David G. Kanter
02 September 2005, 05:26 PM
In the thread ReunionTalk > Using Reunion 8 > Removing a Family File (http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=587), Ken [elkriverken] mentioned his approach to recording yet-to-be-connected mini-trees. I'd like to offer an alternative approach that I've found to be of value. Your mileage may vary.
During a search I will create a temporary Family File in hopes it would later fit in with other files I'm researching. In some cases it doesn't and was a dead end.I have many instances of mini-trees which look like they may be found to fit into my main family and offer my alternate way of dealing with them: Use "stranded" mini-trees within my primary Family File.
First, I do create a separate Family File for those mini-trees, but always create them as empty Family Files by doing a File->Save a Copy->Type: Clone (no records) from my primary Family File. That way the separate Family File has all the fields, Options, Views, etc., I've so carefully chosen as my primary Family File has evolved over time. I'm careful to give the cloned copy a name that's distinctively different from that of my primary Family File—usually a name related to either the person at the top of the mini-tree or related to from where I got the information. (That way when I look at the title bar of a Family Card, it's easy to confirm in just which Family File I'm working!)
I then enter the data on the mini-tree into the cloned Family File. I review and adjust to fit my data-entry protocols any data I didn't personally keystroke (e.g., information that was imported from a GEDCOM file) and ensure I have Sourced all the information.
Next I make a safety back-up of my primary Family File just in case I have any concerns about the effect of what I do next and need to get back to where I was before.
Then I import that cleaned-up mini-tree Family File into my primary Family File (File->Import/Export->Import Family File). In the Import Family File window, I chose "All People", enable all the options (Logs, Sources, & Multimedia Links), and choose to have a unique Flag assigned--one that will remind me from which separate Family File this data came. That mini-tree is now "stranded" (i.e., unlinked from my main family tree) in my primary Family File. Once I'm comfortable I have properly integrated that "stranded" mini-tree in my primary Family File, I move what had been its separate Family File to my collection of back-ups so it no longer appears in an Open dialogue at the same level as my primary Family File(s).
The primary advantage to me of keeping all the yet-to-be-connected mini-trees integral to my primary Family File is that all their names will, therefore, appear in the Index. That, in turn, makes it far easier for me to identify one of those possible relatives when I'm looking for someone with whom to make a connection to the main family. I've never found the added size of the Family File or the speed of various processes in Reunion to be significantly affected by having the most-often-only-slightly-larger Family File. And as those extra mini-trees aren't connected to your main family, they won't be in any reports or charts you create on your main family.
If I ever decide that one or more of those "stranded" mini-trees within the primary Family File is definitely no longer of interest in any way, it's easy enough to strip them from the primary Family File by marking them and then doing a File->Delete People->Delete Marked People. (Again, always first making a safety back-up copy of the primary Family File, just in case you mess up the stripping operation.) Marking just a mini-tree is easy as anyone in one of those mini-trees is Flagged with a unique Flag (if you did so as suggested above) and everyone in each mini-tree is linked just to that same mini-tree. The former is done using the Find Anything to locate and then mark from the list those with a specific Flag; the latter by going to the Family Card of anyone in the mini-tree, choosing to Mark Groups:Mark (Find->Mark Groups; click the field on a Family Card where the number of marked people is shown; or use the keyboard shortcut of Cmd[Apple]+M), selecting the "People Linked to. . ." option, and enabling the three options ("Unmark Everybody First", "Mark Spouses", and "Mark Current Couple").
And one more thought before you delete a proven-to-be-unrelated mini-tree: Recording for later researchers that a mini-tree which, at first blush, might reasonably be thought to be part of your family actually is not connected is important information that might save others from pursuing a line of research which you've shown (hopefully by careful sourcing) won't be profitable. (While proving a negative isn't usually practical, in the case of genealogy, you may well have shown that no near-generation connection exists between a mini-tree and your main family tree.)
David
During a search I will create a temporary Family File in hopes it would later fit in with other files I'm researching. In some cases it doesn't and was a dead end.I have many instances of mini-trees which look like they may be found to fit into my main family and offer my alternate way of dealing with them: Use "stranded" mini-trees within my primary Family File.
First, I do create a separate Family File for those mini-trees, but always create them as empty Family Files by doing a File->Save a Copy->Type: Clone (no records) from my primary Family File. That way the separate Family File has all the fields, Options, Views, etc., I've so carefully chosen as my primary Family File has evolved over time. I'm careful to give the cloned copy a name that's distinctively different from that of my primary Family File—usually a name related to either the person at the top of the mini-tree or related to from where I got the information. (That way when I look at the title bar of a Family Card, it's easy to confirm in just which Family File I'm working!)
I then enter the data on the mini-tree into the cloned Family File. I review and adjust to fit my data-entry protocols any data I didn't personally keystroke (e.g., information that was imported from a GEDCOM file) and ensure I have Sourced all the information.
Next I make a safety back-up of my primary Family File just in case I have any concerns about the effect of what I do next and need to get back to where I was before.
Then I import that cleaned-up mini-tree Family File into my primary Family File (File->Import/Export->Import Family File). In the Import Family File window, I chose "All People", enable all the options (Logs, Sources, & Multimedia Links), and choose to have a unique Flag assigned--one that will remind me from which separate Family File this data came. That mini-tree is now "stranded" (i.e., unlinked from my main family tree) in my primary Family File. Once I'm comfortable I have properly integrated that "stranded" mini-tree in my primary Family File, I move what had been its separate Family File to my collection of back-ups so it no longer appears in an Open dialogue at the same level as my primary Family File(s).
The primary advantage to me of keeping all the yet-to-be-connected mini-trees integral to my primary Family File is that all their names will, therefore, appear in the Index. That, in turn, makes it far easier for me to identify one of those possible relatives when I'm looking for someone with whom to make a connection to the main family. I've never found the added size of the Family File or the speed of various processes in Reunion to be significantly affected by having the most-often-only-slightly-larger Family File. And as those extra mini-trees aren't connected to your main family, they won't be in any reports or charts you create on your main family.
If I ever decide that one or more of those "stranded" mini-trees within the primary Family File is definitely no longer of interest in any way, it's easy enough to strip them from the primary Family File by marking them and then doing a File->Delete People->Delete Marked People. (Again, always first making a safety back-up copy of the primary Family File, just in case you mess up the stripping operation.) Marking just a mini-tree is easy as anyone in one of those mini-trees is Flagged with a unique Flag (if you did so as suggested above) and everyone in each mini-tree is linked just to that same mini-tree. The former is done using the Find Anything to locate and then mark from the list those with a specific Flag; the latter by going to the Family Card of anyone in the mini-tree, choosing to Mark Groups:Mark (Find->Mark Groups; click the field on a Family Card where the number of marked people is shown; or use the keyboard shortcut of Cmd[Apple]+M), selecting the "People Linked to. . ." option, and enabling the three options ("Unmark Everybody First", "Mark Spouses", and "Mark Current Couple").
And one more thought before you delete a proven-to-be-unrelated mini-tree: Recording for later researchers that a mini-tree which, at first blush, might reasonably be thought to be part of your family actually is not connected is important information that might save others from pursuing a line of research which you've shown (hopefully by careful sourcing) won't be profitable. (While proving a negative isn't usually practical, in the case of genealogy, you may well have shown that no near-generation connection exists between a mini-tree and your main family tree.)
David