I have had FH for sometime now but have largely given up on it. I am reasonably au fait with many software applications on the market but FH has me very frustrated at times despite having attended two beginner courses at the Soc. of Genealogists in London. Unfortunately, I suffer form vertigo which means the time I can spend on the computer is limited. I don't want to have to spend hours trying to get to grips with 'Help'.
1. Wher is 'Save As' in the File menu? I want to be able to save to a folder of my choice. Same with back-ups. I don't want a whole series of back-ups
2. I cannot move boxes around as I would wish. For a family gathering recently I had to physically cut and paste cut outs from printed sheets onto a larger sheet of paper and achieved the desired layout, but it did not have a professional look.
3. I inadvertently double entered a cousin. Can I get rid of his double? - can I heck! Hide him - yes, but not get rid of the double.
I could go on.
I have more recently used Ancestry co.uk on-line and find this much easier and more flexible.
However, I will persevere a bit longer but not too much longer.
Regards
Mike Miller
* Frustration with Family Historian - All versions inc 5.
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thermalflyer
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Jane
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Re: Frustration with Family Historian - All versions inc 5.
Assuming you are using a Project, to copy a project go to the Project window and select the Project and then More Tasks>Copy Project.1. Wher is 'Save As' in the File menu? I want to be able to save to a folder of my choice. Same with back-ups. I don't want a whole series of back-ups
If you are using a GEDCOM file only, select File>Gedcom Tasks>Save As
I am not sure what you mean by this a more detailed example would help. Where you using the Move Box Tools? what were you trying to move.2. I cannot move boxes around as I would wish. For a family gathering recently I had to physically cut and paste cut outs from printed sheets onto a larger sheet of paper and achieved the desired layout, but it did not have a professional look.
If you mean the box appears twice, but you have a single record then this is by design as he logically appears in two places on your chart. If you mean you have two records then you just need to use the Edit>Merge option to combine the records.3. I inadvertently double entered a cousin. Can I get rid of his double? - can I heck! Hide him - yes, but not get rid of the double.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
Re: Frustration with Family Historian - All versions inc 5.
I would strongly recommend that you persevere with Family Historian, as it is by far the best family history software available on the market. I recently switched to using a Mac, and was horrified to find that there is no Mac version. I tried the best Mac alternative (Reunion) and after using that for a while I can say that there is absolutely no comparison. I have had to pay extra for software just to allow windows programs to run on my computer - just so I could use FH.
Using a family history program is not like using other software and does take some getting used to. For example, you say "Where is Save As?" Why would you want a "Save As" facility. I have two projects, one for my family and one for my wife's. If I open my family tree, and make amendments, then I want to save it back to the same file - not some other file - so Save As is not needed.
If for some reason you don't like the default location of the database file you can move it anywhere you like. I moved mine to my Dropbox folder. You can tell FH to use that as your default Project, and hence location.
You say you do not want a number of backups. Why? Having a few different backups available has saved me on a number of occasions when I had to reset my tree back to a former state. Still, if you don't want them, you can tell FH not to prompt you to make them in Preferences.
Finally you say you cannot spend long periods at the computer. Can I suggest as an alternative that you buy a copy of "Getting the most from Family Historian 5", which is in effect a manual for the use of the program. There is a link on this website to buy it (although since the redesign I can't find it!). If you are using an older version I believe there are similar books available to buy or download.
Using a family history program is not like using other software and does take some getting used to. For example, you say "Where is Save As?" Why would you want a "Save As" facility. I have two projects, one for my family and one for my wife's. If I open my family tree, and make amendments, then I want to save it back to the same file - not some other file - so Save As is not needed.
If for some reason you don't like the default location of the database file you can move it anywhere you like. I moved mine to my Dropbox folder. You can tell FH to use that as your default Project, and hence location.
You say you do not want a number of backups. Why? Having a few different backups available has saved me on a number of occasions when I had to reset my tree back to a former state. Still, if you don't want them, you can tell FH not to prompt you to make them in Preferences.
Finally you say you cannot spend long periods at the computer. Can I suggest as an alternative that you buy a copy of "Getting the most from Family Historian 5", which is in effect a manual for the use of the program. There is a link on this website to buy it (although since the redesign I can't find it!). If you are using an older version I believe there are similar books available to buy or download.