Reinstalling REUNION

[martha]

Due to the various problems that keep cropping up in my computer using Tiger and Reunion, it was recommended by someone on this list that I reinstall Reunion from the disc. I got ready to do that when I suddenly realized that I really don't know what that would do. So I have several questions:

1] Will reinstalling Reunion not cause me to have two copies of Reunion on my computer and won't it gum up the works even more?

2] If Reunion is smart and already will know that I have an existing copy of Reunion, will it remove the old copy and preferences?

3] Will I have to reset all the preferences, or when I reimport my family files, will they automatically be set?

4] I have backed up my family files, and just need to know what happens next.

Thanks for your patience! I get the heebee jeebees everytime I think that something untoward might happen to my genealogy files, backed up or not!!

Martha [in Israel]

[David G. Kanter]

Due to the various problems that keep cropping up in my computer using Tiger and Reunion, it was recommended by someone on this list that I reinstall Reunion from the disc.You may be referring to my post #6 to your thread ReunionTalk > Using Reunion 8 > Problems with Reunion on Tiger (http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=517). Even though I now know you haven't moved from a pre-OS X installation, there's be no harm in following all of those prior instructions (e.g., Repairing Permissions, moving your whole Reunion 8 folder to your Desktop, etc.). In some aspects it's overkill and involves extra steps, but that might make you feel more comfortable.

I got ready to do that when I suddenly realized that I really don't know what that would do. So I have several questions:

1] Will reinstalling Reunion not cause me to have two copies of Reunion on my computer and won't it gum up the works even more?It all depends on where your current copy of the Reunion program is located when you run the installer. If the program is in the default location (i.e., in the Reunion folder at the top level of your Applications folder), the installer will overwrite it with whatever version of Reunion 8 is on your CD--even if what's on the CD is an earlier version. (If you moved your current Reunion 8 folder to your Desktop, then the installer will install a new Reunion 8 folder at the top level of your Applications folder with the new copy of the Reunion 8 application.)

2] If Reunion is smart and already will know that I have an existing copy of Reunion, will it remove the old copy and preferences?

3] Will I have to reset all the preferences, or when I reimport my family files, will they automatically be set?As noted in the prior answer, it will remove the old copy if it is in the default location, but if you had moved the old Reunion 8 folder to the Desktop, once that installation is done, you can trash the version of the application that is in the folder you moved to the Desktop (and empty the Trash) so the newly installed versions is the only one left on your computer. As for "preferences", it does not remove the Options you have set for a Family File--they are saved in the Family File. (You've likely seen that if you go to Reunion->Preferences, you are, instead, referred to the Options menu--which apply to the Family File that is open. The manual does identify one global preference—which Word Processor is your default; I suspect there may be a few more, but I doubt they'll be a significant issue for you.)

And I wouldn't expect you should have to do any reimporting. When you're all done with the re-installation (including, as noted below, any of the needed maintenance updates), you'd just double-click on your existing Family File (or single click if you have freshly put it on your Dock). That will launch Reunion and take you to the Home Card of that Family File. The only actions, if not already done, that you could do to possibly clean up any minor corruption in your Family File would be to Save a Copy->Type:Compact Copy (smaller) (the Index will automatically be rebuilt when you launch that copy) and then a File->Repair.

4] I have backed up my family files, and just need to know what happens next.While I don't know if you have any Multimedia items linked to your Family File(s), but if you do, they, too, should definitely be backed up before you do the re-install. That backup is a good idea, especially if you've put your Multimedia items in one of the default Reunion subfolders (e.g., the Pictures folder) which have been left in the Reunion 8 folder in your Applications folder as I don't know whether the re-installation would preserve any additional items in such default subfolders.

As noted in my above-cited earlier response to you, after the reinstallation from your CD, you may have to run one or both of the free maintenance updates (http://www.leisterpro.com/doc/Version8/Updatev8.html) to get you to the current version for OS X, v8.06.

David

[martha]

Thank you, David. You are always right there and so knowledgeable! A blessing on your head! I will be taking several deep breaths to clear this panicky feeling, and will reinstall following your instructions!

