* Uploading media

[Johnwrosser]

When I try to upload media from my pc, FH sends me to any place rather than my downloads folder. Can this be changed to make it go directly to the downloads folder please?

[tatewise]

I think that once you have uploaded one Media file, FH should offer to use the same folder in future.
However, I'm happy to be proved wrong.

[Johnwrosser]

The reason I'm asking Mike, is that FH doesn't do that.

[davidf]

It did not in V6 either - I have to respecify the path to upload to every time.

Annoyingly if I upload to the \media directory I have to be very careful to approach that directory through the same route as FH (i.e. taking care to use the same drives in WINE); if you don't, you get a long path name stored, rather than just Media\filename.

[tatewise]

FH V7 does remember the last used folder for me, even after closing and reopening.
However, if you import/export data other than Media (such as Export GEDCOM File) then FH may remember that folder.
i.e. FH tends to remember whatever folder you used last for any import or export operation for any type of data whether that is a Media file, Query file, GEDCOM file, etc.

As long as you are loading a batch of Media it should keep defaulting to the folder you last used.

John, can you give some specific sequences of operations that do not remember the last folder used.

David, for me the Copy File(s) To: drop list provides all the FH Media subfolder names within the Project.
Yes, if you use the Location... button then care must be taken to choose the correct path, but that should only be necessary when adding a new subfolder.
Faulty paths can be fairly easily corrected via the Tools > External File Links... dialogue.

[neil40]

The reason I'm asking Mike, is that FH doesn't do that.

I have just experimented. FH 7.0.18 remembered the last place I used.
I clicked on the Media Tab, then 'Add Media>Insert from File...' which opened in a random folder in the project for some reason. I navigated to Downloads and inserted a picture
I then selected 'Add Media' again and it opened my last location 'Downloads' as expected.
I closed FH and opened it again, and repeated the above, and it had remembered 'Downloads'

[Jean001]

Mostly, I load media via the Source Record (Media : Add Media : Insert From File).

At the beginning of each FH session I do have to reset the file path.

[tatewise]

Jean, is that because every time you close FH you perform a Backup to a specific folder?
Is that the folder offered next time when you try to load Media?

[Jean001]

Yes, that's so Mike.

It doesn't bother me because, e.g., I have to pick the appropriate file path/folder when downloading images from the Internet to my computer, so it is part of 'what you do'.

I wondered if johnwrosser might be working via the source record.

[Johnwrosser]

Mike, here it is and this is usually where FH looks for my media:

Capture.PNG (26.42 KiB) Viewed 1159 times

[tatewise]

John, that looks like a Family Historian Backup folder, so do you typically save FH Backups there when you close FH?
If so, then that is the same scenario as Jean described.

Try these experiments, perhaps using the Family Historian Sample Project, so your main Project is not upset:

1. Add a Media file from your Downloads folder, which will probably need the folder to be selected.
2. Add another Media file, which should automatically default to using the Downloads folder.
3. Close FH but choose NOT to perform a Backup, i.e. choose Skip option.
4. Now open FH.
5. Add another Media file ~ what default folder does it use?

Do steps 2. and 5. above default to using the Downloads folder?

[Jean001]

Mike, for _my_ scenario you have it spot on.

Following your steps 1 to 5:

step 2 defaults to the desired folder.
step 5 defaults to the desired folder.

[Little.auk]

Are you aware of the Windows Explorer "Pin to Quick access" facility?

In Windows Explorer, If you right click on a folder there is a "Pin to Quick access" option in the drop down list, it pins a link to the folder in the "Pinned" SECTION at the top of the left hand pane.

It doesn't solve this problem, but it does mean you have single click access to a folder, rather than having to mine down through the directory hierarchy every time.

[davidf]

In my Wine Setup (which is emulating Windows 7 and running V6) I have had the same issue with having to define the path every time I uploaded media. The ("Windows") file open dialog has "Favorites" as an option; putting in Favorites a short-cut to the relevant directory, gives me a quicker way to access the media folder - in a similar way to "Pin to Quick access". I then for tidinesses sake have to "correct the paths" every so often to get rid of the excess path definition prior to the "Media\filename".

Working out how to Set it up was another matter! In the end I had to setup the shortcut entirely within (Ubuntu) Linux using the standard Ubuntu "soft-link" creation method: Ctrl-Shift dragging the relevant folder into the "Favorites" folder sitting within the Linux file system ("/mnt/DATA/drive_c/users/david/Favorites". It then works in Wine.

[Mark1834]

I wonder if that is actually a bug in FH that's worth reporting to CP? Media import defaults to the last used backup folder, but other import and export options (via File > Import/Export) do not, as far as I can tell.

The last used backup location is definitely saved between sessions, but I've no idea where! I can't find it in either the Registry or a recently modified configuration file. There is an Export - Last Folder Registry key, but the backup location is retained even if that key is deleted.

