User Question: Blurry Media and Google+ Going away

Here is a question from a reader of this blog:

I tried attaching a media file but it came out blurry under my individual media tab. Image is clear. Is image supposed to be in two different locations since I want to be able to see image when off-line and not logged in to Ancestry?

I am new to FTM 2017 and have found your blog to be most useful. Since Google + is shutting down April 2, 2019, which blog do you recommend me joining.

The answer to your media file being blurry depends on how you obtained that image. Most of the pictures that I have are clear, some, not so much. The not so much items are ones that were handed down to me in various formats. Every time you OPEN a JPG file, and save it, it will become more compressed or blutty.

I ALWAYS keep my scanned images or digital images in their original folder on my computer. AND when I use that media file, I ALWAYS use the COPY option, when adding that image to my file.


Google+ is going away. So what. That has nothing to do with this Blog.

Now, I had a Google+ Genealogy community on Google+ and it IS going away. BUT I was able to capture all of the content from that community and created another blog with all of the content already there.

cousinrusscommunity.blogspot.com

Russ

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

User Question: Multiple / Duplicate Birth, Marriage, Death Facts

A question from a Blog Reader:

Thank you for your Knowledge Base series. They are a great resource.

Sometimes one or more B/M/D facts have two dates and, no matter how hard 
you research the problem, you just can not figure out which is correct.

I had the problem with a birth date and kept the two Birth fact entries. 
FTM's error checking routines did not like this and kept flagging the 
two Birth entries as an error.

So, what to do? It finally hit me, the solution to duplicate facts is to 
eliminate the duplication. I kept the original Birth fact and added a 
second "Birth - ALT" fact to hold the alternate fact. The same could be 
done by creating "Death - ALT" and "Marriage - ALT" facts.

If I ever manage to resolve the conflict, all I have to do is put the 
correct date and citation(s) in "Birth" and delete "Birth - ALT."

If needed you can create a custom Report to keep track of these 
additional facts by filtering in "xxx - ALT" as "Is Not Blank."

Thought this might give you an idea for one of your video demos.

First, I am sure I have done more than one video on this topic and a number of written blog posts as well.

But, I'll try to answer your questions here.

 In this example. there are six (6) Birth Facts and three (3) Death Facts. You will note that the 3rd item down, birth fact, has 24 Citations. You might say, well that MUST be it. 

Same with the Death Fact. The 3rd from the bottom, on the right, has 24 Citations. BUT, in evaluating the Citations, I have made the determination as to which Birth and Death Fact is PREFERRED. 

Usually, the preferred fact will be the most complete set of information.

You did NOT tell me what error messages Family Tree Maker was providing. A HINT, however, IF the error you are talking about is from the Data Error Report, try selecting Preferred ONLY.

I submit to you that these are NOT Duplicate Facts !!!!! They are ALT Facts. To be "duplicate" facts ALL of the Fields in that Fact MUST be Exact. Alt Facts are see above, where a couple of Citations will give the Year only. (BMD Facts I ALWAYS use Abt. YYYY). There are a couple facts that had the full date, but not Place Name.

Bottom line: (for me)

I record what I see on the Record and Cite the source. So, when it comes time to Evaluate my data, to make that Preferred Fact determination, I can do that very quickly.

My preferred facts change all of the time, until I get what my "current thinking" is about that Fact or event.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

User Question: How do I batch delete unused Place Names ?

Here is the Question

I am in the midst of a major tree cleanup, moving large amounts of people into other files or deleting them. I am also doing general cleanup of the database. I am finding a lot of place names that no longer have anyone linked to them. I am assuming that the people originally attached to these places are no longer in the database. Is there a method of searching for "orphan" place names and doing a batch delete?

Quick Answer: You Can't BULK Delete Place Names without a Fact linked to that place.

My suggestion is to put the Place Names in the FLAT View, then use your down arrow on your keyboard and look in the Right Hand Panel.

I suggest that, rather than using a report, base you can Delete the Unused Place name tight here.

Yes, there is manual clean up work after you do clean up.

Also, BACK UP BEFORE you do any of this, then do a Compact and Back Up when you are done. You don't have to do that ALL at the same time. I suggest making a note as to the Letter of the alphabet that you have completed, so you can pick up where you left off.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