Gramps 5.0 Wiki Manual

This is the wiki manual for Gramps version 5.0. All users are encouraged to edit this manual to help improve its readability and usability.

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Abstract

The Gramps Manual details all aspects of the Gramps software application.

Table of Contents

Preface

Why use Gramps?

Typographical conventions in the Gramps Wiki Manual

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A Visual Guide to the Gramps Interface

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1. What's new?
   1. Before you upgrade
   2. Visible changes to the core
      1. Data Model
      2. Primary changes
      3. GUI
      4. Place
      5. Reports, Tools, Gramplets
      6. Import/Export
      7. New Addons
   3. Under the hood changes
      1. Dependencies
   4. Further information
      1. Miscellaneous
      2. Localization
      3. Roadmap
      4. Changelog

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2. Getting started
   1. Overview
      1. Connections
      2. Privacy
      3. GEDCOM
   2. Start Gramps
      1. Linux
      2. MS Windows
      3. Mac OS X
   3. Choosing a Family Tree
   4. Tell me how to start right now!
   5. Obtaining Help

      ---

3. Main Window
   1. Main Window
      1. Window Title Bar
      2. Menubar
      3. Toolbar
      4. Navigator
      5. Display area
      6. Status Bar and Progress Bar
      7. Bottombar and Sidebar
         1. Gramplet Bar Menu
            1. Restore to defaults? dialog
         2. Search bar
   2. Switching Navigator modes
   3. Switching Categories
   4. Switching Views
   5. Filters

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4. Categories
   1. Categories of the Navigator
   2. Dashboard Category
   3. People Category
      1. Tree View - Grouped People
      2. Tree View - People List View
      3. People Category Bottombar tabs
         1. Details
         2. Gallery
         3. Events
         4. Children
         5. Citations
         6. Notes
         7. Attributes
         8. References
      4. People Category Sidebar tabs
         1. Filter
   4. Relationships Category
      1. Relationships Category view
         1. Active Person
         2. Parents
            1. Select Family selector
            2. Siblings
         3. Family
            1. Reorder Relationships dialog
            2. Children
         4. Configuration
      2. Relationships Category Bottombar tabs
      3. Relationships Category Sidebar tabs
   5. Families Category
      1. Families Category Bottombar tabs
         1. Details
         2. Gallery
         3. Events
         4. Children
         5. Citations
         6. Notes
         7. Attributes
         8. References
      2. Families Category Sidebar tabs
         1. Filter
   6. Charts Category
      1. Pedigree View
         1. Configure the active view
      2. Fan Chart View
         1. Configure the active view
      3. Descendant Fan View
         1. Configure the active view
      4. 2-Way Fan View
         1. Configure the active view
      5. Charts Category Bottombar tabs
      6. Charts Category Sidebar tabs
         1. Filter
   7. Events Category
      1. Events View
      2. Events Category Bottombar tabs
         1. Gallery
         2. Citations
         3. Notes
         4. Attributes
         5. References
      3. Events Category Sidebar tabs
         1. Filter
   8. Places Category
      1. Places List View
      2. Places Tree View
      3. Map Service
      4. Places Category Bottombar tabs
         1. Details
         2. Location
         3. Gallery
         4. Events
         5. Citations
         6. Notes
         7. References
      5. Places Category Sidebar tabs
         1. Filter
   9. Geography Category
      1. The different views
         1. All known places
         2. All known places for one Family
         3. Have they been able to meet ?
         4. All places related to Events
         5. All known places for one person
            1. All known places for one person with graphical information (KML files)
         6. Every residence or move for a person and any descendants
         7. Have these two families been able to meet ?
      2. Usage
         1. The configuration
            1. All views
            2. Specific views
         2. How to zoom and move around the map ?
            1. Zoom in and Zoom out the map
            2. Move around the map
         3. The mouse actions on the map
            1. button 1 ( left button )
            2. button 2 ( middle button )
            3. button 3 ( right button )
            4. The mouse over a marker
         4. The menu popup
         5. Click on a marker
         6. Adding or Linking to a place
         7. Adding places from KML files
         8. How to change the map provider ?
         9. Can we change the marker's color ?
         10. How to get/remove the crosshair ?
         11. How to lock/unlock the map ?
      3. Prerequisites to see the geography view
      4. Possible problems
      5. Geography Category Bottombar tabs
      6. Geography Category Sidebar tabs
      7. Filter
   10. Sources Category
       1. Citation Tree View
       2. Sources List View
       3. Sources Category Bottombar tabs
          1. Gallery
          2. Notes
          3. References
       4. Sources Category Sidebar tabs
          1. Filter
   11. Citations Category
       1. Citations List View
       2. Citations Category Bottombar tabs
          1. Gallery
          2. Notes
          3. References
       3. Citations Category Sidebar tabs
          1. Filter
   12. Repositories Category
       1. Repository List View
       2. Repository Category Bottombar tabs
          1. Details
          2. Notes
          3. References
       3. Repository Category Sidebar tabs
          1. Filter
   13. Media Category
       1. Media List View
       2. Media Category Bottombar tabs
          1. Preview
          2. Citations
          3. Notes
          4. Attributes
          5. Image Metadata
          6. References
       3. Media Category Sidebar tabs
          1. Filter
   14. Notes Category
       1. Notes List View
       2. Notes Category Bottombar tabs
          1. References
       3. Notes Category Sidebar tabs
          1. Filter

