Can I save the Heredis installation file which I have downloaded in case I need it again?

You may either write the installation file which you have downloaded to a CD-ROM or save it to your hard disk, and then unzip and re-install should you ever have a problem with your computer.

What is the purpose of the File check?

The Check file option is a tool designed to reorganize your file if necessary. It will not change any data nor modify the file in any way unless errors have been found.

Can I work from a floppy disk where I have copied my file?

No. You must first copy the file to your hard disk before opening it. The floppy disk is not a work space, only a storage area. If you work from the floppy, you will be taking a certain risk.
If you cannot open the file once you have transferred it to your hard disk, this means that the file is incomplete (probably because there was not enough space on the floppy).

In the same folder where my genealogy file is stored, there is a file with the same name, but with a .bak extension. What is this?

The .bak files are duplicates of your genealogy files, created automatically by Heredis each time you save your file. Do not delete these duplicates because they may be used as backup files.

How do I copy a file to a floppy disk?

Using the Windows Explorer, open the folder where your genealogy file is stored (for example: myfile.hr5). Make a right button click on the genealogy file and choose the Send to option. Then click with the left mouse button on 31/2 floppy (A:).

Heredis will also let you save your genealogy file directly to another external drive. Choose from the menu File > Backup > Make backup copy. Then select Drive a: on the lower part of the panel and click on OK to start the backup copy to the floppy. If Heredis needs more than one floppy to backup your file, it will ask for further floppies as needed, without any risk to your file.

Can I make compressed backup files with Heredis?

Heredis will compress and automatically optimize the size of files.
Furthermore, with Heredis, you can create a compressed back-up file directly to another computer drive or make a duplicate on your own hard drive. Back-up files have a .bkh extension and may be directly opened from the menu File > Backup > Restore previous backup.

I want to open my backup files but they are not listed in the «Open» window?

We would remind you that you should use backup copies only if your original file is damaged.
Files saved with the Make backup copy option cannot be opened directly by Heredis. Backup files are compressed and must be decompressed before use.

To open a backup copy, choose from the menu File > Backup > Restore previous backup.
Backup files do not have the same extension as other Heredis files (.hr7). You must look for a file with a .bkh extension (example: myfile.bkh).
Another solution to the problem is to open the backup file (*.bkh) with a decompression program (such as WinZip, WinRar, StuffItExpander…). This will result in a normal Heredis file (*.hr7) which will be displayed in the list of available files in the «Open» window.

How can I be sure that I have the latest available version of Heredis?

- Choose from the menu Help > Update.
- Heredis will connect you directly to the www.heredis.com/myheredis/webroot web page where the version check is sited.
- Follow the instructions which appear on the screen.

What do the symbols mean which appear on the toolbar at the bottom of the navigation screen?

In order from the left, they indicate for the Primary person displayed, that you have ticked the No descendants, Marked or Confidential options. The paper-clip symbol shows that there is at least one source concerning the Primary person for an event. The following symbols indicate that the Primary person has x sons, x daughters or x children of undetermined sex. Finally the different genealogical numbers relating to the Primary person are displayed: the user number which you may have attributed, plus his or her Ahnentafel number if this exists.

I want to display a date with the month written in full. How do I do this?

In the Calendar Tab of the work sheets, type the date in the calendar field of your choice, noting the month in full letters. The month will be converted in full for the other calendar modes.

How do I «mark» individuals?

There are several ways to mark individuals:

On the Personal data screen of the Primary person, by ticking the Marked box at the top right.Choose from the menu Data > Mark/demark Primary person.
In the Multiple search option, after making your selection, click on Mark files to mark all the selected individuals at one go.

How can I get a list of all witnesses in the life of an individual?

This information is clearly shown all the time in the Links work sheet. This list is updated with every session of the genealogy file and you know instantly to which individuals the Primary person is linked, for what event and in what role.

Do I have to create a new individual in order to display him or her as a witness?

The advantage of creating a link between an individual and an event for which he or she was a witness is their inclusion in the Links work sheet list, thereby giving you an effective overview of all persons concerned with any event and immediate access to any one of them.
However, you may simply mention the name and role of any witness in the event note. The information will be recorded but not used as a link.

