Children Batch Entry - Keyboard?

[jbastin]

Lately I've frequently encountered the opportunity in my data entry to use batch entry of children. I'm a fair typist, and I really like it when I can enter data without having to leave the keyboard and use the trackpad in the middle of the process.

I have searched the preferences and the "shortcuts" list and have not been able to find any way, when I complete one child, to use the keyboard to start a new blank line with the cursor in the first field. I'll complete a line and then have to move to the trackpad, click and hold on the "Add Child" button and move the cursor up to select "Add New Male Child" or "Add New Female Child," then move back to the keyboard and start typing again. This, to me, defeats the whole purpose of Batch Entry.

Please, can someone tell me what the keystroke entry that I've searched for is? I can't believe there isn't any way to do this.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[theKiwi]

Re: Children Batch Entry - Keyboard?

Instead of doing this from the Batch Entry Screen, you can do it from the Family Card to create the structure of the family

nmc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Male Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"
nfc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Female Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"

Once you have all the kids entered you can then switch to Batch Entry to fill in the dates.

Roger

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Children Batch Entry - Keyboard?

Lately I've frequently encountered the opportunity in my data entry to use batch entry of children. I'm a fair typist, and I really like it when I can enter data without having to leave the keyboard and use the trackpad in the middle of the process.

I have searched the preferences and the "shortcuts" list and have not been able to find any way, when I complete one child, to use the keyboard to start a new blank line with the cursor in the first field. I'll complete a line and then have to move to the trackpad, click and hold on the "Add Child" button and move the cursor up to select "Add New Male Child" or "Add New Female Child," then move back to the keyboard and start typing again. This, to me, defeats the whole purpose of Batch Entry.

Please, can someone tell me what the keystroke entry that I've searched for is? I can't believe there isn't any way to do this.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Have you tried instead not using batch entry but simply using keyboard entry?

With the family card showing, you type:

nmcfirstname/lastname for a new male child (lastname is optional, if you don't type it, the father's surname is used)
nfcfirstname/lastname for a new female child
nucfirstname/lastname for a new child of unknown sex
nh for new husband
nw for new wife.

Once you have the family entered, you can use batch entry to easily fill in births/deaths.

====
Oops, took too long and typed too slow. So yes, like Roger said. Sorry, Roger.

[jbastin]

Re: Children Batch Entry - Keyboard?

Instead of doing this from the Batch Entry Screen, you can do it from the Family Card to create the structure of the family

nmc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Male Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"
nfc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Female Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"

Once you have all the kids entered you can then switch to Batch Entry to fill in the dates.

Roger

I'm familiar with nmc and nfc, and frequently use them when adding children to a family (usually where I have four or less children to enter). When using them, I normally just go on and complete the date and other info for the child.

I've never thought of using that method to just enter the names, then go back in batch mode to enter the dates and other info. I'll have to give that a try, thanks for the suggestion (recently I've had families with eleven or thirteen children, and then the children have nine or more kids).

Thanks again for the idea.

[jbastin]

Re: Children Batch Entry - Keyboard?

Instead of doing this from the Batch Entry Screen, you can do it from the Family Card to create the structure of the family

nmc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Male Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"
nfc xxxxx yyyyy will create a New Female Child of First and Mid Names "xxxxx yyyyy"

Once you have all the kids entered you can then switch to Batch Entry to fill in the dates.

Roger

I tried this method, it doesn't work for me, the way I handle my sources.

When I enter a batch of child names, I use an Automatic General Source number, which is then attached to all the names. I'm normally just entering the names and birth and death year at this point.

Later, I expand on the birth and death date and place information, and I attach a source number to each of those items (usually a different source from the General one I used on the name list). So birth information has its source number, death information has its source number, and so on.

If I try to use the batch method to enter the birth and death information, I have no way to attach a source number to each of those items, when I'm in the list. That means I have to go back and attach the sources to the information, anyway. No time or effort saved, and still jumping back and forth from keyboard to trackpad.

Close, but no cigar. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway.