# What Are Private Facts **URL:** \ **Category:** RootsMagic\ **Tags:** question, rootsmagic\ **Created:** [December 29, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212 "2025-12-29T19:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wgoldsbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@wgoldsbo](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/wgoldsbo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/1 "2025-12-29T19:22:24Z")
Hello All, This may be an obvious question, but what exactly is a ‘private fact’? I was tinkering in the different reports to generate and saw an option about including private facts. I tried to generate a list of the private facts that I may have had in my tree but there aren’t any. When I try to add a fact to a person, just as a test, that option doesn’t show up as a fact type. Just curious as to what it is and how to utilize it for future use. ---
**Author:** ![BobC](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/bobc/32/6195_2.png) [@BobC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/BobC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/2 "2025-12-29T19:51:24Z")
From Help about adding Facts [Adding Facts](https://help.rootsmagic.com/RM11/adding-facts.html) ---
**Author:** ![MadDog](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/maddog/32/313_2.png) [@MadDog](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/MadDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/3 "2025-12-29T20:13:38Z")
> [@wgoldsbo](#): > > private fact It isn’t an actual fact but rather a “flag” on facts to mark them as Private. Look at BMD and you will see the box to mark it Private. Privatizing various facts will make sure they don’t show up in various reports, etc. Usually it is used for living people so their information isn’t public (like Social Security Numbers) ---
**Author:** ![kevync1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3be4f8/32.png) [@kevync1985](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/kevync1985)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/4 "2025-12-29T23:16:53Z")
one reason might be to share GEDCOM or if you use Treeshare etc it will block that info from going online or printed reports as @MadDog / Jerry said. Also if you publish website. If you do none of the you might not need the toggle the flag. If you think you might need to later, you want to keep in mind so you have less work. I guess this could be an opportunity for a feature enhancement where you could toggle such flag (private on/off ) based on advance search /group criteria ---
**Author:** ![wgoldsbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@wgoldsbo](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/wgoldsbo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/5 "2025-12-30T00:56:34Z")
Thanks for responding! ---
**Author:** ![wgoldsbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@wgoldsbo](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/wgoldsbo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/6 "2025-12-30T00:58:08Z")
Thanks! It took a little more tinkering than I did initially. ---
**Author:** ![wgoldsbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@wgoldsbo](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/wgoldsbo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/what-are-private-facts/15212/7 "2025-12-30T00:58:34Z")
Thanks! This helped!