Hi, you may have answered this before, but i cannot find any information.
I want to run a report with all of my people and their assigned REF number.
Something like this:
Thomas Flynn - 579
Elizabeth Covavan - 570
Marth Abbs - 20
It could be alphabetical by surname or by REF number (the rootsmajic number)
Thank you
First, a cautionary note on terminology. RM has a record number for each person, sometimes called the Record ID number or RIN. You can’t control these numbers and they really don’t mean anything. But they are extremely useful for being able to recognize situations where you might have entered the same person more than once. Sometimes the only way to tell the difference between two people is via the RIN number.
Reference Number is a fact/event in RM and it is not assigned automatically. You can assign it or not assign it, and if you assign it you can give it any value you wish. And if you assign it, the number can mean anything you wish it to mean.
Therefore, if what you want to see is the RM number, then it’s the RIN number.
The easiest way to get the report you want is probably to run the Individual List report (not the Individual Summary report). In the Individual List report, turn off all the options for including things like parents and spouses and all you will be left with for each person will be their name and their RIN number. That should be what you want, and the format will be very much like your Thomas Flynn and Elizabeth Covavan example.
There is an RM setting called Settings => General Settings => Number to Display. If the option is set to None, there are few if any places in RM where you will be able to see the RIN number. In particular, you won’t see it in the Individual List report. If the option is set to RIN, then you will be able to see it in lots of places in RM including in the Individual List report. So be sure to set Settings => General Settings => Number to Display to RIN if it’s not already set that way.
Custom Reports would let you add the Name and REFN fact. Sort can be on any column. You can also add the Reference No column to the People List view by Customizing it. Then sort on the column by clicking on the column header.
Hi,
I have a similar question:
I use the RIN as a source identifier both within RM and systematically archiving corresponding files/documents.
Is there any way to convince RM10 to show a persons RIN other than on the Index tab also in the top part of a person’s edit page? Perhaps also for spouse/s and parents?
Or, as a second best option, add the RIN to the respective name in an Indicidual List printout?
Or have I missed a setting?
Many thanks, Gerhard
Thanks for that, I just found it
I use the Custom Report with name and REFN frequently, my main gripe is there doesn’t seem to be any way to only report on people that actually have a REFN. I have nearly 30,000 people in my database with maybe 1/4 with REFN. When I’m running my report to see where I need to restart my updates I need to scroll through a few hundred pages with only names before I get to the part I need to review.
Also, as I’m using REFN to record references numbers from secondary sources, and each individual can appear in more than ones (i.e. family genealogy books of related families) the custom report seems to freak out when someone has more than one REFN fact.
Thanks again for this hint.
However, it does not really seem to solve the problem, if I don’t find a suitable way around. For instance: If I want to rename images within RM, I lose both panels – the Index and the People List view. The Person edit window remains open – but does not show the RIN.
A way around is being to rename the images from outside RM, but then the RM link to the file is being lost and needs to be included manually.
Alternatively, I can change the image file names externally in a file explorer with RM open, then upload the images. Unfortunately, RM does not seem to read out caption details already embedded in the image file (ITPC).
Also, is there a way to bulk-edit images?
And as I can upload a grop of images, can I also delete a number of selected images in one go? Or really all individually?
So much on this issue tonight.
Many thanks for your advice.
Custom Report has the option:
Include?
…which supports Select from list AND lists Groups that You’ve created.
Create a Group or use Select from list with data field Reference No Exists IsTrue
Given the various comments to this topic in various threads, in particular utiising RIN => Ref #, I have started doing the same. So far I copied the Ref # fact with a preliminary “00” in the description to all persons in the database, and will add the actual RIN to the Ref # (e.g. “00185”). If the automatic RIN really should change for whatever reason at one time, I still have the manually entered ID as the unique file and person ID. If need be, I can then manually change the Ref # and my file source names.
To figure out where I still miss adding the RIN to the Ref #00, I do an Advanced Search.
So much from a Newbie with RM10 …
Thank you very much for that tip. It works pretty good, although if I have a person with multiple reference numbers say HOYL02900 from book A and J-346 from book B and I select REFN exists and Description contains HOYL I still get both displayed.
In any case it’s 63 pages instead of 360, so the tip is much appreciated.
Edited:
I brain farted with a reply that would have unmarked the persons having two Reference No facts
The problem is in having two of that fact-type. Can’t think of a “native” way to isolate a singular fact for that situation. I think it has to be post-processing of the report.
It’s not just the REFN that’s a problem in this regard. Any fact type that appears more than one time for a person can be hard to search and otherwise to manage. My favorite example is to use the standard Census fact and to search for people who were enumerated in the 1850 census in Texas. If a person was enumerated in 1850 in Tennessee and in 1860 in Texas, then they are basically impossible to search. A search for Census > Date > Equals > 1850 AND Census > Place > Contains > Texas will return such people even though they were not enumerated in 1850 in Texas.
Hi, thanks for your replies – it’s fascinating to see how deeply you are involved in this program.
Re multiple ID numbers, so far I am helping myself with a Custom Ref# fact, something like “RIN Ref#”, and added a sentence “[Person] has RootsMagic RIN ID [Desc].” For additional IDs, if important, I plan to use the inbuild fact type and add the source to it (e.g. Family Search ###).
Good thing is, I just discovered, I could replace the in-built fact type with my own version – and it worked. Great, that was easy for a change!
That is because you have not set the option in Settings > General Settings > Number to display = “RIN”. The Index pane has its own control independent of the General Settings to toggle its display of the RIN.
Unfortunately, RM does not seem to read out caption details already embedded in the image file (ITPC).
Also, is there a way to bulk-edit images?
And as I can upload a grop of images, can I also delete a number of selected images in one go? Or really all individually?
Those are topics other than this one about the display of RIN or REF# and maybe they have already been answered in other appropriate discussions negatively, i.e., no support for IPTC, no bulk-edit of images, no bulk delete of images.
Noting your interest in bulk operations, you may find this outboard procedure that bulk adds a Ref# fact containing the RIN and the MRIN also of interest:
https://sqlitetoolsforrootsmagic.com/rin-mrin-add-reference-number-fact-to-all-persons/
Many thanks for this hint, Tom.
Your script looks like it could be of great help for me – but not being a program coder, unfortunately I don’t know how to integrate it into RM10.
