Preferences Dialog

Generic Source Formats Dialog

The Generic Source Formats Dialog is accessible from the Sources tab of the Preferences Dialog.

Generic Source records are Source records which do not use, and are not linked to, a source template.  This means that the fields available to you to record source information are not designed for the specific source type, but are generic.  If you use generic Source records, you can use this dialog to choose which fields to include in Footnotes, Short Footnotes and Bibliography entries (in reports, books, etc) for source citations for generic Source records.  Advanced users can even customize the formats used in all 3 contexts.  To learn more about formats, see Sources and Source Templates, Generic Source Formats and Source Template Formats.

Text from Source, and Notes

Although you can, if you wish, opt to include links to Text from Source, or notes, from Source records or citations, you are usually advised not to do so here. Instead of including them as part of the citation text (which is what will happen it you include them here), you can instead opt to display them below the citation text.  To do that, choose the appropriate options for this on the Sources tab of report options.  There are several reasons why it makes more sense to do the latter and include them separately:

• If you include them within the main text of source citations, they will be truncated, if long.  If you append them below, they won't be.
• If you include them within source citations, they will be converted to plain text.  If you append them below, they won't be.
• If you include them within source citations, you will get one Text from Source or note (unless you customize the format, in which case you will still have to specify the exact instances your require).  If you want to see all Text from Source or all notes, however many there are, for a given source citation, you can only do this by including them separately.
• Unless a Text from Source or note is very short,it is unlikely to be useful within citation text in any case.  Tables, for example, rarely look very good when converted to plain text.

Fields

Format	Each type of format (Footnote, Short Footnote and Bibliography) is configured independently.  Choose each in turn to view the options relating to that format type.  Note that unlike sources linked to source templates, there is no Record Title format.  This is because auto-generation of record titles is not supported for generic Source records.  See Source Template Formats to learn more.
Source Record Details	Tick the Source record fields that you wish to be included in Footnotes, Short Footnotes or Bibliography entries (whatever is currently selected in the Format field above).
Citation Details	Tick the citation fields that you wish to be included in Footnotes, Short Footnotes or Bibliography entries (whatever is currently selected in the Format field above).
Include Repository Information	Tick this option if you wish Repository record details to be included in Footnotes, Short Footnotes or Bibliography entries (whatever is currently selected in the Format field above).  You can then specify exactly which Repository fields you wish to include.
View Format	By ticking the field options above, you can specify which fields should be included in footnote and bibliography entries, for the format selected in the Format field.  Family Historian automatically generates a format for you that includes your chosen fields.  Tick View Format to view the generated format.  See Source Template Formats for an explanation of how formats work.
Customize	As well as viewing a format, you can also customize it yourself if you want to.  See Source Template Formats to learn more.