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5. Manage Family Trees
   1. Starting a new Family Tree
      1. Family Trees manager window
   2. Opening a Family Tree
   3. Opening a GEDCOM or XML database
   4. Deleting a Family Tree
   5. Renaming a Family Tree
   6. Backing up a Family Tree
      1. Backup dialog
      2. Advanced settings
   7. Archiving a Family Tree
   8. Extracting a Family Tree Archive
   9. Unlocking a Family Tree
      1. Break the lock on the "Family Tree name" database? dialog
   10. Repairing a damaged Family Tree
   11. Saving changes to your Family Tree
   12. Importing data
       1. Import Family Tree dialog
       2. GRAMPS V2.x database import
          1. Moving a Gramps 2.2 databases to Gramps 3.x
       3. Gramps XML and XML Package import
       4. Gramps CSV import
       5. GEDCOM import
          1. GEDCOM Encoding dialog
          2. Import Statistics dialog
          3. GEDCOM import report dialog
             1. Reading the report
          4. GEDCOM import limitations
             1. HEADer, SUBMitter and SUBmissioN
             2. INDIvidual
             3. FAM_RECORD
             4. SOURCE_RECORD
             5. REPOSITORY_RECORD
             6. MULTIMEDIA_RECORD
             7. NOTE_RECORD
   13. Exporting data
       1. Export Assistant dialog
          1. Saving your data
          2. Choose the output format
          3. Export options
             1. Filters and privacy
                1. Privacy Filter:
                2. Living Filter:
                3. Person Filter:
                4. Note Filter:
                5. Reference Filter:
             2. File format specific export options
          4. Select save file
          5. Final confirmation
          6. Summary
          7. Comma Separated Values Spreadsheet(CSV) export
       2. GEDCOM export
       3. GeneWeb export
       4. Gramps XML (family tree) export
       5. Gramps XML Package (family tree and media) export
       6. Web Family Tree export
       7. vCalendar export
       8. vCard export

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6. CSV Import and Export
   1. Gramps Spreadsheet Import/Export
   2. Export
   3. Import
      1. People
      2. Marriage
      3. Family
      4. Place
   4. Details
      1. Example CSV with multiple areas
      2. Example CSV from Spreadsheet

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7. Probably Alive
   1. How does Gramps determine if someone is alive?
   2. Probably Alive Proxy
   3. Probably Alive Filter
   4. Calendar Gramplet

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8. Entering and editing data: brief
   1. To add or edit a person
      1. Add a new person
      2. Edit an existing person
   2. To specify a relationship
      1. Specifying a relationship using the Relationship View
      2. Specifying a relationship using the Family List View
   3. To specify parents
      1. Duplicate Family warning dialog
   4. To specify children
   5. Adding photos and other media objects
   6. To edit events, sources, places, and repositories

