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: Data Defaults (Beginner)
Previous articles in this series:
Customize Legacy
Options: General Settings
Options: Data Entry
Options: Data Format
The next section in the Customize Legacy menu is Options > Customize > 4. Data Defaults
4.1 Living Indicator Default (ff)
If you select Yes Legacy will assume every person that you enter in your file is living until told otherwise. If you select No Legacy will mark every person you enter as deceased. If you select Use Previous Legacy will mark the person living or deceased based on the last person you entered. I normally have this set to Yes but I have a limited One Name Study that I am working on where I am only recording things that are pre-1820. In that file I have it set to No. If I enter someone, even if I don't enter any dates, it will default them to deceased.
4.2 Default Note Type (gbl)
The option controls which Notes tab Legacy will open to when you click on a person's Notes icon. I work mostly in the Research Notes so I would rather it automatically Open to Last Used note type each time but if I worked mostly in the General Notes I would opt to have it Open window to General Notes each time. If you happen to work mostly on the Medical Notes tab then you would choose the second option.
4.3 Cursor Position When Viewing Notes (gbl)
Some people like to have their notes in order so that the newest information is at the top. If that is you, choose Place cursor at beginning. If you prefer to have your notes where the newest information is at the bottom, choose Place cursor at end. Which you choose depends on how you use your notes and how you want your thoughts ordered.
4.4 When Adding New Records (ff)
When you delete or merge people in your file you will create gaps in your RIN numbers. Checking this option will tell Legacy to use the first blank RIN when you enter a new person. If you don't have this checked you will notice that your RINs are not in a perfect sequence. I like my RINs to be tight so I have Legacy renumber them.
4.5 Default directions for latitude and longitude (ff)
You want to select the values that correspond to the global quadrant where most of the people in your file are located. You can manually change these if you need to when entering locations but you want it to default as much as possible. Mine is set for the US but if most of your file is in Australia you would change this to S and E.
4.6 Quick Entry Character Ribbon (gbl)
If you click the Change button you can select which special characters you want to display on your Character Ribbon. It might seem odd that I only have the pound symbol but I have all of the Windows shortcuts for the German diacritics memorized. It is much faster for me to just use the ALT codes for those. For some reason I never can remember the code for the pound symbol. You can have up to eight characters entered on the ribbon. This special toolbar is displayed on all of the notes screens and all you have to do is click the symbol you want and it will be inserted into your text.
4.7 Units of Measurement (gbl)
This setting is a global control over the reports. This will be for things like margins and indents.
4.8 Time Format (gbl)
I prefer a 24-hour clock so that is how I have Legacy set. You will see these times on the bottom toolbar (current time) and you will see them when you access a person's modified time or do a search by modified time.
That is the end of this section. Next we will go through Options: Dates.
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.
3D means that the character ribbon will have a three dimensional look to it. If this is unchecked, it will have a flat look.