Family Historian User Group

Can some please explain how to enable entry of "occupation" data into the Census pane at the bottom of the Facts tab. In my configuration of the software I can enter Date, Age, Place, Address and Note data BUT not occupation. The sentence below includes {occupation} as the last item in the sentence. Help!

It is not usual to enter Occupation in that way.
The conventional technique is to add a standard Occupation Attribute fact with the same Date, Place and Source Citation as the Census Event.
The {occupation} text you have entered in the Sentence Template is not a valid code.

You could add the occupation to the Note of the Census Event and then use the {note} code in the Sentence Template, or alternatively use a labelled Note such as Occupation: Tailor as explained in detail in how_to:narrative_report_fact_sentence_templates#custom_fact_fields|> Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates > Custom Fact Fields.

BTW: Many users of FH utilise Ancestral Sources to capture Census records for several people with their birth, and occupation, and Source Citation details all in one process, which creates separate Census and Occupation facts.

Must admit, I'm not a great fan of the duplication involved in separate Occupation facts for each census entry. My usual practice is to record census occupation in the Note field exactly as stated, and have a single (undated) Occupation fact for each person that provides an occupation summary (e.g. Farmer, Ag. Lab., Medical Practitioner, Machinist later Bus Driver etc). This generally looks ok in my various customised Reports and Charts. Getting an undated occupation to display in the correct order on screen can be more difficult, but that might just be my ignorance of the finer points of display customisation. I have no interest in using FH to write narrative summaries and reports, so difficulty in customising these templates is a non-issue for me.

Mark, that is a perfectly rational alternative technique. I presume you also apply that to all other documents that provide occupation details such as on Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates.

To get the undated Occupation fact into the desired position use the All tab and the curved up/down black arrows upper right to move the selected fact up or down. However, the Occupation fact has a Normal Time Frame of Life which prevents it appearing before Birth/Baptism or after Death/Burial events in Facts tab and Reports.

Indeed - generally just noted in the text of the source citation, but any inconsistencies or other points to highlight are entered as Notes. Sorted now on display order, thanks. I think I confused myself before as I did not realise that the displayed order in the Facts tab does not change until you re-select the individual, not just move between tabs.

PS - curiously, charts are not controlled, as the following shows -
Ideally, I'd put the occupation at the top of reports as well, but will settle for a consistent position of first item after birth/baptism.

The position of Facts in Diagrams is governed by the Text Scheme you choose and the order of the Used Items.

It is possible to position the Occupation fact at the top of the Facts tab and Reports, but needs some customisation.
Its Normal Time Frame needs to be adjusted, but the Standard fact set prevents that, so proceed as follows.

1. In Tools > Fact Types click Fact Sets, select the Standard set, click Clone and set Name to Occupation
2. Select the Occupation fact set and click Move Up until it is above the Standard fact set, then click Close
   That ensures the Occupation fact set eclipses the Standard fact set so you can Edit the Normal Time Frame
3. In the Fact Types dialogue, set Fact Set top left to Occupation so all but Occupation fact can be deleted
4. Select the 1st fact Adoption, scroll down and whilst pressing Shft key select last fact Will
   Now whilst pressing Ctrl key deselect Occupation and finally click the Delete button on right
   (Don't worry, this just reveals the Standard fact definitions for all except the Occupation fact)

   

   OccupationFactSet.png (44.94 KiB) Viewed 5131 times

That should leave the Occupation fact set with just the Occupation fact eclipsing the Standard version, that you can now Edit and change its Normal Time Frame to Pre-Birth, which allows every Occupation fact to be positioned before Birth/Baptism events.

Note that you only have to perform the above customisation once and it will apply indefinitely to all Projects unless you choose to Delete or Move Down that Occupation fact set so that the Standard fact set takes effect.

Thanks again Mike - another useful function in FH to study and take on board...!

I think I need to experiment to get the best presentation in reports, but it is certainly more logical with my use of Occupation as a single summary field to position it alongside other such fields and not mixed in among the timeline events

I use a custom field for the "Primary" occupation, as this allows me to pick one, this has the advantage that I can still use the normal occupation field to track changing jobs over time.

For example the line I am working on at the moment, one man starts as a Labourer, then a Woodsman then a Gamekeeper, each change of job is accompanied by a change of location as he is moved from one of the Ilchester estates to the next. His Primary job is Gamekeeper, which I use on diagrams, but a full report will show the other jobs through time, I have changed the standard occupation sentence to just show the year in brackets after the details to help readability.

The nice thing with FH is you can normally find a way to do what you want.