* FH 7 & Ancestral Sources from a new user's point of view.

[chsims1]

Hi All,

some of you may have read my other post about difficulties with setting up a custom source template. So, I am just wondering if the use of 'Ancestral Sources' is still relevant with FH 7?

Before anyone gets too upset by my last question, I would like to say that I totally understand that people are long time users of AS, and I recognise it's utility, but as a newcomer to FH is it worth making my learning curve even more steep by combining an additional piece of software into the mix? I think that I can do the majority of my recording with existing templates/plugins, or modifying them to fit my requirements exactly without using AS.

However, the big historical records that are going to be difficult to deal with are general censuses, which contain much information about many (or few) individuals. I can see that a tailored approach to censuses in AS, could well save me a lot of typing and cross-referencing (note that I haven't looked into how AS deals with these in any detail).

So, should I be working with AS alongside FH?

Ian

[NickWalker]

The main reason that I created and use AS is because of the massive amount of time it saves in recording census and other source records. I created AS to help me with my own family history and then shared it with everyone else. I'd have not made anything like the progress I have with recording my family history without it.

I'd recommend watching the Ancestral Sources Introduction video. This makes use of generic sources so once you've viewed that you should then follow this up with the Using Family Historian Templated Sources in Ancestral Sources video.

It's definitely worth spending time on this. As in anything there will be a learning curve. If ultimately you decide it isn't for you then you won't have lost much time overall.

Best wishes

Nick

[Gary_G]

Ian;

Originally; I had some of the same misgivings as you. That is why it is wise to play with it on the example project for a while. The default A.S. settings are a good starting point and I can think of only a few minor tweaks that I needed to make in order to be happy with the results.

If you plan to use user-templates for citations, you may find it takes a bit of time to create ones that work smoothly with A.S. Templates are something that some find confusing, so expect to play with them a bit using the example project

A.S. and FH7 will ask to reload the database, if they sense that an external program has made changes. So; you can actually use them side-by-side. However; watch for the "reload" message and make sure you tell the program to reload the database.

[jimlad68]

There has been a great deal of discussion on creating sources via "Source Templates vs Generic Sources" and Ancestral Sources on the forum since the introduction of FH7.

I really suggest you check some of them out especially this topic which also gives links to other topics which might help:
Simple recording of sources and/or citations (20966)
It might save you a lot of time and heartache in the long run.

All I can say is that for "relative" simplicity, Ancestral Sources is key to much of my source creation, and still very relevant.

[fhtess65]

In the end, it's up to you, however, had I known when I started using FH about Ancestral Sources, it would have saved me a lot of issues.

Even when I found out about it, I gave up quickly because I didn't bother ASKING how to use it properly. Once I did and Nick kindly typed out a step-by-step guide for me to follow, I realized how much it would help me.

Entering a record not only captures the reference info, but creates a transcription.

I import my Custom Templates to AS, so have the best of both worlds. Nick has already mentioned his videos and I recommend watching them. They explain pretty much everything.

In the end, though, everyone's workflow is different, so only you can decide if AS is best for you. Maybe try it on a test project - that's what I did, til I felt comfortable with it.

<SNIP>
some of you may have read my other post about difficulties with setting up a custom source template. So, I am just wondering if the use of 'Ancestral Sources' is still relevant with FH 7?

<SNIP>

So, should I be working with AS alongside FH?

Ian

[jelv]

Take time to learn and configure AS the way you want (in a test project as Teresa recommended) and in the long term it will:

• Save you many hours
• Ensure you are consistent in the way you record data

Luckily I discovered AS when my tree was fairly small so the time taken to re-enter all the data properly wasn't too long.