More Dialog Boxes...

Manage Autotext Dialog

The Manage Autotext Dialog can be accessed by clicking  Manage Autotext on the Tools menu.  You can also access it from the Note Window.  To do that, click Manage Autotext on the dropdown menu that appears when you click on the menu button  on the Note Window toolbar.

What is Autotext?

Autotext is re-usable text.  It is not part of your project data, but can be inserted into notes, within your project data.  To learn more, see Autotext.

What is Autotext for Plugins?

At the top of the dialog, you can opt to view either Autotext or Autoext for Plugins.  Autotext for Plugins is a special kind of autotext that is used by (and created by) Data Entry Assistants, which are a special kind of program extension called a plugin.  Typically this kind of autotext contains special codes used by the plugin that created it, which will be replaced with suitable values when the plugin is run.  For this reason, you are not likely to ever want to to insert this kind of autotext directly into a note in the Note window.  Occasionally, however, you may want to modify some aspects of the formatting and/or layout of Autotext for Plugins, to make the text conform to your own style and layout preferences. To learn more about data entry assistants, see Source-Driven Data Entry.

Some of the functionality that is available for ordinary autotext, may not be available for Autotext for Plugins (such as Import and Export).

Research Note Autotext

If you edit standard Research Note autotext (that is, autotext located under 'Research Note'), we recommend that you should always preserve the header section within the autotext.  If you create your own custom Research Note autotext, we recommend that you give it a similar header section too.  See Research Note Header for more details.

How to Safely Combine Standard and Custom Autotext

Autotext is a very useful feature, especially with Text from Source fields.  A number of autotexts are included with Family Historian (these are called standard autotexts), and users are encouraged to add your own autotext - especially Text from Source autotext - and to organise them into folders in whatever way is convenient and suits you.  Autotext you add yourself is called custom autotext.

There is potential issue however when standard and custom autotext are combined.   Over time, when new versions of Family Historian are released, we may include more standard autotexts, and may make changes to existing standard autotext.  This new autotext and changes to existing autotext will be installed when you upgrade to the new version.  When you upgrade, Family Historian will never delete custom autotexts or custom autotext folders you have created - but unless you take steps to avoid it, it is possible that autotext files could be overwritten.  Suppose, for example, you had created autotext called "Census 1901".  If by chance, a new standard autotext was created with the same name, in the same location, it would overwrite your autotext when you apply the upgrade, and your version would be lost.  We encourage all users to keep backups of all important data - including autotext.  However, you can also take steps to ensure that your autotext will never be overwritten when you upgrade.  Family Historian's standard text will never be located in a folder named 'Custom'.  So if you create a folder with this name, you can be sure that it will never be overwritten.  You could create a folder called 'Custom' within the 'Autotext' folder, if you wish.  Or you could create subfolders called 'Custom' within any existing folder, if you prefer.  Either way, you can be sure that your autotexts will never be overwritten by standard autotexts in the future.  A second solution however, is simply to use an underscore as the first or last character in the name of your own autotext.   Family Historian will never create any standard autotext with names that start or end with an underscore.  So by taking this approach, you can also guarantee that your autotext will never be overwritten by a Family Historian upgrade.

Icons

	Autotext 'root' folder
	Folder (standard or custom)
	Standard autotext
	Custom autotext

Buttons

Add	You can add custom autotext files or folders - you will be prompted to choose which you want to create.  The location for the new file or folder depends on your current selection.  If the current selection is a folder, the new file or folder will be created within the selected folder.  If the current selection is a file, the new file or folder will be created in the same folder as that in which the selected file is located.
Edit	Opens the Note Window in constrained mode (i.e. not as a floating window), to allow the selected autotext to be edited.
Clone	Clone - that is, create a copy of - the selected autotext.
Rename	Rename a selected autotext or folder.  If you rename a standard autotext, it will become custom autotext.
Reset	This command works with multiple selection.  You can reset the selected autotexts or folders.  Resetting custom autotexts is allowed, but has no effect.  Resetting a folder which has or had standard autotexts in it (a standard folder in other words), will reset all the standard autotexts, but will have no effect on custom autotexts in that folder or elsewhere.  Any deleted standard autotexts for a given folder will be reinstated when the folder is reset, as will any deleted standard folders.  Resetting a folder also resets all subfolders located within it (and any subfolders within them, etc).  So reset the root folder to reset all standard autotext.
Delete	This command works with multiple selection but all selected items must be located within the same folder.  You can delete both files and folders, but deleting folders only works if the folder is empty.  You cannot delete the root folder.  Also, if you delete a standard autotext or standard folder, it may be reinstated when you next apply an upgrade to Family Historian.  However, you can then delete it again if you wish to.
Import	Autotext can be shared.  Shared autotext is held in Autotext Collection Files.  It may be that someone has created a collection of Text from Source autotext that relates to your country, but which is not included as standard with Family Historian.  It might, for example, be available on the Family Historian User Group website, or elsewhere.  Once you have downloaded this file to your PC, you can import it into Family Historian.  Click on the Import button.  You will be prompted to select the Autotext Collection File to import it.  All Autotext Collection files store autotext that was originally held within a given folder (see Export below).  When you import, an equivalent new folder will be created in your environment, and the files (and any subfolders) will be imported into it.  If there is already a folder with the same name, the Import routine will modify the imported folder name very slightly to make it unique (e.g. by adding "(2)" on the end).  When you import, no existing files or folders are ever over-written or deleted.
Export	To export autotext, select the folder that it belongs to, in the list, and click the Export button. You will be prompted to specify the location and name of the exported file.