Getting Started

Tips For New Users

These tips are deliberately kept short and concise. Before reading them, you should first read the Quick Start Guide accessible via the Help menu (or as a printed booklet if you bought a boxed copy of Family Historian, or on the Quick Start Guide web page).

There are usually several different ways of doing the same thing in Family Historian. This section describes just some of the basic techniques for performing standard tasks. They are not necessarily the best or the quickest. Different users use Family Historian in different ways - for example, some users work almost entirely with diagrams. Some prefer a more traditional forms-based approach. Others use a combination of the two. Over time you will discover how you prefer to work, and which techniques suit you.

The Basics

• Your genealogy data is kept in a Family Historian project. The first thing you need to do, before you can enter any data, is to create a project to put it in. Projects are created in the Projects Window (the first window you see when you open Family Historian). If you open a project the Projects Window will be closed. It will be redisplayed when you close the project again (click on Close Project on the File menu) or if you click Projects Window on the File menu.
• When you create a project you specify whether you want this project to be your default project - that is, to be loaded automatically each time you start Family Historian. You can change the default project (or opt to have no default project) at any time, in the Projects Window. If you have no default project, the Projects Window will be displayed each time you start the program.
• Family Historian provides a sample project. If it isn't already listed in the Projects Window, click on the More Tasks button and then on the 'Samples' submenu, click on 'Reset Sample Project'.  Use the sample project as a learning tool only. You can make changes to it if you wish, to try out new features you're not sure about (in fact, it's a good idea to do this), but do not store your own data in it.
• By default, changes to your project are saved automatically every few minutes (this is the Autosave setting which you can view and change in the Projects Window). You can also force changes to be saved at any time by clicking on Save on the File menu, or by clicking on the Save button on the main application toolbar.
• Within a project, your data is saved in a GEDCOM file.
• Within each project, you can have as many records for Individuals and Families as you like. They can all be related but they don't have to be. Some genealogists like to keep all their data in one project. Others prefer to have different projects for different families (e.g. one for your family and one for your spouse's family). It is up to you how you do it. Projects can be merged and split, so if you make a decision and later change your mind, that's not a problem.
• Remember to periodically backup your project in some way (e.g. to CD, DVD, or external hard drive, or perhaps to an Internet-based backup service) to protect you against hard disk failure, user error (your own mistakes), or other problems.
• If you already have genealogy data in another program, see Transferring Data into Family Historian for advice on transferring it.

How to Perform Common Tasks

To learn how to perform common tasks, see the pages in the How To... section. You are recommended to read How to Enter a Person's Name and How to Record Facts About a Person's Life.

Getting Started with Diagrams

Diagrams, in Family Historian, are used for browsing, navigation, and editing - as well as for creating wall charts. There are 4 standard diagrams that you can open at any time by selecting a record and then clicking on the appropriate button on the Main Toolbar. These are Ancestors , Descendants , Ancestors & Descendants , and All Relatives . Diagrams in Family Historian are interactive. For example, when you view a diagram, you will see that each branch of each diagram has expansion buttons - little circles attached to the branch line. Click on these expansion buttons to expand and close branches. You can hide or show expansion buttons by clicking on this button: on the Diagram Toolbar.

When viewing a diagram, double-click on any box to view the Property Box for that person (or select the box and click on the Properties button). Family Historian diagrams are dynamic. These means that if you make any change to the underlying data (e.g. change a person's name) the diagram will update immediately to reflect the change. Later you will see that diagrams can be used for diagram-based editing - for example, you can click-and-drag on boxes to add relatives.

There are many more commands on the Diagram Menu. That menu that only appears when you are viewing a diagram. Click on Options on the Diagram Menu to open the Diagram Options dialog, which gives you extensive control over almost all aspects of diagrams. Most options for diagrams can be changed on-the-fly - that is, if you make the change and press OK or Apply, the diagram will update itself immediately to reflect the change. In a few cases, the change may require the diagram to be rebuilt. Any option which cannot be changed on-the-fly is displayed in red. Don't forget to press the Help button in the Diagram Options dialog to get help on options.

As well as the four standard diagrams that you can access via toolbar buttons, there are also many more standard diagrams that you can access by clicking on View > Standard Diagram Types.

For more tips on using diagrams, see Diagrams and Charts subsection within the How To... section of the Help.

And Finally...

Don't forget to press the Help button, if there is one, to get more help. If there is no Help button, pressing F1 will usually also take you to Help that is relevant to whatever you are doing.  For more help options, see Product Support.