Family Historian User Group

Hi

I am preparing to export a TNG-ready gedcom (with links to media) from Family Historian V6 (FH6) and then import to TNG so I can share my research via my TNG website with my family and friends. I have read a number of very helpful posts on this topic and also have the excellent ‘Export Gedcom File’ v1.7 plugin.

My plan is to manage my data and media in FH6 (as the system of record) and then after the initial export of data and media, make incremental exports to update the info in TNG so it is in sync with FH6

My question is to anyone who has already done this successfully - is there a set of up-to-date steps with settings etc that I should follow for the initial export from FH / import to TNG and then is there anything different I need to do differently for successive export/imports to TNG so that the information is updated?

My understanding of steps so far is as follows:

INITIAL FH6 EXPORT & TNG IMPORT

1. Export gedcom from FH6 using ‘Export Gedcom File’ v1.7 plugin with TNG default settings and media set to relative links. As TNG doesn’t recognize frames from FH6, I plan to import full images then use TNGs own frame tool to identify each person in multi-person photos. I am assuming that subsequent gedcom imports shouldn’t mess this up as I won’t be reimporting media (only adding new media).

2. I don’t believe I have to set up any custom events in TNG as this will be done automatically on the first import, based on my understanding from TNG’s help file (“TNG automatically sets up Custom Event Types for all non-standard events included in your GEDCOM file..”). However, I notice that TNG does have a setting called ‘Import Custom Event Types only (no data is added, replaced or appended)’ which can be ticked and perhaps I need to do this before the full data import. I also noted in older FH posts that it was recommended to set up custom events. Any advice on this appreciated.

3. For the full data import, import gedcom (exported from FH6) to TNG with following boxes ticked:
a. Accept data for all new Custom Event Types
b. Replace all Current Date (although none to replace on initial import, I will select this anyway)
c. Import media if present
d. Import latitude / longitude data if present

4. Upload media ensuring same folder structure is in place as for FH6 (so relative media links will work). The upload will be done in batches according to the TNG ‘collection’ of media (E.g. Photos, Documents, Headstones etc)

SUBSEQUENT FH6 EXPORT & TNG IMPORTS

1. Export gedcom from FH6 with same settings as initial export

2. Import gedcom to TNG ensuring that following boxes are ticked:
a. Matching records only
b. Replace only if newer (Matching records will only be replaced if the incoming record is newer than the one in the database. This is based on the "Last Modified" or CHAN date associated with the record in the GEDCOM.)
c. Import media if present (assuming this will overwrite relative file path, which should not impact any existing media)
d. Import latitude / longitude data if present (assuming this will overwrite existing lat/long which is fine as it will update the info if newer)
3. Upload any new media to relevant folder and TNG collection

I somehow know that I’ve missed some steps, sub-steps, important details or perhaps made some bad assumptions! I have also reached out to TNG support for advice on the TNG parts of this topic.

Thanks in advance

Giles

I am not a TNG user, but the Plugin author, and the following advice may help.
I now realise that most of this advice should be added to the Plugin Help & Advice.

The predecessor Plugin advised:

1. Remember to set 'CENS' tag to 'Accept' in order for TNG to accept Census Events.
2. Create custom '_USED' tag in order for TNG to accept the Given Name Used field.
3. Create custom '_FLGS' tag so TNG imports 'Living' & 'Private' flags, but only one is recognised per Individual.
4. Remember each Family Historian Custom Attribute will need a matching TNG Custom Event tag.

The TNG default ISO-8859-1 option supports a subset of ANSI characters.
The TNG alternative UTF-8 option offers full Unicode support as in FH V6 and requires the Plugin UTF-8 with BOM charater encoding option.

I don't think the Relative File Links Media option will work for TNG as it only applies to FH V4/5/6.
I believe TNG users choose one of the Part Frames options that give you the Face frame cropped images.

Thanks for the swift reply, Mike.

I did see a prior post with the predecessor plugin help and advice. However, I was initially confused as in the latest TNG version, the help states "TNG automatically sets up Custom Event Types for all non-standard events included in your GEDCOM file..." and so I thought that advice points 2,3 and 4 would be redundent now. However, on reading them again carefully, I see that the points refer to attributes, a flag and a field etc and so I am assuming I DO still need to pre-create them in TNG, before importing the gedcom.

When digging into these Gedcom details it is necessary to understand some of the structure and terminology.

Custom Events use the Gedcom EVEN tag followed by a TYPE tag to define its name.
It sounds like TNG will automatically handle those.

Point 4 is a reminder that FH Custom Attributes use _ATTR & TYPE tags, which become EVEN & TYPE tags on export, because Gedcom does not support Custom Attributes.

Points 2 & 3 refer to custom tags _USED and _FLGS that need to be defined within TNG.
BTW: Custom tags should always start with underscore (_).

Point 1 for CENS event is presumably a standard option in TNG.

The ISO versus UTF-8 option is important if you wish to preserve Unicode accented letters and extra symbols in TNG, otherwise they appear as question marks (?).

The Relative File Links Media option definitely will NOT work for TNG, because it leaves all the FH custom tags such as _AREA, _EXCL, _NOTE, _CAPT in the exported Gedcom Media Records.
The Part Frames option exports a separate cropped image file for each Face Frame, which should import directly into TNG and need no further processing.

Thanks Mike. I have successfully imported my FH6 gedcom and media to TNG, following your advice on pre-creating custom events and using UTF-8 BOM. All fields looks to be populated as expected and media is linked. I have also made some subsequent updates by editing fields and media notes in FH6 and then uploading a new gedcom the TNG again (replace 'Matching Records Only') and the updates are made correctly to TNG.

The media prep was an interesting challenge as I basically followed your advice re: creating Part Frames as part of the export. However, as I wanted the full images of groups of people and full portraits also displayed in TNG, I had to add a number of 'simple links' to individuals and/or families so I had both the face frame and the full photo where required. So this resulted in more (redundent) links in FH6, but all desired images ready for import to TNG.

All in all I am very pleased with the intergation between FH6 and TNG. I just need to upload the gedcom periodically as I make tabular updates to FH6. As I add new media to FH6, I will need to remember to upload it to TNG separately and check the links work.

Once again, thanks for your help and advice.

Cheers

Giles

The next version of the Plugin will allow both Full Frame and Part Frame images to be exported together.

When I get a moment I will update the Plugin Help & Advice with the TNG import options discussed.