* pdf Media

[peterbel]

Some of my Media are pdf files and they are linked to Individuals and Families in the usual way.
They show as pdf icons but do not open within FH.
Is this because I have to action a setting or just the way it is?
I do have both Acrobat and Reader on the same PC so if they could be triggered if necessary.

[tatewise]

Yes, FH only displays image Media files (jpg, png, gif, tif, etc) both on screen and in Diagrams and Reports, etc.
Any other file types can be attached but you must click on the icon or the Open in Editor/Player button with black triangle in green circle. See how_to:v4:adding_multimedia#adding_other_media|> Adding Other Media.

If the PDF is a single page document many users prefer to convert it to an image format.

Individual and Family attached Media are typically photographic image files rather than documents.
Mostly, PDF files are source documents that are usually attached to Source Citations.

[peterbel]

Thanks Mike.
I will try the Open in Editor/Player action, that should work for me.
However I was a bit surprised knowing that FH could generate PDFs that it couldn't 'automatically' read them, maybe an enhancement that could be added?

[tatewise]

The problem is that, unlike images, a PDF or Word Doc can run to many pages, so it would need all the usual PDF & Doc viewing gizmo controls to navigate through multiple pages, and would pose problems in Diagrams and Reports, etc.
So it would end up looking just the same as viewing it in Adobe Reader or MS Word, but with unfamiliar controls.
Anyway, FH does not generate PDF files itself, but uses a proprietary PDF Printer Driver (Nova7 PDF).
Thus it adopts the same strategy for viewing PDF by using your preferred PDF viewer.

[peterbel]

I have now tried the Open Editor Player process which works well.
Not sure if it my high res screen (3840 x 2160), or my failing eyesight, but the little line of icons it is in is very small, thank goodness there are tooltips!
Yes I can see it would be a big development ask to add the viewing features to FH and not really the way to do it, use the original software where possible. However, could it not just open on a double click? The file extension tells FH what program to use after all.

[tatewise]

You can make most toolbars bigger by using Tools > Preferences > Display > Toolbar Size: Big

Once the Edit Media Item dialogue is open then double-clicking the PDF icon will open it in your PDF reader.

[peterbel]

Going from 'Medium' to 'Big' makes a huge difference, thanks.
That's great, now PDFs open without a fuss, thank again!