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9. Entering and editing data: detailed

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   1. Entering and editing data: detailed - part 1
      1. Editing information about people
         1. Edit Person dialog
         2. Preferred name section
         3. Multiple_Surnames
         4. General section
         5. Preferred image
         6. Edit Person tab pages
            1. Events
               1. Select Event selector
            2. Names
            3. Source Citations
            4. Attributes
            5. Addresses
            6. Notes
               1. Select Note selector
            7. Gallery
               1. Select Media Object selector
            8. Internet
            9. Associations
               1. Person Reference Editor
                  1. Select Person selector
            10. LDS
            11. References
      2. Editing information about relationships
         1. Family Editor dialog
            1. Select Father selector
            2. Select Mother selector
         2. Family Editor tab pages
            1. Children
               1. Select Child selector
               2. Child Reference Editor
                  1. Source Citations tab
                  2. Notes tab
            2. Events
            3. Source Citations
            4. Attributes
            5. Notes
            6. Gallery
            7. LDS
               1. LDS Ordinance Editor
      3. Editing dates
         1. Date selection dialog
         2. Date validity indicators
         3. Date Quality
         4. Date formats and parsing rules
         5. Calendars
            1. Swedish calendar
         6. Dual-dated dates
            1. Alternate new year day

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   2. Entering and editing data: detailed - part 2
      1. Editing information about events
         1. New Event dialog
         2. New Event tab pages
            1. Source Citations
            2. Notes
            3. Gallery
            4. Attributes
            5. References
      2. Editing event references
         1. Event Reference Editor dialog
            1. Reference Information
               1. Reference Information tab pages
                  1. General
                  2. Notes
                  3. Attributes
            2. Shared Information
               1. General
               2. Source Citations
               3. Attributes
               4. Notes_3
               5. Gallery
               6. References
      3. Editing information about media objects
         1. New Media dialog
         2. New Media tab pages
            1. Source Citations
            2. Attributes
            3. Notes
            4. References
      4. Editing media object references
         1. Select a media object selector
         2. Media Reference Editor dialog
            1. Top section
               1. Top section tab pages
                  1. General
                  2. Source Citations
                  3. Attributes
                  4. Notes
            2. Shared Information
               1. Shared Information tab pages
                  1. General
                  2. References
                  3. Source Citations
                  4. Attributes
                  5. Notes
      5. Editing information about places
         1. Place Editor dialog
         2. Place editor tab pages
            1. Enclosed By
               1. Select Place selector
               2. Place Reference Editor
            2. Alternative Names
            3. Source Citations
            4. Notes
            5. Gallery
            6. Internet
            7. References
         3. Place Name Editor dialog
         4. Supported longitude/latitude formats
      6. Editing information about sources
         1. New Source dialog
         2. New Source tab pages
            1. Notes
            2. Gallery
            3. Attributes
            4. Repositories
               1. Select Repository selector
            5. References
      7. Editing source citations
         1. Select Source or Citation selector
         2. New Citation dialog
            1. Citation information
               1. Select Source selector
               2. Citation information section tab pages
            2. Shared source information
      8. Editing information about repositories
         1. New Repository dialog
         2. New Repository tab pages
            1. Addresses
            2. Internet
            3. Notes
            4. References
      9. Editing information about notes
         1. New Note editor dialog
            1. Note tab
            2. References tab
            3. Link Editor
         2. Note markup and preformat in reports

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   3. Entering and editing data: detailed - part 3
      1. Name Editor
         1. Name Editor dialog
            1. Type
            2. Given Name(s) Section
            3. Family Names Section
         2. Name Editor tab pages
            1. General
            2. Source Citations
            3. Notes
      2. Attributes
         1. Attribute Editor dialog
         2. Attribute Editor tab pages
            1. Source Citations
            2. Notes
      3. Addresses
         1. Address Editor dialog
         2. Address Editor tab pages
            1. Source Citations
            2. Notes
      4. Merging records
         1. Merge People
         2. Merge Families
         3. Merge Events
         4. Merge Sources
         5. Merge Citations
         6. Merge Places
         7. Merge Media Objects
         8. Merge Repositories
         9. Merge Notes

