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Last Updated: 2025-02-02

Applies to RootsMagic on Windows, x64 edition, v 10.0.5

Bugs

Fact Type selection dialog

In Edit Person window, click on the + button to add a fact. Enter text in the filter so that no facts are displayed. Hit the OK button A new fact is added but of type 0. A fact type of 0 is undefined. The Fact panel will show a somewhat random fact type but when it is saved, it will display as blank.

Suggestion: Don't populate Fact type list with a query every time. Its too slow as is to keep up with keyboard entry.

Data loss when entering Fact data

A common workflow will result in data loss: Open any database, or create new one. Open any person or create a new one. In the Edit Person window, click the + button to add any fact. In the new fact, add data to any or all of the fields (date, description, place, place detail, proof, primary, private). Without clicking the "check mark" button, add a Source, Media, Task, or fact Share. When done, use the Close button to exist the Edit Person window.

Reopen the Person and the new Fact. Notice that any data in date, description, place, place detail, proven, primary, private is lost.

Same problem when adding an Alt Name.

The data was saved in earlier post 7 versions.

Workaround:

If in doubt, look at the main fact listing in the edit window. If the new fact is blank, nothing has been saved.

Media Tab

Left and right side panel selections in Media Tab not always synchronized.

Workaround: If the left and right side are not synchronized- Right click the mouse on the left side image. This will display the context menu and synchronize the right side. Left click the mouse anywhere else on the window to dismiss the context menu.

Add new media => Paste into field "Filename"

If the path is enclosed with quotes, as from File Manager Copy as path command, the path is pasted numerous times and the add fails. Workaround is to remove the initial and ending quotes.

Text editing

Editing in both database fields.
Double click a word to select it, hit delete key to delete it => the cursor moves to incorrect location. (This has been fixed in the note editor, but fact fields and source/citation fields and place fields still show the problem. )

Note editor

Assumes that typed text, e.g. <b>, is formatting code. Formatting codes should not be user enter-able in text mode. If formatting codes need to be visible, there should be a show formatting codes mode.

Without the separation of modes, there is a class of text that the user is not allowed to use.

Fact description

All characters after a "<" character are not displayed in person edit main panel.

Merge Citations

Open the Sources tab from the main window.
Select any source.
Open the selected source's list of citations.
Select any citation.
Select the Merge citations command from the three dot menu.
A list of all of the citations belonging to the selected source is displayed. As expected.
In the search box within the merge citations window, enter a broad search term, such as the letter 'a'.
A much larger list of citations with with to merge is displayed, mostly from other sources.

Can one merge citations when they are from different sources? If only citations from sources based on the same Source Template were shown, that would make sense.

Date entry

In RM preferences, one can choose “Use the system settings” for “Date entry”. However, if Windows short-date format is set to ISO (YYY-MM-DD), RM still does not recognize ISO 8601 dates on input.

Design-Change Wish List

Features I wish were differently implemented.

Groups and colors

Assign colors to group definitions so that members of a group are all highlighted with the assigned color. Also define a conflict color when a person is in more than one group that has a color assigned. (Study how TMG does this. Much better.)

This should be the primary way of assigning a color to a person. (The transition could be implemented in parallel with current color model to avoid shock to old time users)

De-normalized data

Get rid of de-normalized birth and death columns in NameTable. Causes continual tech support questions when they get out of synch.

Data constraints

Add unique indexes that will enforce only one Primary for each fact/name. Add some referential integrity constraints in SQLite, especially foreign person fields of value 0.

Sort children

Use Birth Sort date for arranging children on screen and in reports.

Sort marriages

Use Marriage Sort date for arranging marriages on screen and in reports.

RMNOCASE transparency

Either give a spec for a standalone collation sequence, or use an off the shelf standard collation.

Find person hot key

add a hot key (keyboard shortcut), that will shift focus to the person index without filtering. Or some other way that will guarantee the full index is searched- name name or RIN.

Currently-
Control-F almost works, but the People List could be filtered.
Control-S is not bad, but it is not an index, which has advantages over search.

Share a Fact #1

Using the RootsMagic explorer can be time consuming. I generally display people's RIN and use that to find the person in the RootsMagic explorer. Why do I need to look at the screen, note and remember the RIN of the person I want to share to and then type it in. I should just be able to point to anyone on screen and have the fact shared to that person.

Share a Fact #2

When entering data for a Census fact and sharing it among the household members, I have recently started using the RM Explorer option "Mark=>Families".

One easy software change that could eliminate a step would be to automatically highlight/select the current person in the RM Explorer list when started from the Share Fact button. (In this workflow, the RM Explorer windows is instead titled "Add Shared fact") This initial selection is already done when the Copy Fact command is run.

If the current person were to be initially selected in the RM Explorer list, the first step of finding that person in the list would be eliminated, a step I find annoying.