Projects vs Data Sets

[thelma 0]

I have 2 Projects....HEALEY is for my paternal ancestors and LYONS is for my maternal ancestors. Each project has a number of the same people...for instance: myself, my parents, our children. I want each of these people to print out identically in an Individual Detail report which will include Endnotes and Bibliography...i.e., same names, same tags, same sources, same citations, same memos, same repositories, SAME EVERYTHING. Trying to get one person in the first project project to be identical to that person in the other project has been a huge, time consuming job. How can I accomplish that? Can I copy my father, for instance from the HEALEY project to the LYONS project?

Can I make the LYONS project a Data Set in the HEALEY project? What CAN I do? I really need sound, knowledgeable advice.

Edited July 1, 2006 by thelma

[Terry Reigel 0]

I think it is generally a bad idea to keep multiple projects. There are several reasons, the first of which you've just explained. You end up with the same people in both, and it's difficult to keep the information about them up to date in two projects. Another is that you can't create ancestor report or charts that include both lines - for example you can't create a complete ancestry of your children.

 

If you create any custom tag types, source types, styles, etc., it's a chore to put them in both Projects and keep them the same in both.

 

You could put both data sets in one project. But that really doesn't help with any of the above issues. The two advantages are you can copy people between the two, and you don't have to close the project to work with the other line.

 

My recommendation is to put everyone in a single data set in a single project. If you want to keep the two lines clearly identified, create a "related-by" flag and use it to control Accents. The result is each line is color-coded for easy recognition.

 

If you want to do that, you first merge the two projects, which creates a project that has both data sets in it. Then, merge the two data sets. Finally, connect the two lines and delete or merge the duplicate people.

 

For details on mergeing projects, data sets, and people, seem the articles on those topics on my website (link below). There are also articles on use of Accents and creating a related-by flag.

[thelma 0]

I think it is generally a bad idea to keep multiple projects. There are several reasons, the first of which you've just explained. You end up with the same people in both, and it's difficult to keep the information about them up to date in two projects. Another is that you can't create ancestor report or charts that include both lines - for example you can't create a complete ancestry of your children.

 

If you create any custom tag types, source types, styles, etc., it's a chore to put them in both Projects and keep them the same in both.

 

You could put both data sets in one project. But that really doesn't help with any of the above issues. The two advantages are you can copy people between the two, and you don't have to close the project to work with the other line.

 

My recommendation is to put everyone in a single data set in a single project. If you want to keep the two lines clearly identified, create a "related-by" flag and use it to control Accents. The result is each line is color-coded for easy recognition.

 

If you want to do that, you first merge the two projects, which creates a project that has both data sets in it. Then, merge the two data sets. Finally, connect the two lines and delete or merge the duplicate people.

 

For details on mergeing projects, data sets, and people, seem the articles on those topics on my website (link below). There are also articles on use of Accents and creating a related-by flag.

[thelma 0]

Thank you so much. Becuse of your excellent instruction, I was able to merge my two projects, and also then merge the two data sets. Next, I worked at merging duplicate sources, repositories and people. The combined project has 2462 people, 544 sources and 128 repositories.

Now I have noticed that some of the living people in the combined data set...for example myself and my three children (and probably more)... have a death date. I died in 1986..the year of my father's death, to which I am a witness. Our children each died in 1974, and each is a witness to my mother's 1974 death. How do I delete that death date for myself and others?

I wonder what other problems I should look for?

[Terry Reigel 0]

Where do you see the death date for yourself? In the list of tags, where your father's death tag appears with you as a witness, or elsewhere?

[thelma 0]

Thank you so much. Becuse of your excellent instruction, I was able to merge my two projects, and also then merge the two data sets. Next, I worked at merging duplicate sources, repositories and people. The combined project has 2462 people, 544 sources and 128 repositories.

Now I have noticed that some of the living people in the combined data set...for example myself and my three children (and probably more)... have a death date. I died in 1986..the year of my father's death, to which I am a witness. Our children each died in 1974, and each is a witness to my mother's 1974 death. How do I delete that death date for myself and others?

I wonder what other problems I should look for?

 

 

I see the death year up at the top of the details view. Name Martha.....(1930 -1986)

[Terry Reigel 0]

I've replicated that result - seems that the lifespan is incorrectly set by Merge-person. I'll report that bug.

 

In the meantime... file maintenance fixes it. Try "Verify File Integrity" under Maintenance on the File menu.

[thelma 0]

Thanks again. Validate File Integrity found and fixed 10 potential problems, including removing the death year from the 5 people on whom I had noticed the problem. My version is 6.08 and I will update to 6.09.

[Terry Reigel 0]

You're welcome.

