Program Settings
Navigation: RootsMagic 8 > The RootsMagic Interface > Settings Page >
The Program Options available are:
General
Options specific to the program as a whole.
- Open databases from last session – Mark this checkbox to make RootsMagic load any files that were on screen when you last exited.
- How to interpret ambiguous dates – Choose the format you want RootsMagic to use when interpreting ambiguous dates.
- Display news screen – Check this option to display the news screen at startup.
- Display welcome screen – Check this option to display the welcome dialog at startup if there are no databases to open. It will also appear when you close the last database without closing RootsMagic. This welcome dialog provides options to create a new database, to open (and select) an existing database, to import a file, to search for files on your computer, or to open recently opened databases. Checking Do not ask me this again will uncheck the option
- Ask for backup when exiting – If this checkbox is marked, the program will prompt you to back up your database each time you leave the program.
- When a database is opened or created - This allows you to choose how RootsMagic displays new databases as they are opened – tile all open databases, cascade all open databases or maximize the new database. RootsMagic allows you to open multiple databases at once (or multiple copies of the same database), so it needs to know how to display the multiple databases as you open them.
- Add date to backup file name – When this option is selected, RootsMagic will append the data to the back-up file name so you can differentiate backups made on the same date.
- Check for duplicates when adding people – If this checkbox is marked, RootsMagic will look through the database each time you add a new person to see if you might have already added the person. If it finds a person that might be the same, it will give you some options to continue or not.
- Let comma finish surname in RootsMagic Explorer – Mark this checkbox if you want RootsMagic to finish typing out surnames when you press the comma in the search screen.
- Let <Enter> work like <Tab> key – Mark this checkbox to have RootsMagic move from field to field when you press the Enter key in a dialog instead of closing the dialog.
- Enable live spell checking – Mark this checkbox to have RootsMagic underline misspelled words in notes with a red squiggly underline. You can then right click the misspelled word to correct it.
- Use plain text when pasting to notes – Mark this checkbox if pasting text into notes is causing strange formatting.
- Use CountyCheck when entering places – Mark this checkbox if you want RootsMagic to check whether a county (US, Canada, UK, and Australia) existed on the date an event happened.
- Build thumbnails when opening Media Gallery – Mark this checkbox if you want RootsMagic to rebuild the thumbnails when opening the media gallery. Unchecking this can speed up loading the media gallery.
Display
You can choose the color scheme for the toolbars, etc, as well as the color (or background texture) for the main screens. You can also select: the font to use on the main screen in the Information area, on the navigation view tabs, and in the Family, Descendants and People views, as well as the font to use in the note editor.
- Main screen font – to use on the main screen in the Information area in the Pedigree, Family, Descendants and People views.
- List font – to use on the sidebar, explorer, and edit person screen lists.
- Note editor font – to use when you open the note editor.
Folders
Allows you to enter default folders (directories) for the various types of files used by RootsMagic. Whenever you select a feature that accesses one of these file types, RootsMagic will first look in that folder. You can enter default folders for databases (data files), backups, Multimedia (digital images of people, places or documents, electronic files, or audio or video files), GEDCOM files, custom reports, and printouts. There is a button to the right of each field that you can click to bring up a folder list to browse and select the desired folder from. You must create the folders before you go to select the folder.