Please bear with a beginner

alywil · Post by **alywil** » 16 Jun 2007 00:18

Hi all,
I have been learning how to add a Census using GedComCensus. There just seems to be something I am not understanding? I have done it successfully but on a couple of occasions, no records show up in FH? I think I must be misunderstanding the prompts at the end. Do I close GC and then go over to FH? It is the prompts at the final stage I don't understand? It says something in FH about 'another programme has made changes, Do you want to reload FH and lose changes' or some such wording. It seems to be when I press 'No' that I run into trouble?
I am not even sure I am making myself clear enough to elicit a response. All I know is the prompts at that point seem to vary. Should I leave GC open until I respond Yes or No to FH? I find this stage of the process really confusing & I can't find anywhere to learn it step by step? Feeling very dumb, alywil

ID:2365

briardsnz · Post by **briardsnz** » 16 Jun 2007 01:25

The thing to remember is that both FH and GC are 'sharing' the same gedcom data file. So, if you are working in FH, do a file save before first opening Gedcom Census, so that GC has the latest information in the Geccom file to work with. Then when you are finished with work in GC and switch back to FH, you'll get a prompt to say that the gedcom file has been altered by another program (GC) and do you want to reload - and you should answer 'yes' since that then loads the changes that GC has made into what FH is currently showing. The problem you describe happens when you open (or switch back to) GC without first doing a save in FH because then subsequent work in GC alters the gedcom file AND there may unsaved changes you have already made within FH which will be lost if you then reload.
After any changes made in FH, save before switching back to GC and keep letting each program reload the data file as prompted and all will be well.
I'm writing this to remind myself too - because I still get caught out as well!
Good luck.

alywil · Post by **alywil** » 16 Jun 2007 03:50

Hi & thanks,
I went for a walk, came back fresh, read what you suggested & see what you mean. That was the problem. I had both open at the same time and hadn't done the 'save' in FH. Now I understand. Isn't it amazing how dumb you can feel when you are learning something new? I really appreciate your help.

Post by **NickWalker** » 16 Jun 2007 11:06

As briardsnz says the trick is to remember to save in Family Historian before switchng to Gedcom Census. If you ever forget then there is a way to hopefully avoid any data loss ...

If you look in Family Historian Tools menu and choose Preferences, then under the File Load/Save tab you can enable Auto-Save and set it to auto-save e.g. every 3 minutes. You should find that if you ever forget to save then (assuming you take at least 3 minutes to enter a census record) when you save the census entry Gedcom Census will spot the file has changed and will then reload the new version of the file. If this happens then you won't have to retype the census entry you were trying to save.

alywil · Post by **alywil** » 16 Jun 2007 17:11

Thanks Nick,
I am going to change that setting right now. I have typed in some of them 3 times before I finally 'got with the programme'! [confused] alywil

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