 

Terry

[thelma 0]

Terry, I have enjoyed getting acquainted with my new merged HEALEY Project which is on my desktop Now, I need help learning how to accomplish the same thing on my laptop. I saved the above project to a Zip Lexar drive, and tried to restore that .PJC to my laptop. I Hoping I would not have to go through all the merge steps, I tried to restore the new HEALEY project to the laptop from the Lexar. but was not successful. Help, sir, again, please and thank you.

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Terry, I have enjoyed getting acquainted with my new merged HEALEY Project which is on my desktop Now, I need help learning how to accomplish the same thing on my laptop. I saved the above project to a Zip Lexar drive, and tried to restore that .PJC to my laptop. I Hoping I would not have to go through all the merge steps, I tried to restore the new HEALEY project to the laptop from the Lexar. but was not successful. Help, sir, again, please and thank you.

 

Hi, Thelma -

 

I'm not Terry , but I wondered if you got an error message when you tried to restore to the laptop or just nothing happened?

 

Was it a backup .sqz file that you saved to the Lexar? You might try copying the .sqz file from the Lexar to the laptop hard drive and Restore from there. Occasionally there are problems restoring directly from a jump drive.

 

Virginia

[Terry Reigel 0]

Terry, I have enjoyed getting acquainted with my new merged HEALEY Project which is on my desktop Now, I need help learning how to accomplish the same thing on my laptop. I saved the above project to a Zip Lexar drive, and tried to restore that .PJC to my laptop.

Glad to hear that the merge did what you wanted, Thelma.

 

You can't just copy the pjc file - that's just the tip of the iceberg of what you need. The pjc file is just a small thing with a few vital records about your project - it contains none of the actual data. The project consists of 20 to 30 file with the same name as the pjc file but different extensions. You could copy all those to your laptop, but there is a better way.

 

On the desktop, do a Project backup - that copies all the needed files into a single sqz file, and compressed them while it's at it to make them smaller. Then, copy the sqz file to the disk. Take it to the laptop, and now "Restore" (from the file menu) the project from that file.

[thelma 0]

Hi, Thelma -

 

I'm not Terry <g>, but I wondered if you got an error message when you tried to restore to the laptop or just nothing happened?

 

Was it a backup .sqz file that you saved to the Lexar? You might try copying the .sqz file from the Lexar to the laptop hard drive and Restore from there. Occasionally there are problems restoring directly from a jump drive.

 

Virginia

 

Well, toward the end of each of the several times I tried the restore, it asked me if I was sure I wanted to continue and/or it asked me to make choices that I did not know how to make, and would not finish the restore. I knew I needed Terry's help to do it correctly. I'm always afraid I will endanger the information I have worked so hard to accumulate and record. And, you and he were both correct, i.e, it was a .sqz file I needed to use. I was able to accomplish my goal by following your directions. Thank you.

 

Glad to hear that the merge did what you wanted, Thelma.

 

You can't just copy the pjc file - that's just the tip of the iceberg of what you need. The pjc file is just a small thing with a few vital records about your project - it contains none of the actual data. The project consists of 20 to 30 file with the same name as the pjc file but different extensions. You could copy all those to your laptop, but there is a better way.

 

On the desktop, do a Project backup - that copies all the needed files into a single sqz file, and compressed them while it's at it to make them smaller. Then, copy the sqz file to the disk. Take it to the laptop, and now "Restore" (from the file menu) the project from that file.

 

 

As you can see from my reply to Virginia above, you have helped me again, and I am so very grateful. Thank You. Thank you.

 

Should I aways use a .sqz file to update info on my laptop or may I use the pjc file when I'm just updating information re persons, sources, memos, etc?

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Should I aways use a .sqz file to update info on my laptop or may I use the pjc file when I'm just updating information re persons, sources, memos, etc?

 

As Terry mentioned, the .pjc file is just one file of many in your TMG project. It is a simple text file containing your project settings. The complete project including your data and indices is about 80 files. Each of the files begins with the project name. You can learn more about the TMG file structure on Lee's website:

 

http://www.tmgtips.com/dbnames2.htm

 

The best way to move or update your project is to Backup the project on one computer and Restore it on the other. The Backup file has the extension .sqz and contains all the project files compressed into one .sqz file. Restore decompresses the .sqz file, allowing you to open your project.

 

Virginia

[thelma 0]

As Terry mentioned, the .pjc file is just one file of many in your TMG project. It is a simple text file containing your project settings. The complete project including your data and indices is about 80 files. Each of the files begins with the project name. You can learn more about the TMG file structure on Lee's website:

 

http://www.tmgtips.com/dbnames2.htm

 

The best way to move or update your project is to Backup the project on one computer and Restore it on the other. The Backup file has the extension .sqz and contains all the project files compressed into one .sqz file. Restore decompresses the .sqz file, allowing you to open your project.

 

Virginia

 

Thanks, Virginia. Will do.