TMG Import: Post-import Checks for Best Results

For best results, after doing an import from TMG, please read this page carefully.

It may be that Family Historian has done a perfect job of importing your data from TMG, and there is nothing more to be done.  However, given the number of features and options, the number of TMG codes, and the different ways that different users make use of the TMG features, it is quite likely that there will still be scope for improvement.  A little effort on your part now can make the difference between a pretty good import and a perfect import.

This page suggests issues to check for and suggests some possible remedial steps, if issues are found.  The examples all assume that you used default options during the import.

Check List Summary

Apart from (or in addition to), simply looking at your data, running reports and trying to spot errors that way, your main tools for checking an import and correcting any possible errors or problems are these:

  • The Family Historian Import Log (click “Log Files” on the Window menu).  You should always check this (see Check the Import Log below).
  • The Fact/Witness Sentence listing (on the “Tools” menu, click “Work with Data”, and then “Fact/Witness Sentences”).  Very useful for checking sentence override conversions (see Check the Import Log below).
  • You can modify fact definitions (click “Fact Types” on the Tools menu – the relevant fact types will have “TMG (project)” in the Fact Set column).
  • You can modify instances of sentence overrides (edit the ‘Sentence’ field on the Facts tab of the Property Box, or in the Witnesses window if it’s a witness sentence, for the specific fact in question)
  • You can check place names by viewing the “Places” listing (on the “Tools” menu, click “Work with Data” and then “Places”).  Place parts will be displayed in separate columns.  Click on a column heading to sort on that column.
  • You can use plugins to correct possible issues.  You don’t necessarily have to write them yourself (although all the tools and information required are included with each copy of Family Historian).  There may already be a plugin that does exactly what you want.  The best places to check are the Family Historian Plugin Store (accessible from the Plugin Dialog – then search for “TMG” on the store itself), or the Family Historian User Group website (www.fhug.org.uk), which also has plugins you can download (search for “TMG Import”).  But if necessary, and if you are technically-sophisticated, you could even write a one-off script (that is, a plugin of your own) to make whatever changes you require.  Again, you can ask advice about doing this in the Family Historian User Group website.
  • There are articles and forums on the Family Historian User Group website, where you can get tips and advice from other TMG users and Family Historian experts.  Try searching for “TMG Import” or “Import for TMG” in the Knowledgebase.  You may also want to post questions in one of the forums.
  • You can even modify the Code Replacements file if you need to redo the import and change how code replacements are done (click the Code Replacements button in the TMG Import Options dialog during the import and read the instructions carefully).

Check the Import Log

By default, Family Historian will log all code conversions made during the import in an import log file.  The name of the log file is the date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) followed by “Import Log” (e.g. “2020-11-27 Import Log” if the file was imported on 27th November 2020).  The log file can be found by clicking “Log Files” on the Window menu.  This file contains two tables: the first is a list of conversions from TMG ‘Local Sentences’ to Family Historian ‘sentence overrides’ (see Table 1 code conversions below).  The second is a list of conversions from TMG ‘default sentences’ to Family Historian ‘sentence templates’ (see Table 2 code conversions below).  In both cases, these conversions may be incomplete.  For example, there is no exact equivalent of the TMG code “[WO]”, so if this code is used in either default sentences or local sentences, it is likely to be left untranslated.

Table 2 code conversions

TMG has tag definitions which define how particular fact types (e.g. events like ‘Birth’) are recorded and handled in the program.  The Family Historian equivalents are called ‘fact definitions’.  In both cases, these definitions include sentence templates containing codes, which specify how recorded instances of these facts should display in narrative reports (these ‘sentence templates’ are called ‘default sentences’ in TMG).  For example, the default sentence in TMG for the ‘Birth’ fact, might be “[P] was born <[D]> <[L]>”.  The equivalent sentence template in Family Historian is “{individual} was born {date} {place}”.  In both TMG and Family Historian, users can modify these fact definitions (tag definitions) in any way they like.  Such modifications will affect all recorded instances of this fact type throughout your project.

Table 1 code conversions

Users can (again in both TMG and Family Historian) also override these sentences in any particular instances, if desired (in Family Historian this is done this by editing the ‘Sentence’ field in the Facts tab of the Property Box, or in the Witnesses window).  These sentence overrides are called ‘local sentences’ in TMG.  For example, a user might modify a default sentence for the birth of a particular baby from “[P] was born <[D]> <[L]>” to “[P] was born (after a 24 hour delivery!) <[D]> <[L]>”.  In Family Historian this might become “{individual} was born (after a 24 hour delivery!) {date} {place}”.  The point to notice is that with both TMG and Family Historian, codes can be used not just in sentence templates, but also in sentence overrides, and normally are.

