Oh dear. I am even more confused. Even though I have been using computers since the mid-80's and consider myself fairly tech savvy, sometimes I wonder what made me think I could successfully use and understand a program so robust as Legacy. I want to be very careful with what I do next, because I believe all my data was intact and in the places where I expected it to be just prior to entering the death information about my father-in-law a couple of days ago. So, I think that maybe if I ask my questions one at a time, I will better be able to understand what I need to do to move forward with a clear understanding (and if I need to manually re-enter the info about my FIL, that's no big deal). So, once I open the file that was up to date prior to the FIL data, THAT is the way I would want to save it, going forward.
I'm not even sure if I am making sense. But, at the foundational level, I need to know if what I have understood (and has worked for me) for years is correct (for v 6): I understood that Legacy saves data on the fly (while I am working and when I exit), automatically. It was my understanding that data saves in c:\Legacy\Data and that within that folder, the file is familytreewip.fdb. IN ADDITION to that, and as an extra precaution, when I exit, I am asked if I want to backup. I always understood that to be EXTRA backup--it is at that point that I name the file and point it to My Documents folder, and I name it with the date; it is a zip file. So, first I need to know if those two things are correct. (I have made myself a note, years ago, that if I ever need to reinstall Legacy, it would know to look on C:\Legacy for my data. That has always worked for me.) Meanwhile, I do not know how or when, there is a link on my desktop that I believe is basically a shortcut to my data, as when I right click on it, it says familytreewip.fdb. (A few years ago, when I had trouble getting Legacy 6 to work with my new Windows 7, someone in this group helped me....it may have been in that process that the link got put on my desktop. I have never used it to open Legacy--I have always used the software icon, to my knowledge.) It almost seems to me like there are two ways to access Legacy on my laptop: one, the Legacy 6.0 icon, which when hovering over, says, Location: Legacy (C:\Legacy) and then there is this link that is there that I have never knowingly used, that is labeled familytreewip.fdb but when hovering over says Type: Legacy Genealogy Software, 12.7 MB, and has today's date as the date modified (because I opened Legacy with that icon awhile ago when I realized it was there). While in Charting Companion, noticing that it was not using the most recent data about my FIL, I saw a reference to two locations for the data, one being my desktop. So now, if I open Legacy by clicking on the desktop link, it does have the most recent info about my FIL's death, but it does not have the information about my mother's death, two years ago. I do not want to merge data or do anything extreme, because I think all was well until entering FIL's data a couple of days ago. So, I could open the file from the C:\Legacy\Data location of the file, and then manually re-enter the FIL data. BUT before I do that, I need to understand where my data is going (how to I find the default location for my file), and I would then want to make sure I never use that desktop link again. I am so sorry that I cannot seem to express my question in a concise and reasonable manner. I so appreciate everyone's efforts to help me, I just don't like using something that I don't have at least a rudimentary grasp on how it works, in terms of data safety. I thought I had it, but sure don't understand what just happened! If anyone is brave enough to jump into my confusion again, I do truly appreciate it. Barbara Sent from my iPad > On Jan 24, 2016, at 2:45 PM, R G Strong-genes <rgstrongge...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Barbara, > Is the one on the desktop a folder or is it a link to your data folder? If > it actually a folder with just the familytreewip.fdb and user files > associated with that family file and it has the most current file > information then you can just copy all those files to your Data folder for > Legacy. Then open legacy and search for the file you want to open. Then > check your Legacy options and specify how you want to open legacy. It is > probably set to open the last file opened. When you are working on Legacy > the changes are always in the file you are working on where ever it is > located. So when it closes if it doesn't ask for a backup it will be the > same folder that you opened it from, if you happen to have that file in a > different folder and open it from that folder you will not see the changes > as they are actually in a different file. When you back up a file either by > requesting a backup or when you close and it asks for one make sure the path > is where you want it before you click save. The newer versions actually > append the date and time to the backup so if you have several with the same > file name you will know which is the latest backup. It is always best to > keep your working family files in the same location so you know where your > up to date files are. If you need to store them on another drive then I > would recommend just saving the backup file of it on another drive and when > you want to work on it then you can restore the family file to your working > directory. I use google drive and only store my backups to that