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10. Navigation
    1. Using the People Category
    2. Using the Relationships Category
    3. Using the Families Category
    4. Using the Charts Category
    5. Using Gramplets
    6. Setting the Home Person
    7. Setting the Active Person
    8. Using history-based tools
    9. Bookmarks
    10. Finding records
    11. Using the Clipboard
    12. Main Menus
        1. Family Trees
        2. Add
        3. Edit
        4. View
        5. Go
        6. Bookmarks
        7. Reports
        8. Tools
        9. Windows
        10. Help

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11. Plugin Manager
    1. Plugin types
    2. Registration and loading
    3. Hide/Unhide
    4. Actions
       1. Registered Plugins
       2. Loaded Plugins
    5. Detailed Info dialog

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12. Gramplets
    1. What is a Gramplet
       1. General Usage and Configuration
       2. Summary of Gramplets
    2. Gramplets
       1. 2-Way Fan Chart
       2. Age on Date
       3. Age Stats
       4. Ancestors
       5. Attributes
       6. Calendar
       7. Children
       8. Citations
       9. Descendant Fan Chart
       10. Descendants
       11. Details
       12. Events
       13. Fan Chart
       14. FAQ
       15. Filter
       16. Gallery
       17. Given Name Cloud
       18. Image Metadata
           1. The interface
              1. Data Fields
              2. Buttons
           2. Prerequisites
           3. Usage scenario
       19. Locations
       20. Notes
       21. Pedigree
       22. Preview
       23. Quick View
       24. Records
       25. References
       26. Relatives
       27. Residence
       28. Session Log
       29. SoundEx
           1. Soundex what is this?
       30. Statistics
       31. Surname Cloud
       32. To Do
       33. Top Surnames
       34. Uncollected Objects
       35. Welcome
       36. What's Next

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13. Reports - Index and Summary.

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    1. Generating Reports
       1. Report Settings
       2. Report Format Style

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    2. Substitution Values
       1. The Substitution Keys
          1. Other Substitution Keys
          2. Default displayed formats
          3. Deprecated variables
       2. Format Strings
          1. Formatting names
          2. Formatting Dates
          3. Formatting Places
          4. Rules for format strings
       3. Control Variables
       4. Grouping
          1. Rules for groups
          2. Examples
       5. Attributes
       6. Events
          1. Event format strings
          2. Notes for attributes and events
       7. Separators

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    3. Books
       1. Manage Books dialog
          1. Book name
             1. Book name toolbar
          2. Available items
          3. Available items selections
             1. Alphabetical Index
             2. Custom Text
             3. Table of contents
             4. Title Page
          4. Current book
             1. Current book toolbar
       2. Generate Book dialog
          1. Paper Options
          2. Document Options

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    4. Graphical Reports
       1. Common options
          1. Paper Options
          2. Document Options
       2. Ancestor Tree
          1. Tree Options
          2. Display
          3. Size
          4. Include
       3. Calendar
          1. Report Options
          2. Content Options
          3. Text Options
       4. Descendant Tree
          1. Tree Options
          2. Display
          3. Replace
          4. Size
          5. Include
       5. Family Descendant Tree
          1. Tree Options
          2. Display
          3. Replace
          4. Size
          5. Include
       6. Fan Chart
          1. Report Options
       7. Statistics Charts
          1. Report Options
          2. Charts 1
          3. Charts 2
       8. Timeline Chart
          1. Report Options

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       9. Scale and Resize options
          1. Scale tree to fit:
          2. Resize Page to Fit Tree size
          3. inter-box Y scale factor
          4. box shadow scale factor
          5. Know what you want to print on

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    5. Graphs
       1. Common Options
          1. Graphviz Layout
          2. Graphviz Options
          3. Note
       2. Family Lines Graph
          1. Report Options
          2. Report Options (2)
          3. People of Interest
          4. Include
          5. Family Colours
          6. Individuals
       3. Hourglass Graph
          1. Report Options
          2. Report Options (2)
          3. Graph Style
       4. Relationship Graph
          1. Report Options
          2. Report Options (2)
          3. Include
          4. Graph Style
          5. Example

