* re-ordering children not working...

[fhtess65]

I'm trying to get the children in a family to re-order, but even though the dates are clear, when I click on the gear and select Sort Family & Events in Date Order, it then tells me that there's nothing out of sequence. Yet there are.

In the Bishop's Transcripts I found a second child by the same name in a family who'd been born and died before the one I had already entered. Obviously, I now need the one who died to move up, but FH seems to think she's not out of sequence. Am I missing something? Or is this a bug?

PearceBesterFamily.jpg (132.92 KiB) Viewed 3511 times

Thanks.

[Gowermick]

Why the automatic sort isn’t working, I don’t know. But if you select Mary(1779), then use the Up arrow at top of the window, you can move her manually. This is my preferred method when adding an out of sequence child, it works every time

[fhtess65]

Mike,

Thanks so much! I'd never noticed that little arrow before (hand slaps forehead). Of course, the re-ordering should work, but hey, this is much faster.

Appreciate the quick response

Teresa

Why the automatic sort isn’t working, I don’t know. But if you select Mary(1779), then use the Up arrow at top of the window, you can move her manually. This is my preferred method when adding an out of sequence child, it works every time

[Mark1834]

I've tried to duplicate this possible problem, but as long as you select either of the parents or their family record before opening the cog menu (or just press F9, it's quicker) the sort works ok for me. I can't tell from your screen grab who the selected record is, but if it is one of the children, the sort will not work as they don't have any children to sort.

[Gowermick]

Mark,
From the screen grab, it looks like her father was selected, so as OP commented, it should have worked! Nevertheless, she has been able to sort the children correctly.

[Mark1834]

Mike, on my screen, I can’t tell which record is selected, they all look the same colour. Remember that the heavy black border around the father does not confirm selection, and the selected record is normally displayed with a contrasting background colour.

[Gowermick]

I agree, one of the flaws of FH, one is not too sure who is selected!
I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve added something, and found it added to wrong person

[mjashby]

I don't see that 'problem' at all. The selected individual is always highlighted on screen, i.e. their 'box' is significantly darker in colour compared with all other individuals visible, which seems clear to me. If all boxes are the same colour and shade, then no-one is selected.

[Mark1834]

As for me as well, so do Mike and the OP have a problem with their display settings so selections are not displayed clearly?

[ColeValleyGirl]

Or are the differing appearances due to customised colour schemed?

[Gowermick]

The confusion arises because there are two types of Highlight! used within FH
1. background colour Change
2. Black border

Seeing the black border gives one the false impression that the person is highlighted, why else give it a distinctive border?

[LornaCraig]

The dark border indicates who the Focus person is. So when you view the Spouses and Children tab the Focus person is one of the parents in the top section, but when you look at the Parents & Siblings tab the Focus person is one of those in the list of children. These two tabs look very similar and could easily be confused otherwise.

The dark(ish) background indicates who is selected and displayed in the Property Box. In the image in the original post there is no box with a dark backgound so whoever was displayed in the Property box it was not one of the people shown. (Although it could have been the parents' family record). So the OP was probably trying to re-order a different person's data.

You could of course use Tools>Re-order Out-of-Sequence-Data and that would re-order data in all records.

[fhtess65]

Mark,

I am pretty certain I was in Joseph, not Mary, but I just moved Mary back to her original position, and that appears to have been the case. I wasn't thinking of whose children needed re-ordering and just assumed anyone out of order would have been put into the correct place.

Thanks for pointing this out. So much still to learn!

Teresa (who will also plead only having had only one cup of coffee at the point - clearly needed more!)

Mike, on my screen, I can’t tell which record is selected, they all look the same colour. Remember that the heavy black border around the father does not confirm selection, and the selected record is normally displayed with a contrasting background colour.

[fhtess65]

Hi Lorna,

Thanks for the tip. And I had also tried Tools > Re-Order Out-of-Sequence data, but, because I was on Mary, rather than Joseph (without really thinking about it), that didn't work either. Or should it have, regardless of who was in focus at that point?

Teresa

The dark border indicates who the Focus person is. So when you view the Spouses and Children tab the Focus person is one of the parents in the top section, but when you look at the Parents & Siblings tab the Focus person is one of those in the list of children. These two tabs look very similar and could easily be confused otherwise.

The dark(ish) background indicates who is selected and displayed in the Property Box. In the image in the original post there is no box with a dark backgound so whoever was displayed in the Property box it was not one of the people shown. (Although it could have been the parents' family record). So the OP was probably trying to re-order a different person's data.

You could of course use Tools>Re-order Out-of-Sequence-Data and that would re-order data in all records.

[johnmorrisoniom]

Are all of the children's birthdates actually dates, and not date phrases (Just thinking outside the box here)?
A date phrase with no "interpreted as" portion, would not get sorted.

[LornaCraig]

Thanks for the tip. And I had also tried Tools > Re-Order Out-of-Sequence data, but, because I was on Mary, rather than Joseph (without really thinking about it), that didn't work either. Or should it have, regardless of who was in focus at that point?

Yes that should work on the whole gedcom file, regardless of who is in Focus or who is in the Property box. So if that didn't work either there must have been some problem with the way the dates were entered. As John has suggested, perhaps one of them was actually a date phrase (although it looks OK in your screenshot).

[fhtess65]

I'll double-check, but I generally don't use "date phrase".

I'll also try in another of my databases, and if it happens in that one as well, I'll open a ticket.

Thanks

Teresa

Thanks for the tip. And I had also tried Tools > Re-Order Out-of-Sequence data, but, because I was on Mary, rather than Joseph (without really thinking about it), that didn't work either. Or should it have, regardless of who was in focus at that point?

Yes that should work on the whole gedcom file, regardless of who is in Focus or who is in the Property box. So if that didn't work either there must have been some problem with the way the dates were entered. As John has suggested, perhaps one of them was actually a date phrase (although it looks OK in your screenshot).