Martha

[martha]

Thank you, David. You are always right there and so knowledgeable! A blessing on your head! I will be taking several deep breaths to clear this panicky feeling, and will reinstall following your instructions!MarthaI finally took the plunge! I evidently really needed to reinstall, because suddenly all my multimedia files showed up on the cards. However, the problem with my not being able to use a number instead of writing out the date still baffles me. My Reunion date preferences are set to something like
28 Feb 1906 and it used to be that I could write 28 2 06 and it would automatically change it to 28 Feb 1906. But now when I use only numbers, it comes back with a notice that Reunion does not understand 28 2 06 and will take Feb 1906 as the sorting date. What do I need to do to correct this situation?

Martha

[SGilbert]

Martha, You need to enter: 28-2-06 or 28/2/06. Blank spaces won't work.

[S. Kennedy]

Martha, You need to enter: 28-2-06 or 28/2/06. Blank spaces won't work.

You can use spaces in Reunion but you have to customize in the system preferences for date and time. Just about any format that one chooses will work fine in Reunion. I replied off list to Martha as follows and she replied that they were set properly so I wonder if anyone else has trouble with Reunion accepting the custom date input in 10.4.

Quote follows:

"I am using 10.3 so I can't speak to 10.4 system preferences. However,
if you go the (system prefs /time and date / open international /
formats / customize ) you can set the numerical date formats that
the system will accept to whatever you want. Reunion will then only
accept the input in the format as set in system preferences."

"I have tried changing it back and forth from United States format to
United Kingdom format and it works just as expected in Reunion. I
think that it should work the same in 10.4."

I hope that someone can help Martha with this problem.

S. Kennedy

One thing I forgot. I believe that Reunion must be quit and restarted for preference changes to be recognized.

[David G. Kanter]

I evidently really needed to reinstall, because suddenly all my multimedia files showed up on the cards. Good to hear things, except for the date-entry issue, are now working OK. (Usually the disappearance or very-slow display of multimedia items that had been linked to people or families is related to not having the folder(s) containing those files added to Options->Multimedia->Multimedia Folders list and/or having folders that no longer contain your Multimedia items still in that list. [Note: If you've used subfolders within a folder to organize your Multimedia items, you only need to have the enclosing folder—the one containing those subfolders—in the list.])

However, the problem with my not being able to use a number instead of writing out the date still baffles me. My Reunion date preferences are set to something like 28 Feb 1906 and it used to be that I could write 28 2 06 and it would automatically change it to 28 Feb 1906. But now when I use only numbers, it comes back with a notice that Reunion does not understand 28 2 06 and will take Feb 1906 as the sorting date.You can use spaces in Reunion but you have to customize in the system preferences for date and time. Just about any format that one chooses will work fine in Reunion.
Quote follows:

"I am using 10.3 so I can't speak to 10.4 system preferences. However, if you go the (system prefs /time and date / open international / formats / customize ) you can set the numerical date formats that the system will accept to whatever you want. Reunion will then only accept the input in the format as set in system preferences."…I believe that Reunion must be quit and restarted for preference changes to be recognized.What S. Kennedy recommended worked for me with Reunion 8.06 under Mac OS 10.4.2. Note: I did that as just a test because in the past my Quicken program was very unhappy if the Short Date format wasn't mmddyy. So if you make a change, your mileage may vary with regard to any adverse effects on other programs you have which are expecting a particular Short Date format.

As the Reunion Manual points out, the setting in Options->Dates->Format applies to how the dates will appear once they've been recognized by Reunion—and, indeed, Reunion appears to look to the System preference with regard to whether at least some date formats will be properly recognized. (In the Manual, search on "European" and the one item found will identify that dependence—although it doesn't do so fully in Tiger terminology.)

