Default Format

The "Default Format" is a full-featured format provided with GEDitCOM II. It is designed to have a robust set of editing tools that allow you to edit all features supported in the GEDCOM genealogy file standard. Since the "Default Format" is provided with GEDitCOM II and the first format that loads, many of its features are already documented in the main GEDitCOM II help.

Each type of record (e.g., Individual, Families, etc.) opens in a display customized for that type of record. Some details on each record type are in the following sections:

These sections list the preferences that can be set for the "Default Format" and explain the functions of the icons:

Individual Records

Because Individual records often have much information, the various sections are divided into "panes." Select the section you want see by using the button bar at the top of the window:

Individual
This pane has basic genealogy information such as name, birth and death details, links to parents, and links to spouses and children. The family icon button links to the associated family record. (Hint: you can control click on the name to change its case (e.g., to all uppercase, title case, or surname only in uppercase.)
   If the individual has a portrait, it will appear in the upper right (you can customize its width and border coloring using the preferences). If a portrait that appears it not a suitable portrait, you can use the "Multimedia" tab to select a different image or mark the record as not having a portrait.
   The arrow indicators after a parent or spouse mean that person has additional ancestors. An arrow indicator before a child means that child has their own children. An equal sign before a child means that child has a spouse, but no known children. (Hint: you can customize these indicators using in the preferences.
Events
This pane list all events (including repeat of birth and death from the "Individual" pane), residences, and attributes. You can attach or detach events and enter their date and place. For attributes you can enter text about the attribute. To add more detail on any event, residence, or attribute, click the "info" icon and enter the data into the window that appears.
    The green arrow sorts events by dates.
    The "Copy Event" button will copy the event currently with the editing cursor. You can move to another record and use its "Paste Event" button to add that event to the second individual.
    The "Map" button will map all events and attributes with known latitude and longitude (or place with known bounding box). (Hint: you can get all events, residences, and attributes in a single table using the preferences
Pedigree
This pane shows a four generation pedigree chart (suitable for printing). Click any cell to view that record. Click any family icon to view family record for the associated family.
Multimedia
This pane shows all multimedia for the individual. The multimedia linked to the individual's main window (those linked while viewing this pane) appear in the first section. Multimedia linked to detail panes of any event or attribute are listed in the "Event and Attributes" section.
Notes and Sources
This pane shows attached notes, sources, and research logs, and is used to attach new links.
Other
This pane shows any genealogy data that does not fit in the other panes. The ".ged" will let you export a GEDCOM file with just the ancestors or descendants of the individual.
All
This pane shows all data in a single window, except it does not show the "Pedigree" chart and only shows the individual's main window multimedia.

Family Records

Because Family records often have much information, the various sections are divided into "panes." Select the section you want to view and edit by using the button bar at the top of the window:

Family
This pane has basic genealogy information such as spouses and children in the family and the marriage details.
   If the family has a portrait, it will appear in the upper right (you can customize its width and border coloring using the preferences). If a portrait that appears it not a suitable portrait, you can use the "Multimedia" tab to select a different image or mark the record as not having a portrait.
   The arrow indicators after a spouse mean that person has additional ancestors. (Hint: you can customize this indicator using the preferences.
Events
This pane list all events (including repeat of marriage from the "Family" pane). You can attach or detach events and enter their date and place. To add more detail on any event, click the "info" icon and enter the data into the window that appears.
    The green arrow sorts events by dates.
    The "Copy Event" button will copy the event currently with the editing cursor. You can move to another record and use it's "Paste Event" button to add that event to the second family.
    The "Map" button will map all events and attributes with known latitude and longitude (or place with known bounding box) for parents and chilren in the family.
Group
This pane has a simple family group chart (suitable for printing) with links to family members.
Multimedia
This pane shows all multimedia for the family. The multimedia linked to the family's main window (those linked while viewing this pane) appear in the first section. Multimedia linked to detail panes of any event are listed in the "Event" section.
Notes and Sources
This pane shows attached notes, sources, and research logs, and is used to attach new links.
Other
This pane shows any genealogy data that does not fit in the other panes. The ".ged" button will let you export a GEDCOM file with just the ancestors or descendants of the family.
All
This pane shows all data in a single window, except it does not show the "Group" chart and only shows the family's main window multimedia.

Place Records

The panes are for editing various types of data about the place (the numbers in parentheses indicate the number of maps, URLs, and multimedia objects already linked to the place):

Place
This pane is for entering place names, details on each name, and place events and details. Click the "See Linked Individual or Families" to see all individuals and families that link to this place.
Maps
You can enter any number of maps (each with it's own bounding box) in this pane. Below each map, you can add points of interest to the map. If you are connected to the internet, the map will appear in a large map field.
Web
This pane displays up to five URLs in five subpanes. If you are connected to the internet, the web site at that address will display in a subwindow. The "All" button shows all URLs as links (click them to open the web page in a browser) and lets you add more than five URLs (if needed).
Multimedia
This pane shows attached multimedia and lets you link to new multimedia.
Notes and Sources
This pane shows attached notes, sources, and research logs, and is used to attach new links or optional data.

