I usually have more than 1 family file open at the same time–in RM7, they would open up in the same interface BUT RM8 opens up a new interface with each one…
Problem–if I want to minimize the 1st file I opened up to the task bar, it MINIMIZES ALL the files I opened up–I can minimize the 2nd file etc without effecting the first file–
Is there a way to solve this problem or is it another feature request
Thanks
Think you are dealing with a windows os dark side issue.
On the mac RM8 opens each file in a new window which can be individually resized. Mac users typically just flip between windows in the same app and between apps with a simple command key.
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It apparently is not a problem but a new feature which persons wanted. You have to remeber that the program opens in a window and while you can launch another DB in a second window, it is still very much a child window to the first window so when you minimize the parent, the child goes also. I wouldn’t bother with minimizing, just use F5 to flip back and forth between them. You can stack them on top of each other so they appear as if only one is open at a time if you wish.
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Try using the F5 key. Works for me on Windows.
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Thanks all of you for the help-- I will try the F 5
It seems like it must be a Windows thing, or a thing about the way RM8 has been programmed to work with Windows. When you open a second RM8 database in a second RM8 database window, it’s not really in what a Windows user would really call a second window.
I don’t know the proper terminology to describe what is really going on. But from standard Windows features like the quick launch bar and the Alt-tab mechanism, RM8 appears still only to have one Window open instead of two. The way to get back and forth between the two RM8 windows that Windows doesn’t recognize as separate windows, get one of the RM8 windows on the screen and use F5 to get to the other one. I haven’t yet found a mouse way to accomplish the F5 function. I also haven’t yet found anything in the RM8 user interface that will even tell you that the second window even exists. You just have to know it exists because you created it. If you walk up to an RM8 screen after being away from it from an hour, you might not remember that you had opened a second window.
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If two or more databases are open AND some are hiding behind others, one need only grab the top bar of any visible ones with their mouse to drag/move them asunder until all open ones are revealed. Then merely clicking the mouse upon the various individual top bars (or sides or bottom), cycles the same as F5 . That and resizing/rearranging will be an interim art form until/if RM7’s features “Open databases from last session” and “Cascade all open databases” make their way into RM8.
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I don’t believe this is a Windows “dark side” issue as much as it is a programming issue. It seems the windows are functioning as a parent-child hierarchy where the first database opened is the “parent” window while subsequent databases open in “child” windows. If I try to minimise the parent window then the child window(s) are also minimised, however, if I minimise the child window the parent stays open. I have only tried this with two databases opened. I am not sure how it will behave with more than that opened.
My guess is the second window is ‘inheriting’ some of its attributes from the parent. My long-retired programmer instincts tell me this is a simple programming issue.
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@kbens0n
That and resizing/rearranging will be an interim art form until/if RM7’s features “Open databases from last session” and “Cascade all open databases” make their way into RM8.
Windows 10 has a Cascade Windows feature-- right click on the time and date in the task bar and you will see Cascade Windows–
as for “Open databases from last session”- RM* has an option for that also–far left panel that has Home , Files, People etc, click on Settings
Click on the icon that looks like with a dot in the lines
_
__
__
then put a checkmark in Open Last Closed File
I’m not near my PC now but I doubt the Windows Cascade can cascade RM8 windows.
Unfortunately, this only reopens one database. In RM7 it reopened more than one.
Windows Cascade cannot cascade multiple RM8 windows. I’m not sure of the proper terminology, but the multiple RM8 windows are not seen by Windows as being truly multiple windows. For example, you can’t see them in the Windows Quick Launch bar and you cannot see them with Alt-Tab.
Sorry @thejerrybryan and @kbens0n to disagree with you all BUT after kbens0n said
I’m not near my PC now but I doubt the Windows Cascade can cascade RM8 windows.
I opened 4 RM8 files, mannually stacked them on top of each other then clicked on Cascade Windows and it worked just fine-- I also tried side by side and then stacked-- they work BUT Cascade is the only one that gives you enough area to work in a file without resizing
Home now and glad to learn that You were right about show windows side by side, stacked and cascade. BTW, right-clicking anywhere blank on the task bar brings up that menu (not just time &date section).
That’s good to know. Thanks. But it remains the case that Alt-Tab won’t cycle between RM8 windows and you can’t see the RM8 windows as multiple windows in the Windows Quick Launch bar.
I did confirm just now that Cascade Windows works for RM8 on my machine. I was assuming incorrectly that it wouldn’t work because Alt-Tab doesn’t work for the RM8 windows and the RM8 windows don’t show up at multiple windows in the Windows Quick Launch bar. I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes in Windows that makes the behavior of multiple windows for an application behave in these variety of ways. I have a wide variety of non-genealogical apps from a wide variety of vendors where Alt-Tab does work for multiple windows and where the multiple windows do show up in the Windows Quick Launch bar.
Also (and has been reported before), if you minimize one of the RM8 windows, they are all minimized and vice versa. Again, this behavior is different from all my other Windows apps. The RM8 windows in some sense are not as independent of each other as are multiple windows in other apps. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in some ways it’s a good thing I guess. But it is certainly something different to get used to. I can’t cycle through my multiple RM8 windows in the same way I can cycle through my multiple windows from other apps.