Family Historian User Group

I've just been informed that AS has been updated twice and on downloading the 4.9 version, it says it's for FH7 but nobody informed me by email about the FH7 upgrade? How do I upgrade-do I need another license or is it free?

It is NOT the Ancestral Sources PROGRAM that you are talking about but the Ancestral Sources Data Entry PLUGIN v4.9.
It has been updated by me to cater for FH V7.0 and AS V7.0 but still works with FH V6.2 and AS V5.3

Both FH V7.0 and AS V7.0 have been announced earlier this week here in the FHUG News & Announcements forum :
*** Family Historian 7 has been released! *** (18264) by Simon Orde and needs a new licence.
Ancestral Sources v7 has been released (18267) by Nick Walker and is donor-ware.

The FH V7.0 release was also posted in the FH Email list.

If you use Help > Check for Updates in FH V6 that also announces FH V7.0

There will probably be an Email Bulletin announcement from Calico Pie in due course but as you can imagine they are very busy!

The latest version of AS (see the news page on this website) is version 7 (there has never been a v4.9).

It takes advantage of the new features in FH7 but also works with earlier versions of Family Historian. A lot of the new features are related to new features in FH7 but there are several fixes and improvements that apply to all versions of Family Historian.

Ancestral Sources is free, but I accept donations.

You can find out about the new Family Historian 7, released yesterday, by reading the FHUG news article here: https://www.fhug.org.uk/forum/viewtopic ... 37#p104437.

Simon announced FH7 on the FH mailing list and here at *** Family Historian 7 has been released! ***. I presume you don't subscribe to the FH mailing list or monitor these forums? Many people don't.... However the mailing list, forums and FH page have been filled with lively discussion since the release.

The changes are so major in V7 that you'd be surprised it if was free! You will need to pay for an upgrade (unless you bought it after a free upgrade was offered with a full V6 licence) -- how much depends on when you last paid for a full version. Users who paid for a full version of V5 or V6 can get a discount on the upgrade (how much, for V6, depends on when and how they bought the product); users who have not paid for a full version of either V5 or V6 will pay full price.

Go to https://store.family-historian.co.uk/pr ... -7-upgrade to determine if you can get a discount off the full price.

Seems a tad expensive to me at nearly £60 for it and even with a discount if I can get one, it's still expensive as it's twice the price of my original purchase in 2014, can I just stick with the current version and not worry about it?

It's more expensive because it's a very big upgrade. However if you find that V6 does everything you need it to do, by all means stick with V6. It will continue to work!

Being a not rich pensioner it's either stick with FH6 or buy another cheaper program elsewhere.

I don't think you'll find a "cheaper program elswhere" that offers more than FH6, and certainly nothing like FH7. So stick with FH6 which you already know, if it does all you want it to do.

Lorna's right: if you're happy with FH6 and don't want the new features, then stick with V6.

However, you bought the product in 2014 and have had 6 years use out of it? Let's assume you paid £25 for your original purchase (which is what I paid for an upgrade at the same time, and ties in with your 'twice the price.') Works out at just over £4 a year... You may have paid full price of course, so based on 'twice the price', maximum £40 or circa £7 a year.

New licence for Family Tree Maker today: £90
New licence for RootsMagic today: £50

£60 isn't out of line. But as Lorna and I have already said, you don't need to pay it if you don't want the new features. FH6 will continue to work, and the FHUG forums and KB will continue to offer advice on using it.

Have a look at Gensoft Reviews if you want to explore alternatives.

New licence for RootsMagic today: £50

A proper “like for like” comparison is USD 29.95, about £23 (download with no bundled data disks). But whatever the figure, FH is better value, and FH6 doesn’t suddenly stop being an excellent program just because FH7 has some extra features.

I think I'll continue to use FH6.2 as I don't really use all it's features now and it looks like FH7 is upgrading the features I rarely or never use like diagrams, maps, etc.
I like that I'm able to use it as a basic UK created program that can create a family tree from my gedcoms and print reports if I need them. It's helpful that they have hints from FMP but I'm not keen on MH, better if they had Ancestry hints!
So I'll continue until FH8 kills FH6!

There IS a discount for users of FH6 who bought an upgrade version (I got a discount). On the purchase page you put in your existing license name and number and the system works out what discount (If any) you are entitled to.

I've bitten the bullet and paid for FH7 as I got a worthwhile discount! I guess I'd better start using the features that I don't currently use!

In Previus versions of FH I have had a tab in the property box for "Associated persons" This was very useful when for example finding a grandchild on a census when I did not know who the parents are.

Version 7 seems to have lost that functionality. Does anyone know how to customise the property box to restore that tab as I have found nothing in the "help" documents

In Previus versions of FH I have had a tab in the property box for "Associated persons" This was very useful when for example finding a grandchild on a census when I did not know who the parents are

This has been answered on the mailing list.