Version 7.0

  • V7.0 Builds 15, 16 – 17-Aug-2026

    Performance

    • Sightings View row processing is approximately 73% faster—about 3.7× faster in controlled testing.
    • Reduced repeated database lookups when displaying Band Codes and Lifer information.
    • Improved taxonomy selection performance when filtering sightings by date, location, and observer.

    Sightings View

    • Added a faster Clone Current Row to New Taxon workflow that does not require opening the full Edit Sighting window.
    • The clone workflow includes SmartSearch and allows a new taxon to be created when the desired name is unavailable.
    • Cloned sightings retain the original date, location, trip, observer, Life List setting, and user-defined data. Counts are reset to one, and comments and attachments are not copied.
    • Reorganized the right-click menu into clearer, logical groups.
    • Right-click commands now reflect the current cell, row, and selection—for example, whether a file, web address, coordinates, or selected sightings are available.
    • Added improved support for opening files and web addresses or searching the web using the contents of the selected cell.
    • Added Delete and Backspace shortcuts for deleting selected sightings.
    • Made sighting deletion safer by processing related database records as a single operation and preserving attachment files that are still referenced elsewhere.
    • Improved recovery when the Sightings View cannot load because of a damaged saved layout. Users can reset the layout and reopen the window cleanly.
    • Corrected handling of Latitude and Longitude fields used by mapping and geographic filtering.

    Filters and Taxonomy Lists

    • Fixed location-based taxonomy selection so sightings from descendant locations are included.
    • Improved date filtering reliability and performance.
    • Taxonomy selections are now preserved when switching between Smart Sort and alphabetical sorting.
    • Added filter-window shortcuts:
      • Ctrl+Shift+A — sort taxonomy lists alphabetically
      • Ctrl+Shift+S — Smart Sort taxonomy lists
      • Ctrl+Shift+L — select all licensed taxonomy lists
      • Ctrl+Shift+X — clear taxonomy selections
    • Improved geographic bounding-box validation when Latitude and Longitude user-defined fields are unavailable.

    Shortcut Help

    • Added a new, resizable Shortcut Keys reference window to the Sightings View.
    • Updated the Sighting Documents shortcut reference to use the same clearer format.
    • Shortcut windows remember their previous size and position.

    Backup Improvements

    • Improved reliability and reporting for database and attachment backups.
    • Database, backup-history, and attachment-copy results are now reported separately, making partial failures easier to understand.
    • Background attachment backups are now tracked by their actual running process, allowing large backups to continue beyond one hour without being incorrectly treated as interrupted.
    • Prevented a second attachment backup from starting while another is still running.
    • Added clearer completion and failure messages, including understandable attachment-copy result descriptions.
    • Added reminders to keep removable backup drives connected while attachment files are still copying.
    • Backup-history entries are retained when a removable drive or network location is temporarily unavailable.
    • Missing backup entries are removed automatically only when the backup device is available and the file is confirmed missing.
    • Improved backup-history recording with automatic retry and safer handling if the history cannot be updated.
    • Each attachment backup now receives its own log file for easier troubleshooting.

    Interface Improvements

    • Reorganized and clarified the main-window right-click menu, including the Latest Sightings, Latest Outings, Photos and Attachments, and Charts and Graphs sections.
    • Improved wording throughout the affected menus, replacing older “Thing” terminology with “Taxon” where appropriate.
    • Corrected the information icon display on the Create New Taxon window.