Are sources attributed to one individual only or to several individuals?

A source is attributed to an event concerning an individual. For example, the copy of the birth certificate of Alice Rucastle is attributed to the event Birth of Alice Rucastle.
First, you must create the source birth certificate of Alice Rucastle to be able to make use of it. Once this has been done, the source may be attributed to any number of other events.
If the birth certificate of Alice Rucastle contains the information that her father was called Gilbert and that he was 34 years old at the time, you can then create an event Birth for Gilbert, her father, indicate an approximate date and attribute a source, birth certificate of Alice Rucastle. Each event may have several sources of information and it is this that makes your research so worthwhile.
Once you have found the birth certificate of Gilbert Rucastle, father of Alice, you can now create a second source for the event Birth: birth certificate of Gilbert Rucastle. Etc...
If you delete an event to which a source is attributed, the source itself is not deleted and you will find it again in the Dictionary of Sources, where it can be attributed to other events.

Some of my photos display a red cross with the words “Not found”. What should I do?

Heredis knows which image you have linked to the person or couple displayed but it cannot find the image on your hard disk. Either you have moved the photo or deleted it from your hard disk.
You should reattribute the correct path to the image for it to be displayed again correctly. To do this, choose from the menu Tools > Dictionary of media.
Click on the Not found tab at the top right. If the picture is not displayed, either increase the window size or use the scroll arrows at the bottom of the screen until the image appears.
Then select the Not found image and click on the Select directory button. You may then search your hard disk for the new folder or the new name of the image and then select it so that Heredis will be able to find the right path to the image.

The photos are displayed but they are covered with big dots which make them impossible to see.

You have a problem with the color resolution of your computer. It is certainly set to 256 colors. You must change the color resolution with the Display option of the Windows Control panel. Choose thousands or millions of colors according to the options available.

EXCHANGES & GEDCOM

Given names do not appear, only surnames are imported

Certain Gedcom files created with The Master Genealogist® program have this anomaly when imported to Heredis. This problem will be very rapidly corrected and will be sent to all users in the form of an update. In the meantime, TMG users may export their data in Gedcom format by ticking the "Primary only" option for names and with this done, Heredis will import the data correctly.

After importing a Gedcom file produced with Heredis to another genealogy program, I have found an important number of errors.

Heredis has been developed to handle all types of information and this is what makes your genealogical data so rich. However not all other programs can handle so many different types of information. Furthermore, the Gedcom norm cannot handle certain types of information present in Heredis, which are of considerable interest to genealogists. For example, witnesses handled by the Gedcom norm are recorded solely as witness to a person without stating what event they witnessed.

Heredis will indicate if a witness assisted at the birth or at the death of the person, which is a precise piece of information. However, this detailed information is ignored by the Gedcom file and is therefore classed as an error by programs which do not have exactly the same structure as Heredis. The same thing applies to the distinction between a civil and a religious marriage. The information which has been ignored either by the Gedcom norm or by the program to which you have exported the data, may sometimes be grouped in the notes.

How can I export an individual’s ancestors (or descendants), for example, for someone called Alice Rucastle?

First place Alice Rucastle as Primary person on the Immediate family screen and then open the File menu. Choose the option Export.
Tick on the type of export required (Gedcom, Heredis). Then tick the option Export a branch. Then select Ascendant, Descendant or Ascendant and Descendant of Alice Rucastle. Select the number of generations and whether or not you wish to include collaterals for each generation.

What does the "Export the tree in EMF format" mean?

This function allows you to export your family tree as a single page image in EMF format (Microsoft picture standard, both vectorial and bitmap, and recognized by the vast majority of programs). To do this, choose from the menu Edit > Export the tree in EMF format. The image of your genealogy which is then created by Heredis may be opened and modified or printed by any graphics program (Paint Shop, Corel Draw) or CAD program.

Can I write my genealogy to a CD-ROM?

If you have the Premium edition of Heredis 7, you may write the HTML pages containing your genealogy to a CD-ROM. These pages may then be read by any other computer equipped with an Internet navigator (Explorer, Netscape…).

