Family Historian User Group

Having upgraded to Windows 10 last week, I am now in the process of following the advice in the Knowledge Base Version 5 Migration and Post-Migration Steps and moving my Family Historian folders to a newer laptop. I plan to synchronise the folders and files on the new and older computers using OneDrive or Dropbox, probably the former.

I have not knowingly altered Family Historian installation settings, but I am increasingly wondering whether I have inadvertently done so. I started off with V3, and have since upgraded to V4, then to V5 and now have V5.0.11 loaded on both laptops.

The Synchronisation Guide advises that the Family Historian Projects folder be moved to the One Drive folder. There’s no mention of another folder being moved across, so I’m wondering whether I should have only one folder for Family Historian — currently I have two.

My ‘Family Historian Projects’ Folder contains folders for each project containing three items: a folder with the tree name and .fh_data files for that project, a Public folder and a Family Historian project file.

I currently have no default Startup folder so the relevant box for it (in Tools > Preferences) is empty. My default Backup folder is named ‘Family Historian Files’ and it contains the zipped backup files for all my projects. I can’t find any reference in the User Manual to a folder with this name or to specifying that data should be saved to this folder. It’s clear, in Chapter 1, on the procedure to save a project. I'm fairly sure that I would have been cautious about following instructions in setting up Family Historian for the first time, and not have used my 'initiative' in setting up a different location to which to save the data.

Are the zipped backups supposed to be located in a separate folder and does that folder somehow automatically ‘point’ to the ‘Family Historian Projects’ folder wherever it is located?

And if there are supposed to be two folders, should both folders be moved to the OneDrive folder (i.e. for the purpose of synchronisation)?

If ‘Family Historian Files’ is a ‘rogue’ folder, perhaps created by me when I first acquired Family Historian software, please let me know whether it is possible to correct or adjust this.

I hope for reassurance and will certainly appreciate clarification and advice. Thank you!

The Family Historian Projects folder is the default folder created by FH for your Projects and therefore is the only one that needs to be synchronised via OneDrive.

I don't believe there is a default backup folder, and suspect that you chose and created the Family Historian Files folder. The backup folder can be anywhere, and has no 'magic' links or pointers. If you need to restore a backup then you tell FH where to put it as part of the dialogue. It is your choice whether you want the backups synchronised via OneDrive or not. If you do, then it may be better to place them in a folder called Backup within the Family Historian Projects folder.

The only other things that need synchronising are your Preferences and Customisations that are NOT held in the Project folders. The best solution is to use the Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings Plugin, and save its backup in the Family Historian Projects\Backup folder too. So after a change on PC A, run the Plugin Backup option, after the backup has synchronised then run the Plugin Restore option on PC B.

Thank you, Mike, for as ever, a clear, explicit reply that swiftly puts the stymied user out of her misery.

I lead a couple of Family History groups and the helpfulness of the members of the FHUG is one of several aspects I highlight whenever I am asked what software to recommend.

Yes, I suspected that I might have created that file if/when asked for a destination for the backups. I may leave the zipped files where they are on both pcs, and migrate only the Family Historian Projects Folder to OneDrive. I am mildly alarmed by the warnings that appear on the plugin.

I have another query on a different issue, involving a gedcom file whose project has 'disappeared'. It may be a consequence of the catastrophic failure of a laptop in 2014. I will post about it on a different thread, if a search for a similar issue on the forums does not lead me to a course of action.

Thank you again for this advice.