drive. I > also store a copy of the legacy installation file, registration file, and > user files for Legacy in there own folders on the google drive. I have both > Legacy 7.5 and 8 on my computer so I have a folder for each version on the > google drive for the corresponding programs. > > If you have different updates to your family file in more than one folder > and you want to get them all into one file and they are copies from the same > family file then you should be able to use the intellishare options under > the find duplicates merge function. Open the oldest file and merge the > changed files into it. > > from the help file: > > Here is how IntelliShare works: > > Form a research group of two or more people. (Each must be using Legacy.) > One person in the group is designated as the "Keeper of the Records" (Keeper > for short). This person keeps the master Family File. Legacy automatically > marks all the records in the Master Family File with a serial number that > uniquely identifies each individual. The Keeper now sends a copy of the > Family File to all the other people participating in the group. > > Any or all members of the group can make changes to existing records, delete > or unlink records, or add new records to the family file. The Keeper can > also make changes and additions to the master file. > > After an agreed upon interval of time, all members of the group return a > copy of the family file to the Keeper for merging and reconciliation. > > The Keeper then follows this procedure: > > Import all copies of the family file into the master copy (after making a > backup of course). > > Press the Merge button and choose Find Duplicates. > > From the Merge Options window, click on the Special Searches tab and choose > the IntelliShare option. > > Press the Continue button in the upper right corner of the Merge Options > window. Legacy searches for all records with matching IntelliShare values > and automatically merges those that have exactly the same information. At > the end of this process Legacy displays the records where one or more > persons have made changes. Legacy also looks at all surrounding links when > deciding to merge. If the parents, spouses or children are different in any > way, the two individuals are displayed along with a message describing the > situation. All these messages are also saved in a file called MERGE.LOG. > Legacy offers to display this file at the end of the merge process. > > The only records the Keeper has to look at and merge together are the ones > that have been changed by someone in the group. > > At the end of the merge process, a list of any newly added individuals is > displayed. > > After the merge is complete, the Keeper sends a new copy of the family file > back to the other group members for more changes and additions. > > Legacy's IntelliShare greatly reduces the drudgery involved when going > through the typical match-merge process needed to combine two or more files. > > hope this helps, > > Russ > > -----Original Message----- > From: Barbara Ford > Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2016 2:05 PM > To: legacyusergroup@LegacyUsers.com > Subject: [LegacyUG] Help, please > > > I have been using Legacy for years, and although still using version 6.0, > because I haven't done any serious research work since I was using that > version, I thought I was very "on" to how the backups work. In my mind, > there is an "on the fly" backup that puts data in > C:\Legacy\Data\familytreewip.fdb (with familytreewip being the "name" of my > data). Then when I exit the program, when it prompts me to back up, I also > do that, and that is a zip file that I keep in my documents folder. In the > last three years, while I have not been actively involved in research, we > have lost three of our parents, and I have updated Legacy with all that > information. Today I have discovered that the data has been going to > different places (do not understand how that could have happened). I > discovered it (and maybe this will help with troubleshooting) when I tried > to use Legacy Charting Companion and it wasn't bringing in the death > information from Legacy, just posted a couple of days ago. I have now > figured out that there is a familytreewip.fdb folder on my desktop. Some of > the data I have entered in the last three years is there (visible when I > open Legacy from that file), and when I go to > C:\Legacy\Data\familytreewip.fdb, the most recent data is NOT there (and > therefore not coming in to Charting Companion). Once I open Legacy from one > location or the other, it opens it back up from there the next time I open > Legacy. So, now there is one "version" of Legacy that has recent death > information, and then the one out on C:\Legacy has data updated two years > ago. I do not know what to do, and right after the death of my father-in-law > is NOT a good time for me to realize something is wrong. Mainly, I don't > know how to bring it together, and I don't know how to tell where it is > actually going when I exit NOW. I do periodically copy the contents of > c:\Legacy\Data to an external hard drive, and I have done that fairly > recently. But even if I open the Legacy program from there, and discover > that the only thing I have to re-input is my father-in-law's death > information, I'm so confused now about where it all goes when I exit. I > guess my main confusion is why it is sometimes going to the desktop file > (and why is it even there?) and not to C:\Legacy. I am so sorry to be so > unclear, but can anyone help me? I'm not so concerned about the Charting > Companion--that's just what helped me discover that data is not going where > I thought it was, when exiting. > Barbara Ford > > > Sent from my iPad > > > > > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: > > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ > > Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ > > Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com > > Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on > our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). > > To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp <Http://scrappermamo.blogspot.com/> Sent from my iPad > On Jan 24, 2016, at 2:45 PM, R G Strong-genes <rgstrongge...