* Copy Project

[aaj1945]

I am a pensioner and have never used a computer software package before. I have over many years collected several thousand individuals on paper chart plus multi-Mb Word & Excel files but was persuaded to purchase FH4.1 / 5 a few months ago to bring me into the 21st Century.
Although I have uploaded some 860 individuals so far I have been unable to work out how / where to insert the supporting sources. Again I've been recommended to download Ancestral Sources to make this simple which I have done. Its 'getting started' page strongly recommends working on a copy of my Project - how do I do this? I have tried back-up / rename file / move to 'New Project' but this does not work. I presume that I need to clone my 860 names project but cannot see a way to do this.

Help!!! At this rate I will be in my box before the project is half finished!

ID:6157

[Jane]

To copy a Project, go to the Project Window (File>Project window)

Click once on your Project and then click on the More Tasks option and select copy Project.

[aaj1945]

Many thanks. I eventually tracked down where your reply is. Now I put my project copy into Ancestral Sources and start to input data into the templates, so that I don't mess up what I've already done - yes?

I note that although AS version 3 is supposed to include births, in my downloaded version 3 a message says they are not covered in this version.
And what of baptisms and burials as opposed to births and deaths, are they / will they be supported in AS by provision of appropriate templates?

From email exchanges with Calico Pie before I purchased FH 4.1 / 5, I expected to find at a very least a suite of data input templates for Census 1841 - 1911, GRO BMDs, and Baptisms & Burials, and I'm somewhat disappointed to find that I have to deal with 2 separate pieces of software. When will Ancestral Sources be embedded into Family Historian?

Forgive a grumpy old man's gripe!

[Cambiz]

Hi

It might be helpful if I provide an overview of how (I think) this all works. Please excuse me if I'm telling you what you already know.

Family Historian is like many genealogy programs in that much of the actual family data is held on something called a Gedcom. My own file is called FH5.ged

When you add a name etc., you're changing that ged

Ancestral Sources (AS) also works, independently on the ged. That's why when you have FH and AS open at the same time, changing one causes the other to reload.

The basic premise of AS is that you bung the data in to a screen and then, dependent on the options you choose, it will update the ged and you can see the changes in FH.

As an example, if you entered a baptism in AS, after choosing the name, there's a field, as you'd expect, to put in the date. If you left things like that and saved, when you looked at the record in FH you would see the baptism, date against that person, plus probably the event recorded also against the parents. However if you bunged all the information on the baptism in and attached an image, say of the register, that info would be viewable in FH as a load of facts, e.g. residence, date of birth, associated people etc. Really saves time.

The same will be true of the other parts that have been written - Census and Marriage at present.

AS is actually a replacement for an earlier program that just entered census information.

I'm sure by looking in the help for AS why Nick originally wrote it.

The author is just another member of FHUG, like you or I and wrote the program off his own back for free (although he's not adverse to donations). He releases changes when he can and I for one am eternally grateful (my census count says 2600 entries and I'm pretty sure I did the same amount before the counter got reset!).

I will use AS where there's a complicated entry, but will just add the info straight into FH if its simple.


FH is not a perfect program but I enjoy it and find it preferable to other software I've used.

[Jane]

It's also worth remembering you don't need to use AS for simple entries like Birth and Death Certificate details.

Take a look at
http://www.fhug.org.uk/flash/fhbcentry.html

For a worked example of putting in data from a Birth Certificate.

[Bute01]

I too am getting started entering sources into my tree using AS.

I would recommend spending a little time watching the Video Tutorials. It seems a lot clearer when you see something done. I found the Census entries so much easier. I watched the video several times - the 'edit information' is something I do not think I would have found on my own.

[tatewise]

In case you are not sure where to look, many of the above mention advice found in the FHUG Knowledge Base

Family Historian including Entering from a Birth Certificate, etc.

Ancestral Sources including Tutorials, etc...

FHUG Downloads includes free downloads created by FHUG members.

and much more...

[NickWalker]

aaj1945 said:
I note that although AS version 3 is supposed to include births, in my downloaded version 3 a message says they are not covered in this version.

As the developer of Ancestral Sources, I've never said that it supports the entry of birth certificates. That will come in a later version. However, AS can e.g. (optionally) create an approximate birth entry for someone based on their age in a census entry, or a marriage certificate.

And what of baptisms and burials as opposed to births and deaths, are they / will they be supported in AS by provision of appropriate templates?

Baptisms are in the current version, I expect burials )and death certificates) will be in the next major version later this year.

When will Ancestral Sources be embedded into Family Historian?

Probably never: as Chris has kindly explained, I'm just a user of Family Historian who, as a professional programmer, decided to develop some software to help me (and later other users) to enter data. Free of charge - but the very kind voluntary donations act as a motivation to keep going when I'm fed up.

In Ancestral Sources you should open your project copy and try entering a census record. Once it is saved try opening the project in FH and take a look at the individuals mentioned in the census entry. However, personally I think that AS is the kind of thing you should look at when you've got an understanding of how Family Historian works. Run through the FH tutorials. You could also look at the tutorial that Jane mentions as it will then help you to appreciate why so many people use AS rather than do it manually!

[aaj1945]

Many thanks for the various replies to my post.

Firstly apologies to Nick Walker:
1. Mea culpa - I had confused births with baptisms!
2. I had assumed that I was dealing with the products from two separate software development houses; I had not realised that AS was an initiative from an individual user of FH and that consequently the roll-out was on a function by function basis which is on-going.
I have now entered sources data into census, marriage and baptism templates and apart from one or two hiccups that's going ok. I think AS is a great piece of software considering how it is being produced. Thanks Nick!

One more question before I close this subject, which after all was 'Copy Project' although it has suffered a degree of creep. I am working on the copy (870 odd individuals)and here and there amending previous FH data as well as adding one or two new people. Once I've fully understood how the whole thing works will I be able to merge the copy with the original project? I know that in FH I can merge branches but can the project be regarded as simply a large branch?

Again many thanks for contributed advice.

[tatewise]

Yes, the copy can be considered as a large branch.

But, if the copy is a strict super-set of the original, and there is nothing in the original that is not in the copy, then simply Backup and Delete the whole original Project.
Then just Rename the copy to have the name of the original.