A couple of thoughts about Sharing / Collaborating with others

I recently had a bad experience, for me, when I shared one of my Ancestry Member Trees (AMT). This other person made some changes in my AMT that I had not expected. Then I realized that we both use different genealogy database management software programs and our approach to our research is different. So, I thought about this a little more, because this person is a great researcher and I would really like their help.

What was I missing?

It wasn't what I was missing but what "they" didn't know, mostly because I hadn't shared some information with them.

In FTM2014, I have a long Task or ToDo List. What I have done in the Plan Workspace, is to have File Notes in my Task List, as Hi-Priority. Notes about how I do things in this file and are in a File Notes Category. I put notes about certain situations. For example, How I handle Unknown Names and why I may do some data entry for my purposes.

As you may see, in the lower left, two people have been invited to this tree, one as Editor and the other as Guest.  Remember they can be changed at any time.

But, THEY can't see this screen. So, how can I deal with that.

What they see in the AMT is a Pedigree View of the tree. I could put information into the Tree Settings Menu Item.

That looks like this:

That Tree Description has limited space to provide the detail that I would like to share.

Returning to that Pull Down Menu and selecting the Tree Overview:

I will see this:

Since I can put notes in the Invitation to someone to join the tree, I can suggest that they go to the Tree Overview and read the "Please Read" Story. I also linked that same story to the Home Person.

Here is that Story:

That "story" is the information that would be clearer to someone else that my Task List has a cryptic version of this Smart Story. So any instructions I can put into this Story for those "helping me out" they will know what I am trying to do and how I have done some things in what they are seeing in my AMT.

For example: I want them to use the Person Comments feature in the AMT so that I can correct the errors, or to let me know that they have found some information that I might want to include in this tree.

Also, there are a number of features within FTM2014 that the AMT does not reflect. For example, I have Research Notes for everyone in this tree. I have Fact Notes and Source Notes that can't be seen in the AMT. These are my notes, my to do lists that help me research that are not available in the AMT. The people I might be inviting may not know FTM2014 as I do, which is great. But I would like their help, especially for those records / resources that I haven't found yet. They may have a Newspaper clipping that isn't online, that they can Add to the person (with the right setting) which I will then be able to download and include in the file to be synchronized. They may have a link that I haven't seen or found yet, so putting that link and related information into the Comment for that person would be wonderful.

A good conversation, face to face, or using online technology would also be very helpful.

That's what I learned from one experience.
_______________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Test of My Back Up

On a regular basis, I want to TEST my Back Ups. I haven't blogged about this in the past, so I thought I would use that Patch to FTM2014 to demonstrate how it works.

I won't show how to back up the file, but the blog post about the FTM2014 (1207 - 1239) blog post has the steps.

FTM2014 - Sync Issue Patch (239 / 1239)

I want to test that back up just to be sure it works and that I didn't loose anything and to make sure or test that I can restore if something happens.

In the Plan Workspace I click on File, Restore.

 

Note that the file is in Sync with the Ancestry Member Tree (AMT)

In the Restore window I select the Back Up of choice, which in this case is that most recent (1207) Back Up.

 

Selecting the appropriate file, that filename is entered into the filename field. 

In the Next window, you will be asked for a Filename. As is my practice, I include the version (1239) in the filename. So I changed the offered 1207 to 1239. The new filename will be:

Master2014-1239.ftm

The back up process will start.

 

There will be some options to choose from.

I will select them all as this restored file will become my working file so I want to keep everything I have AND the ability to restore the Sync Files.

 

The back up continues

And completes. Back in business. The Plan Workspace says the file is in Sync.

Now I have a problem. My PC is showing FTM2014-1209, but the Online Tree Name will be 1207.

I click on the Link, (filename) in the Plan Workspace, go to the AMT linked to that FTM2014 file and Rename the Online Tree

This is on the Tree Settings page in the AMT. The Tree Setting page is in the Tree Pages pull down menu.

Notice the up and down arrows, to the right of Master2014_1207. That is a visual indication that this tree is synced to a PC. Mine in the case.

The Tree Settings page, allows me to Update the Tree Name, which I have.

The Link I used to get to the AMT now shows the New Tree Name (1239), but it shows that a Sync is Needed. That is because I renamed the tree. Clicking on the SyncNow button, the result is the message on the Right that there was data updated.

So, I have a KNOWN Working Back Up. That back up was NOT changed, It is restored AND the tree is up to date. The user who I have shared the AMT with doesn't even know of the change. More importantly, the user will still be able to use this AMT.

 

_______________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington