* Extra Windows

[Hanning]

Listers
Is there a way to display the children of a focus person (as in the Focus Window - spouses and children tab) AND the Siblings of the that Individual (as in the Focus Window - Parents and Siblings tab, or similar) at the same time in different windows? I prefer lists rather than diagrams...

thanks in advance
Marlene

[tatewise]

Marlene, could you put your objectives into context please to better understand what you want.

Why do you need them "at the same time in different Windows"?

With the person of interest in Focus in the Focus Window on the Spouse & Children tab, click the magnifying-glass icon in the father of that person so they become the Focus.
Then select the Descendants tab to get a neat indented list of siblings with spouses, and their children.

If you prefer lists rather than Diagrams, then Queries might be your answer.
With the person of interest or his/her father selected try the Descendants standard Query or Immediate Family, which could easily be customised to include fewer or more generations.
Does that look promising, and worth pursuing?

[Jane]

Also if you have not experimented with the Record Lists window, try clicking on the + icons to open lots of information at the same time

[tatewise]

Take a look at Quick Child Snapshot (14401) which is an update to the Quick Child Lookup Plugin.

In response to your posting here, I am considering including Siblings alongside the Children with details of the Root Person above, and their Father & Mother above that too. It would then become the Quick Family Snapshot Plugin.

Which relatives to display, and which events to include, could become configurable options.

[Hanning]

Mike - that plugin sounds ideal. I am coming from a TMG background where I could have multiple small windows on the screen at the same time and I value not having to lose the view of one set of information when I click to see another. I find that FH is very mouse orientated - often my tab and enter keys are pressed by instinct but with not the result I am expecting.
For me the root person is not key - rather it is the current focus person. I seldom use the root person option as my data concerns an area with many many unrelated families (and many obscure related as well) so displaying the root person is often irrelevant. Perhaps this might be one of the configurable options?
My ideal display would show each child on a new line, with name, short dates, place of birth (or if not present then baptism) and spouse name next to it, and perhaps the same for siblings. I am guessing that if it was a plugin the results would be displayed in the separate query window. Could it be linked to the properties window and refresh automatically? (My goodness - I sound as though I am writing my Xmas list to Santa - sorry!)
In the meantime I will try the Query Immediate Family and see how I get on with customisation.
Thank you both for your suggestions
Marlene

[trevorrix]

I work 95% of the time in an Ancestor and Descendant Diagram that shows the family that I am working on. That diagram may or may not include the root person. The information displayed in the diagram boxes together with a customised property box displays all of the information that I need to build or work on a tree. I can therefore see all of the information that you wish for in your 'ideal display'. And it all refreshes automatically. Have you tried using diagrams as your main working 'window'?

[Hanning]

Thank you Trevor - yes I have, but for me its not ideal. I hate having to flip back and forth between windows becuase I cannot see all I want to at once - in the diagrams my large families take the whole width of the screen and its back to the mouse all the time to get into editing mode.

[Valkrider]

@Hanning I agree with you about the issues with the working in the diagram window. I wonder why with such a mouse centric programme as Family Historian you cannot use a mouse heel to zoom in and out of a diagram like a lot of other programmes. Maybe an item for the wish list if it isn't already there .

[LornaCraig]

Colin, if you hold down the Ctrl key you can zoom in and out on a diagram with the mouse wheel.
And if you hold down the space bar you can use the mouse to drag the diagram around.

I always use diagram-based editing and don't find it difficult. I just generate diagram (usually a descendants diagram for no more that 2 generations down) for the family group I am working on, and have a text scheme which displays all the information I need at a glance for each individual (including Place & address in censuses - a quick way to see if people moved). I much prefer this way of working but I know it doesn't suit everyone.

[E Wilcock]

This repeats my previous request for much the same like one had in TMG.

At the moment I find I am using the suggestion that stuck in my memory - With John Doe in the property Box, Use the blue Up arrow to his father and then and click to view descendants which Mike configured for me to show partners both of John Does siblings and of his own children. The white Back arrow gets you back where you started.

But I do often get disjunction between the person open in the Property Box and the person in the Focus Window. It is early days and I havent sorted that yet.

I dont work from the diagram as I am working on what is roughly speaking a place study with isolated individuals or couples and 143 different unconnected families.

But I am going to start another thread asking about the views people use.