Family Historian User Group

I have 2 PCs. One is a laptop and the other a desktop with a huge screen. The laptop is in my office and the desktop is in what passes for a library on a different floor.

Is it possible to install FH on the laptop and have my files on the laptop, and also install FH on the desktop and have that installation access an update the files on the laptop?

Can this be done by mapping a shared folder on the laptop? Has anyone tried this? Or are there any other suggestions to do this?

Rich

I don't know if it is possible to share the way you are describing. Quite a few folks do put their project in Dropbox, Google Drive, or One Drive so it can be shared by more than one computer. Take a look at this article in the Knowledge Base.

Synchronising Family Historian between 2 PCs

Bill

It can be done that way.

However, a better way may be with a NAS drive or as already stated using Dropbox etc.

Be aware that any customisations you make to FH on the laptop will need to be made to the desktop too. Also ensure that the FH project is only open on one or other of the computers not both at the same time.

Another key link is this Knowledge Base page - Understanding the Scope of Features. FH stores its settings and non-project data (Queries, Fact Sets, etc) in a confusing variety of different places, so having a feel for what is where will guide your strategy on synchronising these data between your two PCs. Do you need everything updated automatically? Is occasional copying sufficient? Do you want the display on your laptop to be configured in the same way as the desktop (probably not).

Ensuring that the FH project is only open on one or other of the computers not both at the same time is not enough.
The FH program application must only be running on one PC at a time.
That is both a technical and a licence requirement.

See the Family Historian Copy and Migration Guide.

That's a rather black and white statement. The standard licence is one at a time, but what about two users with their own licences, or a bulk user licence that may not have the same restrictions? There may be issues if multiple users with common settings folders (e.g. via a NAS and Directory Junctions) are updating settings at the same time, but what is the technical requirement that stops two licenced copies of FH running simultaneously on different projects? Not saying it is not a problem - just not clear what the potential issue is...

Ok, there are some grey areas that Mark has identified.
It is also possible to run Plugins that could affect multiple Projects or any shared files.

I was just thinking that it might be nice to go upstairs and fire up the desktop without having to copy all my files (including media) which is GB in size onto a thumb drive and move them ... and then move them back. Or have another $ubscription to an online service for one thing to make my life a little easier.

Thank you all for your responses.

Rich

How many GB? Most cloud storage options offer between 2GB and 15GB for free.
Dropbox 2GB, OneDrive 5GB, Google Drive 15GB and the applications are free.
Files are synchronised as they are updated so the only time delay after booting your PC is how long it takes new files to download, which is often only the GEDCOM file and a few Media files.
It has the side benefit of providing an automatic off-site backup of your Projects.

Another method that some use is to permanently keep the active FH Projects on a thumb drive.
Then the thumb drive is already up-to-date and ready to use as soon as you plug it into either PC.
Just make sure that you take regular backups onto your PC hard drive in case the thumb drive fails.

rwcrooks wrote: ↑

04 Dec 2021 01:42

I have 2 PCs. One is a laptop and the other a desktop with a huge screen. The laptop is in my office and the desktop is in what passes for a library on a different floor.

Is it possible to install FH on the laptop and have my files on the laptop, and also install FH on the desktop and have that installation access an update the files on the laptop?

This is what works for me:
* FH project on OneDrive (C:\Users\Leslie\OneDrive\Documents\Family Historian),

* Exhibits are on my PCloud drive (from my RootsMagic days). They could easily all be on OneDrive, I just haven't moved them yet.

* Plugin Backup & Restore Family Historian Settings set up to save the FH settings to a subfolder on onedrive

If I make any big changes to the way I have FH set up, I run a backup on that device, and then a restore on the other one. IIRC, I have to install any plugins on both devices manually, there are probably some tweaks I haven't got quite right, but that plugin is awesome.

At any rate, both the desktop and the laptop use the project stored on onedrive, microsoft handles the updating just fine. The only manual stuff I have to remember to do is the backup and restore settings deal, but that's only if I've done changes to that.

Thank you, Leslie, apart from the PCloud bit, that is the 'classic' way of running FH synchronised across two PC.