To generate the HTML pages to be published, choose from the menu File > Publish > to CD-Rom. Then select the various elements which you wish to publish (Individuals to be exported, documents, sources, images, statistics, 3 dimensional family tree…). On the Home Page tab of the Export window, indicate the directory where you wish to store the HTML pages which you are about to create. Heredis will then build the complete architecture of the CD-ROM containing all the genealogical information you have selected for publication.

To create the CD-ROM containing your pages, you should use your normal CD-ROM writing program and copy to the CD-ROM all the folders contained in the destination directory described above, plus the Homepage which is called index.htm.

Heredis will include an auto-run system which will launch the file display as soon as your CD-ROM is inserted by your correspondent in the drive.

How do I present for the Internet (HTML) only those individuals bearing the name Rucastle in my genealogy file?

Choose Multiple search in the Search menu. Indicate the following criteria: Individuals / Surname / contains exactly / Rucastle.

Click on the Start search button to display the list. Then click on Export.
In the Export screen, tick Heredis and determine the different options you want. Then click on the Export button.

Give the new file a suitable name (use e.g. the name Rucastle) and save the file. You may then open this new Heredis file, containing exclusively the individuals from the original file named Rucastle and choose from the menu File > Publish > To Internet.

How can I make changes to the CD-ROM generated by Heredis?

You may make as many changes as you wish to the pages created by Heredis before writing them to a CD-ROM: you can alter or add to the text or even add or delete images.

To do this, open the HTML pages created by Heredis with any HTML publishing program (Dreamweaver, FrontPage…) or even with a word processor which can read HTML pages (such as Word, for example). Save the changes to the pages and then write the contents of the directory created by Heredis to the CD-ROM with your normal CD-ROM writing program.

When I want to visualize my 3D family tree included on my Internet site or on a CD-ROM, I get a message asking me to download Shockwave. What must I do?

For visualizing the 3D family tree, Heredis uses a plug-in called Shockwave® which is normally installed with the computer system. However, if this extension has not been preinstalled on your computer, you may download it from the following address: http://www.macromedia.com/fr/downloads. Click on Macromedia Shockwave Player®. Once you have installed it, you may launch the 3D family tree.

How can I find files which have been modified some time ago, for example since March 22, 2001?

Choose Multiple search in the Search menu. Indicate the following criteria: Calculated fields / Date of modification / is superior to.
Click on the Start search button to display a list of all individuals whose file has been modified since March 22.

In a search for an individual by name, when two persons have the same name and given name, but not the same birth or death dates, how can I distinguish between them?

The panel below the work sheets will display a résumé of all information recorded concerning the individual whose surname and given name have been selected in the Search by name window.
You should then control what information is displayed in the panel for each of the two given names (relations, unions…) to find out who is who.

Should you have hidden the work sheets, you will have to renew their display to be able to use this control function.

How do I select only the persons who were alive between two specific dates?

The Multiple search option will provide a list of all persons who were alive, for example, between 1910 and 1920.
Choose from the menu Search > Multiple search…
1 – Fill in the first criteria panel as follows:
Events / All events / Date / is superior to / 1910
2 – Click on the Mode “And”
3 – Then click on the activation button below the first criteria panel to display a second panel 4 – Fill in the second panel as follows:
Events / All events / Date / is inferior to / 1920
Click on the Start search button.The list appears of persons who were alive between the two dates. You may then use this selection to:
- mark their individual files
- make the files confidential
- export the selected files
- print the selection
or display the individual file of a person by double-clicking on his or her name.

How do I carry out a Multiple search concerning individuals:
- who are my direct ancestors,
- who lived in a given locality,
- for whom I need details concerning marriage, death or birth between specific dates?

Choose from the menu Search > Search for records. On the List of records to be searched panel which appears:
- Tick the Limit by place box and fill in the name of the place to be used.
- Tick the Limit by date box and complete the years of start and end for the search.
- Tick the Marriages, Births/Baptisms and Deaths/burials boxes.
- Tick the Only direct-line ancestors box.
After clicking on the OK button, you will obtain a list of individuals for whom you need records of Marriage, Death or Birth.

