* Getting from the find record to focus person

[annball]

Hi there

I'm currently using 6.2.2 but am a former TMG user.

I have a lot of unattached people (witnesses, lodgers, visitors etc) and I am using the find record dialog a lot to find these people. I'm happy that they come up in the property box but how can I then also make this person become the focus person? Is there a setting or shortcut for this that I haven't found yet? I can't navigate to these people as they are unattached to my main tree.

Thanks in advance

Ann

[tatewise]

If by 'focus person' you mean make them appear in the Focus Window then click a Display in Focus Window button with the magnifying-glass icon. One is in the main toolbar top left next to Home button, and one is in the Property Box toolbar.

If you also want them to appear in the Focus Window when you open FH, or when you click the Home button, then make them the File Root by right-clicking their Focus Window box and choosing Make File Root.

BTW: In your other posting Age entry query (12923) you were advised to study how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers which includes the book Getting the Most From Family Historian and its Chapter 1. Getting Started with the Focus Window covers the above topics of the Home button and Focus button. Did you read that book?

Also the View > Standard Queries > Search for Orphans is a quick way of listing unattached people who each have their own Pool number.

[annball]

Hi there
Thanks for that. I've tried it and it works if I press the correct magnifying glass. I spent a frustrating time looking at the manual but couldn't find it. I knew someone would know.

Ann

[LornaCraig]

Ann,
When you say "it works if I press the correct magnifying glass" I guess you mean the one in the Property box works, but the one in the main toolbar is disabled. You said originally that you were using the "find record dialog", so I assume you are searching for the records using Edit>Find. If you locate the records this way the magnifying glass icon in the main toolbar will be disabled.

A better way to search for the records is to use the Individuals tab of the Records window, using the filters at the top. When you locate a record in this list you will find that the icon in the main toolbar works.

[tatewise]

I suspect Ann was actually clicking the lefthand vertical navigation bar Focus Window magnifying-glass icon that simply opens the Focus Window rather than changing the Focus Individual.

[E Wilcock]

I have had the same confusion about the magnifying glass icons.
Coming from TMG I too am used to working from the compete list of people.

Two questions about that list -
In FH I search for a person by typing in the first letter of one of their names. That seems to act as a filter and the filter is still in place when I return to make the next search.
In TMG typing in the first letters of a name did not register as a filter. It merely went to the desired position in the whole list. So when one returned to the list for the next search, one got back to the whole list.

Is there any way of lifting that filter in FH? So the default situation is to have the complete list?

The second question relates to the Focus person. I have no trouble in clicking the magnifying glass and making a person the focus person. And I am presented with their property box. But as I add their nuclear family, in FH I sometimes find I am typing data like birth date and place into the wrong person.

I cant work out how this happens? If I click on someone in the Focus window (to report this) , it seems always to open the Property box for that person. And I worked the whole day yesterday on data entry without it happening once.

But in my earlier data entry it did worry me a lot. And I may even have errors there.

The other thing that happens to me is that if (instead of clicking the magnifying glass) double click a name in the People list it brings up the property box for that person. And the view is of the people list with the property box alongside and I have lost the Focus window.

I had no idea how to get back to my normal view with the focus window beside the property box? And regularly had to close FH and reopen it. I now today realise all I had to do was click the magnifying glass.

But these have been my teething problems with the person list. In TMG clicking a person on that list took you to their main screen, i.e. Focus person. Is it possible to set FH so a double click will make that person the focus person? And bypass the magnifying glass?

[davidm_uk]

Is there any way of lifting that filter in FH? So the default situation is to have the complete list?

Just to the right of the filter boxes is a button called Clear, just click that and the filter is removed. If necessary then click the Individual Records column heading to resort the list by surname (ascending) or Alt click to sort descending. That sort method can be applied to any column in the Individuals window.

I don't know about the Focus window, I never use it.

[Valkrider]

The input boxes at the top of the individuals list is a Filter and AFAIK there is no way to do what you want.

However if you double click on an individual in that list it opens their property box as a floating box and if you click the magnifying glass in that floating box window it will take you to their Focus window. One additional click but it does what you want.

[DavidNewton]

In FH I search for a person by typing in the first letter of one of their names. That seems to act as a filter and the filter is still in place when I return to make the next search.
In TMG typing in the first letters of a name did not register as a filter. It merely went to the desired position in the whole list. So when one returned to the list for the next search, one got back to the whole list.

This behaviour is possible in the FH Records window. Probably best to have them in name order. Click on the first name (in fact any name will do) now type in fairly quickly the first few letter of the name. This will move the selection to the first name in the list beginning with those letters and does not filter the list at all.

David

[E Wilcock]

"Probably best to have them in name order. Click on the first name (in fact any name will do) now type in fairly quickly the first few letter of the name. This will move the selection to the first name in the list beginning with those letters and does not filter the list at all."

David - Thank you so much . That is great.

I havent learned how to paste in quotes from previous posts.

[E Wilcock]

Also I didnt know about the Alt click reversing the order. I need that to see the most recently added people.
Thank you so much.
I get annoyed with myself that it is taking me so long to find and remember these simple things.

[tatewise]

You may find how_to:remember_current_records_being_updated|> Remember Current Records being Updated useful.

[E Wilcock]

I also managed to recreate the situation where I type data into the property box of the wrong person.

It has to do with the Focus window. In that window a person's rectangle can be surrounded by a dark line. I guess that signifies they are the focus person.

But if you click on them a second time, the box background darkens too. If you click on his wife or one of his children, their box darkens and the property box opens for that person with the darkend box so one can move very quickly round the family, pasting in data, e.g. a census or address, if one wants to.

But if I return to a previously edited person in another family, it seems that the Focus window opens with a dark line round one person, and the property box alongside is open for a different member of that family. Since no name in the Focus Window is on a dark background , it is easy to type into the property box that has opened, assuming it is for the focus person.

This is my newcomer's error - but like confusion of the two magnifying glasses - it is something that happens.

[trevorrix]

You may find it easier to access the correct Property Box by double clicking the person in a diagram. That's what i do 98% of the time. I rarely use the Focus window.

[tatewise]

Yes, I can see how that can happen, but it reveals a flaw in the FH implementation of the Property Box, which I suspect may be at the root of the problem.

In Tools > Preferences > Property Box the Fonts for Text and Title are selected in the middle.
There is no problem with the Font selection for Text.

But the Font selection for the Title is only honoured if the Property Box is docked.

Since that default Font is Tahoma, 12pt, Bold the Name of the Property Box stands out.

But when the Property Box is floating the Font is small & grey so the Name is easily overlooked.

If that contributes to your problem then report it to Calico Pie.

@Trevor: If however, you did choose to open the Focus Window the above scenario would apply.
Anyway, the same scenario can apply to Diagrams too, if you use the Go Back/Forward buttons, the Property Box no longer matches the highlighted box in the Diagram and relies on the Title to identify which Individual is shown.