The Master Genealogist

The Master Genealogist Software

The Master Genealogist (or "TMG") v8 is the gold standard in family history software. Used by novices and professional researchers alike, the latest version reinforces TMG's reputation as the most powerful family history project manager on the market while adding many new features to make it easier and fun to use.

Whether you are a weekend hobbyist or a professional researcher, TMG comes with everything you need to:

• manage volumes of research data, photos, and sources;
• organize a research trip, including "To Do" lists, reference material, charts, and forms;
• track your correspondence and expenses;
• be the hit of a family reunion!
• create a web page;
• ... or publish a book, complete with table of contents, footnotes, multiple indexes, and bibliography!

Bring your data with you!
Although GEDCOM is supported, TMG's GenBridge™ import technology does a much better job of transferring your data in most cases. Import directly from Family Tree Maker™, Personal Ancestral File (PAF)™, and other programs.

Ultimate Flexibility
The Master Genealogist is limited only by your imagination. You can customize data entry through user-defined event, name, and relationship types. Almost every aspect of the working environment can also be customized, including fonts, colors, and the size and position of windows.

Professional tools
TMG was designed by experienced genealogists who understand and prepare you for common research problems, including adoptions, name changes, conflicting evidence, and multiple lines of descent.

Tools for novice researchers
Despite the unmatched power of TMG, it is designed with features to let the novice get started quickly and grow into the more advanced features. Wizards, "Cue Cards", data-entry templates, ditto keys, macros, and other features make TMG easy to learn and use.

Unbeatable reports!
TMG includes dozens of preconfigured reports, including narratives, forms, charts, and lists. You can also customize any report and save it with a new name so that you can easily use the same settings again. Additional publication tools give authors maximum control.

Supercharged searches
Are you trying to find people in your data who were named SMITH, born in Maryland or Virginia after 1800, lived in Tennessee or Kentucky, had two or more sons, and died at the age of 75 or higher? TMG's searching features provide unparalleled power and flexibility, including user-defined filter conditions, AND/OR logic, and thousands of other options.

Web integration
The Internet is a great resource for researchers and provides a way for you to easily share your efforts with others. TMG includes a variety of Internet search and publication tools.

Multimedia
Images, sound, movies, and other multimedia add flavor to your research and bring your family to life. You can link multimedia to people, events, sources, and repositories. You can even build multimedia slideshows and distribute them to your family members!

Sources
When it comes to tracking your sources, The Master Genealogist really shines! Data-entry templates make it easy to record your sources and produce professional output. The Master Genealogist accommodates the highest academic standards.

Special Features
The Master Genealogist includes a variety of powerful features that are not found in typical family history programs. These features help you to coordinate with other researchers, analyze your data, see your family in the context of history, and see the "big picture."

New Features
Although TMG Version 6 was the most powerful family history project manager on the market by all accounts, Version 7 added more than 50 new features that were requested by researchers.
Learn more about v7...
New Features of TMG v8

The Difference between Silver and Gold Editions
The Gold Edition is our top-of-the-line product. The Silver Edition has all of the same data-entry functions but without some of the more advanced research and publication tools.
Learn more...

Hardware Requirements

The Master Genealogist requires a Pentium 166 with 64 Megs of RAM (256 recommended) running Windows 2000, XP, or Vista. A screen resolution of at least 1024x768 is strongly recommended. Web searching and chart uploading features require an Internet connection.

New Features in TMG Version 7

The Master Genealogist v7.0 is now available! This great new update includes bug fixes and more than 50 new and exciting features that were requested by researchers. TMG v7 now includes even more tools to help you manage your research project, search and navigate the program, and produce professional reports. Following is a list of the major new changes in TMG v7.

