* Family Historian Synchronisation

[Mike Davies]

Hi all, can anyone help please. I've just upgraded my laptop to Vista 7 professional in order to accommodate V6 and bring it into line with my desktop. I thought I would take the opportunity to try and synchronize the two using dropbox as shown in the knowledge base but it doesn't seem to work. Any ideas as to where I'm going wrong?
Thanks Mike

[ColeValleyGirl]

Mike, many of us have it working just fine -- if you can give us more detail of how you've set it up, we'll be able to advise much better.

But some questions for you:

Do you have Dropbox working for other folders between your laptop and desktop?
Are you sure your FH projects are in the same folder within the 'Dropbox' folder on both machines?

[Mike Davies]

Hi Helen thanks for your reply. I set it up as per the instructions on the knowledge base " Family History Synchronisation" I have loaded a file of photos onto Dropbox from my desktop and can view them on my laptop and my iPad. I can also open the project in FH on both desktop and laptop but any changes on either machine are not shown on the other.
Also the project window shows no projects " No Family Historian projects found" and the location is C:\Users\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects on both computers yet FH opens ok on both with the correct project
hope you can help
Regards Mike

[tatewise]

What is the full path to the photos that synched ok?

You contradict yourself in saying FH opens Projects on both PC, but the Project Window says no Projects. How can that be?

Usually the Dropbox folder is in your Windows account, so the path would start C:\Users\<username>\...

[Mike Davies]

Hi Mike thanks for the reply. The path for the photos is C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox and the path for the project on the laptop and the desktop is C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\FH Project Backup - Davies GED copy - 2015-02-10 1233.zip
When I first started to try and synchronize the two computers there was not enough room in the drop box and in trying to make more space I inadvertently deleted my project and had to restore it from a backup made from my USB stick.
Hope this helps
Thanks Mike

[PeterR]

One enormous advantage of Dropbox is that it keeps a copies of deleted files on its server. Have you checked there for your deleted project?

[tatewise]

Mike, you are using a Backup compressed ZIP file!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And you do NOT have a Family Historian Projects root folder.
You have NOT followed the KB instructions to copy the Family Historian Projects folder.
No wonder it does not work!

Two postings ago you said the FH Project Window Location on both PC was:
C:\Users\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects
which from what you just described does not exist!

The following must be perfomed on one PC initially.

Create the FH root folder in Dropbox:
C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects

Then use FH File > Backup/Restore > Restore Backup and select:
C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\FH Project Backup - Davies GED copy - 2015-02-10 1233.zip

Ensure Location to Restore to is the FH root folder in Dropbox:
C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects

Use File > Projects Window > More Tasks > Project List > Choose Location for Projects and select:
C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects

You should now be able to open your Davies GED copy Project via the Project Window.

Wait for Dropbox to synchronise with the other PC.

Then on that other PC...
Use File > Projects Window > More Tasks > Project List > Choose Location for Projects and select:
C:\Users\Mike\Dropbox\Family Historian Projects

You should now be able to open your Davies GED copy Project via the Project Window on both PC.

HOWEVER, if your Project exceeds your Dropbox free storage, then you must either buy more storage, or use another synch tool such as OneDrive or Google Drive that both offer 15GB free storage.

[Mike Davies]

Thanks for all your help Mike and others. It's all working fine now I had the backup listed separately in dropbox and when I dragged it into the Family Historian Backups file your instructions worked.
Thanks for all your brilliant work.
A much relieved fan of FH and FHUG.
Mike