Working with multiple familyfiles

[Bjarne Tveiten]

I currently use 3 different Family Files, occasionally I use them simultaneously. I find data in one and punch into another after checking the source etc.

For each of these I have used Preferences-Folders to tell where the Family Files, multimedia etc are stored and to tell where I want to have Reports etc placed. Obviously, I do not want to mix the input and output data of the 3 different data sets.

Unfortunately, it seems that Reunion "thinks" that there should only be one location for data files. I find that the Preferences-Folder settings for one project have been changed to that of one of the others after I have defined the locations in the other and that indeed report files are written to the wrong location. Oddly enough the Family Files have never been mixed up.

I have used the setting File-Sharing status to tell each project where the multimediafiles are and that seems to stay correct.
To sum up:
- Preferences-Folders-Charts: The latest settings are used by all projects (leading to wrong file locations for output)
- Preferences-Folders-Import/Export: As for Charts
- Preferences-Folders-Reports: As for Charts
- Preferences-Folders-Family Files: The latest settings defined are kept, but seems to be ignored by the projects. Presumably they write to the Family File they opened.
- Preferences-Folders-Multimedia: Can use File-Sharing settings to override this setting which seems to last.

Am I doing something wrong or is there a way around this? Seems like an obvious thing to have different projects needing different file locations.

[Mark]

Hi Bjarne,

I find that the Preferences-Folder settings for one project have been changed to that of one of the others after I have defined the locations in the other...

The Folder Preferences settings are not specific to each family file, they are a system-wide setting. It's currently not possible to have different Folder Preferences for different family files.

I would suggest having subfolders for each project inside the folders set in the Folder Preferences. You can then open the appropriate subfolder when necessary - e.g., when you create a report the save window will display the subfolders, and you can select the appropriate one for the current project and save the report in there.

Sorry I don't have better news,

[Mikeatblueoak]

Why not have an option for "relative paths" for the folder preferences? The key idea is that the locations of the different files (especially multimedia) which go along with a particular family file are found in locations on the computer which are relative to the location of that family file. So, for instance, if I have family1.familyfile13 in one place on my hard drive (such as in a family1 folder), Reunion would look for the images, etc., in a Multimedia folder in that same family1 folder. The avoids what software people call "hard-coded" paths, and makes things a lot more flexible to 1) keep files organized on a per-family-file basis, and 2) allow for a simple "zip" of the folder to share the complete family file/auxiliary files assembly with others.

I don't think this concept would be unintelligible to novice computer users if explained clearly.

By the way, I've been using Reunion for over 10 years and this issue has always annoyed me. Otherwise, I love Reunion!