EASIER TO USE
- Beginner Buttons on the Person View make it easier to add, edit, delete, or change the primary status of tags (events, names, and relationships). Experienced users can deactivate these new buttons using a new Preference setting (Program Options > Data Entry).
- The options and buttons on the Report Definition screen have been revised as requested by users.
- The Exhibit Log contains new buttons that make it easier to add, edit, delete, check image properties, and perform other functions.
- The method of resizing windows has been revised to be consistent with that of most other Windows applications. When you drag the border of a window with the mouse, the text stays the same size and the data space increases so that you can see more information on the screen. The base font size can be controlled by the minimum font size settings in Preferences (i.e., Lists, Project Explorer, and Memos). The new resizing method does not apply to the Family View and Tree View which would not benefit from such a change. The base fonts for those windows, however, can be specified in Preferences (Program Options > Other). Users who preferred the scaled objects of the older resizing method can revert to that behavior using a new Preference option (Program Options > Other).
- New Reminder Pop-Up Windows for Tag Types, Sources, and Source Types help you to remember how to use the fields and encourage consistent data entry. When recording a source, for instance, the window will remind you where to record each piece of data, how to use split memos (when appropriate), what to reserve for the citation detail, etc. Reminders can be customized but default reminders are applied to existing projects which use standard tag and source types. Reminder windows open and close automatically but this behavior can be disabled with a Preference setting (Program Options > Data Entry). Where reminders are available, the window can be opened and closed with a new "light bulb" button.
- A new feature to Check for Duplicates While Adding People will help to eliminate duplication in your project. Matching rules are based on the name and birth date but can consider non-primary names and other criteria. A new Preference page (Program Options > New People) gives you control over the matching rules and thresholds (Soundex, exact spelling, number of years, etc.). When possible duplicates are found, a Picklist button allows you to examine those people without losing your work on the Add Person screen.
- New buttons on the Master Source List allow you to Export and Import Sources. Select all sources or a specific subset and send them to an external file which can then be imported to a different project, shared with another researcher, etc.
- New buttons on the Source Types List allow you to Export and Import Source Types. Like sources, you can specify which source types to export and then transfer them to other projects or researchers. Researchers who specialize in different cultures can share source types along with their appropriate data entry fields, output templates, etc.
- The source output preview buttons now honor formatting codes (bold, underline, italics, etc.) rather than displaying the codes themselves.
- New buttons on the Tag Entry Screen make it easier to repeat the previous citation or select from a list of recent citations.
- A new button on the Citation Entry screen allows you to add a new source without going first to the Master Source List.
- A variety of new options have been added to right-click menus at the suggestion of users. For instance, the Focus Group list has a right-click menu option to "Select All." The Project Explorer has a new right-click option to "Change focus to this person in other windows." (This is handy when the Project Explorer is not linked to those windows.) The new Associates window (see below) has right-click options to "Add this person to the Focus Group" and "Add all of these people to the Focus Group."

MORE RESEARCH/ANALYSIS TOOLS
- A new Associates Window shows all people (principals and witnesses) who share an event tag in any way with the focus person. A person might appear multiple times, each with the date and type of the shared event and the role that he or she played in it. This handy new window helps you see the "big picture" by showing the focus person's "circle of friends" all in one navigable list. By right-clicking on the Associates window, you can filter and sort it in a variety of ways or you can reduce it to a list of unique people, each showing the number of events which are shared with the focus person. The Associates window compliments other top-level windows, can be opened along with others, and is available from the Layout toolbar. Its size and position can be saved with your custom screen layout. The filter and sort settings are remembered and used again the next time that you use TMG.
- The List of Witnesses on the Tag Entry Screen now displays the specific name variation that has been associated with that event for each witness.
- The Picklist and Project Explorer can now be sorted by the Last Edited Date.
- The Picklist and Project Explorer now support a variety of multi-level sorts. For instance, if you have a dozen people with the same given name and surname, they can be sorted within that group by birth date or by death date. Other multi-level sorting options are also available.
- The Research Log can now be filtered by task keyword.
- The Relationship Calculator and the Automatic Relationship Tag now also display relationships as calculated through the spouse(s) of one of the two people. For example: 3rd cousin of his wife wife of her 3rd cousin father-in-law (father of her husband) daughter-in-law (husband of his son)
- Y-DNA templates have been added for DNA Ancestry. The Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test now includes DNA Ancestry as a selection.

MULTIMEDIA ENHANCEMENTS
- Exhibit Highlighting allows you to "draw" on an image to annotate it. You're actually drawing on a invisible layer above the image, however, so the original is not changed. You can select any color, use various drawing tools, and even specify the transparency level of your annotations. If the highlighted image is made primary, it will be displayed in the Image window and output in box charts and other reports which support images. At any time you can click "reset" to erase the highlighting and return to the original image.
- In addition to the interface changes mentioned above, a new option on the Exhibit Log's right-click menu is Insert New Exhibit (other). It lets you more easily link Word documents, Powerpoint presentations or other non-standard exhibit types. The same thing can be achieved by clicking on the new button and then changing the file type to "All files (*.*)".
- A new Preferences page (Program Options > Exhibits) allows you to specify whether new images that you add to the Exhibit Log will be made internal or external by default (or ask each time).

