Ron, Well explained, I was also going to suggest splitting the database for each collaborator, as you suggest in point 9 but did not. Russ
-----Original Message----- From: Ron Taylor Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Using IntelliShare Russ and Dave added some very valuable points that I failed to include with my first response. ============ 1) Sharing files should always be done with backed up Legacy zip files and not GEDCOM files. The probability of data loss has been discussed numerous times. Some people deposit their actual Legacy database files in Dropbox which can have unexpected results. It would be safer to push just the zip files through Dropbox or email attachments and "Restore" them to the local hard drive under the exact same file structure that the other user has in place. The "Restore Family File" inside Legacy does a good job of placing the database files but does not place the multimedia files. A good standard location for the database files is C:\Legacy\Data and should work with all versions of Windows. 2) The Multimedia files are only linked to the Legacy database and are not actually stored in the database. Just the path to each multimedia file is contained in the database. If multimedia is to be shared with other collaborators, then it should be placed on each computer with the same path structure so that Legacy can locate the linked files. All the multimedia could be kept in the same folder for all collaborators but I have developed a way that each collaborator can have more control over multimedia that he/she collects. Let's say we have the following collaborators: James, Colleen, Ralph. I would create the following folders at the root level of the hard drive: C:\JamesMM, C:\ColleenMM, C:\RalphMM. The folder names are not sacred but must be unique at the root level. By placing them at the root level, they will be consistent with all versions of Windows. Now James will place multimedia that he collects into C:\JamesMM and each of the others likewise. They do not have to worry about how the other collaborators organize their multimedia or name their files as long as they each keep their collections under their designated root level folder and each collaborator does not alter the filenames outside of their collection folder. 3) When Legacy backs up the multimedia, it only puts those files into the zip backup which are linked to the database being backed up. If a folder contains 5000 pictures but only 350 of them are linked to the database, then only those 350 will be backed up into the zip file. 4) To Restore the multimedia backup zip file, it should always be restored to the root level of the local hard drive. The unzipping process will lay down the same file path structure that was captured at the time of the backup. With the example in step 2, you would have C:\JamesMM, C:\ColleenMM, and C:\RalphMM. All the database links to the multimedia should work well after the database family file is restored. If the multimedia is restored first and then the database, you will see the multimedia when the database is opened rather than blue question marks in the galleries indicating missing files. 5) When the Keeper combines all the collaborators copies of the database and multimedia, he should determine if any multimedia filenames are duplicates. One collaborator may have a filename "Margaret.jpg" in C:\JamesMM\Family\Jones while another collaborator also has a completely different photo titled "Margaret.jpg" in C:\ColleenMM\Cousins\Owens. These two files with the same filename can be a problem for Legacy. The Keeper should rename the multimedia files as needed so there are no duplicate filenames linked to the database. ============ 6) Let me clarify about renumbering RINs and MRINs. The Intellishare value is not changed when a RIN or MRIN is renumbered but only one Intellishare value is kept and the other discarded if two records are merged. A simple scenario which will cause this is when more than one collaborator adds the same individual independently of the others. For example, collaborators (including the Keeper) are working on their copies of the file and a new child is born which prompts them to add the new person to their file. The new child might possibly get the same RIN in each file but will definitely not get the same Intellishare value. You might even decide to renumber RINs so that all copies of the file do have the same RIN for the new addition. The separate copies of the database will still have a different Intellishare value for that new child. When the copies of the database are combined back into the Keeper's file, the sequence I outlined earlier will insure which Intellishare value will be preserved after the merge since only one can survive regardless of the RIN. 7) You can renumber RINs or MRINs as much as you wish and it will not make you manually merge each of those changed records. The Intellishare value will allow all records to be merged automatically as long as no "data" is different. The RIN is not considered to be data. I have renumbered RINs many times without any problem. The renumbering I recommended has a very specific purpose which was also mentioned by others recently. 8) The IntelliMerge process is presented by Dave Berdan in the Legacy help files under "Sharing Research Tasks" and in the "Tips from the Experts" and included in the response from Russ. If the Keeper or a collaborator delete a record, and the record remains in at least one other copy of the database, then that record will survive a merge and magically return to all copies after the Keeper combines files. Re-read my explanation and try it for yourself. That point is not correctly expounded in the Legacy documentation. The IntelliMerge log files are not much help either as they only tell you something happened but do not fix the problem. 9) Sharing a "slice" of the database with a collaborator is exactly how I work with my database and multimedia. Then each collaborator sends me their updated slice and I restore that slice as a separate Legacy database. Next, I clean it up as needed. Then I merge the slice back into the master file and again clean up as needed. Finally, I export a new Legacy slice with its multimedia and send it out to the collaborator again. The collaborator will "restore" it as outlined above and begin working on it again. The Keeper may have renumbered all or some of the RINs, fixed duplicate multimedia filenames, etc. The collaborator should not work on his slice until he restores the updated copies of the database and multimedia to his hard drive. Ron Taylor Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