As S. Kennedy suggested, I went to System Preferences->International->Formats and in the Dates section clicked on Customize and then ensured the Show pop-up was showing Short. In my case, I found—left-to-right—ovals labeled "1", then "5", then "05". As the first two ovals—taken to be for day and/or month—appear the same, I had to click on each to select and then there was a pop-up menu which helped indicate which was which. I then dragged the "5" oval in front of the "1" oval and clicked the OK button. I then saw in the sample list that the Short version appeared as "5105", so I went back into Customize and added a space between each of the ovals (then clicking OK again) so the Short version then appeared in the sample list as "5 1 05". (This addition of spaces in the Short Date format is strictly a cosmetic change; it was not needed for Reunion to handle the numeric-only input and can affect how other applications interpret the Short Date for their purposes, so you may be better off without the spacing.)

I relaunched Reunion and then found it was happy to take an input of "28 2 06" and, with its own Dates Format set for "28 Jan 1980", then displayed 28 Feb 2006—without invoking the Custom Dates window.

[martha]

Good to hear things, except for the date-entry issue, are now working OK. (Usually the disappearance or very-slow display of multimedia items that had been linked to people or families is related to not having the folder(s) containing those files added to Options->Multimedia->Multimedia Folders list and/or having folders that no longer contain your Multimedia items still in that list. [Note: If you've used subfolders within a folder to organize your Multimedia items, you only need to have the enclosing folder—the one containing those subfolders—in the list.])Oh, that is nice to know, David! So I can remove the name of the subfolder and just keep the name of the general folder? Would that speed things up?...As the Reunion Manual points out, the setting in Options->Dates->Format applies to how the dates will appear once they've been recognized by Reunion—and, indeed, Reunion appears to look to the System preference with regard to whether at least some date formats will be properly recognized. (In the Manual, search on "European" and the one item found will identify that dependence—although it doesn't do so fully in Tiger terminology.)I am happy to say, that I messed with the dates for about an hour, but in the end it worked. I don't know what the problem was, because my computer was set to European dates. However, I had it set on custom. So, instead, what finally worked was to change the time to "European" and then I randomly choose Australia to set the pattern. That worked for Reunion! To summarize, even though my computer was set to display the date as 11 Sep 2005, Reunion did not accept it, I assume because it was set as a custom time. When I reset it as to a regional time: European, specific country:Australia (There is no Israel choice!), to convert to a date showing an abbreviated month, Reunion was happy and it worked. My computer's title bar doesn't look any different than it did before when I had chosen the custom date, so I am happy!

Thank you to David, S. Kennedy, SGilbert and Michael Martin for trying so valiantly to help! You were very patient with me!

Martha

[S. Kennedy]

To summarize, even though my computer was set to display the date as 11 Sep 2005, Reunion did not accept it, I assume because it was set as a custom time. When I reset it as to a regional time: European, specific country:Australia (There is no Israel choice!), to convert to a date showing an abbreviated month, Reunion was happy and it worked. My computer's title bar doesn't look any different than it did before when I had chosen the custom date, so I am happy!I'm glad the date problem has been fixed for Martha. I don't have time to investigate now but I believe the root cause of her problem is that the customize function will override the default for regional setting in effect when the customization is done. I believe this applies to only the regional selection in effect at the time but this I need to investigate further. It would be nice if there were a button to reset the default for any regional choice but I haven't noticed that. Sometimes, flexibility can be a problem.

[David G. Kanter]

So I can remove the name of the [multimedia] subfolder and just keep the name of the general folder?Yes.
Would that speed things up?Depending on just what locations Reunion knows about from your having linked multimedia items, it might.

But before you do anything further, I'd suggest you search the Manual for "multimedia folders" and then select the #3 item "MultiMedia, Multimedia Folders" to get to the full discussion on this subject. It clearly explains what Reunion is doing with regard to remembering file locations when you link a multimedia item, how it uses whatever folders are listed in Options->Multimedia->Multimedia Folders, and just what you should include in that list.

In my case, I have all my multimedia items organized within subfolders that, in turn, are all enclosed in just one folder. Therefore, I have just that one enclosing folder in my Multimedia Folders list. When I move from Family Card to Family Card, from the Index to a Family Card, from a Found List to a Family Card, etc., within my Family File—and it's a relatively big one—I can't detect any slow down at all. (I'm on a 1 GHz TiPB running OS 10.4.2.)