Family Historian User Group

Can someone help me please!! I have bought a new computer which has Windows Vista and want to transfer all my Family Historian data onto it. At first I couldn't even get Family Historian to run , but think that that has been fixed with the free download. My problem now is that I can't transfer the data. How do I do it? Everthing I try isn't accepted. Also the files I tried to put on were zipped and I can't seem to unzip them. Is there anyone who might have a solution?
Kate Howarth-Brown

ID:2313

I presume you have already used the windows tool to move all you documents and settings from the old computer?

If so if your files were in there they should all be across.

If you are using the .Zip files created by the FH backup, you need to use the restore with in FH to restore it.


You might also want to check out the How To in the Wiki for moving to a new computer.

[wiki]how_to:move_settings[/wiki]

Jane
I've just transferred all of my Family Historian data to a new laptop running Windows Vista. It all went very smoothly and I thought I'd cracked it completely when I realised that my all of my custom queries have not been transferred. I have checked all of the folders within Documents and Settings and also the Program Files but I still can't find out where they are on the system in order to transfer them. Do you have any suggestions??

did you check out the folder as detailed in the How To? you need to make sure you have changed the folder settings to show hidden folders.

can you not just export them on one computer and re-import? That's how I work with my laptop

Thanks for your reply Jane, but I still couldn't find the files. I have exported the queries as RalfofAmber suggested.

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Hannah,


On your original computer
Make sure you are signed on as an Administrator.
Go to My Computer
Select Documents and Settings
Select All Users
If you do not see a folder called 'Application Data' then Select tools folder options, then the View Tab scroll down the list and make sure 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' is selected.

You should then be able to see the Application Data Folder.

Have found all the folders but which particular one do I need to copy?Is it just the Calico Pie or Family Historian or something else?[question]

You can copy all of the Calico Pie folder or just the sections you want. If you look they have names like Queries/custom

Might be worth noting that under Vista there is a new C:Program Data (or something similar) which is a bit obscure to find the first time, but FH puts itself in there when you install. I found this out when I was looking for the icon directory[smile]

Just to expand on RalfofAmber's comment. Program Files still exists in Vista and is still where Family Historian is installed. However there is a also now a folder ProgramData which I believe is what used to be Documents and SettingsAll UsersAppdata . This is where Family Historian saves things such as custom queries, diagrams, fact types, flags, reports, etc.

I'll update the wiki article mentioned by Jane to mention this.

Nick

Thanks for your help Jane, I found the custom queries and was able to transfer them over to my laptop in one go.  

Thanks also to RalfOfAmber and Nick for telling us where they should be filed on Windows Vista (I actually think that Program Data is a better name for the file than Application Data).

Family Historian is now working a treat and I'm loving Windows Vista!!

Now i'm worried - have just bought a new computer with vista (which, incidentally has been returned for mending for the 2nd time and I still havent been able to use it!). My old one is completely dead but luckily I email my gedcom to myself every few weeks. I imagined I would re install FH and updates, load gedcom and my pics (for photo links) and all would be normal again. So will stuff be missing? Will I have to re do all the flags? Will the links still be there? If anyone could advise would be grateful[confused]

Will I have to re do all the flags? Will the links still be there?

Links to external file will be broken if you have not got the photos, if you have them backed up separately, you can use the Work with external file links to mend the links.

Flags are stored with in the gedcom, but you may need to reinstall any additional icons you downloaded from here or else ware.

There are a couple of articles on moving FH to a new computer and a backup guide in the Knowledge Base.

[smile] Thank you Jane. Have just got back online. All seems ok.

Hi All
I have just had to move all my files and photos to a new PC and I have hundreds of photos that have been 'unlinked' even though they are all in one folder on the new machine. I have seen some of the earlier replies but still don't understand what working with external files and links means. What specifically should I do to re-establish the photo object links on the new pc? Many thanks. [confused]

If you have moved all your files onto a new computer and it is not exactly the same directory structure then FH will not be able to find the multimedia files. What you need to do is guide it to the place where the files are. To do this open up the Work With External File Links (WWEFL) dialog by selecting it from the Tools menu. You will then see a folder structure similar to what Windows Explorer can show.

To update the location of the files, select the lowest folder name where your files existed. If they existed in C:Documents and SettingsJonMy DocumentsMy Family TreePhotos then you would select the Photos name and then click on the 'Move...' button. You'll be prompted for the new location which you browse for and select. At this point you should note that you need to select the name of the folder that will contain the new folder. In other words, if your destination is C:My Family TreePhotos then you would select My Family Tree and not Photos.

If the name of the last folder doesn't match that on the disk, e.g. it's now called Photographs rather than Photos, select the folder name in the WWEFL dialog and press the 'Rename...' button.

You can also move or rename individual files by selecting a file rather than a directory name.

Hopefully I've explained it! It's does take a bit of getting used to as it's not intutive.