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This update covers a number of items in the wish list as well as some general enhancements.
The information below is taken from the help text from version 2.2
Basic Record Merging and Branch Merging
In the past Family Historian previously only supported one kind of merging/comparing: File Merge/Compare. It now supports 3 kinds:
- File Merge/Compare
- Basic Record Merge/Compare
- Branch Merge/Compare
Basic Record Merge/Compare is when you select 2 records of the same type (e.g. 2 Individual records or 2 Source records) and compare them side-by-side, and optionally merge them.
Branch Merge/Compare is, we believe, another first for Family Historian. It often happens that duplicate records somehow arise within a file for the same individuals. But frequently that is not the end of it. Not only are the Individuals themselves duplicated, but so too are their parents, grandparents, children, uncles and aunts, and so on. It is very easy for entire branches of individuals to become accidentally duplicated. Family Historians support for Branch Merge/Compare makes it easy to locate all the duplicates (and they can be any arbitrary group of related individuals - they dont have to follow a straight line branch). Having found all of the duplicates in the branch, with Family Historian you can make all the decisions about which duplicates to merge (usually all of them), decide exactly how to merge them (at the field level), and then do the merge in a single operation. Traditional genealogy programs force you to compare and merge records one-at-a-time. But this is a very unsatisfactory approach because so often in a branch merge, the decisions are all interrelated. Is A the same as B? Yes if As son is the same as Bs son. Otherwise not. You dont want to decide on one pair and then the next. You need to decide on both pairs at the same time. Only Family Historians approach to branch merging gives you the viewpoint you need to compare all the records at the same time, and the ability to control the merge process completely, and then execute the merge in one step.
As with File Merge/Compare, so too with Basic Record Merge/Compare and Branch Merge/Compare: Family Historian lets you see exactly what the outcome of the merge process will be before you start any of it. In fact, for all 3 kinds of merging, it has been made easier to see what the outcome of a merge will be. Where 2 values are to be merged, the data value that will be discarded is now displayed struck-out, and other user interface improvements have been added.
The scoring algorithm used for determining which records are matched has been improved, to reduce the number of false-positives.
GEDCOM Validation, Error Detection and Error Correction
Family Historian now supports 2 kinds if error-detection and error-correction with GEDCOM files:
A. Load-time checking
If you open a GEDCOM file that was not created by Family Historian, Family Historian will ask whether you would like it to check for, and correct, well-known errors. If you do so it will produce a detailed report at the end of the process detailing exactly what it has done. The errors checked for and fixed include:
- Incorrectly-formatted event data (common error)
- Notes stored using incorrect syntax (the Note-within-a-note error).
- Incorrect word-splitting in long text fields causing gaps between words to be lost
When F.H. has completed its load-time check, it will ask you whether you want to run additional Validation - see Validating Linkage and Other Errors next.
B. Validating Linkage and Other Errors
A new menu option called 'Validate...' on the File menu, does an additional series of checks over and above those covered in Load-time checking. These checks can be done on any file at any time. They check the file for serious GEDCOM linkage and other errors (Family Historian never produces such errors, but other programs sometimes do). Optionally, Family Historian will also correct any errors found. In any case, it will output a report at the end of the validation process describing what it has found, and what remedial action, if any, has been taken.
Improved Support for Places, Occupations, Religions, etc
- If you enter a place name for an event or attribute, it will auto-complete, and you press Tab to accept the auto-completion. Auto-completion can be switched off in Preferences.
- Place name fields now have a grey button with 3 dots at the right end. If you click on this, or double-click on the place name field itself, a Places List dialog will appear and you can select a place from the list. If you click on the More >> button, this dialog will switch to show buttons for working with Places. You can also view the Places List dialog in a very similar way by clicking on Tools > Work with Data > Places.
- When working with places you can edit a place name, merge 2 or more place names, and view all records that use a place name (and go to any of them). Places are displayed with each comma-separated part that makes up the place shown in its own column so you can sort on any column (or Alt-click to reverse the sort). The same list also shows how often each place name has been used. If you click on the Columns button you can specify how many columns you wish to allocate to place parts.
