* working with existing .ged and user defined tags

[Ron Melby]

I see no help on user defined tags. I see no way to create them. or tags, or the like.

I do not have CAUS in a fact or event, which is problematical. it has changed them to _ATTR (and it knows they are a type of medical condition)
what should the lines look like to put them in gedcom form?

I also have phone numbers and thats all I have PHONE is changed to _ATTR
all my _MILT tags were also changed to _ATTR but it knows they are type Military Service
what is the correct form for that?

I need to standardize all these tags so that they are events or facts or whatever and do not see what their form should be in FH to have standard interchanges with other compliant systems, I do not want a random jumble of _ATTR.
Same with EMAIL _ATTR

additionally, and I suppose that PHONE and EMAIL are 5.6 but to standardize these for search and replace when FH goes to 5.6 or GEDX.
I have to exchange with relatives who are on various and sundry systems. I need to have the most standard way I can.

additionally the random @@ error, seems like that has been going on for a while, and I see there is a plugin to run, but remembering to do it is not consistent, is there some on startup or on exit grammar to autorun it?
Or should this last be a separate thread?

[Jane]

CAUS and MILT are not Gedcom standard tags, and are incorrectly used by FTM. Family Historian has detected and converted them to standard extension tags and created Fact Types to go with them.

PHONE is also an invalid tag for the gedcom standard.

[Ron Melby]

I understand that,
So what I am trying to get to..

1 FACT WWI
2 TYPE Military Service
2 DATE SEP 1918
2 PLAC Springfield, Hampden, MA
2 TEXT blah blah blah
2 CONT yadda yadda yadda

instead of:
1 _ATTR WWI
2 TYPE Military Service
2 DATE SEP 1918
2 PLAC Springfield, Hampden, MA
2 TEXT blah blah blah
2 CONT yadda yadda yadda

and
1 DEAT
2 DATE TODAY!!!
2 PLAC Chained to my computer
1 EVEN Death
2 CAUS apoplexy from the steep learning curve

If I read the standard correctly, is that correct?

PHON was changed to _ATTR
EMAIL was changed to _ATTR

phon and email will have to wait until 5.6 compliant I guess.

[tatewise]

Ron, presumably you are referring to Custom Facts (Events/Attributes) rather than User Defined Tags.
(The GEDCOM Release 5.5 specification allows for User Defined Tags but they MUST all start with an underscore (_) and may occur anywhere in the data structure).
The GEDCOM Release 5.5 specification allows Custom Events with the following structure within INDIvidual and FAMily records only:
1 EVEN
2 TYPE event name
But I suspect you are using:
1 EVEN 01803 654321
2 TYPE PHONE
1 EVEN post@@tatewise.co.uk
2 TYPE EMAIL
1 EVEN Wounded
2 TYPE _MILT
Those are invalid GEDCOM because they have an Attribute Value on the EVEN tag.
Some genealogy products tolerate that error and accept them as Custom Attributes.
The GEDCOM Draft 5.5.1 specification allows Custom Attributes using the FACT tag in place of the EVEN tag, but FH does not support that and uses the _ATTR tag instead, so you get:
1 _ATTR 01803 654321
2 TYPE PHONE
1 _ATTR post@@tatewise.co.uk
2 TYPE EMAIL
1 _ATTR Wounded
2 TYPE _MILT

See Tools > Fact Types for techniques for managing Custom Facts.

FH does support the CAUS tag in all Facts, but apart from DEATh, it is only visible on the All tab of the Property Box.

The @@ convention is incorrectly impemented in many genealogy products.

Use the Export Gedcom File Plugin to produce GEDCOM files compatible with most popular products or generic GEDCOM Release 5.5 or GEDCOM Draft 5.5.1. All products have their own dialect of GEDCOM so unless you confine yourself to a core subset of GEDCOM tags & structures there will be compatibility issues. That is why the Export Gedcom File Plugin exists. What products in particular do you wish to work with?

Regarding your code examples, the EVEN v FACT v _ATTR situation is explained above.
Your 2 CONT tag should be 3 CONT.

The EVENT example is invalid GEDCOM and should be:
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Death
2 CAUS apoplexy from the steep learning curve

There is no such thing as GEDCOM 5.6, etc, that is supported by current products, nor any likely to.

[Ron Melby]

I corrected the numbering and things while you were replying.

I have the following user defined tag

1 _MiLT WWi, US Army, France 346th Engineer Battalion
.
.

.
FH changed it to
1 _ATTR WWi, US Army, France 346th Engineer Battalion
2 TYPE Military Service.
.
.
.

I have no EVEN OR FACT in my file as of yet. That is why I am totally unfamiliar with them, I see the TOOLS>FACT TYPE

so it should be
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Military Service
3 DATE (this is optional one hopes)
3 TEXT WWII, registered for the draft

[tatewise]

Sorry Ron, but you did not correct the 2 CONT to 3 CONT and also 2 TEXT should be 2 NOTE.

The only way that FH would produce:
1 _ATTR WWi, US Army, France 346th Engineer Battalion
2 TYPE Military Service
is if your GEDCOM supplied:
1 EVEN WWi, US Army, France 346th Engineer Battalion
2 TYPE _MILT
and FH would report:
l.32 - INFO ONLY: Detected & fixed invalid use of EVEN (event) tag: "1 EVEN WWi, US Army, France 346th Engineer Battalion"
I am absolutely sure that if you check your GEDCOM file in a plain text editor then it will contain 1 EVEN tags, because nothing else will have the effect of converting to 1 _ATTR tags.

You should use:
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Military Service
2 DATE (this is optional)
2 NOTE WWII, registered for the draft
Not 3 DATE nor 3 TEXT.
BTW: What product are you using to create these GEDCOM files?