Dates

How Dates Are Displayed
How to Change the Date Format

Guidelines for Entering Dates

Custom Dates and Date Range

Date Calculator and Date Expressions

Date Feasibility

Hebrew Dates

Events

How Dates Are Displayed

Date "format" refers to the way that date elements are arranged or expressed. When you enter a date, Reunion will accept a variety of date formats, but will convert whatever you type into the date format specified in the Date Settings window. Thus, the format used to enter dates is independent of the format used to display dates.

Reunion converts your date entry (what you type into a date field) when you "exit" a date field by pressing the Tab, Return or Enter keys, clicking Done, clicking any button, or choosing an item in the navbar or sidebar.

How to Change the Date Format

To change the format used for displaying dates...

  1. Choose Reunion > Settings.
  2. Click Dates. This opens the Date Settings window wherein the date format can be changed at any time.

Date format settings are global — they apply to all your family files.

Reunion lets you choose...

When you change the format used for displaying dates, all previously entered dates will be displayed in the new format (except custom dates).

There are 21 ways to display a date (excluding leading zeros):

Mixed
Jan 28, 1990
28 Jan 1990
JAN 28 1990
28 JAN 1990
January 28, 1990
28 January 1990
JANUARY 28, 1990
28 JANUARY 1990
Numeric
1 28 1990
28 1 1990
1990 01 28
1-28-1990
28-1-1990
1990-01-28
1.28.1990
28.1.1990
1990.01.28
1/28/1990
28/1/1990
1990/01/28
19900128

Guidelines for Entering Dates

If You Don't Know a Date

If you don't know a date, you can leave a date field empty, or you can approximate by typing a date modifier such as:

? Jan 1850 1850 approx 1755
aft 1949 circa 1800 ca 1901 Jan
bef 1912 ? 1850 ? Jan 1850 1 Jan
c 1912 c. 1850 c1850 c.1850
Abbreviation in Date Entries and Expressions

To accelerate the process of entering dates, remember this rule: Reunion only cares about the first three letters of any word you type into a date field — with the single exception of the word "marriage" (where it looks at the first four letters). Thus, any other word in Reunion's date vocabulary can be entered using only its first three letters.

Date Elements: Prefixes, Suffixes, Delimiters

Literal Prefixes: These date modifier words appear in date fields as prefixes to dates. For example: Before, After, Approx, About, or Circa. They are sometimes used to estimate a date. Reunion will convert your literal prefix into the long or abbreviated form based on the abbreviation setting for months in the Date Settings window (the Format section). Click here to learn how date modifier words affect date sorting and calculations.

Literal Suffixes: These include BC and AD. If AD is entered, it will be omitted. No punctuation is allowed in suffixes. The early years are explained here.

Delimiters: Reunion will accept a variety of date element delimiters (or separators), but will convert the delimiters you type into the delimiter selected in the Date Settings window (the Format section). Supported delimiters include space, slash, dash, period, and comma.

Questionable Modifier: A question mark (?) can be used to indicate an unknown or questionable date entry. A question mark can be entered anywhere between date elements, but will be moved to the beginning of the date entry, if any.

The Default Century

If the year element of a date entry is in the last 100 years, you can simply type the last two digits of the year. For example...

To enter this date...    
You can type this...
September 12, 1958
9 12 58
September 12, 1958
sep 12 58
January 15, 2002
1 15 02
January 15, 2002
jan 15 02

To change the default century...

  1. Choose Reunion > Settings.
  2. Click the Dates button.
  3. Click the Format button.
  4. Click the Default Century menu button.

You might want to change this to an earlier century if, for example, you're transcribing lots of records from the 1700's.

If the default century is set to Current, Reunion will use the last 100 years (ending this year) as the default. ("Current" does not mean the current calendar century.)

Case in Dates

Reunion will accept upper, lower, or mixed case for any word in its date vocabulary, but will convert the letters you type into the case specified in the Format section of the Date Settings window.

The exceptions are date modifiers (such as before, after, and circa) which remain lowercase unless the UPPERCASE button is checked (in the Format section of the Date Settings window).

