brief how-to's to help you learn to use the Legacy Family Tree software with new tricks and techniques.
Options: Dates (Beginner)
Previous articles in this series:
Customize Legacy
Options: General Settings
Options: Data Entry
Options: Data Format
Options: Date Defaults
The next section in the Customize Legacy menu is Options > Customize > 5. Dates
Option 5.1 Displayed As (ff)
This section is pretty self explanatory. This is how you will see your dates on the various Legacy screens and in reports.
Option 5.2 Month Format (ff)
Some countries do not capitalize the months of the year. Some people prefer the months in all caps so that they stand out. I have mine set to Initial Caps so that I can type faster. I can type the month in all lowercase and Legacy fixes it for me.
Option 5.3 Separators for numeric dates (ff)
This is a stylistic choice. There are many countries that separate their numerical dates using periods. I personally prefer 11-30-1962. This will only go into effect if you have numerical dates chosen in Option 5.1.
Option 5.4 Double Date Cutoff (ff)
Be careful with this one. If your file is mostly the UK and the English colonies then you can use double dating. Other countries switched calendars in completely different years. In my main file I have it turned off but I have a limited One Name Study that covers South Carolina pre-1820 so in that file I have it turned on. South Carolina was a British colony so double dating applies.
Option 5.5 Date Checking (gbl)
I use all of Legacy's build in error checkers so I certainly have this one turned on. Typos make your work look amateurish Please don't go looking for typos in the blog because I am very capable of making mistakes and that is why this option is on.
Option 5.6 Preposition Before Full Dates on Reports (gbl)
This is another stylistic choice. It is common to see this written as Mary Smith was born 12 March 1888 (no preposition) in journals.
Option 5.7 Prefixes (gbl)
Most people will have abbreviations on the right side. I personally prefer all my words spelled out so there is no ambiguity. Because of this feature I can type a lot faster. I can type the abbreviation and Legacy spits out the entire word.
We have finished up Dates. Next time we will go over Options: Locations.
Find tech tips every day in the Facebook Legacy User Group. The group is free and is available to anyone with a Facebook account.
For video tech tips check out the Legacy Quick Tips page. These short videos will make it easy for you to learn all sort of fun and interesting ways to look at your genealogy research.
Michele Simmons Lewis, CG® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.
Posted by Michele Lewis in Legacy Tips, Legacy tips: beginners, Tuesday Tip | Permalink
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Comments (5)
In a genealogical database where the data tends to spread around the world I would suggest avoiding the American all-digit dates because they can be ambiguous in non-US countries,
e.g. 6-8-2006. Is this 6th of August (UK) or 8th of June (US)?
There are ISO Standards dates to choose from which avoid this problem,
e.g. 2006-08-06. (6th August 2006)
An extra benefit of using this type of date on files is that they properly sort in date order outside any program.
Posted by: Peter Matthews | July 16, 2019 at 10:47 PM
Love your quick tips. How about doing one which shows how to "tell" Legacy to use the middle name instead of the first in printed reports. My sister, "Marie Violet," was always known by "Violet," never "Marie." I certainly want to list her full name for the record, but in reports, the use of "Violet" would be more appropriate. I'm sure others are facing the same issue.
Posted by: Ruby G Campbell | July 17, 2019 at 08:32 AM
Ruby,
You can put Violet in quotes like this, “Violet.” In reports there is an option to use quoted names in the narratives. Her full name will be displayed the first time but in the narratives her preferred name will be used.
Posted by: Michele | July 17, 2019 at 08:41 AM
How do you zero-suppress the lead zero in the day of the month for the first through the ninth of the month? It seems more human to see 6 Mar 1875 than to see 06 Mar 1875. Zero suppression saves space also.
Legacy prints cir for circa. I would prefer the abbreviation ca. or the whole word circa.
David Allen Navorska
Posted by: David Allen Navorska | July 23, 2019 at 02:34 PM
David,
Options > Customize > Dates > Option 5.1
UNcheck the box that says "Format with 2-digit day/month"
Options > Customize > Dates > Option 5.7
In the Circa field type in ca. or circa
Posted by: Michele | July 24, 2019 at 01:44 PM