Another Argument out of Range Error that is REPEATABLE

RootsMagic
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When deleting a lot of people from a family file, I would eventually have an Argument out of Range Error-- I originally started this project in RM 8 and then finished it up in RM 9 with the Argument out of Range Error happening a lot in both programs BUT at the time didn’t know what was going on…

So recently I tried again — the Argument out of Range Error is repeatable-- in both RM 8 and RM 9 ( haven’t had it happen yet in RM 7)-- I’ve tried several different databases including some that were sent to me by others— after it happened , I have closed out the file, have tried running the database tools and have also rebooted the computer–still happens-- also completely removed RM 9 and reinstalled it-- same problem…

Steps-- Usually will take abt 40 minutes

Basically the same BUT You can do it 2 ways-- I usually use Family View…
1st way is to just start deleting who ever is on the 1st page that appears…

you can delete a person or a family-- by using the trash can or by right click and hitting delete in the drop down menu…

once that page is done, another page ( or person) shows up to continue deleting…

using this method-- the Argument out of Range Error usually shows up somewhere between 950 and 1100 clicks of the mouse…

2nd way is to
click on the 1st person in the index and delete
( trash can or drop down menu)…

delete them either as a person or as a family-

then either click on next person on page or someone in index–

sometimes I would use the ARROWS NEXT TO A PARENT to go up a level or 2 to delete those lines before returning to the list–

usually the Argument out of Range Error shows up abt 750- 850 clicks…

No matter how you do it, once the error appears, you can only delete abt 2 people before it happens again…

Windows 11 RM 9.0.5.0–64 BIT-- I do NOT sync to a cloud service

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I can confirm the same error with RM9. It’s not repeatable on demand, but it’s repeatable eventually. Namely, after I delete a large number of people, I get an Argument Out Of Range error. When this happens, I shut down RM9, restart it, and run the database tools before continuing with additional deletes. No errors are ever reported by the database tools.

At the present time, I’m doing all the deletes in Family View, using the arrow keys to move from person to person. I also use the mouse to click on the chevrons to change generations. I use Family View instead of Descendants View because Descendants View does not support the Delete key and because I want to delete from the bottom up. After deleting the last person in Descendants View, I have to reposition the view before I can delete again if there are more people than can fit on the screen. Doing it from Family View, the generations adjust themselves automatically on the screen as people are deleted.

I only delete from the parent or child position, not from the grandparent position or from the position of the spouse of a child. So for example, to delete the spouse of a child I would first click on the chevron to bring the child and their spouse into the parent position.

I only delete from the parent position only when there is just one child. Otherwise, I get dangling children not connected to anybody. I only delete from the child position when the child has no left chevron, There is no left chevron only when the person has neither a spouse nor a child. I only delete an individual and never a family. It’s a little hard to explain the process, but it gives the effect of walking the descendancy tree to the youngest generation and then deleting your way back up, except doing it in Family View instead of in Descendant View.

I’m doing the exact same process in parallel in RM7, and RM7 has never given me the Argument Out Of Range error.

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I deleted 400 people in RM9 using the Group Tool “Delete everyone in a group” without a hiccup.

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Yes, I have also used the Delete Everyone In A Group tool successfully and without any kinds of errors being reported… But what I’m doing right now really requires a bit of a case by case analysis of which people need to be deleted and which do not. i use the “Delete Everyone In A Group” tool when the group is well enough defined that I can be sure it’s safe to delete everybody in the group. And I use the one person at a time technique when the collection of people being deleted can’t be so well defined.

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Like @thejerrybryan , I also could NOT use the delete everyone in a group —I had accidentally merged two unrelated lines into one file and it was saved and backed-up–so it had to be done one person/one family at a time as both files had people with the last surname…

Originally started this in RM 8 and finished it in RM 9–RM 8 was so bad that I was erroring out abt every 20 to 50 people – very random BUT had it happen so many times that I was restarting the program abt every 20 minutes–took me over 3 days to delete abt 400 people according to the file count…
Decided to go back in lately and see if I could figure out how it happened and when-- I have tried numerous files and it always happens on each and everyone–including 2 files sent to me by others–takes abt 40 minutes of deleting and moving around-- happens somewhere between 670- and 1000 clicks usually–close out of the file, restart the computer, run the tools and it would happen again both in RM 8 and RM 9

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@thejerrybryan --Thank for confirming it’s just not me or my computer–unlike you I was deleting whole families including upward toward the grandparents and downward all from one page–I also was not using the arrows keys --so thanks for confirming it happens with that also as I wondered abt just using them and tab with less mouse usage…

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To explain a little more

had only 1–let me repeat that ONLY 1 error with RM 8 UNTIL update RM 8.2.7.0– – then I had multiple types of errors with no idea why or how they were happening as they happened randomly…
There were many access violations and argument out of range as well as there was what I will call the phantom white page which @fahumm does an excellent job of explaining --which seems to have been happening since the testing of RM 8…

By the time RM 8.5.0.0 and RM 9 came along, it improved—meaning it took longer for a error to occur BUT they still occur a lot…

If you do a SEARCH in the box at the top of this page for Argument out of Range-- you will see there are 11 different Topics on here

If you do a search for Access Violations-- you will see there are over 50 different topics on here.

