Family Historian User Group

I have just downloaded the free trial and have added a GEDCOM. This was from FMP. None of the media files have carried over such as Census and BDM records. I had a great many. How do I get them onto FH, would I have to add each one individually or am I not able to as they belong to FMP. I am not sure I want to buy the licence if I can't view my records. The media is listed but it is just an envelope box that doesnt appear to have any content. I have tried using the Auto Repair Links box but it doesnt repair them. Any suggestions would be gratefully welcome.

Unfortunately the images have not been exported with your Gedcom file. This is common with online trees. You will have to download all the images to your computer and providing they have the same names as the online tree you should be able to repair the links.

This will be the same with any programme on your computer it is not a failing of Family Historian but of the online tree website.

I'm not even sure that is possible. The records are just saved from FMP on their site as transcriptions and when you rightclick there is no download facility. Is there a way to search through the FH website to find the records? I could save the URL of each one to open it in FMP but I was hoping to use FH to save my tree offline for future generations. The link wouldn't work if they hadn't got access to FMP themselves. What do other people do. I don't really understand how I can find and save the records onto FH other than using an online site.

Welcome to the FHUG Ruth.

Colin is correct. Online trees from such as FMP and Ancestry only export the GEDCOM file and not the attached images.
So any PC based genealogy program will suffer the same fate. BTW: FH is not a website - all the data is on your PC.

Since you presumably have a FMP subscription, then you can freely download the images for your personal use, and attach them one by one. Unfortunately, they will not have matching filenames so no auto repair is possible. We can offer advice about how to go about the process. I have quickly experimented and think the URL you need is in the FH database. I believe you are the first person who has attempted that download from FMP to FH. The image download might even be automated with a Plugin (no promises yet) but you would have to buy the FH licence to try it out.

While you have your 30-day trial do make the most of it.
As a newcomer see how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.
For importing advice see how_to:index#importing_to_family_historian|> Importing to Family Historian but some of that advice talks about using Plugins and they are the one feature NOT supported by the 30-day trial. The how_to:import_from_ancestry|> Import from Ancestry website advice will be similar for FMP.

Goodness it all sound very complicated. All I wanted to do was keep a record on my computer that I can put on a memory stick to give to my children. I dont even know how to get a census record onto the computer without using a website that I then apparently can't remove the information from. I currently have 8 different trees on FMP. Looks like I shall just have to stick to my current method which is print everything. However I shall read the information about the free trial before I give up on it but I am really just not prepared to mess with each record individually to get it on to FH. There must be thousands across all my trees. And I dont even know what a plugin is, let alone use one.

Ruth

You have come across, in my opinion, the biggest failing of all the website base programmes such as those offered by Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch.

It may sound complicated but it really isn't.

All a plugin does is to add some additional functionality to Family Historian. Often this is to speed up or enhance data entry / checking.

Something to try is to choose an individual in Family Historian and providing you have the FindMyPast hints turned on you should see a green circle with a number in it. Click on that and it will take you to FMP and you can then choose the appropriate record and download the image and save it within the Family Historian project structure.

Take a look on YouTube there are several videos there on Family Historian and they may assist you too.

For Colin's advice about FH hints to work, you must have created a Project from your GEDCOM from FMP.
i.e. Did you use File > Project Window > New Project > Import a GEDCOM file or simply Open the GEDCOM file?

Your primary objective is to create an archive of your research for your children. Let me investigate the options with FMP and I will report back later this week. There are more issues to consider than I suspect you realise. The FMP terms & conditions and copyright must not be overlooked.

It is also not as simple as 'put it on a memory stick' because even GEDCOM is not a universally standardised format, so you must consider how easily the data might migrate into other genealogy products. As you have just discovered it is not as easy as it should be. One answer is to print it all out, but then if any of your children want to take the research further they would have to key it all in again from scratch.

You have come across, in my opinion, the biggest failing of all the website base programmes such as those offered by Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch.

