Entering data into The Master Genealogist (TMG) genealogy program is becoming easier for me. Getting data out is a little more complex. One of the issues that came up recently for me was understanding the issue of “Primary” tags and how to control what they print when printed.

Again, I turned to the ever faithful and learned Terry’s TMG Tips for a lesson on how to control Primary tags in The Master Genealogist.

Terry’s article, “Marking Tags Primary and Controlling Which Tags Print in TMG”, helped me learn how TMG uses the primary tags and how to control how they print to the screen, charts, and reports.

For the most part, users don’t need to do anything about the primary status of Tags. Most of what is required is handled automatically by the program. As you add new tags, the first tag of a given group (or type, in the case of other event tags) is automatically marked as primary. This is generally sufficient for the tag types shown in “High” or “Medium” categories above, and I think one should generally just ignore the primary marking of the other tags.

There are occasionally exceptions, however. For example, one might want to make a different Name Tag primary. Or, more likely, one might first enter a Baptism Tag, which by default is in the Birth Group, then later enter a Birth Tag, and want to make the Birth Tag primary. Or, a user who wants to include tags in the Other Events group in a box chart might want a particular tag of that type used, and thus need to mark it as primary.

If you are having trouble getting the printed report output you need for your various genealogy reports and charts, check out this helpful article on how Primary tags play a critical role in printed information.