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Barbara, > Is the one on the desktop a folder or is it a link to your data folder? If > it actually a folder with just the familytreewip.fdb and user files > associated with that family file and it has the most current file > information then you can just copy all those files to your Data folder for > Legacy. Then open legacy and search for the file you want to open. Then > check your Legacy options and specify how you want to open legacy. It is > probably set to open the last file opened. When you are working on Legacy > the changes are always in the file you are working on where ever it is > located. So when it closes if it doesn't ask for a backup it will be the > same folder that you opened it from, if you happen to have that file in a > different folder and open it from that folder you will not see the changes > as they are actually in a different file. When you back up a file either by > requesting a backup or when you close and it asks for one make sure the path > is where you want it before you click save. The newer versions actually > append the date and time to the backup so if you have several with the same > file name you will know which is the latest backup. It is always best to > keep your working family files in the same location so you know where your > up to date files are. If you need to store them on another drive then I > would recommend just saving the backup file of it on another drive and when > you want to work on it then you can restore the family file to your working > directory. I use google drive and only store my backups to that drive. I > also store a copy of the legacy installation file, registration file, and > user files for Legacy in there own folders on the google drive. I have both > Legacy 7.5 and 8 on my computer so I have a folder for each version on the > google drive for the corresponding programs. > > If you have different updates to your family file in more than one folder > and you want to get them all into one file and they are copies from the same > family file then you should be able to use the intellishare options under > the find duplicates merge function. Open the oldest file and merge the > changed files into it. > > from the help file: > > Here is how IntelliShare works: > > Form a research group of two or more people. (Each must be using Legacy.) > One person in the group is designated as the "Keeper of the Records" (Keeper > for short). This person keeps the master Family File. Legacy automatically > marks all the records in the Master Family File with a serial number that > uniquely identifies each individual. The Keeper now sends a copy of the > Family File to all the other people participating in the group. > > Any or all members of the group can make changes to existing records, delete > or unlink records, or add new records to the family file. The Keeper can > also make changes and additions to the master file. > > After an agreed upon interval of time, all members of the group return a > copy of the family file to the Keeper for merging and reconciliation. > > The Keeper then follows this procedure: > > Import all copies of the family file into the master copy (after making a > backup of course). > > Press the Merge button and choose Find Duplicates. > > From the Merge Options window, click on the Special Searches tab and choose > the IntelliShare option. > > Press the Continue button in the upper right corner of the Merge Options > window. Legacy searches for all records with matching IntelliShare values > and automatically merges those that have exactly the same information. At > the end of this process Legacy displays the records where one or more > persons have made changes. Legacy also looks at all surrounding links when > deciding to merge. If the parents, spouses or children are different in any > way, the two individuals are displayed along with a message describing the > situation. All these messages are also saved in a file called MERGE.LOG. > Legacy offers to display this file at the end of the merge process. > > The only records the Keeper has to look at and merge together are the ones > that have been changed by someone in the group. > > At the end of the merge process, a list of any newly added individuals is > displayed. > > After the merge is complete, the Keeper sends a new copy of the family file > back to the other group members for more changes and additions. > > Legacy's IntelliShare greatly reduces the drudgery involved when going > through the typical match-merge process needed to combine two or more files. > > hope this helps, > > Russ > > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). 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