Family Historian User Group

I've just had a message regarding Associated Individuals - witnesses on a marriage certificate.
I think an error has crept in as it mentioned version 6 of Ancestral Sources but I think it means version 6 of Family Historian.
Image attached for info.
Simon

Yes, it does refer to FH V6. It happened to me also as I have not yet installed V6. I don't know where the data goes in V5 if you tick the OK box.

Roger

If you click OK it suspect it will save the details in FH V6 Witness format, which will result in UDF in FH V5, that you will find with star-burst bullets against _SHAR &/or _SHAN tags on the All tab.

Yes thanks for pointing out that typo - it does of course refer to version 6 of Family Historian.

There wasn't really any satisfactory way of recording 'associated individuals' (godparents, marriage witnesses, etc.) in earlier versions of Family Historian and so AS used to default to using local notes in the marriage/baptism/burial/death fact. Family Historian 6 includes the new witness roles which are perfect solutions to this. So when I was developing Ancestral Sources 4.5 I had a dilemma - there would be people using Family Historian 6 already, others using an earlier version for a short while and then upgrading to 6 in the near future and those with no plans to buy version 6. I'm not too concerned about the final set as it is important that people do buy FH 6 because it is in all our interests for Family Historian to continue to be developed in the future and without enough sales that won't be the case! Anyway, I needed to find a way for the new witness roles to be the default method for associated individuals in AS and to include all the new types to match those in FH 6 (best man, bridesmaid, etc.) and yet allow those still using version 5 (or earlier) to be able to use Ancestral Sources, at least in the short-term. So the current situation is:

Witness roles are the default method for recording associated individuals in AS 4.5. If you are attempting to save associated individuals using witness roles to a FH 5 (or earlier) file then you will see the warning message that Simon posted above...

• If you choose OK then those witness roles will be written to your file but won't be understand by Family Historian 5: if you untick 'Always ask' before clicking OK then you won't see this question again and it will always save them as witness roles.
• If you choose Replace then it will automatically convert these associated individuals to use local notes which used to be the default method in earlier versions of AS. If you untick 'Always ask' then these will always be automatically converted until you use Family Historian 6. If in the future AS detects a version 6 file it will simply save the data using the new FH6 witness roles.
• If you have previously used, and wish to continue to use, one of the other methods for recording associated individuals (e.g. custom events, custom attributes, etc.) then you can click Cancel and then you'll need to edit the associated individual recording methods. This is not recommended as I think you should upgrade to FH 6 and use witness roles.
• The 'Always ask' tick box decisions can also be reviewed or updated via the Tools->Options->General->Witness Role Support options.

At some point in the future I may remove support for versions of Family Historian prior to 6 which will make all this much easier, but for now we do have this extra layer of complication to deal with although in most cases this won't cause any issues for users.

So to summarise:

• If you have FH 6 then AS will use witness roles for associated individuals and you don't need to do anything
• If you have FH 5 (or earlier) then AS will always automatically convert those to local notes if when you save you un-tick the 'Always ask' and click Replace. When you upgrade to FH 6 it will automatically use witness roles instead.

Nick
Thanks for the explanation. I live in the Antipodes and I have ordered an Upgrade CD - I like to have physical things, rather than rely on the Interweb - which should arrive shortly, depending on the vagaries of international post.

When I install this, will the Witness Roles be updated also?

Cheers

Roger

If you chose OK in response to the dialogue posted above, then Yes the Witness Roles will be in your GEDCOM.

You can check that in FH V5 by using Tools > Find Uncategorised Data or the UDF List Plugin as explained in how_to:handling_unrecognised_data_fields|> Handling Unrecognised Data Fields.

They will be listed as _SHAR or _SHAN UDF tags.

When you install FH V6, it will then recognise those tags, and display the Witness details.

rodit wrote:Nick
When I install this, will the Witness Roles be updated also?

Just to confirm what Mike says: if you click 'OK' rather than 'Replace' on the dialogue then the witness role data will be created in your file but Family Historian 5 will ignore it. When eventually you use FH 6 the data will then be understood and, as if by magic, appear in your tree

Just to clarify what Nick said.
FH V5 does not exactly ignore the items, but includes & retains them as UDF.

Thanks, gents. Found _SHAN tag using the Plugin which has opened a whole new can of worms. 761 UDF's of which the majority are UID's. Can one track these back to their instigators?

Roger

They probably came via an import from another genealogy program.
Legacy and PAF are common candidates.
If they are of no further use the UDF can be deleted.
See how_to:handling_unrecognised_data_fields|> Handling Unrecognised Data Fields.

Thanks, Mike. I suspect PAF

Roger

Just to complete the picture, although maybe too late for you, there is a Plugin to handle Import From PAF.