The Records Window is home to records of all types in the current Family Historian file. There are 9 record types in GEDCOM, and the Records Window has one tab for each of them, although by default most of these tabs are hidden when Family Historian is installed (see Record Window Options on the Tools menu).
Unexpanded rows in the Records Window represent records. If you 'open' a record by clicking on the little box to its left, the record will expand to display the fields within it. If these fields contain sub-fields, they too can be further expanded, and so on. To see an entire record, double-click on the record name (the 'left most' row in the left column).
If you want to find a record quickly and know its record id, you can type this into the Record Id box at the top of the Window. For most record types, you can also search for the record by name. To search for the record for a person in the Individual tab, for example, you should type their surname followed by a comma and a space, and then their first name, into the 'Name' box at the top of the window. If you type part of a name, the first record matching the details entered will be matched. To find other matches, press F3.
The columns in the Records Window are extremely configurable. Right-click on any column and choose from the menu that appears to open a Configure Columns dialog.
Most users will typically use the Property Dialog for editing records. Double click on any record name to open the Property Dialog to edit that record.
Most users will typically use the Property Dialog for editing records. But they may sometimes prefer to use the Records Window (or the All tab of the Property Dialog, which has the same layout) as a quick way of browsing records, and seeing all the information stored about a subject. However, almost any kind of editing can be done in the Record Window, and some kinds of editing can only be done in the Records Window. This is called low-level editing.
To add a new field to a record (or to add a sub-field to a field) using low-level editing, right-click on the record or field name (the text in the left column) to bring up a context menu with 'Add' commands for each of the fields or sub-fields which you can validly add. Alternatively, to delete a field, select it and press the Delete key. If you want to edit the value of a field, click on its current value in the right-column.
Where a record contains links to other records, the name of the linked record is shown in the right column with a little white check box {bmc Sundry - attach btn.bmp} to the left of the record icon. Click on this check box if you want to see details of the linked record.
Some features of the Records Window can be configured from the Record Window Options Dialog.
The Records Window has its own menu and toolbar, both of which are only available when the Records Window is active. The Records Window toolbar is the Lists menu. This is used for maintaining Named Lists. Named Lists are used for a variety of purposes. You can use them in whatever way you wish. You might, for example, use a Named List as a list of bookmarks, or as a ToDo list, or as a convenient way of selecting items for a report. You can print the contents of a list (and associated notes) using the List Report. There is no limit to the number of Named Lists you can have. Every Named List can contain all types of record - not just Individual records. You can re-order the items in a Named List, and preserve the new order. To learn more about the uses of Named Lists, see the manual, Getting the Most From Family Historian.
| The CHM file was converted to HTML by chm2web software. |