Software files and User settings files There are two groups of files for running Ancestris. The software files run the application, The user settings files store user preferences. You may lose the software files because you can always get them from the Ancestris website; but you should backup you user settings files as they are specific to you. Software files Ancestris software files will be inside the ancestris folder used during the installation. You can type whereis ancestris on a terminal to find out what that folder is (not in Windows ). This ancestris folder contains the following sub-folders. ancestris bin ancestris : executable file to start Ancestris under MacOS and Linux ancestris.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows ancestris64.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows with Java 64-bit architecture (recommended) ancestris.gif : Ancestris icon to use when creating an application launcher shortcut other Ancestris icons etc ancestris.conf : application configuration file harness platform When you reinstall Ancestris, you simply replace those software files. User settings files The user directory Ancestris user settings files are in the user directory . You can see the location of the user directory on the About dialogue. This dialogue can be accessed from the main menu / Help / About Ancestris or else by clicking on the About button . Example : This user directory depends on your operating system. Windows : C:\Users\[your name]\.ancestris\ MacOS : ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/ancestris/ Linux : ~/.ancestris/ Where is the installed version number. 11 : in this case, the main version 11 trunk : in this case, the daily version 12 The configuration file and the log file There are two especially important files in the user's folder for startup and diagnostic of eventual bugs. The configuration file : /etc/ancestris.conf defines the launch settings. The log file : /ancestris/ancestris.log stores all warnings and error messages occurring while you use Ancestris. Here are also located your preferences and customised templates. Your preferences : /ancestris/config Your personal templates : /ancestris/blueprints Your almanacs : /ancestris/almanac Your individual and family record templates : /ancestris/gedart Your history of modifications : /var/cache/ModificationsHistory Please check the user guide to learn what these templates are for. Detailed description ~/.ancestris/trunk User directory ancestris User defined templates almanac Almanacs for the chronology view and for chronology reporting. blueprints Blueprints available for displaying genealogy information in dynamic tree view, Gedcom editor, etc. gedart Standard models and user-defined models for the individual and family record / Gedart report. ancestris.log Ancestris log file. This is the file Ancestris support might need in case you submit an error. You can define the size of the log file in the Preferences. config User defined preferences Modules User preferences of installed extensions Preferences User preferences of all views and tools except those of the installed extensions Toolbars Main toolbar settings Windows2Local Position of windows shortcuts.html Shortcuts etc   ancestris.conf Ancestris configuration file for Launch settings This configuration file complements the Ancestris application configuration file placed in the software files described above. modules Installed extensions update_tracking Installed extensions update information var   cache   ModificationsHistory Modification history of Gedcom files opened by Ancestris ... Temporary information stored by Ancestris log Temporary log files   When you reinstall Ancestris, user settings files are not modified and you should be able to run the updated version with all your previous settings. However, there could be some changes in the way the new version uses some of the settings. - If this is the case, we recommend you to only keep the ancestris , config , etc and ModificationsHistory folders. - If you have trouble with the windows, we recommend you to remove the Windows2Local folder.   Uninstall Ancestris To uninstall Ancestris, just delete the 2 folders of the software files and the user settings files.