Family Historian User Group

There is a wish-list item asking for a tree-split based upon the individuals shown on a diagram. I support the wish, but there is a workaround to achieve the same thing. Here's how:

• Press File, then Save As… Like all tree splitting, the safe approach is to make a copy of your file under a new name.
• Create the diagram on which you want to make the split. Use expansion buttons to show only those individuals that you want to keep in the tree. You can have multiple trees in the diagram, and you can hide boxes.
• Press Diagram, then Zoom, then View Whole Diagram (alternatively you can press the View Whole Diagram icon directly).
• Your diagram will now be small and probably unreadable. Don't worry, you don't need to. Depress the left-hand mouse button, and, keeping it depressed, select the whole diagram.
• Press Edit, then Add to Named List…
• Type Tree Split as the name of the list. Press OK when asked if you want to create a new list.
• You now need to create a custom query, so press Tools then Work with Queries…
• Press the button called Query Menu (if the rightmost button) and select New Custom Query…
• Give the query the name Split Tree and the query type is Individual.
• Go straight to the Rows tab and then select the List tab.
• Select the list Tree Split in the dropdown box called Is In List.
• Press the Add button. You can now close the query window. Next time you use this method of tree splitting you will not need to create a new custom query because you've already done it.
• Now select File and then Split Tree Helper…
• Select Delete all Individual records NOT found by the Individual query below.
• Select the Individual Query you've named as Tree Split.
• Configure the rest of the Split Tree Helper dialogue box according to your needs, then press Delete.
• You now have a tree containing only those individuals in the diagram. The last step is to delete the list called Tree Split (this is not essential, but the list no longer serves any purpose).

This may look to be a long and complicated process, but I hope that you'll accept my assurance that it is really quick and simple. I think that it is an ideal way to strip-down a GEDCOM file for passing onto other people or for loading onto Genes Reunited.

Robin Price

Hello,

I'm really only a part-time worker at this game and one of the problems I have been wrestling with today is how to strip out a whole lot of names from my tree so that I send only necessary data to a friend. This little work-round does the trick very nicely.
Thank you Robin.

Jomac.

Excellent! It made the job of separating the names I wanted from a very large GEDCOM file extremely easy.

Many thanks

David

One thing I would add to this is that, having split the file, you should display Families. You will probably find a number of families at the end of the tree. This is because FH retains the marriage even though the participants have been deleted. Delete these families and the split file will be much tidier.

Peter - I'm not so sure about that. FH should, I think, remove unused family records automatically when you reopen the file.

Thank you so much - I have tried the split tree helper several times and found wives disappear as they aren't direct descendants but this method preserves families intact but only as far down the tree as wanted - couldn't be better!

This is now much easier because the File > Export option in FH4 can export a GEDCOM file based directly on a Named List, so no need to create a Query or use the Split Tree Helper.

Accepted that this thread is quite old, but I've used it sucessfully today to create a small gedcom.

However, now I'm trying to use it on the original tree to delete the records now on the small one. As I want to keep over 2000 names, there is no way I could use the expansion buttons and select those I want to keep. If I do it in reverse and select delete for those I want to get rid off, it doesn't work.

What could I be doing wrong? (in simple words please)

Thanks

Just use the inverse of the query you used on the original split, so if you deleted records found by a query on one use 'Not found by' on the other.

Thanks for the response.

I thought that was what I was doing, but I'll have (yet) another go at it and double check I'm doing it the right way round.

I had hoped to be able to use this to so that I could send my data to a cousin but I cannot find 'work with queries' under the tools menu. Am I doing something wrong?

Just click on the Queries icon on the icon bar or take the view/standard queries and select one.

Thanks Jane.

Thanks for this tip. It looked daunting at first but I followed the instructions and it worked really well. I successfully managed to split off a tree, and the whole process only took about five minutes.