Edit Personal Data

Menu	Toolbar	Shortcut
Personal Data		Ctrl + D

You can also access this dialog by double-clicking on a person box with your left mouse button in a treeview, by marking a person box and pressing F2 or by right-clicking on a person box and selecting the dialog from the menu. You can also open this dialog from the Select Person dialog. For this, right-click on a row and select the dialog from the menu. This is not possible if the Select Person dialog has been opened from the Personal Data dialog.

You can edit the data for individual persons or relationship definitions in this dialog on various tabs.

If you would like make the same changes to data for a group of persons, use the Edit Personal Data of a Group dialog.

General:

Text output in the person boxes of the treeviews generally allows for line breaks after empty spaces, dashes, slashes, commas and colons. If you want to prevent line breaks (e.g. to avoid breaks in double names with a dash or between nobility titles and surnames), you will need to use special characters for spaces or dashes. Instead of a normal dash, use a "hard" dash by pressing Alt + 0173; instead of a normal empty space, use a "hard" empty space by pressing Alt + 0160. To use this entry method, activate Num Lock, hold down the Alt key and enter the 4 numbers in order on the number pad before releasing the Alt key. These special characters are contained in normal Windows fonts. If you are using a more exotic font, you may want to check your entry, as 0160 and 0173 may represent different elements.

Date values are to be entered in the date entry format specified in the Program Options, Basic Configuration tab. As a reminder, this format will be displayed between the date fields for baptized and deceased. For unknown days or months, enter question marks instead. You may only enter a four-digit year number. You can also use text notes such as "about" in accordance with the Gedcom standard. Text notes are explained in detail in the Appendix in the section Date Formats in FamilyTreeFactory Records and Gedcom Files. If the program cannot interpret an entry or the date is invalid (e.g. "End of World War I" or "11/31/1978"), a warning will be displayed that explains the readable formats. Invalid date entries are considered date text phrases and placed in parentheses in accordance with the Gedcom standard. They can be saved in this manner with parentheses without being noticed by the integrity check.

Note regarding date text phrases: Date text phrases are output in person boxes and file cards without the surrounding parentheses. For example, the saved date text phrase for the date of death "(End of World War I)" will be output as "† End of World War I".

Note regarding date formats: The output format in person boxes and file cards can be set independently from the entry format described above. The output format is set in the Treeview Options, Box Content tab.

Note regarding partner and child numbers: FamilyTreeFactory uses partner and child numbers that are set with tab numbers or spinedit controls when a record of a relative is entered or selected. The order of partners and children does not depend on the order in which the data are entered. Instead, the order is determined by the partner and child numbers. If you enter the 4th child first and then the 2nd child, the children will still be arranged in the correct order 2 - 4.

The following buttons are located below the tabs:

Select Record... Opens the Select Person dialog (after confirming any changes to data), from which you can select a person from all the records. After closing the Select Person dialog, the selected record is displayed.

The + / - buttons Show the record (after confirming any changes to data) with the next-highest or next-lowest number.

Delete record... Deletes the displayed record after confirming. The record for the current primary person cannot be deleted. Persons who are not at the end of a branch based on the relationship structure serve to link other relatives. If you try to delete these persons, a warning will be displayed. If a record is deleted for a person who is displayed in the current treeview, the system will notify you that the graphic needs to be redrawn.

Change Order of Partners/Children...The Change Order of Partners/Children dialog is opened for the current record.

Save Record Accepts the personal data that have been entered in the current record. A plausibility check is performed for the data and a message will be produced in case of errors. In general, it is not possible to accept invalid data.

Tip: If an item such as an invalid date is not accepted, but you still want to save the data, you will need to put the date in question in parentheses. This causes it to be treated as a date text phrase, which is not checked. You can call up a list of such records with the Search for Records with Date Text Phrases function for later editing.

Warning: To enter new data into an empty relative area, you will need to create a new record there with the Create button. Data for a new record to be created for a new relative are not saved with the Save Record... button. Save Record concerns only the currently processed record of the person who is mentioned in the title bar of the dialog.

Note: If a treeview is shown and a new record for a new person has been created, the new person does not automatically appear in the treeview, even if he/she is expected there according to the relationships. New persons only can appear in a treeview when the treeview is created newly. Only when creating a treeview the relationship structure is found out and represented in the graphic.

Close Closes the Personal Data dialog (if necessary, after confirming that any data that was changed or entered will be saved).