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.I read thru all of them as they appeared on the list
and almost all seem to have a common factor-- AND THAT IS EDITING ( or deleting as in my case)-- to me editing means changing or deleting something BUT that may NOT be what others are talking abt…

Treeshare seems to have problems ( and therefore FamilySearch probably does too) - probably due to the many clicks it takes just to accept one change…
Other things listed in these posts were editing NOTES, editing FACTS, editing MEDIA, editing PLACES and editing CITATIONS-- WHICH REALLY SEEMS TO BE A BIG ONE! Except for one ( which was FS and citations), none of these violations seem to occur when just adding new info.

So is it the fact that we are making changes to the existing program or does it all boil down to that once you hit X amount of clicks ( 670-1000) while making changes to the file in one session, the error is going to occur?

Can’t speak for MAC users BUT believe anyone on Windows can repeat the error I listed in the first post above–to make it easier, you MIGHT install a mouse clicker but then you might not want to do that as you might be amazed by how many clicks it takes to get something done.

@rzamor1 would you please share this with the tech support working on my support ticket-- thanks

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Windows 11 RM 9.0.5.0–64 BIT. Have all time, nearly all childs in family. Came with 9.0.5.0 as I remember it.

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So what causes your Argument out of Range and abt how long can you work in the file before it happens?

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Normally I don’t turn off my Laptop, it goes to sleep until the next day. Just here one day, it was turned off in the morning, and then it took a long time before “Argument out of range” arose. Then an example after it occurred.

I worked on the FamilySearch Person Tool" to establish a family. spouse, children, their possible spouse and children. This resulted in a total of 13 new people and between jumps to the different ones “Argument out of Range” came 7 times.

Afterwards I went to Family a generation ago without it happening, but when I went another generation back it came up again.

I am then aware that if I switch off the machine or maybe just switch off RM then it will help, but that is not how it should happen. I have worked with transfers from FamilySearch on and off for several years, and am of the opinion that this occurred after version 9.0.5.0 came out.

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That’s a lot of errors for so few people-- I don’t use Family Search or Ancestry Tree Share with RM --so I can’t say that this started with Family Search in version 9.0.5.0 BUT probably so – have seen a lot of people talk abt errors with Ancestry Tree Share going back to RM 8.
.
Your argument out of range error seem to be more random than mine— once an error occurs in what I am doing in RM 9, I can only delete abt 2 more people before it happens again-- when it happened in RM 8, I could delete an additional 20 or 50 people before it happened again-- very random.

I think that your problem is also related to the # of clicks ( whether using the mouse or the arrow keys on the computer) it takes to get something done combined with the randomness of the error-- that is why you MIGHT have lots of errors with the 1st generation added, none of the next generation and then it happened again in the 2nd generation back…

Might check this thread on Ancestry Tree Share

Support will tell you:

  1. Once the error happens, immediately close RM 9, reopen the file and then Go to File>Tools>Database Tools and run all options there in consecutive order…
  2. Make sure database is not inside a folder syncing to cloud storage like Dropbox, iCloud or OneDrive.
  3. I will also add You can also close out your file, reboot the computer and then run all the database tools after reopening the file…

I did both #1 and # 3-- don’t synch to a cloud-- the error still happens BUT it was abt another 40 minutes ( 670-1000 clicks) before it happened-so nothing changed.

If you continue to have the argument out of range errors, make a new file and drag this file to the new file:
with your file open
go to File > Create a new file
click on Empty file
now you should have your file up and the new file, drag your file to the new empty file and drop in the names. choose everyone from this database…

You can and probably should contact support also if the error is repeatable-- they want to know the exact steps you took before the error happened-- the more info you can tell them the better such as it happens after 20 people or 40 clicks or every 10 minutes…

You can contact support here Monday thru Friday-- thinks it’s 8 am to 4 pm MOUNTAIN TIME…
https://rootsmagic.com/Help/

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nkess
July 15

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I have never used Ancestry Tree Share and have nothing to do with deleting people, it happens, not every time but when I click to go to another person in that family. Neither nothing to do with FamilySearch, I am out of that when it happens. The persons was all hints from FamilySearch.

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