- You can optionally choose to view places with the last part in the first column, 2nd last in the 2nd column and so on. This makes it easier to sort on the last part of a place name.
- There is a new Places report. If you click on the Reports button in the Place List dialog, it will jump you to this report.
- There are 3 new qualifiers for Place fields: SHORT, MEDIUM and FULL. The last is the default (equivalent of no qualifier). SHORT just gives you the first part of the place, up to the first comma. MEDIUM gives you the place up to the 2nd comma.
- Most of the facilities described above (i.e. except for the bits that are obviously place-specific) are also available for Occupations, Religions, Groups/Castes and National or Tribal Origins. Each other these has a new report dedicated to it - making 5 new reports in all.
- The autocomplete facilities described in the previous section will make data entry easier.
- There is also now validation on data entry. When you enter data into a field, the field will be validated when you press the tab key (or the F5 key). Validating dates takes 2 forms: (a) you are warned if the date is simply invalid. (b) even if valid, you will still be warned if the looks unlikely for whatever reason - e.g. you will be warned if you enter a date of death for a person that is earlier than that persons date of birth.
- Data validation works wherever you enter the data in the field - either the Property Dialog or the Records Window. You dont have to press either Tab or F5 when you enter data, but the data will only be validated if you do.
- You can now enter Quarter Dates (e.g. Q4 1987) into any Date field. If you prefer Quarter Dates to be displayed in long form (Between October 1987 to December 1987) there is an option on the Preferences Dialog that lets you do this.
- Events and Attributes are now automatically kept in chronological order (unless you disable this in Preferences) if you add them or edit them in the Events tab of the Property Dialog.
- There is also new Re-order Events by Date command on the Edit menu, that will check, for a given individual, that that persons events, attributes, spouses and children are all in chronological order, and re-order them if they arent. You can run this command by selecting an Individual record and pressing F9.
- You can now configure the columns in the Records Window, and also in Named Lists. Each Named List can have its own column layout. In each case, you can have as many columns as you like. You can select from a long list of standard columns, or you can use data references or functions to create your own arbitrarily complex expressions for columns.
- To configure columns for the Records Window or a Named List, right-click on the window background and select Columns from the Context menu that appears. You can save a column configuration as a Query, or reload a column configuration from a Query. All columns are configurable (including the direction of sort), except the first column.
- Other genealogy applications allow you to tag records by ticking in a checkbox when viewing lists of records. They vary in the number of tag columns they allow (typically simply numbered 1 to 3, say). Family Historian now effectively lets you have as many tags as you like, because any list can be treated as a tag. If you add a list-membership column for the Records Window (or a Named List) a check box will appear for that column which will be checked if the record belongs to the Named List, and unchecked if it doesnt. You can add or remove records from this Named List by checking or unchecking the check box. The same check boxes can be viewed from within Named Lists too. They are Read-Only by default in a Named List context, but you can make them editable here too if the Named List supports record editing (see Changes to the Records Window below for more on this).
- A new 'Copy Diagram' command on the Diagram menu provides options for copying all or part of a diagram to the clipboard in a choice of formats (bitmap or enhanced metafile)
- The status bar used to show diagram unit values when Page Boundaries were being displayed in the Diagram Window. It no longer does this. Instead, now whenever the Diagram Window is visible, a status bar pane shows the font size of the text font. Another status bar pane shows the percentage zoom (defaults to 100% initially).
- A new menu command on the diagram menu (Diagram > Zoom > Zoom to Actual Size) returns the diagram menu to 100% zoom.
- When page boundaries are displayed for diagrams, only the printable parts of the grid are 'filled in'. The rest is left white, with faint grey grid lines, making it easier to see what will print and what won't.
