* Facts - Fast Add Menu

[BarbaraLL]

Does anyone know how I can configure this list to add a fact?

[tatewise]

Yes, use Tools > Fact Types and choose the Fact you want to add, then click Edit and tick Fast-Add Menu.

[BarbaraLL]

Thanks so much. I have been ages trying to find out how to do it.

[tatewise]

One technique that often works is to use Help > Search Help... and in this case enter "fast-add menu" including the string quotes into the search box and click List Topics, which lists only the Fact Definition Dialog and What's New in FH V6 and then you are home and dry.
The string quotes ensure that only the phrase fast-add menu is searched for, instead of all the words fast, add & menu that turns up a lot more results.
However, if the "phrase" search lists nothing, try removing the quotes.

[E Wilcock]

I should add to this thread that nothing has been done to make the Help easier.

I have spent more than an hour searching help and the knowledge base today looking for this information - how to configure the quick add menu. In the end I found your invaluable post Mike by finally Googling my question.

It drives one to tears of frustration when precious time in a public archive far from home is wasted trying to work out how to speed up one's data entry. There are far too many options of terminology in FH for newish users to get quickly to the information they want. In this case it turns out that one is editing the fact. But one may imagine one is editing the menu or list. Or it will be under Tools/Preferences.

Moreover some other information on how to add Events to an individual may crop up - so one repeats this endlessly, when all one wants is to add the Event to the Fast Add screen list.
And where have my previous choices gone to? Since I copied the Calico Pie Program Data file from my desk top to my lap top, I have no idea why my settings have got lost.

[davidm_uk]

If you haven't already found it, a quick way to use Google to search the FHUG website is to use the url
site:www.fhug.org.uk "search subject"
replacing search subject with whatever you're searching for (keep the "" marks).
Or use site:www.fhug.org.uk/wiki "search subject" if you just want to search the wiki.

[tatewise]

I can understand your frustration, and it is partly a matter of terminology.
I think you understand the difference between a Tag Type and a Fact in TMG.
In FH the two terms are Fact Type and Fact and remember F1 key usually gives a Help page.
So click F1 in the Property Box on the Facts tab where the Add Fact button exists.
OK, it displays Help for the Main tab but the Facts tab is listed on the left, and describes the Add Fact button.
That talks about the 'Fast-Add' menu so Search for that in quotes "'Fast-Add' menu" and you get straight to the Fact Type Definition dialogue description.

Which of your 'settings have got lost'?

[E Wilcock]

Mike - I lost my customised Fast Add list on my lap top.

Just a thought - Could this be due to the Sample Project? I had recently turned my attention to learning more about FH Diagrams and used the Sample Project to carry out some of the tasks suggested on line and in the book Getting the Most.

I also used the Sample Project when working with Calico Pie tech, trying to identify a hitch with my lap top keyboard.

Every time I used the Sample Project whether for training a new topic, revising before asking you a question, or testing, I reset it to the original settings.

It looks to me as if the settings for the Fast Add list (on my desk top) are common to all FH Projects. So repeatedly setting the Sample Project back to its defaults on my lap top might regularly obliterate my customisations?

If this is so, may be there should be a warning for users who are trying to train themselves in the software?

[tatewise]

I have reset my FH Sample Project several times and the Fast Add Menu is unaffected.

Are you sure your Fast Add Menu is customised on your laptop?

Just because it is customised on your desktop does not mean it is customised on your laptop, unless you have synchronised the settings between PC. Those settings are held in C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Fact Types\ folders on each PC, along with all the other Tools > Fact Types definitions such as Sentence Templates and Witness Roles.

Do any of the tutorials tell you to reset any Fact Type definitions to Installation Settings?

[E Wilcock]

No - Just my habit of always returning the Sample database to its initial state. And never saving changes.

Anyway - It is now as I want it for dealing with these particular records. On both computers. And I will be doing so much data entry over the next few weeks that hopefully I wont forget.

[tatewise]

I am confused now
Does resetting the FH Sample Project also reset your Fast Add Menu or not?

[E Wilcock]

Just closing it without saving changes does not. No - Because with my choices now on both computers, the sample project opens with and retains those choices.
I think forget it - I just wondered why I had lost the list. It could have happened way back when I reinstalled on the lap top.

[tatewise]

Ah yes. Re-installing FH should keep all customisations, but is a more likely candidate for them being reset.