Remedial Steps

If you spot any errors in conversions with TMG’s ‘default sentences’ (table 2), here are some possible steps to consider:

  1. First check whether you ever use this fact type. If it is a very obscure fact type that you have never used and never expect to use, it may be that there is no need to do anything.
  2. If the default sentence references a code that you don’t need, you may be able to solve the problem by simply removing that code from the Family Historian sentence template (see the Check List Summary above).
  3. If there are other errors, consider modifying the Family Historian sentence template to correct them.  Remember that one change to one fact definition might fix all of the problems relating to this fact type, throughout your project.  Think about what you want the sentence to say and what the best way is of achieving that in Family Historian.  If you need advice, see the Check List Summary above for options.
  4. Another option is to redo the TMG import and modify the Code Replacement file (click the Code Replacements button in the TMG Import Options dialog during the import and read the instructions carefully).  However, if there is only one or two (or a small number) of fact definitions affected, it is likely to be easier to change the fact definitions after the import.

If you spot any errors in conversions with TMG’s ‘local sentences’ (table 1), here are some possible steps to consider:

  1. Run the Fact/Witness Sentences listing tool (see the Check List Summary above).  This is a useful way of seeing how widespread an issue may be in your project.
  2. Individual sentence overrides can be corrected by changing them in the Sentence field of either the Facts tab of the Property Box, or the Witnesses Window (depending on whether it is a fact sentence or a witness sentence that has been overridden).  Think about what you want the sentence to say and what the best way is of achieving that in Family Historian.  If you need advice, see the Check List Summary above.
  3. If there are too many of them to do them one at a time, you might consider using Find and Replace (accessible on the Edit menu).
  4. Bear in mind that you don’t have to use codes in sentence overrides.  Sometimes there can be advantages to doing so (especially with codes that refer to Individuals); but sometimes the easiest and best solution is simply to replace a code with its plain text equivalent.  Bear in mind that sentence overrides are only used in that specific context.
  5. Another option is to redo the TMG import and modify the Code Replacement file (click the Code Replacements button in the TMG Import Options dialog during the import and read the instructions carefully).  However, if there is only one or two (or a small number) of sentence overrides affected, it is likely to be easier to change the sentence overrides after the import.
  6. Another possible option is to run a plugin to correct any errors in your data.  Someone may already have written a plugin to address the issue you’re seeing (see the Check List Summary above).

Issues with Place Names

TMG allows you to record place details as separate place parts, with parts using different labelling schemes.  In Family Historian, you can have your own scheme for managing place parts if you wish, by simply use commas to separate the place parts.  So, for example, if you decide that you want the 5th part of a place name to be the country name, and you only want to enter a country name and nothing else, you can achieve this by entering the country name preceded by 4 commas.  These extra commas will be removed in reports.  When viewing places in the “Places Listing” (see the Check List Summary above), the various place parts are displayed in separate columns, which you can sort on.

By default, Family Historian will allocate appropriate place part commas when importing TMG places names, to preserve the place part structure.  However, a complication is that sometimes, some TMG users make use of TMG place parts to record details like latitude and longitude, which you probably do not want to appear in reports as part of the place name.  In Family Historian, latitude and longitude are recorded separately and are not part of the place name.  There may be other similar issues. Here are some possible steps you can take to solve any problems of this kind:

  1. You can edit the Place record, to move any details that shouldn’t be part of the place name into the correct location.  This can be done in the Place listing (see the Check List Summary above), or if you prefer, by editing the Place record in the Property Box.  To find the Place record in the Property Box if you are viewing a place field, click the button with 3 dots to the right of the field, or double-click on the field itself, and then click the View in Property Box button.  Bear in mind that all references to this place everywhere in your project will all share this Place record, so you only have to change the Place record in one place to fix all these instances of references to this place, throughout your project.
  2. If there are too many of them to do one at a time, you might consider whether you can use Find and Replace (accessible on the Edit menu).
  3. If the issues cannot be solved using Find and Replace, and there are too many Place records to edit them all, you may find that there is already a plugin that does exactly what you need, or if you are technically-sophisticated, you might consider writing a one-off script yourself (see the Check List Summary above).

Issues with Witnesses

If you specify a role for the principal participants in some or all events, in TMG, you may find that the principal in each case is recorded in Family Historian as a witness to their own event.  This is not necessarily a problem.  It is perfectly valid in Family Historian for a principal to be recorded as a witness to their own event.  But it may not be what you want.  If it isn’t, you may be able to convert all such facts, so that the principals are handled more conventionally, using a plugin.  See the Check List Summary above for options.