Beth Unrein wrote:
"I don't see a "description" field in the Places list."
The description field is part of FTM's "fact" structure. If you don't see the field for a particular fact, you need to edit the fact and choose the option that displays descriptions. You do this under "Manage Facts" which can be found under the edit menu. Select the desired fact to change, then click the "Properties..." button, then choose the "Fact Option" for "Date/Place/Description".
Note that the description field doesn't appear for all facts by default. My guess is this is purposefully done, because, as I mentioned in my prior posting, this field doesn't usually export to GEDCOM (the genealogy software interchange format). This bears repeating, because if you ever decide to move your data out of Family Tree Maker, whatever you put into the description field will very likely not be exported, or if it is exported, it may not be recognized by the importing software because it's not something defined in the GEDCOM standard.
The safest place, therefore, to record this extra information is in the notes for the fact using the historical place. This exports to GEDCOM and will be recognized by importing programs that support the GEDCOM standard.
(I often make note both in notes and in the description field. I do the latter so that it appears on my linked tree that others access. I also liberally use the find and replace tool in FTM when making edits to these notations. This is a big time saver when you consider that I duplicate notations in the description and notes fields for *each instance* of a historical place name. To do this, it requires a bit of planning. You must enclose your notation in unique characters so when you find and replace you only do that for the desired instances. Hope that makes sense.)
"I don't see a "description" field in the Places list."
The description field is part of FTM's "fact" structure. If you don't see the field for a particular fact, you need to edit the fact and choose the option that displays descriptions. You do this under "Manage Facts" which can be found under the edit menu. Select the desired fact to change, then click the "Properties..." button, then choose the "Fact Option" for "Date/Place/Description".
Note that the description field doesn't appear for all facts by default. My guess is this is purposefully done, because, as I mentioned in my prior posting, this field doesn't usually export to GEDCOM (the genealogy software interchange format). This bears repeating, because if you ever decide to move your data out of Family Tree Maker, whatever you put into the description field will very likely not be exported, or if it is exported, it may not be recognized by the importing software because it's not something defined in the GEDCOM standard.
The safest place, therefore, to record this extra information is in the notes for the fact using the historical place. This exports to GEDCOM and will be recognized by importing programs that support the GEDCOM standard.
(I often make note both in notes and in the description field. I do the latter so that it appears on my linked tree that others access. I also liberally use the find and replace tool in FTM when making edits to these notations. This is a big time saver when you consider that I duplicate notations in the description and notes fields for *each instance* of a historical place name. To do this, it requires a bit of planning. You must enclose your notation in unique characters so when you find and replace you only do that for the desired instances. Hope that makes sense.)