Date types
All date fields are 15 characters long. You may type any information into a date field and it will be accepted. However, if you do not use one of the date formats listed below, the program will not be able to compute ages for people. Also, if you make a Gedcom file, the date must be in a standard format in order for other programs to accept it.
If you type a date in the form MMDDYYYY where MM is the month, DD is the day, and YYYY is the year, then the program will convert the date into a standard format. If you enter MMDDYY (i.e. you only enter 2 digits for the year), the program will convert the year to 19YY or 20YY based on which option you have set. Each date will be converted to whatever format (1-12) you have set in the options area. (To set the date type, pick File from the main screen and then pick Options.)
Format type 0 (zero) means no change from the way you type it. The other date formats (1-12) will do a conversion on the date you type (provided it is typed as MMDDYY or MMDDYYYY). If you wish to include /'s around the day you may, e.g. 6/4/1954 is acceptable for input. The following is an example of how the dates will be changed based on the format you have set. If you enter 06041954, it will be changed as follows (based on the date type you have chosen):
Type 1 04-JUN-1954
Type 2 04 JUN 1954
Type 3 06/04/1954
Type 4 06-04-1954
Type 5 JUN-04-1954
Type 6 JUN 04 1954
Date types 7, 8, and 9 are only used when you want to ENTER dates in European date format (DDMMYYYY). Using the European date input, if you enter 04061954 you would get:
Type 7 04-JUN-1954
Type 8 04 JUN 1954
Type 9 04-06-1954
Use date format type 10 or 11 if you will be entering the dates in the format YYYYMMDD.
Type 10 1954.06.04
Type 11 1954-06-04
Type 12 04.06.1954
If you do not use one of the above date formats, the program will not be able to compute ages for people. If you type in your own dates using letters, use the first three letters of the month name and do not use a comma. If the day is less then 10 then use a space or a zero before the day.
You may change the option called "Months capital or lower case" on the Options screen so that the months will appear as Jun instead of JUN and the day will appear as 4 instead of 04. If you have already entered dates in one format and wish to change to another format, you may use the Convert Date Format routine to change all dates.
Generally, if you type in less than 6 digits or more than 8 digits or type any alpha characters (A-Z), then no date conversion will take place no matter which date format type you have set. You may, however, type a _ for parts you don't know and it will still convert. For example if you don't know the day of the month you could type 06__54 and it will convert to __ JUN 1954 if you are using type 2 dates. However, note that if you make a Gedcom file, the date will be considered to be an invalid date. JUN 1954 is OK for Gedcom, but __ JUN 1954 is not OK because of the __
Most dates will require 10 or 11 characters when converted. However, the field is 15 characters long to accommodate the exceptions. If you are not sure of a date, you may add additional information. The program will automatically recognize certain 3 character abbreviations such as ABT for about, CIR for circa, BEF for before, and AFT for after. For example, if you know a person died before March 15, 1920 you may enter BEF 031520 and the program will convert it to BEF 15-MAR-1920 if you are using type 1 dates. The abbreviations (ABT, CIR, BEF, and AFT) may be in upper or lower case. You may also enter dates with dual years such as 15-MAR-1680/81
If an event happened sometime between two known dates, you can double click the date field to open a new window to enter the two dates. If something occurred for a period of time, for example, if an Occupation was from one date to another or Resided was from one date to another, you can double click the date field to enter the starting and ending dates.