* How to handle unsure dates

[settingup]

Eventually further research would be warranted, but for the time being I an trying to figure out the best way to record the data that I have. I have many instances where I know the exact month and day but not the correct year, either through faulty memory, smudged numbers or conflicting sources. Such as a couple was married June 20th either on 1940 or 1941. I could put the date in as a range as from June 20 1940 to June 20 1941, but that allows February and all other dates between when the June 20 part is not in question as the anniversary is on June 20th. The only other option I could come up with is record two marriage event one for June 20 1940 and a second for June 20 1941, but that seems too repetitive. What is the best way the most common way to record data like this?

[tatewise]

Unfortunately, GEDCOM and thus FH does not allow day & month without a year or with alternative years.
The best I can think of is to enter the day & month with alternative years as a Date Phrase that allows any text.
To keep the Fact in chronological order among other Facts, the Date Phrase allows an ...interpreted as: Date where you will have to choose a specific year.
The dilemma of uncertainty in the date needs to be explained in the Notes associated with the Fact.

[settingup]

Is there a way to leave out the interpreted date out of the sentence. For example an individual died on March 30th and I know that is was sometime after 1920 since he was present of that years census. I inputted the information as a phrase with a note then selected an interpreted as for the date, but I don't want the interpreted as date to show up in the text which now reads: Since he is on 1920 Census in Pope Co., Arkansas he died on March 30, 1921 ("the 30th of March after 1920"). Is there a way to hide the March 30, 1921 (interpreted as date)?

[tatewise]

Yes, simply omit the ...interpreted as: Date and to keep the Fact chronologically positioned enter a Separate Sort Date.

The Sort Date won't appear in the narrative sentence.

One slight annoyance is the Date Phrase being enclosed in (" ... ") or " ... " see the Wish List entry that you can Vote for Ref 28 Option to hide brackets/quotes around Date Phrases in Reports, Diagrams, etc

However, there are workarounds available in FH V7, although they are a bit complex.

In the Sentence Template for the specific Facts that have a Date Phrase, replace the {date} code with:
{=MidText( %FACT.DATE%, 2, TextLen( %FACT.DATE% ) - 2 ) }
That takes the %FACT.DATE% text and extracts the middle text from character 2 to the penultimate character and therefore excludes the leading and trailing " quotes.

A more generic solution that can be applied to the global default Sentence Templates or Diagram Text Schemes is:
{=TextIf(%FACT.DATE:XDATETYPE%="Phrase", MidText( %FACT.DATE%, 2, TextLen( %FACT.DATE% ) - 2 ), TextIf(%FACT.DATE:XDATETYPE%="Interpreted Phrase", Text( Section( %FACT.DATE%, 1, "(" ) . MidText( Section( %FACT.DATE%, 2, "(" ), 2, TextLen( Section( %FACT.DATE%, 2, "(" ) ) - 3 ) ), %FACT.DATE% ) ) }
i.e.
If the Date is a Phrase then exclude its leading and trailing " quotes.
If the Date is Interpreted then show Interpreted Date and exclude the Phrase leading (" and trailing ").
Else show the standard Fact Date.