- The 'Set Diagram Size When Printed' dialog has changed. You can now set either the row size or the font size (in points). If you specify the row size it shows you what font size this will give you. You can save these options as default (checked by default). There is also a 'Position/Sizing Tips' button. It is also now easier to see what the current font is in the Text tab of the Diagram Options dialog (or reset it).
- Diagrams are automatically centred within the printed page now much more sensibly than before. There is a 'Position on Page When Printed' submenu off the Diagram menu that gives options for this, and a 'Reposition Now' command that lets you get Family Historian to reposition again if you hide or expand branches or make other changes that might affect the optimal positioning.
- Diagram size when printed is now consistently based around the point size of the font you choose or the number of rows per page. That means that if you change the printer size from, say, A4 to A3, instead of the printed size effectively doubling as would have happened before, the printed size remains unchanged - only the page gets bigger.
- The Print tab of the Diagram Options dialog has been simplified, and now has an 'Installation Settings' button. You can no longer specify the height or width in dialog units. Also, the option to print background stripes has gone and been replaced with a simpler option that just lets you choose whether or not you wish to print the diagram background. The alternative print stripe colour has been removed from the list of diagram colour items.
- The way you specify margins has changed. They are now specified in inches, millimetres or centimetres, depending on the Measurement Units Preferences option.
- If you press the Space bar when viewing the Diagram Window, you will switch temporarily to grabber mode. You can click anyway on the Diagram and drag to reposition it. Releasing the space bar switches back to the previous mode.
- Arrow keys now work as an alternative (and rather good) way to move the selection and browse a diagram. Left and Right arrow keys move you along the current row. Up and Down arrow keys move you up or down the current tree. The selected node is scrolled into view if necessary. Also, clicking on a node to select it, now scrolls the node into view if not already visible (unless drag-adding). Pressing the Enter key expands or hides the nodes branch (equivalent to clicking on the Nodes expansion button).
- The Multimedia Window now lets you specify the zoom level on its toolbar.
- There is also an Autosize button on the Toolbar. If checked, F.H. will display all windows at 100% zoom unless they are too big to fit into the current window, in which case it will reduce them to fit.
- Improved support for right-clicking on pictures makes it easier to see how to view the Multimedia record associated with the current window, and also how to reposition or resize the framed areas within a picture.
- The Record Window Options dialog has the following changes:
(a) You can now view and change the font used in the Record Window.
(b) You can now specify whether a double-click on a record opens the Property Dialog or expands the record (the default). Either way, pressing the Alt key when doing a double-click does the alternative action. - In the Records Window, both attributes and events are now shown with dates and places in a consistent format, when not expanded. You have to expand an attribute before you can edit its value.
- Individuals viewed within the Records Window (when viewing linked records) now have their dates shown next to them (e.g. John Smith [1958-]) and (optionally) their record ids.
- You no longer have to type a space after the comma in the fast-find edit box at the top of the Records Window. It works without one.
- If you have previously copied a source citation in the Source pane of the Property Dialog, you can now paste it using a 'Paste Copied Citation' menu command that appears when you right-click on a field in the Records Window. This menu command will be greyed if the field already has the copied citation. The menu command won't be there at all if there is no copied source citation.
- There is an exactly similar command that appears when you have enabled an automatic source citation, called 'Paste Auto Citation'. Again, this menu command will be greyed if the field already has the citation in question, and won't be there at all if there is no Automatic Source Citation enabled. The option to paste an auto citation is currently only available in the Records Window (in the context menu that appears when you right click).
- Undeditable data is now shown greyed to make it clearer that the data is not editable.
- These is now improved support for right-clicking on list names in the top pane of the Named List pane (and on the middle panel also). More options are available from a right-click context menu.
- Named Lists have the additional property of supporting Record Editing (optionally). If you specify that Record Editing is enabled for a Named List, it means that you can edit the record in the middle panel of the Named List pane, for that Named List. This is useful for users who like low-level editing as it means you can create a list of any arbitrary group of records (e.g. the Individuals in a census record) and edit them all together.
