Family Historian User Group

I have copied with this three snips describing my current situation.

How I got here is as follows: I was learning how to input marriages in Ancestral sources two months ago and saw advice to make a copy of the project, so I copied my project and called it “DUMMY COPY of Anne’s Ancestors starts 12Jul09” and worked on the copy instead of the original. I regretted this and used Windows Explorer facility to rename the file as “Copy of” and adding to the dates “and from 7Jul14”. ("Dummy" was also removed) When I went into the Project Window I found a long line including the word “folder etc” (See attached snip) read the help page and found that what I had renamed was the folder and not the project. It explained that it was because the file and project names do not match that the long line was in, so I regretted this and using Windows explorer again tried to name both the same with limited success. Now FH has broken off diplomatic relations with me and gave me the error message (See attached snip)

The object of this exercise was to have an original working project and a copy for “just in case” situations. The original should return to the title “Anne’s Ancestors” and not show a date.

The project which is up to date starts with the words “DUMMY COPY” in the Project Window only and this is the one producing the error message. It does not appear to be listed in the Windows Explorer File Tree at all. (See attached snip)

The Backup of this project is on an external Hard drive and the latest backup is dated 13 May 2014 which is probably where I stopped to do a completely different task, time-wise that makes sense. It uses the correct title of “DUMMY COPY of Anne’s Ancestors starts 12Jul09”

And yes, I promise that I will never, ever use Windows Explorer again (providing I remember) to do tasks in FH when there is Gedcom Tasks to do it for me – that was a wee mistake


Many thanks in advance for any help.

OK rule 1 - Do not rename Project Folders in Windows, but rather use the rename project option on the More Tasks button in Family Historian's Project Window, the reason for this is 4 items all need to be renamed for the Project to retain it's integrity if you do it manually. Using the menu option works with out issue.

You will need to find and rename the following files if you want to recover your copy project.

The Project Folder
The .fh_data folder
The Gedcom file in the .fh_data folder
The .fh_proj file in the Project folder

If you make sure they all have the same name before the extension and make sure FH is closed while you do it, you should be able to get your files back on an even keel.

You may have a .fh_proj file orphaned somewhere so I would do a windows search for .fh_proj and just check which ones you have where.

Do NOT use Tools > Gedcom File Tasks on Projects, as they are only for pre-V4 standalone GEDCOM files.

Don't worry about missing/orphaned .fh_proj files because all such files are identical except for their filename.

See how_to:v4:understanding_projects#project_structure|> Project Structure for example folders.

As long as you keep regular Backups (every time you close FH it should be offered by default) then you don't need to work on a COPY, because you can always Restore from the Backup.
See glossary:backup_and_recovery|> Backup and Recovery.

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I am unclear by what is meant by "If you make sure they all have the same name before the extension and make sure FH is closed while you do it, you should be able to get your files back on an even keel."

I thought, if I have understood that I am making the change of name using FH Project Window/More tasks/rename commands so - at what point should FH be closed and what am I doing when it is closed?

I tried changing the name of the project just now using the Project window commands and it does not seem able to do so.

Look forward to hearing from you -

Big thanks Mike - project is now restored. It only took a second.

Tried to change name of Project to "Anne's Ancestors" but gives an error message: "A problem occurred. Task may not have completed correctly"

Have successfully deleted one project but another has Window's 7 prompts for Administrator Permission and it won't accept it - it just keeps with 'try again' - so I moved the one item in the public folder to the desk top and the file deleted fine. I am wondering if this latter problem is a Windows problem- what do you think? (incidentally these are not connected to my own family genealogy!)

Finally - is it safe to delete the line "Dummy copy of Annes Ancestors etc" which was updated in 1971? (see the project window attachment)

The new restored file is titled: "Dummy copy of Annes Ancestors starts 12Jul09"

Many thanks for everything.

Jane's instructions refer to using Windows Explorer to correct the folder & file names so they are all consistent to satisfy FH Project Structure requirements.
Extensions are the part of the filename after the dot, i.e. .fh_proj and .fh_data and .ged but some may not be visible if you have default Windows Explorer settings.
FH should be closed while manipulating those folders & files in Windows Explorer.

It sound as if that is what you have done by mimicking the Knowledge Base > Project Structure.

The FH Project Window > More Tasks button will only function reliably on Projects with a valid structure.
Which is why Windows Explorer must be used to correct things, once corrected always use FH to Rename/Copy/Delete.

The Windows Permission problem may be due to Windows thinking a file is still open in another program.
It is NOT usually a FH problem.

I thought the Dummy copy of Annes Ancestors etc Project is the one you had corrected.
It is dated 01/01/1971 00:00 because that is the default date for a corrupted Project.
If you correct the folder & file names such that the Project can be opened, the date should become more meaningful.
Because of the above scenario I cannot say for sure whether the Project is safe to Delete.

Thank you to Jane for her info and to you, Mike for your very clear explanation.

I expected that when I restored the file it would restore the original - the long line update 1971 file-

instead it seems to have copied the back up as a new entry using the original title: "Dummy Copy of Anne's Ancestors starts 12Jul09"

Since then I used windows to rename files ensuring all were the same as Jane indicated and the 1971 line vanished. After that I had a clear out of projects and renamed others.

All is well now, exactly as I wanted and I can't thank you both enough.