Family Historian User Group

Hello
I'm struggling to work out why FH charts have different colours... I think I've worked out that brighter yellow means there is a blood connection to the "Home" person whereas the beige colour means there is no blood connection. But I am unable to work out why the boxes for a few people are green. Could anyone enlighten me please?
Many thanks!

Welcome to the FHUG.

As a newcomer I suggest you study how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.

In the FH Help > Search Help enter "Box Types" including the quotes and List Topics.
There is a lot there about the five Box Types plus the Root Boxes.

In Diagrams each Box Type has a different default background colour, but that can be easily customised.

Direct Ancestors are green.
Descendants are yellow.
Spouses are beige.
Proxies are transparent.
Roots are white.

(EDIT: Mike's post just arrived as I was writing this)
If you are using the default colour scheme the green boxes will be 'Ancestor' boxes. Pale yellow are 'Descendant' boxes and beige are 'Spouse' boxes.

There are five different types of box that can be used in diagrams, as explained in this section of the Help files:
However it is possible to customise the colour of the boxes as well as their shape, and also the colour of the text. Search the Help files for "Diagram Options Dialog: Boxes Tab" for further guidance.

Ah, thank you both very much. I haven't really had much luck with the help function or the book that I bought ("Getting the most from FH6"), but knowing the right terms to search is important. So much to learn with all of this!
Many thanks for your help!

Along these lines, are there any visual samples of what effect these settings have on the display? For example, changing the text or different layout options? I would love to see what others have done.

Here are some suggestions :-

One of the topics in how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers is the how_to:family_historian_documentation|> Family Historian Documentation which refers to the book Getting the Most From Family Historian where particularly Chapter 9. Setting the Style, Layout & Content of Diagrams contains tutorials.

That also refers to http://www.family-historian.co.uk/support/videos where Family Historian Diagrams offer some ideas.

See also fhugdownloads:diagramtypes|> Downloads and Links ~ Diagram Types and fhugdownloads:diagramtextschemes|> Downloads and Links ~ Diagram Text Schemes where each download has an accompanying screenshot.

Why not just go and play with the settings, you can always restore to Installation Settings when done.

tatewise wrote:
Why not just go and play with the settings, you can always restore to Installation Settings when done.

Thanks for those links! Why not play? Because I've been there and done that and had a real mess to clean up afterward. Restore to installation settings works for everyone but me, I think!

You should use Diagram > Save Diagram As > Custom Diagram Type with a Custom Diagram Name before customising.

Then you can use View > Custom Diagram Types > and choose that Custom Diagram Name and customise without upsetting Standard Diagrams.

Ensure that in Diagram > Options > General tab that Save as default is NOT ticked bottom left.
That should always be the case for Custom Diagram Types by default anyway.

In any Diagrams you restore the settings by using Diagram > Settings > Restore Installation Settings.