A 6-Step Tutorial - entering information, navigating, creating some neat stuff
Special Features - a few details about two special features of Reunion
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OVERVIEW:
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Reunion helps you to document, store, and display genealogy information — names, dates, facts, plenty of notes, sources of information, and digitized pictures. It displays family relationships in an elegant, graphic form. Best of all, people and families are linked in an easy-to-understand fashion.
Reunion automatically creates common genealogy reports, charts, and forms, as well as birthday calendars, mailing lists, questionnaires, indexes, and other lists. It even calculates relationships, ages, and life expectancies.
SuperChart is a separate application, included with Reunion, that works with Reunion to display and print large, high-resolution, graphic charts allowing complete editing of boxes, lines, fonts, and colors. Wall charts are one of its specialties.
The Reunion family file uses a stack-of-cards metaphor. In Reunion, each card shows information for one immediate family. We call this a family card. Family cards are related and linked in meaningful ways. A family card will exist for each couple and unmarried individual in your records.
The family card, the main window of this program, is where you will do most of your traveling. Visually, think of each card as displaying information about one immediate family: children are at the bottom; husband and wife are side-by-side in the middle of the screen (husband on the left and wife on the right); parents are at the top (parents of the husband in the upper-left and parents of the wife in the upper-right).
To navigate, you simply click on buttons. Each child and parent has a button. When you click a child’s button, you open that child’s family card — where he or she is listed as the husband or wife of his or her family card. If you click on a parent button, you go to the parent’s family card — where the parent is listed as the husband or wife.
A button palette is located on top of the family card. Its position can be changed, if you prefer. A standard menu bar is also shown along the top. The menus and buttons are used to enter and edit information, create reports, charts, and forms, and navigate through the family file. Some functions of the menus and buttons overlap — giving you the convenience of choice. Windows are sprinkled with pop-up menus. The visual clue to a pop-up menu button is a rectangular-shaped button with a black drop shadow.
The tutorial file that accompanied this demo version will walk you through the steps of entering information and creating documents.
Reunion uses several windows or dialog boxes where you enter information. The information is then stored in the family file. You can decide which information to enter by choosing relevant commands from the Enter menu or by clicking buttons. You can always change your mind, correct mistakes, or decide to start over with no harm done.
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A 6-STEP TUTORIAL:
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• Starting Reunion
When Reunion is successfully installed, you’ll notice a new folder on your desktop called Reunion 4.0 Demo Folder. Open this folder and you’ll see several icons — one is called Reunion 4.0. Double-click this icon to start Reunion.
• Choosing a Word Processor
The first time you launch Reunion, a window will appear asking you to specify your word processor. Click OK if the name of your word processor appears. Otherwise, use the pop-up menu in the window to select your word processor. Reunion needs to know this information in order to create reports.
If your word processor does not appear in the pop-up menu, choose Other from the pop-up menu. This will open a window wherein you can navigate and select your word processor. (You may need to rebuild your desktop file if your word processor’s name appears “grayed out.”)
• Start With You And Your Family
It’s a good idea to learn how to use Reunion while entering information about your immediate family, since (hopefully) you are very familiar with the facts regarding your parents, children, spouse, and siblings.
After you open Reunion, choose File -> New from the menu and type in a name for your family file such as “Jones Family.” Reunion will make a new, empty family file for you, and soon you’ll see an empty family card. For now, this is the startup card which appears each time you open your family file. You can always return to the startup family card by choosing View -> Startup Family.
• Step 1: Name And Facts
Have some family facts ready. If it’s not in your head, assemble the immediate family information before proceeding.
If you are male, begin by entering information for the husband of the current family card — your family card. Choose Enter -> Husband’s Facts. If you are female, choose Enter -> Wife’s Facts. A small dialog box will appear asking if you want to add a new husband (or wife) to the family file. You do. So click Add New. A big window will appear. Simply type in information regarding the husband (or wife if you chose Enter -> Wife’s Facts). After you are done filling in the information, click the Save button (or hit the Enter key) to accept all your entries in the window. Your information will appear on the family card.
