Working Together

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Working Together

Gramps Connect is built for more than one person to work on the same tree at the same time. Most of this page matters on a shared, hosted instance (see Deploying), where a whole family logs in to one tree. Edit history and shared results are useful on the standalone version too.

Seeing each other's changes

Changes appear as they happen

When someone else corrects a date or adds a person, your screen updates on its own. There's no reloading, and no risk of working from a copy of the tree that's already gone stale. See Architecture for how this works under the hood.

Who's working right now

Anyone who's changed something in the last few minutes shows up as an avatar next to the user menu, so you can see who else is actively working in the tree with you.

Looking back: edit history

Every record has a History button. Open it for a log of that record's own edits (who, when, added/updated/deleted), newest first. Click any entry for a field-by-field before/after diff.

Live changes show you edits as they happen; History lets you look back later. See Data Model and Editing for more.

Discussions and messages

Discuss a specific record with one click, and keep chatting in a floating window while you browse. It never takes over the page you were on.

You can also open the Discussions view and start a discussion from scratch, linking in whatever People, Sources, Citations and Repositories a research question turns on. A discussion can grow into a real gathering point for one line of research, not just a comment thread.

One-on-one messages work the same way, just not linked to anything. See Messaging for details.

Shared reports and exports

When someone runs a report or exports the tree, the finished file shows up where everyone can find and download it, not just in that person's own folder.

Downloading a file

Clicking Download confirms with an in-app toast once the save hands off to the browser or operating system. This helps on desktop, where the native save dialog it opens can be easy to miss.

Keeping the file in the tree

After a download, Gramps Connect asks whether to keep the generated file as a media object in the tree (green Save) or not (plain Don't Save). Save, or just dismissing the dialog, is the safe default. Either way the file is a quick regenerate away, so the choice isn't a big deal.

Viewing instead of downloading

Most generated files, like any other Media item, can be viewed in the browser with a View button. See Data Model and Editing for which formats.

Exports that had to leave something out

Some exports can't hold everything in the tree. The GEDCOM 7 export, for example, reports data GEDCOM 7 has no place for. When that happens, a yellow "Export ready" notice says so, and the full list is attached to the exported file as a note, so anyone who opens it in the Output view sees what's missing. Choosing Don't Save removes that note along with the file. This needs gramps-web-api v3.23.0 or later.

Knowing where you are

Which tree you're in

The header names the active tree next to the Gramps Connect logo. If you're signed into more than one tree, or share a hosted instance with other family trees, it's always clear which one you're looking at.

When the app has been updated

On a hosted instance, a tab you've had open for a while can end up running an older build than the server now serves. Gramps Connect notices and shows a dismissible "Update available" notification with a Reload button. It never reloads the page for you, since you might have unsaved edits open.