Just to add to Colin's comment, there is of course a good commercial reason for making it difficult to transfer your tree and all the images. This helps to ensure that you will keep paying the annual subscription to Ancestry, FMP, etc, so that you can keep adding to your tree rather than using a computer based program such as Family Historian, where you keep control of which provider you subscribe to, if any.

By making it "difficult" those companies that charge for indexes and images ensure that they have a regular income stream.

Brian

Thanks for the advice. I have considered the point raised, that of course each product wants you to spend money, they certainly dont want you to leave and take your information with you. I may have to download each media file from FMP as a pdf to then save on FH, but this would be a massive task as each person has up to anything between 5 and 10 items attached.

OK Ruth, I've performed a few experiments, and have a few ideas for you to consider.

Firstly though, can I explain a little about the shareability of data.
If data is in a suitable format then it is easy to transfer, but if not then it gets difficult, as perhaps you are discovering.
Remember Betamax and VHS video recorders that were incompatible?
Think about transferring data from a Windows PC via a USB memory stick to an Apple iPad ~ it is not easy partly because most iPad do not have a USB socket and partly because many Windows files are not compatible with Apple IOS.

In order to share your family tree data with your children, you need to consider suitable formats.
One advantage of the Internet and Email is their shareability.
The same websites work on Windows PC, Apple Mac/iPad/iPhone, Google Android tablets, etc, etc.
So your FMP family tree is perhaps already more shareable than you realise.
The first step is to ensure your Family tree > Tree settings have Public tree ticked.
Secondly your children can create a FREE FMP account using just their name and Email address.
You then send them the URL from the address bar at the top of your browser window when displaying your Family tree.
e.g. https://tree.findmypast.co.uk/#/trees/d ... 423/family which is mine.
They copy that URL into the address bar of their browser (on any device) when signed into their FREE FMP account.
They can see your tree (except for living people) and much of your Media but not the actual transcripts.
If they subscribe to FMP then they can see the actual transcripts.
In the longer term, when you no longer need it, you could hand-over your FMP subscription account to one of them.
You can still export your GEDCOM from FMP as a backup copy that can be uploaded to FMP and probably get the Media links back, or given to your children, who with a FMP subscription account should be able to do much the same. However, some of the finer points of this route need further investigation.

That may be a more suitable strategy than trying to transfer your family tree to a PC based product such as FH, because unless your children also intend to use the same product, they may be faced with a similar challenge to transfer it to another product. What you may not realise is that GEDCOM is not as universally standardised and supported as it should be, and every product adds customised data that often does not transfer to other products. So unless you restrict your tree to using a core subset of GEDCOM that is widely supported, then there will be transfer challenges.

If any of this makes no sense, or you want to explore some of the options, then just ask.

Hi Mike, thanks thats really helpful and makes a let of sense to me now. I am going to make sure my settings are on public and save the URL's.
I think I may still use FH as it seems to have lots of great user friendly resources such as combining and splitting trees which you cant do on FMP, also more pleasing on the eye ways to print out to pass on to people. I will initially keep both running and slowly update records.
In terms of direct descendants I think I have run the course with most of my lines, so it will mostly be a case of filling out detail and adding and updating media.
I think that whatever course I take in terms of sharing the information there is always the risk that in a few years down the line that technology will have moved on again and my family may not in fact be interested but it keeps me busy.
I have watched some of the FH videos this afternoon which have been really helpful as well. I assume that when I buy the real thing that the work I have already done will still be there. Haven't found the answer to that one yet.

I'll try and deal with your points.

Firstly, if you plan to keep your family tree on more than one product (i.e. FMP and FH) then you need to establish one as the master database and update the other from that master. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time entering the same data twice. There are FH tools that allow its database to migrate to many other products, but as you have discovered the reverse is not so easy. For example see the list of target products in plugins:help:export_gedcom_file:output_formats|> Export Gedcom File ~ Output Formats.

You are astute to recognise that the technology may well move on and offer different opportunities in the future.

When you buy the FH licence, very little changes. The 30-day limit is removed, and Plugins are supported.
The program and all your family data remain intact.

I presume you have been studying the how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers topics, starting with the documentation and tutorials.