Dates
Reunion will let you enter dates in a variety of formats, but will convert what you type into a particular format that is specified in the Options -> Dates window. You can change the default date format at any time.
Maiden Names
Female names should be entered using the maiden name. If a maiden name is unknown, we suggest that you leave the Last Name box empty or enter a question mark (?). Or use the married name, but, as a visual reminder, you might want to enclose it in brackets or parentheses.
• Step 2: Entering Miscellaneous Notes
To enter miscellaneous notes, choose Enter -> Husband’s Notes or Enter -> Wife’s Notes. These commands will open the Notes window.
This is where you can enter miscellaneous information such as immigration details, personal stories and accounts, military service records, land holdings, heirlooms and artifacts, aliases, unusual death circumstances, etc.
There is room for 32,000 characters (or about 6,000 words) of text in the Miscellaneous Notes field.
When you are done entering notes, click Save to accept your entries. Once again, the family card will be displayed where you can see your notes by clicking the Notes button in the palette or choosing View -> Notes. To return to a Facts view, choose View -> Facts or click the Facts button in the palette.
• Step 3: Spouse’s Information
For your wife, choose Enter -> Wife’s Facts. (Or, for your husband, choose Enter -> Husband’s Facts.) Click Add New and begin entering information for your spouse. The Facts window is the same one used to enter your own data.
• Step 4: Marriage Information
To enter your marriage date, marriage place, and marital status, choose Enter -> Marriage. Then type your marriage date and place into the Marriage window.
• Step 5: Multiple Spouses
To enter another wife for the current husband, choose Enter -> Add Wife. (To enter another husband for the current wife, choose Enter -> Add Husband.)
In a nutshell, a family card will be made for each marriage to each spouse. If you have been married twice, you will appear on two cards — one for each family of which you were a part. A family card will automatically be made for you and your current spouse, and you and your first spouse. Twice married — two different family cards. The natural or adopted children of each separate marriage will appear on the family card showing the children’s natural or adoptive parents as the husband and wife.
• Step 6: Entering Children and Parents
To enter a child, choose Enter -> Male Child (or Female Child). To enter information about your parents, return to your family card and choose Enter -> Husband’s Parents (or Wife’s Parents).
√ Let’s See Some Linkage
Now’s a good time to check out the links between your family card and your child’s family card. From your family card, click your child’s button, and the screen should show your child’s family card. Then click on your name in one of the parent buttons — the upper-right or upper-left corner (you and your spouse should be in one of these corners, husband above the wife), and you’ll go back to your family card. Try it again — click your child’s button and go to his or her card; click directly on one of his or her parents (you or your spouse) and return to your card.
√ The Family Card Concept
Reunion is designed so that each individual will appear as husband or wife in the middle of a family card — even if he or she is not married. It may be confusing at first — having a family card for your child who is only two years old, for example — but try thinking of it as a future family card. Chances are good that eventually your two-year-old will have a spouse whose information you can enter on your future Mac. In the meantime, remember that each person will appear as a husband or wife on his or her own family card — even if he or she is unmarried.
√ Let’s Make An Index
Click the Index button — the first button on the button palette. This opens the Index window with an updated, alphabetized index. To change index sections, click one of the Alphabet buttons along the top of the index list. Your name should appear in the section containing the first letter of your last name. Double-click directly on your name in the index and Reunion will open your family card. You can view the index at any time, and you can use the index to help locate individuals in your family file.
√ Let’s Make A Birthday Calendar
Click the Calendar button (the third button in the tool bar). This opens the Calendars window. Click the Update button. To change months, click the Monthly button and the pop-up menu on the right side of the window. Or if you want to see birthdays for everybody, click the All Months or Chronological button. When you’re ready to see a new calendar, click Update again. Your name should be in the calendar for the month of your birth. Double-click directly on your name in a calendar and Reunion will open your family card.
√ What Day Of The Week Were You Born?
Return to your family card and choose Create -> Ages. A dialog box will show you the weekday of your birth date and marriage date. It will also show you exactly how old you are and how long you’ve been married. If you’re interested, it also shows how young you were when you got married.
