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Customize - Data Format



The Data Format settings are reached by choosing Customize from the Options tab on the Ribbon bar and then clicking on the Data Format option on the menu panel.   (See Customize Options for a summary of the customization options.)

3.1 Letter Case of Prefix and Suffix
Initial caps
Capitalizes each Title Prefix and Title Suffix field when you leave the field if you enter everything in lowercase.  For example:
king becomes King
iii becomes III
the king of england becomes The King Of England

 If you enter any capital letter, Legacy will assume you know what you are doing and will not change what you enter.  For example:
the King of England stays the King of England 
JR stays JR 

Don't change what I enter
To leave the entry just as you typed it, select the Don't change what I enter option. (The default is Initial Caps.)  For example:
the Reverend stays the Reverend 
her Majesty stays her Majesty 

Reformatting all prefixes and suffixes
If you would like Legacy to go through the entire family file, formatting each name prefix and suffix to the Initial Caps setting, make sure the Initial Caps option is selected, and then click Apply.  You will first be asked for confirmation: Would you like to capitalize the first letters of all prefixes and suffixes?.  To continue, answer Yes.  Next you will be asked: Would you like to convert entries that are already mixed-case?  If you only want to reformat the enties that are all lowercase, answer No.  If you answer Yes, prefixes like the Reverend will be changed to The Reverend - so before you answer Yes, be sure that is really what you want to do.

3.2 Letter Case of Given Names
Initial caps
Capitalizes each name in the Given name field when you leave the field if you enter everything in lowercase.  For example:
william becomes William
anne marie becomes Anne Marie

 If you enter any capital letter, Legacy will assume you know what you are doing and will not change what you enter.  For example:
Anne marie stays Anne marie
d'Marco stays d'Marco

Don't change what I enter
To leave the entry just as you typed it, select the Don't change what I enter option. (The default is Initial Caps.)  For example:
David Michael stays David Michael 
david michael stays david michael 
d'Marco stays d'Marco

Reformatting all given names
If you would like Legacy to go through the entire family file, formatting each given name to the Initial Caps setting, make sure the Initial Caps option is selected, and then click Apply.  You will first be asked for confirmation: Would you like to capitalize the first letters of all given names?.  To continue, answer Yes.  Next you will be asked: Would you like to convert entries that are already mixed-case?  If you only want to reformat the enties that are all lowercase, answer No.  If you answer Yes, names like d'Marco will be changed to D'marco - so before you answer Yes, be sure that is really what you want to do.

3.3 Letter Case of Surnames
Select the capitalization option you want to have applied to the Last Name when the field is exited.  (The default is Initial Caps.)   

Initial caps
Capitalizes each name in the Surname name field when you leave the field if you enter everything in lowercase.  For example:
johnson becomes Johnson
anne marie becomes Anne Marie
de'brune becomes De'brune

 If you enter any capital letter, Legacy will assume you know what you are doing and will not change what you enter.  For example:
van Horn stays van Horn 
de'Brune stays de'Brune 

UPPERCASE
Capitalizes the entire surname field entry.  For example:
Smith becomes SMITH
johnson becomes JOHNSON
de'Brune becomes DE'BRUNE

Don't change what I enter
To leave the entry just as you typed it, select the Don't change what I enter option. For example:
Smith stays Smith 
johnson stays johnson 
de'Brune stays de'Brune 

Reformatting all surnames
If you would like Legacy to go through the entire family file, formatting each surname to Initial Caps or Uppercase, make sure the desired option is selected selected, and then click Apply.  You will first be asked for confirmation: Would you like to capitalize the first letters of all surnames? or Would you like to convert all surnames to UPPERCASE?.  To continue, answer Yes.  Next, if doing Initial caps, you will be asked: Would you like to convert entries that are already mixed-case?  If you only want to reformat the enties that are all lowercase, answer No.  If you answer Yes, names like van Wagonen will be changed to Van Wagonen and vanWinckle will be change to Vanwinkle - so before you answer Yes, be sure that is really what you want to do.

3.4 Displaying Surnames
Show /Surnames/ Within Slashes
Display surnames on the screen with surrounding slash marks.  This is a good way to differentiate between given names and surnames.  For example, the name Kelly could be a given name or a surname.  If you saw the name /Kelly/, you would know that the individual had a surname of Kelly and no given name.

Show SURNAMES in Uppercase Letters
Displays all surnames in capital letters.  This makes the surnames stand out better.

3.5 Format of Names with Titles
When formatting names that have title prefixes and suffixes, you can choose to use commas to separate them from the given and surnames.  

3.6 Letter Case of Locations
Capitalizes each word in the Place fields when you leave these fields.  To leave the entry just as you typed it, select the Don't change what I enter option. (The default is Initial Caps.)  If you would like Legacy to go through the entire family file, formatting each place name to the Initial Caps setting, make sure the Initial Caps option is selected, and then click Apply.

3.7 Location Format
Place names can be formatted to ensure consistency.  This formatting is done when you enter or import information. 

3.8 Child List Indicators
The Child List area on the Family View normally uses a "§" at the end of a name to indicate that the child was married.  If the child has children, a "+" is added to the end.  Sometimes names are longer than the available display space and these characters cannot be seen in every case.  You can optionally choose to indicate these conditions by having the child number underlined if they had children, and bolded if they were married.

Select the Indicate Preferred children in Child List (*) option to show the preferred child with a leading asterisk.

Select the Indicate direct-line children in lists (bold) option to show these children in a bold font.

3.9 Living Indicators
Legacy can show an indication of whether or not the main two individuals are marked as Living and also each child in the list below them.  To do this, check the Highlight Living individuals option. This causes the color of the Husband and Wife labels and the number for each child to change colors when that person is Living.  You can select the color for the number by using the Select Colors button.  When you click the button, the Colors window appears where you can select the indicator text color.  If you right-click the button, you can select the background color for the child numbers.  See Living Individuals.

3.10 Term for Christening
Choose a term to use for Christening events.  This can be either Christening or Baptism.

3.11 Word for Blank Records
Blank records are often attached to a marriage to take the place of a missing spouse.  By default, these records show with "Unknown" in the Name field.  If you would like these names to appear blank, choose (Just leave it blank).

3.12 Potential Problems Indicator
Adds a "»" indicator at the end of "Husband" or "Wife" if the person has been excluded from any potential problems.

Saving Your Settings as Future Default Values
You can save the option settings you have selected to be future User-Defaults.  See How Legacy Saves Option Settings for more information.

Changing the Settings Back to Their Default Values
You can change the customize options back to their default settings.  See  How Legacy Saves Option Settings for more information.

For information on the other sections in the Customize area, see:
General Settings
Data Entry and Edit
Data Defaults
Dates
Locations
Sources
View
Colors
Fonts
Launch
Other Settings

(See Where to Find an Option for a complete, alphabetized list of each available option and where to find it.)



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