why date does not change on persons record

Sandy Lamb

I have updated the death date of Malcom Grimes from 1950 to 1964 with evidence from death certificate. The date does not change however on his name banner or in the family view. What is happening now wirh FS?

Gail Swihart Watson

So you didn't make it a standardized date. Go to the death date and click the pencil to edit. Then, next to the old date of 21 Apr 1950 you will see a drop down list. One of the choices will be 19 Aug 1964 in standardized form. Then click save. I didn't correct it so you would understand the issue and how to fix it.

Gordon Collett

All dates and places are stored twice in Family Tree. As the display version which we see most places and as the standard linked to that displayed version. There are a few places in Family Tree where the linked standard is shown instead of the display version, such as in the name banner.

Part of correctly entering data and proofreading our work is to make sure the two are correctly linked and that the displayed version is linked to the most appropriate standard. Only the linked standard is used by the computer in finding and matching records.

It's a great system for various reasons I won't go into here and usually works so smoothly that a lot of people never notice what is actually going on and are not aware of one of the most powerful tools we have been provided with in Family Tree.

Sandy Lamb

additional info for Malcolm Grimes: Malcolm Douglas Grimes, 22 August 1883 – 21 April 1950,  • L67S-1YC

davidgange1

Thanks for that answer. I am sure a lot of folks wonder about such issues. The solution makes a lot of sense.

Gordon Collett

A couple of years ago I put together a presentation about this dual entry of dates and places. There have been several major updates of Family Tree so it is rather out of date now but the basic principles are the same so if you know people who wonder about this issue, feel free to watch this and explain things to them or just pass on the link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jl6M8efrGj6Xe3MP6oyYdfFMXPSPCoJuyrS5xXj7KN8/edit?usp=sharing