FAMILY TREES

I would like to include all the members of my family on one tree chart. Which one should I choose?

When you build a family tree in two dimensions, that is a chart which may be printed on paper, you cannot show every person in the family, because on one layout, you can only show the ascendants and descendants of the primary person on the screen, and not the ascendants or descendants of the collaterals in the genealogy file.

However, if you build a Complete 3D tree, you will be able to visualize all your collaterals: uncles, aunts, cousins, relations of spouses.… The 3D family tree is a tree chart built for navigation which allows you a total view of your entire genealogy, showing all the branches and all alliances. You may publish it on the Internet or integrate it into your genealogy CD-ROM.

When I build a fan style family tree, the tree is displayed on the screen but there is no text.

Once the tree has been fully built on the screen, choose from the menu Display > Show text or click on the icon on the button bar. The text will be displayed in the tree boxes.
The text is not included at first to allow a faster display of a fan style or wheel family tree in outline.

Can I print a family tree on a single sheet which is larger than any normal paper format, such as with a trace printer (plotter)?

Heredis will allow printing of a tree on any format which you care to use, what ever the size of the tree.
To print a tree with a tracer (or plotter):
- Build your tree in the normal way, with all the different embellishments which the program permits.
- Choose the paper format corresponding to your printer, for example A0, by using the menu File > Print setup or by clicking on the Print setup button on the button bar.
- Click next to display the grid, allowing you to check that the tree is complete on the single page you want. To do this, choose from the menu Display > Show/Hide the grid or click on the Show/Hide the grid button on the button bar.
- Should the tree extent over more than one page, you can reduce its size automatically to the desired format by using the window Number of pages/Print factor on the left edge of the display screen and fixing the parameters as needed. Confirm one page only for both height and width to make your page fit exactly to A0 size.

How can I highlight certain individuals in a fan-style family tree?

Create a fan style (or ascendant wheel) family tree and choose Multiple search from the menu Selection.
On the Multiple criteria page which appears, determine the various criteria for selection (for example, all individuals who had more than 2 children):
Calculated fields / Number of children / is superior to / 2
Click on the Start search button. Choose a specific color to highlight the selected boxes and click on the Apply selection button and then on Close to return to the fan style family tree.

NB: To carry out this operation, it will be helpful first to hide the work sheets and then divide the available screen space equally between the tree and the Multiple criteria page. By doing this, you will be able to visualize the result directly on the tree.

How can I include a family tree built by Heredis in a Word document, for example?

You must export the tree in the form of an image (EMF format) and then integrate it in the Word document.
- Build your tree with Heredis, making all the necessary changes and then export it. To do this, choose from the menu Edit > Export the tree in EMF format. Save the file in EMF format in the folder of your choice on your hard disk.
- In Word, open the document in which you wish to include your genealogy tree. Choose from the menu Insert > Picture > Open picture from. Choose the corresponding EMF format tree file from the folder where you had saved it.

Can changes be made to the 3D family tree once it has been published on the Internet or written to a CD-ROM?

As yet, it is not possible to alter the parameters (colors, photos, pictograms…) of 3D family trees already published. However this facility is being developed for a future version of Heredis.

REPORTS

When Heredis opens a word processor, it opens Word. I would prefer to work with WordPerfect. What should I do?

Heredis automatically opens the word processing program which has been allocated on your computer for handling RTF format files (Rich Text File). To change this default allocation, you must use Windows.
- Select any file on your hard disk which has a .rtf extension. You will find one or more RTF format files with a .rtf extension in the folder C:/Program Files/BSD Concept/Heredis 7/Documents.
- Once the file has been selected (in blue color), make a right mouse click holding down the Shift (Upper-case) key. Choose the Open with option.
- You will now be able to choose the word processor with which you want to use for editing lists or files.
- Next tick the box Always use this program for this type of file.
- Validate your choice by clicking on OK.
From then on, all documents of this type, be they lists or summaries, will be opened by the word processor which you have selected.