Index Chart for quick-family-view-report

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

 

The quick-family-view-layout-screenshot-report comes in handy when researching away from the computer. You can make notes right on the page. The report is also convenient by the computer when navigating using Ctrl-I instead of F2. Each screenshot report is numbered at the upper right, and the ancestor chart provides the index.

 

VIDEO - Making a repair:

After my Index chart was finished, I found an error in a box line. Rather than redo the line, I copied that area from an unedited chart and pasted it into my finished chart. This technique can come in handy.

 

First I reran the original report and then, with File/Open, opened my finished report in the same instance of VCF. Using Window/Tile I was able to see and manipulate both charts at once.

 

Sequence in the video:

1 - selected the problem box plus the gray number and used Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V to set them aside.

2 - selected the replacement box - making sure I had the cluster of connectors (the 'Rubik's cube' ) .

3 - used Ctrl-X to move and paste the new box into place. I could also have dragged the box from one chart to the other, but Ctrl-X is quick and less error-prone for me.

7 - replaced the number over the box.

8 - the new box is the wrong color, so I grabbed the color from the old box to color the new one. How to do this is explained in the Palette thread here.

9 - deleted the vestiges of the problem box/line.

 

VIDEO - The numbers:

This video shows how to make the numbers in the Index and use Properties (rightclick on number box) to change the font size and color, and make the fill and lines transparent so they do not impinge on the chart box. Tip: after you make the numbers, you can copy them to your own Palette (boilerplate chart) for future use.

 

VCF tips:

Box charts do not appear as thumbnails in Windows Explorer, so you have to open the chart in VCF to identify it. If you export the finished chart as a .jpg and give it the same name as the chart, you effectively have a thumbnail.

 

The font in this index chart is Lucida Handwriting. It looks cleaner in the finished chart than in the jpg and can help dress up an otherwise bland chart. I think the font default spacing between words is too close in this font, so I added a space between each word in the title.

 

Some options in the index (Ancestor) chart:

Orientation - Left to right

Box width - 88 pixels

Use Accents

No shadow

Text Tahoma 8

Include ID and Lifespan

 

Enjoy VCF (charts aren't just for walls) -

 

Virginia

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

 

Variation of a layout-screenshot-report - in portrait orientation. This is done by inserting screenshots of each layout window into a VCF chart. Page number is at lower right.

 

This technique can be used to insert photographs or other images in a chart canvas or to create a photo montage. The icon for inserting images is on the drawing toolbar in VCF and looks like this:

 

After selecting the image from the list of files, click a location on the chart to insert it.

 

You do not need to be in TMG or have to make a chart first to use VCF in this way. I have a shortcut on my desktop to the vcf.exe file. This opens to a blank chart and can be used for something like this or for editing older charts.

 

Virginia