- A new 'Options' command at foot of Query menu (Query toolbar) allows you to change the font for the Results tab of the Query Window, and also lets you specify 5 different fonts for used when printing Queries
- Using column widths in the Results tab of the Query Window, to set the width of output when printing a query, used to result in inaccurate column sizing. This is now much improved.
- When you run a query, you now get a proper record selection dialog, rather than the simple dropdown combo that you used to get. This makes it easier to quickly locate the person you want - e.g. by typing in a part of their name into a fast-find field.
- Can now use the Wheel in a wheel mouse to scroll vertically in the Results pane of the Query Window.
- Fields in Family Historian that were sometimes previously referred to by users as Starburst fields have been given a new name: Uncategorised Data Fields (or UDFs for short). These are fields created by Family Historian to hold data where Family Historian doesnt actually know what kind of data is contained in the UDF. UDFs are usually created when Family Historian loads a GEDCOM file created by another application that contains serious errors. Family Historian generates UDFs to store the invalid data.
- Exception reports now give more detailed information about UDFs where appropriate.
- There is a new dialog for locating UDFs. Click on Tools > Find Uncategorised Data . This creates a Named List of records that contain UDFs.
By default, where you have a family record, it is assumed that the 2 spouses in the record are married. There is now a new status field (visible on the Main tab of the Property Dialog) which allows you to specify where this is not the case. The allowed values are:
- Divorced
- Separated
- Unmarried Couple
- Never Married
- Unknown
You have always been able to specify the relationship type (Birth, Adopted, Foster, Sealing (LDS)) to show how a child is related to their parents. Examples have shown that the existing GEDCOM relationship types are insufficient to cope with some of the complex cases (e.g. where a child is treated as the natural child of the father, but isnt really). New relationship type qualifiers have been added to cover all cases. The complete list now is:
- Adopted
- Adopted (father)
- Adopted (mother)
- Birth
- Birth (father)
- Birth (mother)
- De Facto
- De Facto (father)
- De Facto (mother)
- Foster
- Sealing (LDS)
Both of these field types should be viewed as representing your interpretation of the data you have accumulated. You do not and cannot specify the source for these fields as such. They represent how you have decided that you wish the relationships in question to be viewed/represented in Family Historian. The justification if any for these decisions is based on the Event/Attribute data, and notes, that you may have supplied elsewhere in the record - all of which can have sources.
Other Improvements
- Family Historian now remembers Window sizes and positions between sessions. It will remember the size and position of both the main window and the inner child windows (e.g. the Records Window, Diagram Window, Multimedia Window, Query Window and Reports Window). It will remember whether any of these were full-screen or not. It will also remember in many cases the position of panes within windows (e.g. the Named List panes, and the 3 panels within it). It will remember the width and position of columns in most key windows that have columns - e.g. the Records Window. Within a session, it will also remember the position of most Dialog Boxes (e.g. Select Source Dialog and Property Dialog).
- There is a new Tip of the Day window, which displays an optional tip at the start of each session.
- There is a new DAY_OF_WEEK qualifier for all dates. This gives the day of the week for the specified date. Assumes either 1752 or or 1582 as the Changeover date for the Gregorian calendar. You can specify which in the Preferences Dialog.
- Up to now, if you click on a column in most column-based lists, Family Historian will sort on that column. From 2.2, if you press the Alt key while doing this it will usually reverse the sort. Applies to the Records Window, Named Lists, Query Window etc.
- In the Preferences Dialog you can now choose the measurement units you want to use in all contexts where measurement units are used (e.g. Report Options, Diagram margins etc). Choice is Millimetres, Centimetres or Inches.
- You can now specify changeover date to the Gregorian calendar: 1752 or 1582. Is used for calculating days of the week for the DAY_OF_WEEK qualifier, and also for date validation on data entry.
- There is a new SOUNDEX qualifier for names. You can also have it as a column in the Individuals tab of the Records Window, if you wish.
- Most record selection dialogs now have a small menu button (typically in the bottom left-hand corner) which lets you save records from the dialog to a Named List.
