Witterly

It's this way because that's how the GEDCOM standard was set up. There's a lot wrong with the fact type as it was established but a lot of people with different opinions were not consulted. 

 

I'm not sure I totally understand this. I realize there are many problems with GEDCOM, but I don't think there is some sort of requirement that if BIRT {BIRTH} is left empty, a blank CHR {CHRISTENING} tag gets erroneously added to the record. 

 

Note that when RootsMagic exports a GEDCOM from a tree that contains no Christening facts, there are no CHR tags (which is exactly how we would expect it to work).

 

...

Are you still printing a Family Group Sheet?

 
Yes. 
 
This is a really easy problem to replicate. Just create a new tree with 2 individuals who are married to each other, and don't enter in any additional information other then their names (ie, no birth or death information). 
 
Creating a creating a Family Group Sheet report will include blank lines for "Chr." even if you uncheck the fields that you refer to in post # 10 of this thread.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry not sure why I didn't think of this sooner. Go to Lists>Fact Type list, highlight Christen and click Edit. Under "Include when" uncheck the box for Family Group Sheets. The Christen fact will not appear on the family group sheet. 

 

Renee, 

 

I do appreciate your help in trying to fix this problem. While I tried what you suggested, the Christen fact still prints on reports. Just to be safe, I unchecked the box you suggested for both "Christen" and "Christen (Adult)," but neither seems to alter the output as you describe.

Christening used as a birth replacement has many functions. If you do not want them to appear it would be best to add an about birth fact based on the Christen date to everyone that has one. I can add this to the enhancement list but this is a important feature of the program. 

 

I completely understand that this is an important feature to many (perhaps most) RootsMagic users. I'd even understand if this is the "default" behavior of the program. But frankly, I don't think it's fair to expect non-Christian users to have to add additional facts that they might not have, just to get Christian facts to disappear.

 

 

And these enhancements should all be options so that no users have to use Christenings or infant Baptisms in ways that are uncomfortable.

 

Totally agree with Jerry's comments. It's all about not making users feel uncomfortable.

Correct. None of my family is Christian and they were confused when I sent them Family Group Sheets that contained a line for christening. While I do understand if this remains a default option (as perhaps the majority of RM users find this helpful), there should certainly be a way to turn it off.