* Unused Fact Types - Mental block!

[paultt]

I cannot remember if there is a built in method, query or plugin that I can run to give me a list of All the Fact Types that are and are NOT being used in the current gedcom, ie a usage count of zero? Object of the exercise is to delete them, as I have found lots of very similar named Fact types in the Hidden and custom categories, probably from earlier merges years ago. Some are named so similar, that I may manually merge them if they are being used.

[tatewise]

It is not as simple as that.
Like most customisations, Tools > Fact Types apply to ALL Projects.

The Extended Set often has <hidden> facts but should not be removed as that is a standard installed Fact Set.

Any Facts that say <none> and <undefined> are custom Facts in your Project that have been imported but have no Fact Set definition. So you need to Edit... them to add a definition.

Imports and Merges do NOT create Fact Types. Only you can create Fact Types by hand or download from the FHUG KB.
But they won't be <hidden>.

What Fact Sets have you got that do not fit the above descriptions?

[paultt]

Any Facts that say <none> and <undefined> are custom Facts in your Project that have been imported but have no Fact Set definition. So you need to Edit... them to add a definition.

Imports and Merges do NOT create Fact Types. Only you can create Fact Types by hand or download from the FHUG KB.
But they won't be <hidden>.

I have about 4 pages of Fact Types, similar to the image below, where they are not in any fact set and are <undefined> as highlighted. I know that I have not or would not have created some of those fact Types, -Award, children, Civil, etc - so they MUST have come in to my gedcom from an import/merge of another gedcom. I don't do merges any more, I rather retype and fix any anomalies that I find. Yet you say that Imports and Merges do NOT create Fact Types in one sentence, and yet your other sentence above says they must have been imported?

My questions really are:
a. Are these Fact Types actually being used on any individual's record, and if Not, I would like to delete them.
b. If they are being used, can I copy the data in that fact to a recognizable fact for that person. I don't really want to go editing about 100 facts and create sentences for them, only to find that they are never used in the current gedcom.
c. If they are specific to the project I am working on, then flag them as custom(project) and fix them to make sense?

I am aware that the <para> and <br> are non functional in the Sentence definitions at the moment, but will add them in the new definitions so I don't have to revisit them all again later.

Fact Types 2021-01-06_16h55_45.jpg (193.68 KiB) Viewed 2131 times

[tatewise]

Please recognise the difference between a Fact Type Definition, a Fact Type, and a Fact.
A current Fact Type Definition is listed in Tools > Fact Types before you tick Show Hidden.
Some definitions can be <eclipsed> if the Fact Type exists in more than one Fact Set.
A Fact Type is a specific type of Event or Attribute like Birth or Occupation and they may or may not have a definition.
A Fact is an instance of a Fact Type, i.e. John Smith's Birth Event or Jack Jone's Occupation Attribute.

All the entries that say <undefined> mean that they have is NO Fact Type Definition i.e. are undefined.

For them to appear in the list means those Fact Types exist as a custom Fact somewhere in the current Project.
Those custom Facts will have been imported from another product but never tidied up.
It is quite common for them to exist as a pair of Types as Event and Attribute depending on whether the imported Fact had an Attribute value or not.

To find them, run the standard Query > Facts and Events > All Facts and click on the Fact Type column header.
They should be in a similar order to the Tools > Fact Types alphabetic list.
For instance, there should be at least one Award Event and one Award Attribute.
In addition to the standard Birth Event, there will be at least one custom Birth Event and birth Attribute.

Once you have a clearer understanding of where, and how many, such custom Facts exist, you can plan your solution.
If only one of each, then maybe manually copying the details to a standard fact is workable.
If many more than one, then use the Change Any Fact Tag plugin to convert to a standard fact or use Tools > Fact Types and Edit... a definition.

With so many custom facts you were unaware of, I wonder how much other unexpected data exists.
So run the UDF List plugin to review Unrecognised Data Fields.

You will need to repeat the above process for each Project.

[paultt]

Thanks, Mike.

Running the UDF List plugin has told me lots of stories, and I can now see where a lot of the Fact Types and UDFs come from! Most of the UDFs (over 226000 of them) are showing dates and times going back to 2001 to 2003 time frames all with variants of CHAN. During that time I was using FTM and then PAF before changing over to FH where I obviously started with the existing PAF gedcom.
Since the start of my 1820 Settlers website in Dec 2003 I have been sent probably upwards of 60 gedcoms with Settler info, and I have always 'looked' at those with FH by clicking the gedcom directly and then generating outline or narrative reports of the content of said gedcoms. Many of them I did not import to my master with the merge, but some of the more accurate and large ones I did.
Would the act of just loading an 'external' gedcom into FH affect the Fact Types lists, or would that gedcom have to have been saved before exiting? If that is so, it would account for some of the Fact Types I now see and don't recognise.

Oh, well. lots of editing to do during lockdown to tidy up my three active projects!

[tatewise]

Paul, you are missing a crucial point...
Any Fact Types with <undefined> status EXIST IN YOUR CURRENT OPEN PROJECT OR GEDCOM ONLY.
They are not saved anywhere except in the GEDCOM file.
The <undefined> status is a warning that you have undefined Fact Types in your current open database.
i.e. Those Fact Types have NO defined Label, Abbreviation, Sentence Template, Normal Time Frame, Fact Witnes Roles, etc, etc.
When you close the Project or GEDCOM file, those warnings vanish.
e.g.
Consider the Award Event you highlighted. In the Project GEDCOM file it looks like:
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Award

That is the only 'definition' of that Fact Type ~ nothing else ~ zilch!
The Tools > Fact Types list is informing you of that by saying it is <undefined> with Fact Set <none>.
I can not put it any clearer.

[paultt]

So, if I do add a definition for them and assign a custom group, only then they will get written away to either the ProgramData CP FH Fact Types folders, and will be available to all projects, or into the specific Project Fact Types if made exclusive to that project.
I did log a ticket some time ago that this was NOT explained in any of the Help Topics that I could find. Apparently the basis of the Help for Fact Types is still from v5 or 6 according to support.
Thanks for the help.

[tatewise]

Yes, it is only if you Edit... those <undefined> Fact Types will a Definition be saved, as you say.
Do NOT use the New... button.
The Help is way out of date and there is no Properties button, but the principles of what it says are correct:
Fact Set
"If an event or attribute has <none> as the fact set (you will only see this if you have ticked ‘Show Hidden’) this means that it is undefined - that is, it exists in the family tree file that you currently have open, but you do not have a definition for it. If you select it ... you will be told that is undefined, and given the opportunity to create a new definition for it."
Visible
"<undefined> means that the fact is undefined (see previous discussion of the Fact Set column)."

However, don't just blindly create a definition for every <undefined> Fact Type.

First review the Facts in your Project as I explained earlier and decide how to handle each Fact Type.