Multimedia Object Records

The panes are for editing various types of data about the multimedia object:

Multimedia
This pane is to enter name and date for the multimedia object and to see full-scale view of the image (if the object has an image). Click the "Change" button to change the object linked to this record. The "Scale" menu adjusts the size for the image relative to its absolute size. If the scaled image is wider than the window, it will be scaled to fit the window. The text to the right of the menu indicates the maximum scaling that will fit the current window size. You can choose "fit" to always scale the image to the window width.
Other
This pane list all other information about the multimedia object and lists the records that link to the object. If a latitude and longitude is entered in the "Lat,Lon" field, you can control click to open that location in the GeoHack web site (that web site will have numerous links to maps or views for that location). You can also view and attach notes, sources, research logs, or optional data.
Zoom
This pane is for zooming in on an image and is most useful for closer view of scanned documents. The "Zoom" menu sets the image size relative to the window size. The zoom setting is separate from the scale setting in the "Multimedia" pane (and both are remembered when the file is saved).
All
This pane shows all data in a single window, except it does not show the "Zoom" option.

Note Records

Source Records

Repository Records

Book Style Records

The panes are for setting up information for the purpose of typesetting a book. See the "Prepare a Book" chapter in the main help for all the details. Very briefly, the panes are:

Style
This pane answers most questions about how the book should appear. It also has the "Create Book" button that you click when you want to typeset the book.
Introduction
This pane has an editing field for typing an introduction to the book.
About
This pane has an editing field for adding an "About the Author" chapter at the end of the book.
Advanced
This pane has an option to add copyright notices and various settings about saving files and running the script.

Research Log Records

The panes are for editing various types of data about the research log:

Tasks
The header gives the title and objective for this research log. The rest of this pane displays all the subtasks in the research. Click the "info" icons to enter text summaries of the tasks and other task details.
Summary
This pane is for entering a summary for the research project associated with this record.
Multimedia
This pane shows all multimedia about the research. Tasks may have their own multimedia, but those are displayed in task details and not in this pane.
Notes and Sources
This pane shows attached notes and sources, and is used to attach new links.
Links
This pane shows all records linked to this research log, and lets you link to more.
All
This pane shows all data in a single window.

Header, Submitter, and Submission Records

Format Fonts

To change format-specific fonts, open the GEDitCOM II preferences window and click on the "Fonts" tab. The "Default Format's" fonts are:

Label Text
Prominent text labels.
Static Text
Lower-level text labels.
Editing Text
The text used in editing fields.
Button Text
The text for buttons.
Check Box Text
The text next to check boxes.
Popup Menu Text
The text used in pop-up menus.
Hyperlink Text
The text used for clickable links between records
Bold Text
Used in family group chart pane.
GEDCOM Extension Text
The "Default Format" allows some extensions to GEDCOM 5.5. As long as you are using GEDitCOM II, those extension will always work fine. If the export to another program, the extensions will exported, but the other program will probably not recognize the data is may even delete it. To help you recognize GEDCOM extensions, these labels are indicated in this font. The custom tags are mostly in Source and Multimedia Object records.

Format Colors

To change format-specific colors, open the GEDitCOM II preferences window and click on the "Colors" tab. The color wells have two regions. Use the left region to set a color for light mode and the right region to set a color for dark mode. The available colors are:

Window Background
The main color for the background of a browser window.
Record Header Box Background
The top section of the window background in a browser window uses this color rather than the main window background color.
Editing Background
The background for cells used for text editing.
Table Cell Background
The background for header cells used in tables of data.
Pedigree Lines
The color used for lines and labels in the pedigree pane for individaul records.
Portrait Border
The border that surrounds the portrait on the main pane for individual and family records.
Font Colors
Each font described above can have it's own color and is set when editing the font.

Format-Specific Variables

To change format-specific variables, open the GEDitCOM II preferences window and click on the "Editing" tab. The margin settings and default settings are common to all formats. The variables specific to the "Default Format" are:

Portrait Width
Sets width of the portrait image used for individual and family records (if the record has a portrait) in pixels. Set the width to 0 to not show portraits.
Thumbnails Per Row
Links for records to multimedia objects are displayed with a thumbnail image to the object. This preference sets the number of thumbnails per row in the display. The thumbnails will also adjust in size if the window size is changed.
    To speed up display of thumbnails, GEDitCOM II generates small thumbnails for each multimedia object containing an image. These thumbnails look fine when the links are small. If the links get large (e.g., when using one thumbnail per row), this format will use the full scale image rather than the internal thumbnails. The image quality will be good, but it might slow down access to records with lots of linked images. To maximize speed when opening such records, it is best to increase this setting to at least 2 and you may need 3 or more if using a large monitor with large record windows.
Notes Position
The position for the text editing pane in Notes records. The options are: left, top, right, and bottom (case insensitive).
Chart Box Width
The width of cells in the pedigree chart. Make it large enough for your longest names.
Chart Column Spacing
The horizontal spacing between generations in the pedigree chart
Chart Row Spacing
The vertical spacing between spouses in the pedigree chart
Chart Box Padding
Extra padding within the cell in the horizontal direction
Ancestors Indicator
This string (of any length) is placed after links to spouses and parents who have documented ancestors (at least parents are known)
Descendants Indicator
This string (of any length) is placed before links to children who have documented descendants (at least their children are known)
Spouse Indicator
This string (of any length) is placed before links to children who have no known children, but do have a known spouse.
Unified Events Table
This setting can be "yes" to have all events, residences, and attributes in a single table or "no" to use separate tables. The advantage of a single table is all items are listed chronologically (if events are sorted). The advantage of separate tables is extra space for entering some data.

Icons

The "Default Format" has several icons that can be clicked for various functions. Most of them are short cuts to menu commands.

Available Languages

To choose the language for this user interface, open the "Editing" tab of theGEDitCOM II preferences and select language from the pop-up menu. The options are:

These settings change the langauge in the record browsing windows, but do not change other elements of GEDitCOM II such as menus, sheets, and documentation.

Acknowledgements: Finish was provided by Risto Virtanen.