* Emailing a Family History project file

[WBFamHist]

I have tried to send a Family Historian project file to a relative in New Zealand but he cannot open it. See comment below.

"the file comes through as a Family Historian Project file (fh_proj), but even then I can't import or open it even with the Family Historian software.".

How do I convert this to a normal GEDCOM file so that he can open it.

[jbtapscott]

I would stand corrected, but I think the Project file is just a "header" file with some info in it. You would need to send the "main" Gedcom file which normally sits in the [project name].fh_data folder.

[Jane]

It's probably best to send a Family Historian Full backup, as this will include any media you have attached to the Project, alternately use the File>Export>Gedcom option to export a gedcom file, this has the advantage you can select the people you want to send to your cousin (I typically send All relations of the person I am sending to).

[LornaCraig]

I'm assuming your cousin has FH v4 or later? Earlier versions did not support the project structure.

Did you send your entire project or only the .fh_proj file?

As Brent Tapscott has said, the .fh_proj file alone will do nothing (it is probably only 1kb!). You would need to send the entire project folder which will include the .fh_data folder, and a Public folder as well as the .fh_proj file. However if you have a very large number of media files in the Media folder (within the data folder) it may be too big to send by email in that form. A zipped full backup will be smaller but the whole project may contain information not relevant to your cousin. As Jane suggests, the best course may be to use the Export > Gedcom option so that you can exclude any relations not relevant to your cousin.

[tatewise]

WBFamHist, please use the User Control Panel at the very top of this web page, and on its Profile tab set your Family Historian Version so it appears to the right of your postings.

I have moved this thread to the General Usage Forum, because it is nothing to do with Importing and Exporting from/to other genealogy products.

As has been said, you need to send the whole Project, but both you and your relative ideally need to be using the same version of Family Historian. Furthermore, if you want to explore your data using the same custom settings then other folders need to be sent too.

See how_to:v4:understanding_projects|> Understanding Projects and in particular the Project Structure.

P.S.
It may be easier to share the Project via the cloud (Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, etc).
The advantage is that only changed files are up/downloaded on both your and your relative's PC, and you only need to exchange/update what you want to.