    Program Update Check on Exit

    • Birder’s Diary now checks for a newer free build of the currently installed version when the program exits. If an update is available, the prompt displays both the current and available build numbers.
    • When a backup is requested, the update begins only after the database backup completes successfully. Canceled or failed backups do not launch the updater. Update checks and their results are recorded in the application log for troubleshooting.
  • V7.0 Build 14 – 13-Aug-2026
    • A menu redesign involving new icons, organization, and labels occurred here. After 32 years of development, some of the menus needed updating for order and labels.
  • V7.0 Build 12 – 11-Aug-2026
    • Added keyboard shortcuts to the Sighting Attachments window. The shortcuts allow you to move thumbnails up and down in the order without using drag-n-drop with the mouse. 
      • Ctrl+UpArrow and Ctrl+DownArrow: move selected thumbnail up or down by one.
      • Ctrl+Shft+T and Ctrl+Shft+B: move selected thumbnail to the top or bottom respectively.
    • Rearranged some submenu items in the main menu Window menu.
    • HOME/END produced non-fatal errors in the Sightings Attachments window when all thumbnails for a Sighting/Trip are shown and fit in the space available. Fixed.
    • UpArrow and DownArrow would reload the top/bottom images if you were already at the top/bottom. No need to reload images if nothing changes.
  • V7.0 Build 11 – 6-Aug-2026
    • Fixed bug with eBird imports. This bug was only partially corrected back on 3-Jun in v6.3. There was a separate path (if auto-create Trips on import was left unchecked) that still exhibits the problem. That was fixed in this release.
  • V7.0 Build 10 – 6-Aug-2026
    • Installer checks that user didn’t choose “C:\\Birder’s Diary\\Birder’s Diary“. This can happen by accident sometimes. If so, it changes it back to C:\\Birder’s Diary and continues.
    • Backup form will add date/time stamp to any file name without one, when the option is selected to auto-add.
  • V7.0 Build 9 – 4-Aug-2026
    • Streamlined the Backup process. 
      • Removed extraneous messages requiring the user to respond.
      • Improved error and fault checking for various conditions.
  • V7.0 Build 8 – 3-Aug-2026
    • Fixed bug introduced into Build 6. The date/time values in the Sightings View & Edit window had a display bug. The underlying data did not change, it just incorrectly displays the wrong date/time on most rows. This has been fixed.
    • Photos Collage images can now be double-clicked to open the corresponding Sighting or Trip Attachments window.
    • Collage tooltips now include the location for sighting photos.
    • Improved /DB switch handling and error checking.
  • V7.0 Build 7 – 31-Jul-2026

    New Feature

    • Added an Auto append date-time to filename option to Backup.
      • Custom filenames without a date stamp receive _YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
      • Existing date stamps are updated for each new backup.
      • Filenames entered directly in the Save As window are also processed.
      • The checkbox setting is remembered between sessions.

    Backup Improvements

    • Backup History now records only successfully completed database backups. Cancelled or failed attempts no longer appear as completed backups.
    • Improved automatic purging of older backups:
      • Duplicate history entries for the same physical file are removed.
      • Entries for missing files are cleaned up.
      • Mapped-drive and network paths are compared more reliably.
      • The selected number of most recent backup files is retained more accurately.
    • Added clearer on-screen explanations for backups, automatic filename timestamps, purging, and restores.
    • Improved recovery if replacing the current database with its compacted backup copy fails. Birder’s Diary now attempts to restore the original database automatically.
    • Existing destination backups remain protected until the replacement backup has been created successfully.

    Restore Improvements

    • Restore now verifies that enough disk space is available for both the safety copy and the restored database before making changes.
    • If replacing the current database fails, Birder’s Diary attempts to restore the safety copy automatically.
    • Improved protection against accidentally selecting the current live database through an equivalent mapped-drive or network path.
    • If database connections have already been closed, Birder’s Diary now shuts down safely even when Backup or Restore encounters an error.

    Attachment Backup Improvements

    • Improved reporting when the background attachment backup cannot start or does not complete.
    • Failure messages now provide the source, destination, error information, and log location.
    • Users can open the attachment backup log directly from the failure message. If that log was not created, Birder’s Diary offers to open the main application log instead.
    • Improved cleanup and tracking of completed, failed, interrupted, or still-running attachment backup jobs.
  • V7.0 Build 6 – 31-Jul-2026

    Backup improvements

    • Improved backup-location checking, including mapped drives and network shares that point to the same physical location.
    • Added clearer warnings when a backup is placed on the same device or in the same directory as the active database.
    • Backups can no longer be written over the currently active Birder’s Diary database.
    • Birder’s Diary now detects backup locations that could conflict with the Sightings Attachments directory.
    • When an unsafe location is selected, Birder’s Diary can create and use a separate Birder’s Diary Backups folder while preserving the filename selected by the user.
    • Sightings Attachments are now mirrored to a corresponding attachment folder beside the database backup.
    • Attachment copying now runs in the background, allowing the database backup to finish and Birder’s Diary to close without waiting for a large attachment collection to finish copying.
    • Attachment-copy results are checked the next time Birder’s Diary starts.
    • Successful background attachment backups are recorded without displaying an unnecessary message.
    • If an attachment backup fails, Birder’s Diary now displays the specific error, source folder, destination folder, and log-file location.
    • If an attachment backup is still running, Birder’s Diary reports its current status.
    • If an attachment backup remains unfinished for more than one hour, it is treated as interrupted and the user is advised to run another backup at the earliest opportunity.
    • A database backup can still complete successfully if the separate attachment copy cannot be started or later encounters an error.
    • Improved progress messages during backup cleanup and removal of temporary safety files.
    • Added additional backup diagnostics, including available space on the database drive, backup drive, and Windows temporary-file drives before and after a backup.

