This page describes how to upgrade an earlier Family Historian installation to Version 7, released in December 2020.<\/p>\n
Users of registered copies of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>6 and \u0192h<\/span><\/span>5 may be entitled to upgrade discounts (or a free upgrade from a recently-purchased copy of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>6), as described at Family Historian 7 Upgrade<\/a> page within the Family\u00a0Historian store using the process described there.\u00a0 Users of older versions wishing to upgrade need to purchase the full version<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlike earlier versions, \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 is only available as a download, and there is no option to purchase a CD copy.<\/p>\n Both full and upgrade versions of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 require the purchaser to register with a Family Historian account.\u00a0 This is used for subsequent activation of the product using an activation code that is e-mailed to you with a download link.<\/p>\n Before you order, check that your current operating system is supported (Vista and Windows 7 have been dropped from the list of supported environments, so you must be running Windows 11, 10, 8.1 or 8). If running on a Virtual Machine or in an emulated environment then Windows 8 or later is required.<\/p>\n Prior to installing \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7, you should ensure that you have full backups of all of your \u0192h<\/span><\/span> projects, and of your settings and customisations.\u00a0 Without these, it is very difficult to fully restore your existing configuration if anything goes wrong during the upgrade or you later change your mind and want to revert to your current version of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n Backing up project data should be a normal part of your day-to-day usage of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>, and is described here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Settings and customisations (e.g. custom Queries, Plugins or Fact Sets) can be backed up using the Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings<\/a> plugin.\u00a0 However, note that this plugin should not<\/em> be used to transfer settings between different versions of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>, due to incompatibilities between versions.<\/p>\n These project and settings backups should be kept in a safe place until you are sure that you will not need them to revert to your old version of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 You should take particular care to ensure that they are not accidentally overwritten by subsequent \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 backups.<\/p>\n Step-by-step instructions for installing and activating \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 are given on the\u00a0Calico Pie website<\/a>.\u00a0 Note in particular the requirement to have an activation code prior to starting the installation.\u00a0 The first time \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 runs, it requests this code, which is then permanently associated with your account.\u00a0 Any future reinstallation can be activated simply with your user name and password.<\/p>\n\u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 continues the Calico Pie policy of new releases overwriting previous ones.\u00a0 It is not possible to run \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 alongside a previous version, as even the free evaluation version will overwrite your old installation.\u00a0 Users wishing to trial \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 prior to upgrading will need to run the evaluation version on a separate PC (or in a VM for experienced computer users familiar with running multiple installations).<\/p>\n Both Property Box customizations and plugins can be restored using the procedures described in the upgrade notes referenced above.<\/p>\n When a project from a previous version is loaded into \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 for the first time, the user is informed that it will be upgraded to the new format.\u00a0 Once this is done, the project should not be used in earlier versions of \u0192h<\/span><\/span>, otherwise data corruption is likely.\u00a0 \u0192h<\/span><\/span>6 will recognise an \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 project and give a warning message if you try to load it, but \u0192h<\/span><\/span>5 and earlier do not.<\/p>\n It is good practice to create a copy of your main project when first using \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7, and use this copy as a testbed to become familiar with the new program.<\/p>\n\u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 also comes with an updated set of standard queries, and not all queries from earlier versions will run correctly in \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 (and vice versa<\/em>). However, existing queries are not disabled when upgrading as queries only read data, and cannot update it. A faulty query cannot corrupt user data, unlike a faulty plugin.<\/p>\n Although multiple versions of \u0192h<\/span><\/span> cannot be installed on the same PC, it is perfectly possible for more advanced users to operate different versions on two different PCs and use a local network or cloud storage to selectively synchronise features such as queries, plugins, fact sets, etc. (provided, of course, that any incompatibilities are noted). \u00a0However, for the reasons described above, user projects cannot be shared between \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 and earlier versions, and using different default project folders is recommended to keep user data separate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","fh_version":[739],"skill_level":[16],"topic":[65,89],"class_list":["post-11869","kb_article","type-kb_article","status-publish","hentry","fh_version-v7","skill_level-newcomer","topic-installing-migrating-and-upgrading","topic-upgrading-fh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article\/11869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kb_article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fh_version","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fh_version?post=11869"},{"taxonomy":"skill_level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/skill_level?post=11869"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=11869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Backing Up Projects and Settings<\/h2>\n
Backing Up Projects<\/h3>\n
Backing Up Settings<\/h3>\n
Installing and Activating the Version 7 Upgrade<\/h2>\n
Using Version 7<\/h2>\n\u0192h<\/span><\/span>7 will inherit most of your settings and customisations from previous versions, although some minor tweaking may be required.\u00a0 Calico Pie have provided detailed notes on potential issues affecting upgraders<\/a>.\u00a0 The two main areas that will impact the most users are probably changes to the Property Box, where customizations are not restored by default, and in plugins, where all existing plugins are disabled on upgrade.<\/p>\n