My Reunion on the Mac since Lockdown in NZ is so slow in between data entry

[BeppieChick]

Hi

Hope everyone is safe and well. First of all I want to explain that I'm pretty savvy when it comes to computer stuff, so if my question sounds dumb, it's not because I am dumb, I am just perplexed as to why this is happening, so I give as much reason as I think might be causing this.

Since lockdown from COVID in New Zealand, about 3 weeks ago now, Reunion is really slow in between each data entry. As far as my brain can figure, it does not rely or use an internet connection for me to enter data. Yet... the only conclusion I can think of is the only change since 3 weeks ago, is 1. my data entry is very slow from entry to home screen, and 2. since lockdown the internet has slowed down a lot due to everyone being home and downloading, using it for whatever reason etc.

Other than the internet, could there perhaps be an issue with the software - maybe someone else has experienced this using version 12.0? I have about 8000 people in there, but one tree that I used to have had 30,000 people in it, so I can't imagine that people numbers would be affecting the speed of use. Yes I have photos of people, but once again, I did with the other larger tree. What other thing would be making this slow?

The computer I use is as per the attachment.

I would appreciate anyone helping me with this.

Thank you in advance.
Liz

[BeppieChick]

Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 10.42.47 am.png

[Deb]

I have a few suggestions...

1. Try turning off "Check for duplicates."

To do this, open your family file and choose Reunion > Preferences. Then, click on General in the Preferences window. And, finally, uncheck "Check for duplicates when adding new people."

2. Try rebuilding cache files.

This can be done by choosing File -> Rebuild Cache Files and clicking Rebuild.

3. Try turning off the option to identify relationships on the fly.

This can be done by opening the Relatives sidebar on the right. Then, click the Change button near the top and uncheck the box to "Identify relationships on the fly."

Note: I recommend trying the suggestions one-at-a-time, not all at once.

I hope you find something mentioned here helpful

[bbousquet]

You may also want to look at bumping up your iMac's memory from 8 GB to 16 GB. These 27-inch models have a small access door in the bac (or at the bottom edge) and it's a very inexpensive upgrade nowadays (not sure on the prices in NZ but it's under 50 CAD here). Since these models are usually stuck with a spinning (slow) hard drive, increasing the memory will help avoid using the hard drive for paging purposes.

[Bob White]

In addition to the good ideas above, I would also check for malware. Download the free version of Malwarebytes from https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/.

[BeppieChick]

Thanks Deb Stuller, Benoit Bousquet and Bob White - I will try one at a time, wait a week in between, (good advice Deb) and hopefully this will isolate what could be the issue. Appreciate all your help people! Benoit - I must admit I have been thinking of doing this for some time now (either that or buy a new one) because various websites are grunty to use and slow this computer down as well (vary rare but it does happen). Thank you all again!

Liz

[theKiwi]

Do you have your family file synched to an iPad or iPhone with DropBox?

If so, this could possibly be a factor if the changes aren't getting synched to DropBox as quickly as they could be./

Roger

[BeppieChick]

Do you have your family file synched to an iPad or iPhone with DropBox?

If so, this could possibly be a factor if the changes aren't getting synched to DropBox as quickly as they could be./

Roger

Hi Roger

No I don't - all I have is what is on my desktop computer, but thanks for the tip - Liz

[eric.vanbeest]

From my own experience, identifying relationships on the fly significantly slows down adding new people - irrespective of OS version or Mac model (although switching off turbo boost makes it even slower). This is most obvious when adding children using the Batch Entry mode in the Family window: Add new child… tick tick tick tick tick… OK ready for entry. That said, I'm sure this also has something to do with large family files.

Rebuilding cache files helps, particularly after adding a lot of new people. I do this after every 2000± persons. I also notice that quitting / restarting Reunion halfway the day (lockdown so nothing else to do) also helps a bit for whatever reason or it may be my imagination.

[BeppieChick]

From my own experience, identifying relationships on the fly significantly slows down adding new people - irrespective of OS version or Mac model (although switching off turbo boost makes it even slower). This is most obvious when adding children using the Batch Entry mode in the Family window: Add new child… tick tick tick tick tick… OK ready for entry. That said, I'm sure this also has something to do with large family files.

Rebuilding cache files helps, particularly after adding a lot of new people. I do this after every 2000± persons. I also notice that quitting / restarting Reunion halfway the day (lockdown so nothing else to do) also helps a bit for whatever reason or it may be my imagination.

Thanks Eric - I have done points 1 and 2 that Deb the technical support suggested, and this did nothing, so now I will turn this option off. When I turn that off, what do I have to do to show relationships of new ones - does that just happen when I open up it up the next time or is there something I do to update that?

Cheers
Liz

[Bob White]

From my own experience, identifying relationships on the fly significantly slows down adding new people ..............

I have read and re-read this sentence many times. My way of thinking is that I would only be adding a new person when I have already determined the relationship. So my first thought was that you are collecting names as fast as possible. But then I decided "nah" that's not it. And that I'm likely reading the words differently than your meaning.

Thus, could you expand on what you mean by "identifying relationships on the fly"?? Just trying to understand.

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

Bob, what Eric means is when you let Renunion calculate relationships on the fly (vs. when you specifically tell it to) it will slow down operations like adding people. It is not that he is determining a person's relationship after he has entered it.

[Bob White]

Thank you, Blaise. Obviously, I had not been to the Change button at the top of the Relatives in the sidebar -- for a long time. Apparently, Eric has many more records than I as I have had this "on" forever and notice zero effect on performance.

[bbousquet]

Thank you, Blaise. Obviously, I had not been to the Change button at the top of the Relatives in the sidebar -- for a long time. Apparently, Eric has many more records than I as I have had this "on" forever and notice zero effect on performance.

Well, my own database has 165000+ individuals so that feature got disabled a long time ago

[Bob White]

Easy to see why you turn it off. With 32 years of working on family history, I have about 3,400 individuals. And my Mac is super fast.