* RootsMagic user considering switch to FH

[arthurk]

Hi everyone

I've been using the trial version of FH for a week or so and have come up with a few questions. Over the past 15 years or so I've spent time with various programs: Brother's Keeper, Generations, Legacy, and for the last 8 years or so RootsMagic (now v.6). I have a few questions, mainly about Places and Addresses, which I'll raise on the General Usage board, but to start off, here are a few relating to the import process.

1. RM has the option of exporting a GEDCOM file with or without RM-specific tags. As far as I can tell, these are mainly to do with Event witness roles (which I don't use) and extra fields in Sources relating to templates and the way they are cited in footnotes etc. As such I am inclined not to include them in the export, but has anyone found them essential? I have noticed that the non-RM-specific file also seems to omit any Notes attached to Places, which is a bit of a nuisance, but I have so few of these that if I ended up having to do any manual tidying up it would almost certainly be easier to transfer these one by one than to work out how to delete the other stuff. But are there any others that would need similar treatment?

2. Even with RM-specific tags excluded, a GEDCOM from RootsMagic includes a number of non-standard tags, such as _UID (unique ID for each person) and _SDATE (sort date, which controls how events are ordered in lists in RM). Even though FH seems to preserve this data (it appears to be in the UDF list, and is included in a FH GEDCOM export), am I right in thinking that it's actually unnecessary and could be safely deleted from the RM GEDCOM before import? I have GedPad on my computer, which I think I could use for this, but I see from another thread that there is a way to do this within FH. Unfortunately I didn't totally follow the instructions - could someone try again, please?

3. While looking through my data I've discovered that some of it doesn't meet strict GEDCOM standards and even though FH seems to accept it, I wonder if it would be preferable to tidy it up. What I've specifically found are dates in non-standard format, and surnames in upper-case letters. Again, does FH have any tools for correcting these?

Thanks for any help with these,

Arthur

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG.
As a newcomer to FH I advise looking at how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.

There are some useful tips in the related thread U.D.F. and GEDCOM Tag from RootsMagic (12223).
See also how_to:import_from_roots_magic|> Import from Roots Magic although it may not add much to what you already know.

1. & 2. See the how_to:handling_unrecognised_data_fields|> Handling Unrecognised Data Fields that is part of the how_to:index#importing_to_family_historian|> Importing to Family Historian. However, the Plugin solutions are not available with the FH Trial Version.

3. Yes, there are tools to correct those, but are mainly Plugins not available to the FH Trial Version. See how_to:fixing_dates_date_phrases|> Fixing Dates and Date Phrases and Clean up Surname Capitalisation.

[arthurk]

Thanks for the tips - I'd already found some (not all) of the items you suggest but it's good to know I'm on the right track.

What I'd also find quite helpful would be if there was anyone else who had fairly recently switched from RootsMagic, who would be happy to comment on the kind of issues they encountered. Where things need to be tweaked or tidied up, I suppose it comes down to wanting to know whether it's better to do this in RM before the switch, in FH afterwards, or by editing the .ged file in between the two - or some combination of all three. There's quite a lot to think about, and it's easy to get confused

Arthur