Set Preference for spouse does not reflect on the Tree

jamesglennstahlejr1

I too am having problems with the "Set Preference" for spouse. It is stuck. I was able to change the preferred spouse before the last update to FamilySearch and it would reflect on the fan chart. I contacted the Family Search Missionaries twice and they do not know why the preference is stuck. I was told to post here in hopes that the web programmers would see the posting and schedule a fix. Otherwise, any suggestions?

Julia Szent-Györgyi

What do you mean by "stuck"? What happens when you use "Set Preferred"? Or is the problem that you haven't found that? It's on the profile's Details page, at the top left of the Family Members section.

jamesglennstahlejr1

When I "Set Preferred" (spouse) on the Family Members section of the Details for the Individal, the change does not reflect on the Tree (Landscape, Portrait, or Fan Chart). The Spouse that was set as preferred prior to the last major change to the FamilySearch Home Page remains as the spouse even if I change the "Set Preferred" radio button on the Individaul page.

Jim

Julia Szent-Györgyi

That's weird. Any chance of the PID where this is happening?

I just did some testing with one of my spouse's ancestors (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LRSM-65Q), and the landscape pedigree responded exactly as desired to the "set preferred" setting. Also, the profile detail page responded exactly as expected to the landscape pedigree's "Alternative spouses" drop-down.

On the fan chart, changing spouses with the little arrow (which I'd never noticed before!) did not affect the details page, but changing the preferred spouse on the Details page and then refreshing the fan chart resulted in the preferred spouse showing.

The portrait pedigree does not appear to have an "on-tree" option for choosing a different spouse, but it responded to the details page's settings as expected.

One thought: there can be a bit of a collision of preferences when a person has multiple parents, and a parent has multiple spouses. If Adam has Bob and Cathy as his preferred parents, but Bob has Diana as his preferred spouse, who should show in the tree, Cathy or Diana? I can't offhand find such a situation among my relatives, so I don't know which choice is prioritized, the parent or the spouse. Perhaps what you're seeing is caused by such a collision?

Alan E. Brown

Users are sometimes confused about the distinction between the use of preferred spouses and preferred parents, but the way it works is completely consistent. Where a parental relationship is needed to draw the tree, the preferred parents are used; this is the relationship used by far the most often. Where a spousal relationship is needed, the preferred spouse is used. The spousal relationship only affects the root person and is used in the Landscape and Fan Chart views (it's not used at all in the Portrait view right now).

To use the example from @Julia Szent-Györgyi , where "Adam has Bob and Cathy as his preferred parents, but Bob has Diana as his preferred spouse":

• If Adam is the root person of the fan chart (the one in the circle), then Bob and Cathy will be shown in the first arc above him, because they are the preferred parents.
• If Bob is the root person of the fan chart, then Diana will be shown in the spouse position below, because she is the preferred spouse. The children of Bob and Diana will be shown below Diana. You can use the arrows to switch to Bob's other wife Cathy, but Diana will be shown initially.

jamesglennstahlejr1

Thanks to you all. I did find the set parent setting and was able to make my change. I just did not search well enought. Nice job to you all. Jim