√ Let’s Make A Pedigree Overview
Click to your child’s family card and choose View -> Overview. This creates a 5-generation pedigree overview. The Create -> Pedigree Chart menu command will create larger pedigree charts. For now, click any name in the chart to move that person to the source button in the overview (the button with bold text) — or click the (downward-pointing triangle) pop-up menu button for a list of the source person’s spouses and children. When you have the correct person inside the source button, click it, press Enter, or click OK to open his or her family card.
√ How Are You Related?
Click back to your family card and choose Create -> Relationships. Then click Husband (if you are male) or Wife (if you are female). Reunion will figure out how you’re related to all of your blood relatives and display the relationships (like father, 1st cousin, etc.) just above the names on family cards. As you click through the family cards in your family file, you’ll see, at a glance, how you are related to all of your blood relatives.
√ Family Card Links
By now you probably understand that Reunion is designed to link your family information in a way that’s easy to visualize. It’s important to understand the family card concept — that each family card shows an immediate family. If you click a child button, you’ll open that child’s family card (which will display the previous card’s husband and wife as parents). Likewise, if you click a parent, you’ll open a card which lists the parents as husband and wife on their own family card, and shows the previous card’s husband or wife as a child. With Reunion you can easily link lots of individuals and families and click-to-navigate through generations of your ancestors.
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SPECIAL FEATURES:
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• Dates
When you enter a date, Reunion will accept a variety of formats, but will convert whatever you type into the date format specified in the Options -> Dates window. Thus, the format used to enter dates is independent of the format used to display dates.
To change the format used for displaying dates, choose Options -> Dates. This opens the Dates window wherein the date format can be changed at any time. Reunion gives you lots of possibilities for displaying dates, including case, abbreviation, sequence, and separator.
When you change the format used for displaying dates, all previously entered dates will be displayed in the new format.
Reunion converts your date entry (what you type into a date entry box) when you tab out of an entry box, click any other button or text in the dialog box, or press Enter.
• “Expressing” Dates
In addition to the variety of recognized date formats, Reunion can “interpret” or convert date expressions. Dates can be expressed almost as they would be spoken and can use another date as a point of reference.
The date used as a point of reference can be an existing date in a different field (such as the entry in the Birth Date field in the example above) or a date constant (such as today, yesterday, or now). Some examples of date expressions are shown below.
Examples Of Valid Date “Expressions”
2 weeks after birth
80 years after birth
80 years 1 month after birth
80 years 1 month 2 weeks after birth
80 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days after birth
235 days from birth
235 days after birth
5 days before burial
2 years 1 day after marriage
2 days before today
3 days after yesterday
2 weeks from now
1 year 3 months 2 weeks before 3 July 1788
1 year 3 months 2 weeks before July 3, 1788
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago yesterday
34 years old
66 years 5 months 1 week 1 day old
• Reference Notes
Reunion is designed to help you track the sources of your information and other miscellaneous articles or details that you want to document, but not necessarily with an individual’s information on the family card.
Up to 999 reference notes can be saved with a family file. References can be added, deleted, or edited at any time. You have the option to include references at the end of person sheets, questionnaires, family group records, family histories, register, and ahnentafel reports.
In Reunion, the reference notes you record may be shared between different family cards. For example, if you wish to cite a source — let’s say a particular book from a particular library — you only need to record details about the source one time. Information about the library, the book, the date, the quality of the data, etc. can be typed into a single reference note and you can cite this reference note on any family card, in any data entry field, as many times as you want.
• Citing A Reference Note
References are indicated or cited in a data entry field through keywords. For example, if you’re entering a person’s death place and want to cite a reference which documents the source of your information, you could use the Reference Notes pop-up menu to insert a citation in the death place entry. A citation appears as an “®” character immediately followed by a number.
In the data entry fields, any word that starts with “®” and ends with a one, two, or three digit number (1 to 999) is a citation which becomes a button when double-clicked. The “button” opens the corresponding reference note.