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    6. Text Reports
       1. Common options
          1. Paper Options
          2. Document Options
       2. Ahnentafel Report
          1. Report Options
       3. Birthday and Anniversary Report
          1. Report Options
          2. Text Options
       4. Complete Individual Report
          1. Report Options
          2. Include
          3. Sections
       5. Database Summary Report
          1. Report Options
       6. Descendant Report
          1. Report Options
       7. Detailed Ancestral Report
          1. Report Options
          2. Content
          3. Include
          4. Missing information
       8. Detailed Descendant Report
          1. Report Options
          2. Content
          3. Include
          4. Missing information
       9. End of Line Report
          1. Report Options
       10. Family Group Report
           1. Report Options
           2. Include
           3. Missing information
       11. Kinship Report
           1. Report Options
       12. Note Link Report
       13. Number of Ancestors Report
           1. Report Options
       14. Place Report
           1. Report Options
       15. Records Report
           1. Report Options
           2. Person Records
           3. Family Records
       16. Tag Report
           1. Report Options

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    7. Web Pages
       1. Narrated Web Site
          1. Dialog tabs
             1. Report Options
             2. Page Generation
             3. Privacy
             4. Download
             5. Advanced Options
             6. Place Map Options
          2. Example Web Site output
             1. Home
             2. Introduction
             3. Individuals
             4. Surnames
             5. Families
             6. Events
             7. Places
             8. Sources
             9. Repositories
             10. Media
             11. Thumbnails
             12. Download
             13. Address Book
             14. Contact
       2. Web Calendar
          1. Dialog tabs
             1. Report Options
             2. Content Options
             3. Jan - Jun Notes
             4. Jul - Dec Notes
             5. Advanced Options
          2. Example Web Site output

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    8. Quick Views
       1. Making your own Quick view

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14. Tools
    1. Tool Selection dialog
    2. Analysis and Exploration
       1. Compare Individual Events
    3. Family Tree Processing
       1. Database Owner Information
       2. Extract Event Description
       3. Extract Information from Names
       4. Extract Place Data from a Place Title
       5. Find Possible Duplicate People
       6. Fix Capitalization of Family Names
       7. Merge citations
       8. Rename Event Types
       9. Reorder Gramps ID
       10. Sort Events
    4. Family Tree Repair
       1. Check and Repair Database
       2. Rebuild Gender Statistics
       3. Rebuild Reference Maps
       4. Rebuild Secondary Indices
       5. Remove Unused Objects
    5. Utilities
       1. Media Manager
          1. Replace substrings in the path
          2. Convert paths from relative to absolute
          3. Convert paths from absolute to relative
          4. Add images not included in database
       2. Not Related
       3. Relationship Calculator
       4. Verify the Data
          1. Verify the Data tab pages
             1. General
             2. Women
             3. Men
             4. Families
          2. Data Verification Results window
          3. Examples
       5. Find database loop
    6. Debug
       1. Check Localized Date Displayer and Parser
       2. Dump Gender Statistics
       3. Generate Testcases for Persons and Families
       4. Populate Sources and Citations

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15. Settings
    1. Preferences
       1. General
          1. Available Gramps Updates for Addons
          2. Tip of the Day dialog
       2. Family Tree
       3. Display
          1. Display Name Editor
          2. Place Format Editor
       4. Places
       5. Text
       6. ID Formats
       7. Dates
       8. Researcher
       9. Warnings
       10. Colors
           1. Pick a Color selector
    2. Other settings
       1. Column Editor
       2. Sorting columns
       3. Setting Home person
       4. Adjusting viewing controls
       5. Export View
          1. Export View as Spreadsheet dialog
       6. Modularity and plugins
       7. Customize report output formats
          1. Document Styles dialog
          2. Style editor dialog
             1. Style editor dialog tabs
                1. Description
                2. Font options
                3. Paragraph options
    3. Customizing
       1. Preferences
       2. Language
          1. Linux
          2. Mac OS X
          3. MS Windows
       3. Advanced manipulation of settings

