Family Historian User Group

I'm confused.com! In the file statistics for my project it says I have 13687 names and similarly on my latest gedcom download. However I've just added another person and his number is 13763. Does FH5 omit some names or can't it add up?

FH does not re-use ID numbers, so whenever you delete an individual their number remains unused. The numbers suggest that over a period of time you have deleted 76 individuals. This may have been because you found you had duplicate entries, or you added someone to a family in error and then deleted them.

FH does not re-use empty ID numbers, so your highest ID can be higher than the total individuals in your file.
Empty ID's will have been caused by deletion of individuals and /or merging of individuals. The same will also apply to family ID's and source ID's etc.

Is there a plug in that would reuse these unused id numbers?

Why would you want to do that?

There is no easy way to force new entries to use the unused numbers.

If you REALLY want to renumber from 1 then use Tools > Work with Record Identifiers.

BUT the same scenario applies to ALL the Record Types (Individuals, Families,Notes, Sources, etc.).
Also any printed/exported Reports, Diagrams, etc will no longer have the correct Record Id.

I am not sure why you think it's a problem, but if you really want to renumber them just use the Tools>Work With Record Identifiers to renumber the Individual Records from 1.

I don't think John wants to renumber, but somehow to utilise the unused numbers to fill the gaps.

There is that trick in Work with Record Identifiers.

• Use Copy existing record ids into the Custom Id field
• Edit any 76 Individuals so their Custom Id use the unused numbers
• Use Generate new record ids by copying Custom Id values

As a relative newbie to FH5 I just want to know how many individuals are actually in my tree not a total less deleted ones. As i was adding some more people to my tree, it seemed odd that my total appeared to be going down!
Does it really matter what a person's id number is?

John, no, it doesn't really matter what a persons ID is, unless you're using it to distinguish between two individuals of the same name (for example) or as a cross-reference form outside FH.

If you simply want to keep tabs on how many people you've got in your file, at the bottom right of your FH window, it shows the current number of individuals and families.

John, you already found the total counts you ask for by using Tools > File Statistics.

Each Record Id is just an arbitrary unique reference number, and in some imported databases may not even start at 1.
Don't think of them as a numerical count. Just think of them like a National Insurance number, where each new Individual is issued with a new Record Id number, every existing Individual never changes their Record Id number, and any discarded numbers are never reused.

Thank you Mike, I've renumbered them so as to use the old numbers.