* Synchronizing Family Historian Settings

[ColinMc]

I'm setting up Syncing to my laptop after getting a new PC.

At Synchronizing Family Historian Settings Using Directory Junctions under the Section "Which Folders to Synchronise" it lists a few necessary ones, and some other possible ones. Among those is the Plugins Folder, but there is no mention of the Plugin Data folder.

Is it not necessary to Sync that Plugin Data folder as well?

Also what about the Autotext for plugins?

[Mark1834]

It depends on whether you want exactly the same plugin settings on multiple PCs, or should they be different? That in turn depends on which plugins you use.

It’s probably easiest to omit them initially, but add later if necessary.

[tatewise]

Most plugin settings are typically held in the Plugin Data folder of each Project.
The ProgramData settings are global to all Projects and would usually be needed to be the same on other PC.

If both PC run a similar version of Windows with similar resolution monitors and the same FH version then contrary to the KB advice try to sync the entire ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian folder.
There are many folders not mentioned in the KB that I would definitely include: Autotext for Plugins, Lang (if you use Language Packs), Source Templates (if you edit them), Spellcheck (if you update the custom dictionary), etc...
Most are tiny so don't cost much and if you forget what you have included/excluded may later wonder why some settings are not synced.

[Mark1834]

Agree that the list needs updating for FH7, but there are a couple of important caveats that you have not mentioned. It's not uncommon for two PCs to have different user account folders for the same Microsoft account, due to the long-standing Windows bug of sometimes (but not always) shortening user names. It's also possible that a desktop PC with multiple drives may have different data folder designations compared with a simple laptop.

In these circumstances (which are both true for me), it may not be appropriate to keep Plugin Data (or any other folder that refers to absolute paths) synced. Also, be wary of the Map folder - it contains a huge number of tiny files, and syncing that can be slow, even on a fast network link, so best not to sync if you only use maps on your big desktop monitor.

[ColeValleyGirl]

I'll add to Mark's caveats that it isn't unusual to use FH differently on a laptop from a desktop. My laptop is for capturing source information while I'm out and about -- which means I need very few if any plugins (my old Research Planner plugin was the only one I had on my laptop, and now I don't even have that).

In fact, I don't need any of the Family Historian Program Data to be synched.

[ColinMc]

Mark is absolutely right.

On my last PC I had to endure different user names, but my current one uses the same user. As I've set up a few since, it maybe seems to be more consistent.

Of greater issue is the naming of hard drives. Many new devices come with a mix of some or all of NVME, SSD, HDD drives, and it is also common to partition drives. My own desktop has 5 internal drives plus other external ones for backups.

I've solved the problem by using my local Onedrive disk to store the originals of Images, Projects and (on my new PC, some) Program data, and created Directory Junctions to replicate those files into the "proper " location.

This is then repeated on the laptop.

For my own purposes I had kept a detailed OneNote page about the set-up, and I'm about 70% through updating that (and expanding it to give more detail), now that I have a more established and detailed set-up.

If anyone thinks this might merit a KB entry I'm quite happy to do a draft, but it may be thought to be too complex.

Helen's comments also are interesting, and probably merit including in the KB. It has made me re-consider whether I do need some/all of the Program data. I need to think that through further before deciding.


My own experience is made worse as I keep all my thousands of images of genealogy and non-genealogy images together in Adobe Lightroom, which is a non-destructive database. This means all rotating, cropping, keywording, dating, exposure/colour adjustments etc are ONLY available in Lightroom, as the original file is left 100% untouched. I therefore have to "publish " a second copy of all my FH images to a different location to ensure that FH see those genealogy images the way they are viewed in Lightroom. Lightroom Plugins make that task for more simple than it sounds, but it is an added complication. The cost of storage nowadays means that impact is minimal.

[tatewise]

I don't believe the C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\... files usually hold any drive path-sensitive details.
For many years my Backup and Restore FH Settings plugin has included all those files, except for the \Map\Cache\ folder, and drive paths have never been an issue as far as I am aware. So I think PC path differences are a red herring.
Plugins could of course put anything into the Plugin Data folder but authors should be aware that PC path names need to be dealt with flexibly. Anyway, that problem applies just the same to Project Plugin Data as to the global Plugin Data and I'm not aware of any advice to inhibit syncing that Project folder across PC.

Yes, there need to be a couple of caveats for exceptional cases, but in general, I believe all the folders can be safely synced, apart from the \Map\Cache\ folder due to its size.