NEW NARRATIVE CONTROLS
- A new Sentence Preview helps you to predict what a sentence will look like in a report. By being able to immediately see the effect of your changes, you'll gain more control over these advanced features and produce better narrative reports. (Source citations are not shown in the sentence preview)
- A new sentence code, [+], when placed at the beginning of a sentence will cause it to be added to the end of the previous sentence when a report is generated. This makes it easier to output compound sentences, including embedded source citations.
- A new sentence code, [:NP:], tells TMG to add no punctuation to the end of the sentence. Among other purposes, it might be entered as the sole value in a sentence in order to output an event exhibit at a specific point without any accompanying sentence.
- You can now use characters that would otherwise have a special meaning in TMG by "escaping" them. The escape character is a backslash (\) and it tells TMG that the character which immediately follows it should be output literally and not interpreted as a special character. The backslash itself is not included in the output. For instance "\{1820\}" will be output as "{1820}" rather than being interpreted as sensitive data. Similarly, "\[ED\]" in a source template will be output as "" rather than being interpreted as a source element. The backslash itself can also be escaped ("\\"). The escape character is recognized in memos (tag, witness, citation, source, and repository), sentence structures, source templates, source fields, and the citation detail.
- A new standard tag type, NarrativeChildren, can be used to override the standard "Children of X and Y were:" text when introducing a list of children or the "There were no children of X and Y" text in a Journal report.
- The Options>Tags tab has a number of new options to provide more control over the content of the list of children in the Journal report. Among other uses, you can limit the report to 1 generation (on the General tab) and then use the new options on the Tags tab to limit the text for all children, thereby producing a narrative for a single person (and optionally his/her spouse) that includes a brief list of children.
- Embedded citations now support inclusion of the citation memo, e.g., [CIT:]124; citation detail; citation memo[:CIT].

NEW REPORTING TOOLS
- A new Columnar Option on the List of Citations report allows you to specify the fields to be included and supports export to spreadsheets and databases for external processing.
- Likewise, a new Columnar Option on the List of Sources report provides more flexibility than the default formatted report.
- The List of Events and List of Witnesses reports now allow you to output the specific name variation that has been associated with each event participant (not just his/her primary name).
- Hundreds of New Filter Options allow you to search your data by even more criteria.

EVEN MORE CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS In addition to those mentioned above....
- A new Preference option (Program Options > Tag Box) allows you to turn off the memo and source columns in the Tag Box.
- The custom toolbar can now include one or more buttons to load specific layouts.
- New Preference settings (Current Project Options > Advanced) let you specify the default folders for exports, report output, configuration files, repeat files, slideshows, and timelines (among other earlier options).
- A new Preference option (Program Options > Prompts) lets you control whether or not to search for embedded citations when deleting a source.

OTHER NEW FEATURES
- TMG v7 is native to Windows Vista. It will also run on Windows XP and Windows 2000. (Windows 98 and NT are no longer supported).
- TMG 6 and TMG 7 can both be run on the same machine without conflict (but not with the same project).
- The TMG installer now allows you to select the installation language. English, German, Dutch, and Norwegian are currently supported.
- The Help File has been updated to include the new features of TMG v7 and now uses the more modern HTML-help format, including support for full-text search.

BUG FIXES
- Ancestry and Genealogy Portal.com have been removed from the web search because of changes to those web sites. Searching of Ancestry.com may be reinstated but, in the meantime, the results screen after searching RootsWeb includes a link to see results for the same search on Ancestry.com.
- Fixed searching by Reference field on the Picklist and Project Explorer.
- Fixed subscript errors that were possible during GEDCOM export.
- Fixed primary events after an import from Family Origins.
- Fixed a problem that could cause an error while adding a married name tag.
- Fixed a problem that could cause the Exhibit Log to open when not intended.
- Fixed a problem that could cause a Picklist filter to be applied instead to the Project Explorer.
- The Delete button on the keyboard did not work to delete a highlighted tag.
- Fixed a rare problem that could cause the program to lock up when changing flags with a List of People report.
- The font was not being resized correctly for the "cited" column on the Master Source List.
- Fixed a possible "array dimensions" error when editing a citation for a name tag.
- Fixed some contexts in which the focus person would sometimes change erroneously.
- Fixed the sorting of the List of People, Names, Events, and Witnesses reports when sent to an Excel file.
- Fixed an error that occurred if a source template was previewed by two different instances of the program at the same time.
- Fixed a bug that caused the default sentence to not be displayed in one language when there was a local sentence in another language for the same tag.
- Fixed a bug that would cause "1 NOTE" to be exported to GEDCOM when the note was excluded.
- Fixed a bug that would cause tags with excluded sentences to be exported to GEDCOM even though "Show excluded data" was selected.
- Place abbreviations previously would only accept alpha characters and not, for instance, the number codes for French department abbreviations. Fixed a bug that allowed the current language to be deleted.
- Fixed an "Array dimensions are invalid" error if the user clicked on the or buttons on the list of citations or witnesses if using the tabbed version of the Tag Entry screen and those lists are empty.
- Fixed the and buttons on the Master Event List when opened from the Master Place List.
- Fixed a problem that could cause the F1 (Help) key not work on the Message Manager.
- Fixed a problem that would cause a non-primary tag to be automatically changed to primary when edited.
- Filtering by repository fields did not work from the List of Sources report.
- If a family record in a GEDCOM file had more than one divorce, one of them was not imported.
- Fixed a problem with the import of citations from Family Tree Maker.
- When exporting an entire project to an Excel file, the memo fields (e.g., event memo, citation detail, etc.) were not included.
- Fixed a problem with Validate File Integrity which would erroneously report errors after importing a TMG v4.x project.
- Fixed a possible problem editing the name of an existing role.
- Fixed a variety of other more rare and esoteric bugs as reported by users.

