# User reference

User references are a special data type used in person records to add various notes. The GEDCOM standard does not define a purpose for this object and it was introduced only for user comfort—to be used as a short note.

Editing is performed on the "User references" tab of the personal records editing dialog.

GEDKeeper itself defines the purpose for user references: to show special marks on persons in tree diagrams. For example, if a person waged The Great Patriotic War and his/her person record has the respective reference, then this person is shown in tree diagrams with a red star. If the person died, the respective reference adds a black edge to the star.

The following are predefined user references available in GEDKeeper:

| USSR:WW II:Rear worker
| USSR:WW II:Combatant
| USSR:WW II:Killed in action
| RI:George knight
| USSR:Victimizated
| USSR:CPSU member
| Religion:Islam
| Religion:Catholicism
| Religion:Orthodoxy
| Religion:Old Belief

New user references will be added to GEDKeeper as needed.

You can enable the display of references on the tree using the "Additional symbols" option in the "Service\Options" menu on the "Charts\Trees" tab.

When using the "Tree note" reference type and enabling the "Show special notes" option in "Service\Options\Charts\Trees", the tree will also display the reference text in the person's card.

See also: Person, Trees, Options.