Barbara: The recommended standard is to avoid use of abbreviations. This is especially important if your data will be read by anyone outside the US. AK and AR are particular problems even for those inside the US. I was very surprised, though, at a recent thread on a list for professional genealogists that indicated many of those folks consistently use state abbreviations in their databases--apparently for the primary purpose of getting the data to fit on charts. These people, however, are producing work for clients and were quick to say that they never use their software to produce "canned" reports such as the family books you can create with most software programs. The charts come from their databases but their reports are written from scratch with no abbreviations.
I'm sure this won't answer your basic question but, as with many aspects of Legacy, it depends on what your intended use is. Kirsten -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Barbara Ford Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 7:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Date Format Importance Thanks to all for answers....this makes it clearer....this program is so great in that I can easily see where data is entered in the location field that doesn't belong there (in one case, "adopted by Michael Luther")--I understand that I will need to go to those individuals and clean that up, so as not to lose data (I'm catching on).... Had also seen the option for merging several locations, and just have one more question along that line--is there a standard preference on spelling out the name of a state as opposed to the standard abbreviation (understanding, I should be consistent)--in other words, if I have some AR, some Arkansas, some AR, USA, some Arkansas, USA, I could merge them all to one standard, and does it matter if I use the AR or the Arkansas? One last thing, I drowning in manual, user group, web site--would you mind to "coddle" me and give me a quick reference to the "archives" referred to here. (At least my emails should make everyone else feel like geniuses!!) Thanks so much, Barbara Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