==== Upgrading to TMG v7 ================

Users upgrading to TMG v7 should please understand the following importing points:

TMG v6 and TMG v7 can run happily on the same computer at the same time. Your unlock code (aka "license" or "serial number") for TMG v6 will not unlock TMG v7, however.

Although TMG v6 and v7 can be run at the same time on the same computer, they cannot access the same project. Once a project is upgraded to TMG v7, it cannot be read again by v6.

To upgrade an existing project to TMG v7 you must back it up from v6 (or earlier) and _restore_ it to v7. You cannot simply use File>Open to access a project which was created in an earlier version.

TMG v7 uses a new strategy for data file storage in accordance with Microsoft recommendations. Most notably, data files can no longer be stored in the program folder. During the restore process, v7 data files are automatically placed in their new default locations, depending on their type (e.g., projects, exhibits, speller checking dictionary, layouts, report configurations, etc.). Again, this process is completely automatic and most users will be satisfied to just accept the default settings in the Restore Wizard.

If you are curious about the details of the new file storage system, however, please consult the topic called "Data File Storage" in the TMG v7 Help file. Power users who prefer to isolate multiple projects so that they don't share configuration files, exhibit folders, etc., are especially encouraged to read this help topic and the linked topics for "Advanced Users."

THEREFORE, the process to upgrade your data from v6 (or earlier) to v7 is as follows:

1) Run TMG v6 and back up your data (File>Backup). In Step 2 of the Backup Wizard, be SURE to make a note of the backup file location. In Step 3, be sure to include accents, filters, layouts, report configurations, and any other customizations that you want to move to v7.

***** 2) Purchase your upgrade to The Master Genealogist v7 from TWR Computing: http://www.twrcomputing.co.uk/tmg.htm *****
***** TWR Computing customers that purchased TMG v6 since 17th August 2007 will receive an e-mail with details of a free upgrade to version 7 *****

3) Install TMG v7 and run that program with the Sample project. Consult the "Data File Storage" help topic if desired.

4) Restore your project to TMG v7 (File>Restore), selecting the backup file that you created in Step #1.

Since TMG v6 and v7 can peacefully coexist on your computer, we recommend that you do not uninstall the earlier version until you're happily accessing your data with the new program.

That's it! Thank you for using The Master Genealogist. We're sure that you will really enjoy this major new upgrade!

View information for TMG 7.01 and 7.02 free upgrades

The Master Genealogist v5.15.000 is now available. This free update includes a collection of new features and bug fixes as follows:

• New - The Report Options > Lines tab includes a new option to draw lines on descendant box charts and hourglass charts in the "UK Style" (Spouses are connected with a double line, the children connector line descends from the middle of the spouse line rather than the spouse box, etc.).
• New - The same tab include options to control the size, color, and style, and connection point of the spouse line.
• (Note: Access to these new features does not require the new "UK Edition" of TMG which is announced separately)
• Improved direct import from Legacy (Old Style dates).
• Improved direct import from UFT (Biography sentence)
• Improved direct import from Generations:
  - Now imports multiple AKAs
  - Now imports cause death
  - Added an option to assume that a couple on the Family Card is married unless otherwise specified.
  - Improved import of source abbreviation
  - Embedded citations now remain embedded instead of linked.
• Removed the variable from the Memo right-click menu.
• Overwriting the Standard Layout is now prohibited.
• Fixed add/edit of source types in the Silver Edition.
• Fixed filtering on custom flags and some other filter errors.
• Fixed backup to hard drive with spanning disks
• Use of the right-click menu no longer affects the clipboard value.
• Fixed VCF > Export when VCF.EXE is started alone.
• Fixed a charting problem when custom flags have been deleted from a project.
• Fixed the display of some roles on the Family Group Sheet and Individual Detail report.Fixed some problems navigating with the Project Explorer.
• Fixed some problems with the Last Viewed Person button.
• Fixed some other obscure navigation errors.
• Fixed some default sentences in non-English languages.
• Fixed F3 (repeat)in the Date Calculator
• Fixed web searches for users of the BT Yahoo browser.
• Fixed chart upload feature for printing service.
• Fixed UK Style hourglass
• Fixed the default sort order for the Master Place List
• Fixed DOP which would sometimes exclude people without a surname
• Fixed a variety of more obscure bugs that were reported by individual users.
• Includes updated strings for Norwegian (2 dialects), Dutch, French, and German.
• Includes an updated help file.