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16. Filters
    1. Filter vs. Search
    2. Regular Expressions
       1. Groups and Sets
       2. Examples
          1. Common variations of a surname
          2. testing regular expressions
    3. Custom Filter Editor
    4. Which filters in which Category?
    5. Ancestral filters
    6. Child filters
    7. Citation/sources filters
       1. Persons-, and Relationship Category
       2. Families Category
       3. Events Category
       4. Places Category
       5. Media Category
    8. Descendant filters
    9. Event filters
       1. Persons-, and Relationship Category
       2. Families Category
    10. Family filters
    11. Father filters
    12. General filters
        1. Persons-, and Relationship Category
        2. Families Category
        3. Events Category
        4. Places Category
        5. Sources Category
        6. Citations Category
        7. Repositories Category
        8. Media Category
        9. Notes Category
    13. Mother filters
    14. Position filters
    15. Source filters
    16. Relationship filters
    17. Tagging
        1. Concept
        2. Differences with markers
        3. Tags and Filters
        4. Operations with tags
           1. Filtering
           2. Tagging a selection of objects
        5. Tags Column

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Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Gramps?

Where do I get it and how much does it cost?

Do I need to register as a user to use Gramps, I am not a programmer?

Does Gramps exist in other languages?

How do I keep backups?

Does Gramps support Unicode fonts?

   2 Installation
       2.1 What is needed to install Gramps under Linux, Solaris, or FreeBSD?
       2.2 Does Gramps work on Windows?
       2.3 Does Gramps work on the Mac?
       2.4 What are the Minimum Specs to run Gramps?
       2.5 How do I upgrade Gramps?
   3 Preferences
       3.1 Can I change the dates in reports to 'day month year'?
   4 Collaboration-Portability
       4.1 Is Gramps compatible with other genealogical software?
       4.2 Can Gramps read files created by other genealogy programs?
       4.3 Can Gramps write files readable by other genealogy programs?
       4.4 What standards does Gramps support?
       4.5 How do I import data from another genealogy program into Gramps?
       4.6 Can I install Gramps on a Linux Web Server and use it via a web browser?
   5 Reports
       5.1 Can Gramps print a genealogical tree for my family?
       5.2 In what formats can Gramps output its reports?
       5.3 How can I change the default language in reports?
       5.4 Is Gramps compatible with the Internet?
       5.5 Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?
       5.6 Why are non-Latin characters displayed as garbage in PDF/PS reports?
       5.7 I would like to contribute to Gramps by writing my favorite report. How do I do that?
   6 Database - Gramps file formats
       6.1 What is the maximum database size (bytes) Gramps can handle?
       6.2 How many people can Gramps database handle?
       6.3 My database is really big. Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?
       6.4 Can I run Gramps from a database on a NFS share?
       6.5 What does "portable" mean?
       6.6 Why is the database format (GRDB) not portable?
   7 Bugs and requests
       7.1 What do I do if I have found a bug?
       7.2 Requests
   8 Adding to and editing my database
       8.1 What is the difference between a residence and an address?
       8.2 How do I change the order of children?
       8.3 How do I change the order of spouses?

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Appendix B: Keybindings reference

List Views

Common bindings

All List Views bindings

People View bindings

Editors

Editor Tab bindings

Editor bindings

Handy Shortcuts

See also

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Appendix C: Command line reference

Available options

Format options

Opening options

Import options

Export options

Action options

List options

Operation

Examples

Environment variables

GRAMPSHOME

LANG, LANGUAGE, LC_MESSAGE, LC_TIME

GRAMPSI18N

GRAMPSDIR

GRAMPS_RESOURCES

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Appendix D: User Directory

POSIX - style systems

Mac OS X

MS Windows

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Appendix E: Error and Warning Reference

When something goes wrong

Alerts

Warnings

Errors

Seeing all the error messages

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Appendix F: About Gramps

About

Original author

Contributors

Have an issue or idea?

License

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Index

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