Leap Years

Reunion understands leap years. If you try to enter a date of February 29 in a non-leap year, such as "29 Feb 1885" Reunion will consider the entry a custom date since 1885 was not a leap year.

To determine a leap year, follow this winding rule: if the year is evenly divisible by 4, it's a leap year, except when the year is evenly divisible by 100, in which case it's not a leap year. However, if a year is evenly divisible by 400, it is a leap year.

The Early Years - BC Dates

If the year element of a date entry is between 1 and 9, it must be preceded by two zeros (for example, 001).

If the year is between 10 and 31, it must be preceded by at least one zero (for example, 025 or 0025).

The earliest recordable year in Reunion is 28 Aug 3760 BC (or 1 Tishri 0002, which is one Hebrew year after the time of creation, per the Hebrew calendar). The latest recordable year is 7,000 (AD).

There is no such year as 0 AD or 0 BC. The calendar moves from 1 BC to 1 AD.

Don't Use "I" for 1

Reunion will think you're trying to enter a custom date if you use an uppercase "i" or lowercase "L" as a substitute for the number "1" in a date entry. They may look similar on the screen, but to the computer, they're worlds apart. Likewise, the uppercase letter "o" should never be used in place of a zero (0).

European Users

A date entry of "1.5.90" will be interpreted as the 5th of January unless the "short" date format in your System Settings is set to the Day/Month/Year format. If this date format is selected, then a date entry of "1.5.90" would be interpreted as the 1st of May. (The short date setting is accessed here: Apple Menu > System Settings > Language & Region > Advanced > Dates > Short.)

The following table illustrates this concept:

System Settings
(International/Formats)  
Date entry
Reunion interprets as...
3.23.95 (Month/Day/Year)  
1.5.90
Jan 5th
23.3.95 (Day/Month/Year)
1.5.90
May 1st

The System Settings "short" date setting only applies to the first two date orderings: “January 28, 1980” and “28 January 1980” and the ISO date “1980-01-28.” Selecting one of the other two formats (“1/28/1980” or “28/1/1980”) in Reunion overrides the System Settings.

After entering dates, you can display them in any format.

Custom Dates and Date Range

For date entries, Reunion has a finite vocabulary. In other words, you can enter just about anything in a date field, but Reunion only comprehends certain types of date entries. When you type a date entry that Reunion doesn't comprehend as a "date," Reunion calls this a custom date. Reunion can save your custom date and use the custom date in charts, reports, and lists.

Examples of Custom Dates, Date Range

Custom dates are often used to express a date range, an estimated date, or nebulous date information. Examples appear below...

Summer of 69
1888/9
SeeNotes
1888/89
1q 1990
1888/1889
Between 1881 and 1882
Holocaust
Sep-Nov 1788
Sep..Nov 1788
Sep/Nov 1788
Sep^Nov 1788
Sep*Nov 1788
Sep_Nov 1788

If you enter a date that Reunion doesn't understand, the Custom Date window will appear.

If you simply made a mistake and need to re-enter a date (for example, if you misspelled a month name or made some other typographical error), click Try Again and re-enter the date.

Save Custom Date

If your entry appears as you want it to appear and you want Reunion to remember your date entry, even though Reunion can't understand the entry as a "date," then...

  1. Type a valid date into the Sort Date field. A valid date is one that Reunion can understand as a date. The contents of the Sort Date field will be used for sorting (date calculations, comparisons, etc.). Though not recommended, you can also leave this field blank if no specific valid date is known.
  2. Click Save Custom Date.

If possible, try to enter a "valid" date entry, rather than a custom date. Here are a few reasons for this recommendation...

Changing a Custom Date's Sort Date

If you enter and save a custom date, and later decide that you want to change the "sort date" for the custom date, do this...

  1. Go into the Edit Person panel for the person with custom date you want to change.
  2. Put the cursor inside the date field.
  3. Press Command-E.

The Sort Date window will appear.

This feature only applies to custom dates. It will not work if the custom date entry has been changed but you haven't "exited" the field.

Searching for Custom Date Entries

To search for events that have custom dates...

search find custom
  1. Click List in the navbar.
  2. Click Events.
  3. Click the Settings button. The Events Settings window includes the option to find only events with custom dates. Learn more.