    Backup on exit

    • The exit reminder now reports when the newest available backup was made, including whether it was made today, yesterday, or a specified number of days ago.
    • If no previous backup file can be found, the exit reminder clearly reports that no backup is available.
    • When the user chooses to back up before exiting, Birder’s Diary now completes the backup and then closes automatically.
    • If an exit-requested backup is cancelled or fails, Birder’s Diary remains open instead of continuing with the shutdown.
    • Improved shutdown handling prevents the user from receiving a second backup prompt after a successful backup performed during exit.

    Sightings View improvements

    • Fixed a type-mismatch error that could occur while loading or formatting sighting dates and calculating first-sighting status.
    • Improved the accuracy and reliability of date and time formatting in the Sightings View.
    • Improved the display of attachment counts, including correctly showing zero attachments.
    • Improved the display of band codes by ignoring empty entries.
    • Improved the calculation and display of first-sighting indicators.
    • Improved stability when opening or refreshing Sightings View windows by giving each view its own working data.
    • Corrected sorting-state handling after the Sightings View is refreshed.

    Deleting sightings and attachments

    • Improved deletion of multiple selected sightings.
    • Associated attachment records are now removed before the sightings themselves, preventing attachments from being missed during deletion.
    • Attachment files and thumbnails are deleted only when they are no longer referenced by any other sighting or trip.
    • A problem deleting one physical attachment file is recorded without preventing the remaining selected attachments from being processed.
    • After deleting sightings, the view now returns to the nearest surviving sighting whenever possible.
    • The attachment preview panel is cleared after deletion so it does not continue displaying an attachment from a deleted sighting.
    • Improved cleanup and recovery if an error occurs while deleting selected sightings, including restoring the normal mouse pointer and grid display.

    Diagnostics and support

    • Database-opening errors now record more complete diagnostic information for technical support.
    • System logs now include the Windows temporary-directory locations and their available disk space.
    • Improved error logging preserves the original database error information, making database and backup problems easier to diagnose.
  • V7.0 Build 5 – 24-Jul-2026
    • Created new 4 min Reconcile How-to video. Linked from the main reconcile window.
    • Redesigned flow and functionality in Sightings Entry Setup for Checklist Method. Remove ambiguity.
    • Iterated several times over new Reconcile functionality. Improved flow, layout and design. Improved and made easier and more intuitive the process for AI assistance during Reconcile. This process has been iterated over and redesigned numerous times in the last few months due to customer feedback and changes in AI assistance.
    • The installation will always first create a copy of your database before upgrading. This is just extra insurance in case anything goes wrong or you need to revert. That backup file is appropriately named and placed in with your default database under the \\data\\ directory. This file continues to be overwritten with each new installation.
  • V7.0 Build 4 – 16-Jul-2026
    • On some computers, the new auto-generated AI prompt in the updated Reconcile window were not correctly substituting old and new taxonomic list tokens with the current taxonomy lists in use. This has been addressed. Please report any issues in this area to support@birdersdiary.com. 
  • V7.0 Build 3 – 13-Jul-2026
    • Fixed issue on Exit where the status bars show up under the left Outing grid instead of spanning the entire width of the main window.
    • Added code to check for duplicate common names and correct the issue on DB rebuilds.
    • Added options to the Backup Attachments command that treat older Windows file systems in a more appropriate way.
    • Corrected issue with Taxonomy Import when duplicate common names are present.
  • V7.0 Build 2 – 13-Jul-2026
    • Fixed issue with Windows 7 attempting to read the latest version of Birder’s Diary from a BirdersDiary.com config file. This works fine on Windows 10 and later.
    • Update Save/Exit buttons on the Comments Editor window to be more intuitive.
  • V7.0 Build 1 – 9-Jul-2026
    • Fixed button Links on BD News and Information window.
    • Added new “Explain Licensing” button to BD News and Information window.
  • V7.0 Build 0 – 9-Jul-2026
    • Minor cosmetic and functional changes from v6.3