Oops. Now where are my notes?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ron Ferguson on December 9, 2010 at 6:43pm

Since your .fdb file is OK they should be there, if you are referring to the General, Research and Medical Notes, or those associated with births, marriages, death and burial. They are contained in the same table as the individuals' names, RINs etc. i.e. tblIR.

 

I would first try using File>File Maintenance>Check Repair to see if that works, if you have Access, Open Office or LTools you can also open tblIR and take a look at the columns, and see if they are there (but I cannot see how they might have been removed).

Permalink Reply by MsFoxRider on December 10, 2010 at 1:34pm

Thanks, Ron.  I opened all my files and none of the most recent backups have notes.  I did find a GEDCOM backup I did in July that had my notes, so I ended up using that.  I only lost 4,000 folks, but since none of them were direct lineage I figured it was the better option than using the file with 14,400 and no notes at all.  I tried merging the two files together to keep the majority of the notes and at least not lose any individuals, but I keep getting an enormous amount of duplicates, no matter how many times I try the merge, so I think I'll just end up doing it manually. :(  I don't have the programs you recommended to be able to check my tables.  All the events, everything were there (thankfully) except the notes - but since this is my working database, my notes are quite important to me.  Thank you for your response.  I did try the file repair, and it still didn't bring up my notes on the backup files.

Permalink Reply by Charles Edward Radford II on December 10, 2010 at 1:23pm

Sherry at Legacy Family Tree says:

 

"I don’t post to GenealogyWise. I’ve never signed up for the site.

 

The most common reason for people “losing” their notes is that they’re on the wrong tab.  Look for the asterisk next to the tab name – that indicates the tab has data entered on it.

 

At Options > Customize > Data Defaults you can set to open window to General Notes each time or to Last Used note type each time (default)

 

If you can post to the site, go ahead and send that info on!

Sherry"

Permalink Reply by MsFoxRider on December 10, 2010 at 1:42pm

In response to

 

"The most common reason for people “losing” their notes is that they’re on the wrong tab.  Look for the asterisk next to the tab name – that indicates the tab has data entered on it,"

 

it's quite simple to see if your individuals have notes if you look at the "notes" icon.  It's gray and flat if there are no notes, and it's colored and "open" if there are any notes at all for that individual, regardless of which tab the notes would be under.  All the individuals I know should have notes all have gray notebooks, and sure enough, if I open up Notes, there is nothing there under General, Research, or Medical.  It appears to me in this particular instance I did indeed "lose" my notes.  I have searched my computer (even hidden files) several times and still can not find the backup files with notes. 

Permalink Reply by Ron Ferguson on December 10, 2010 at 2:40pm

If you have already overwritten your established .fdb with the GEDCOM then, I doubt if anything can be done to recover your Notes.

 

One thing does confuse me though; are you using a GEDCOM for backup, rather than the Legacy back-up system? If so it is quite possible, as you know, to create a GEDCOM without the Notes in error. Is this a possibility?

Permalink Reply by MsFoxRider on December 10, 2010 at 4:29pm

Ron, I don't know what was going on.  The night I was working on this, every .fdb file I had opened from a "backup" file did not contain notes.  However, today when I was retrying them, the same ones now had notes... so I guess I just had a glitch in the system the first night I was trying all this.  I typically click Backup when it reminds me at every closing, so that is how I was doing the backup.  I apparently skipped more often than I realized, because the newest file I could find was July.  That was also when I backed up to a GEDCOM, so they contain the same information.  I can't find the more recent backups, though I know I had done it within a month... I may have overwritten something, I don't know.  Anyway, it's a good lesson to me to make sure my backups contain what I think they do in case I need them again.  All is not lost, just a bit of a setback.  I thank you for taking the time to try to help me with my problem!