Custom Dates and Mondays

Weekdays may be entered as a custom date, except the word "Monday." When Reunion sees this word, its capability to recognize abbreviations causes the word "Monday" to be interpreted as the word "Month" for purposes of date calculations. And thus the word "Monday" will be stripped.

For example, if you enter a date such as "Monday March 19 2012" the word "Monday" will be omitted. If you want the word "Monday" in a custom date entry, then enclose the word "Monday" with brackets or quotation marks, such as: 26 Mar 2012 [Monday]

Date Calculator and Date Expressions

Note: This material could be considered "advanced." For most of the work you do in Reunion, it isn't necessary to know how Reunion's date calculator functions. Just remember, when you find a date expressed something like "86 years 5 months 6 days," the date calculator will be waiting to assist you.

In addition to the variety of recognized date formats, Reunion can calculate a date based on a date expression. Dates can be expressed almost as they would be spoken and can refer to another date as a point of reference.

The date used as a point of reference can be an existing date in a different field (such as the entry in the Birth Date field in the example below) or a date constant (such as today, yesterday, or now).

Date Expressions: Examples
2 weeks after birth
80 years after birth
80 years 1 month after birth
80 years 1 month 2 weeks after birth
80 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days after birth
235 days from birth
235 days after birth
5 days before burial
7 weeks before death
2 years 1 day after marriage
2 days before today
3 days after yesterday
2 weeks from now
1 year 3 months 2 weeks before 3 July 1788
1 year 3 months 2 weeks before July 3, 1788
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago yesterday
34 years old
66 years 5 months 1 week 1 day old
Three Elements of a Date Expression

To express a date, type an entry using this format: TimePeriod Operator Variable/Constant/Date

TimePeriod
Operator
Variable | Constant | Date
day
week
month
year

TimePeriod is a measurement of time that must be preceded by a number, for example "14 years."

before
after
from
ago
old
Variables
birth (value of Birth Date field)
marriage (value of Marriage Date field)
death (value of Death Date field)
burial (value of Burial Date field)

Constants
(these rely on the Mac system date)
today
now
yesterday
tomorrow

Dates
(partial list of accepted date formats)
28 Jan(uary) 1980
1980
Jan(uary) 28, 1980
1 1980
1-28-1980
Jan(uary) 1980

When Are Date Expressions Converted?

Like normal date entries, date expressions are converted when you "exit" a date field by pressing the Tab, Return or Enter keys, clicking Done, clicking any button, or choosing an item in the navbar or sidebar.

Using Adjectives in Date Expressions

The words "ago" and "old" may be used in date expressions. Ago is used in reference to today's date if no other date is specified. Old is used in reference to a birth date. All date fields support these adjectives...

Examples of Date Expression Entries Using Adjectives

TimePeriod
Adjective
Variable| Constant| Date
2 weeks
ago
 
2 weeks
ago
yesterday
34 years
old
 
66 years 5 months 1 week 1 day
old
 

Expression Direction

Regardless of the time direction — whether expressing a date before or after another date — date expressions are always interpreted in this order: Years > Months > Days. As a result, you may get different results when you attempt to express the relationship between two different dates using the same number of years, months, and days but moving in opposite directions in time.

For example, you may wind up with different results if you attempt to...

The diagram below illustrates that, when using opposite time direction to reference another date, two different date expressions are necessary to describe one date (April 27) in relation to another date (June 1). Thus it's sometimes impossible to describe two different dates (April 27 and June 1) using the same number of months and days in opposite directions.

Examples of Abbreviations and Expressions
3 sep 1920
jan 12 1800
2 wee aft bir
80 yea aft bir
80 yea 1 mon aft bir
80 yea 1 mon 2 wee aft bir
80 yea 1 mon 2 wee 4 day aft bir
235 day fro bir
235 day aft bir
5 day bef bur
7 wee bef dea
2 yea 1 day aft marr (marr converts to Marriage, not March)
2 day bef tod
3 day aft yes
2 wee fro now
2 mon aft tom
1 yea 3 mon 2 wee bef 3 jul 1788
1 yea 3 mon 2 wee bef mar 3, 1788 (Mar converts to March, not Marriage)

Hebrew Date Abbreviations