Introduction
Right-click Copy & Paste and left/right-click Drag & Drop are standard features in all current versions of Windows, but are supported to varying degrees in different versions of Family Historian (ƒh).
Handling Text
Copy & Paste
All versions of ƒh support Copy & Paste to and from editable text & dateWhen an Event happened, or an Attrribute was true. fields, but some fields that look like text fields are not (e.g. Individual > Sex, Marriage > Status, CitationA link between a source and a fact, documenting Where within the source you find information being "cited" to support the fact/conclusion. > Assessment).
Drag & Drop
Since ƒhV6, editable text & date fields support Drag & Drop but only to import text into ƒh.
If text can be dragged, then when it is left-clicked and dragged the cursor turns into a ‘no entry’ sign or a small box appears below the cursor, otherwise the text simply becomes highlighted. Sometimes the text can be highlighted/selected first and then it can be dragged. Alternatively Copy & Paste must be used.
There are two types of ƒh editable text field: short text/address/dates such as Name, PlaceAccording to GEDCOM, a Place should hold "The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place…" , Address"The address structure should be formed as it would appear on a mailing label…", according to GEDCOM; however, this is capable of a number of interpretations, and Address and Place are best considered together. & Date fields, and long text such as Note & Text From SourceBoth Source records and Citations have a Text From Source field intended to hold transcripts of source documents. fields that allow multiple lines of text. Currently (Mar’15 ƒh V6.0.4) Drag & Drop to a short text or date field may replace its entire contents or may be appended (except to Name fields), whereas Drag & Drop to a long text field allows text to be dropped anywhere within the existing contents.
When dragging across the Main tab of a Property BoxThe Property Box is the primary window for data entry and for viewing details of stored records. It is used with records of all types. to drop text in its yellow SourceSource: "where information was found". This could be anything from an archive in a county records office, a book, or even a relative's recorded recollection. Citing your Sources helps to show how you reached a particular conclusion about an Individual. Citation pane, take care that you do not cross any of the boxes, because that may change the chosen Source Citation. It is better to work with the FactsFacts are one of the key concepts at the heart of Family Historian; they are how you record the things that happened to, or described, each ancestor (Individual). tab instead.
However, all editable text fields are plain text, and prior to ƒh V6 were ANSI characters, so text formatting/accents may be lost on import, and may include hieroglyphic format control characters.
Handling Images
Drag & Drop
Since ƒh V6, Drag & Drop can import image files from the ƒh Web Search window and many external web browsers and utilities. See the Add Media to Project Dialog.
The import is handled in one of three ways depending on which ‘drop zone’ the image is dropped:
- Drop it onto a Media tab, whose border turns blue, and the image is added to the tab.
- Drop it anywhere else to create an unlinked Media RecordWhen you add a picture, video, sound recording, document file etc into a Family Historian project, a Media record is created to represent that media item within the project; the Media record includes a link to the actual Media file..
Drop it onto a Fact Media window, whose border turns blue, and the image is added to the Fact.
Copy & Paste
Some web browsers do not support Drag & Drop so try Copy & Paste instead. However, this only works from the ƒh Web Search Window or some web browsers. Right-click on the image and select Copy, then use one of the following three options:
- On a Media tab, click Add Media button and choose Paste Copied Image.
- For a Fact, in its Media window, click the Add button and choose Paste Copied Image.
- To create an unlinked Media Record use Add > Picture From Clipboard > Paste Copied Citation, or in the Media Window use Media > Paste Image.
In all the above cases a dialogue allows the location of the file and the name of the file & Media Record to be chosen.
In all cases, multiple images can be selected instead of just one, but they will all be saved in the same location and their names cannot be changed.
Tips and Tricks
When using Copy or Drag from web browsers or other programs, be aware that what looks like Text may actually be an Image. If it looks like Text but will not Paste or Drop into an editable ƒh text field, then it is probably an Image of Text.
For example, in OneNote right-click in the ‘text box’ and choose the Picture option to Copy Text From Picture.