[tatewise]

I am aware of a number of Registry keys that identify folders:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Calico Pie\Family Historian\2.0\Preferences
Export-Last folder
Import-Legacy Media Folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Calico Pie\Family Historian\2.0\Preferences
Backup Directory

I suspect that last one is what remembers the backup folder.

In my experience using any File > Import/Export via a folder causes that folder to be the next default but I've no idea where it is saved.

[davidf]

I wonder if that is actually a bug in FH that's worth reporting to CP? Media import defaults to the last used backup folder, but other import and export options (via File > Import/Export) do not, as far as I can tell.

If there is an "annoyance" that is replicable by other V7 users, I think it is worth reporting. It's one of those things that CP may realise they can "fix" whilst working on something else (say they are re-doing "default file locations" for V8 (possibly to handle icon uploading?)). But if we don't tell them ...

My preference is to default to the last used location - but the "out of the box" default should be the [project]\media folder - presumably set when a project is created. I would hope that the default is a "project" parameter rather than an "application" parameter (all these media sub-folders all look so alike you are never totally sure where they are really from).

[Mark1834]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Calico Pie\Family Historian\2.0\Preferences
Backup Directory
I suspect that last one is what remembers the backup folder.

No - that is the default backup folder, which is not the same thing (I did check before posting rather than guessing - I gave the backup location a unique name, and that string does not appear anywhere in the Registry). It's incidental to the actual observation, but I like to understand what is happening!

In my experience using any File > Import/Export via a folder causes that folder to be the next default

That appears to be true, but that is not what we are talking about here. Specifying a one-off backup location via File > Backup defines the default Media folder, but not default File > Import/Export folders.

We're no further forward, so I'll raise it with CP and see what they say.

[tatewise]

My preference is to default to the last used location - but the "out of the box" default should be the [project]\media folder - presumably set when a project is created. I would hope that the default is a "project" parameter rather than an "application" parameter (all these media sub-folders all look so alike you are never totally sure where they are really from).

But that is the issue. Which last used location?
There are many commands that use locations for importing/exporting all sorts of things.
Perhaps there should be a saved last location for each class of data and should it be per user or per Project?
i.e. One for Media, one for Backups, one for GEDCOM, and so on...

[davidf]

Perhaps there should be a saved last location for each class of data and should it be per user or per Project?
i.e. One for Media, one for Backups, one for GEDCOM, and so on...

Well this thread was originally about uploading media probably the most common upload that we do - and I expect many of us have experienced chasing a family through 1851..61.. etc (UK) censuses, each time:

• downloading the data from FMP, Ancestry etc. (and my OS+database provider seem to be able to remember the path used to download the previous bit of media from that site - i.e. into which project's media directory in my workflow),
• and then "uploading" that media.

So why when uploading a bit of media for a project ("Insert from file") can't FH remember where I last uploaded media to? I don't think it's a "Wine thing" or even a "V6 thing" as others seem to be similarly perplexed/annoyed.

For a backup - which I do when exiting (i.e. less frequently than when chasing census records), it comes up with the same path as Iast used for backup and I only have to tap "enter".

Now yes I would like that default to be "per project" as I have different media folders for different projects - seems a reasonable desire. Other applications can hold "file defaults" as opposed to application defaults - and there is that FH specific .proj file available!

In fact my project file seems to be "begging for this parameter":

Code: Select all

[Gen]
Last Media Folder=
[Snapshots]
Fast=5
Slow=3
F1=20221025
F2=20221101
F3=20221102
F4=20221114
F5=20221210
S1=20220612
S2=20220617
S3=20220731

Perhaps I will experiment!

[Jean001]

Are you aware of the Windows Explorer "Pin to Quick access" facility?

Thank you Peter, a useful reminder.

[tatewise]

David, well spotted. That Project File 'Last Media Folder' setting should be part of the CP report.

BTW: You seem to be focusing on the last folder uploaded to within FH. Whereas this thread is more focussed on the last folder downloaded from when using 'Insert from file'.

[davidf]

BTW: You seem to be focusing on the last folder uploaded to within FH. Whereas this thread is more focussed on the last folder downloaded from when using 'Insert from file'.

Is that because I download from websites etc direct into the media folder, so that puts the image within the FH filesystem; the "insert from File", then "uploads" the filename into a New Media Record "from" the media folder into which I had just downloaded it? So I don't have a "copy" hanging around and don't fill up my download folder.

[davidf]

David, well spotted. That Project File 'Last Media Folder' setting should be part of the CP report.

Does it do anything in V7? I am loath to report it as a V6 anomaly - the best I will probably get is a "yes, it is an anomaly - but as it's not a security issue we won't do anything"?

Best reported by a V7 user who can say what it does or does not do?

[Mark1834]

It's not present in a newly created FH7 project, but appears as a blank parameter with no value once you upload a media file. I tried populating it with a valid folder name using a text editor, but that folder did not become the media default, and the value was deleted when the project was next saved.

I'll add it to the bug report. They might just say that users shouldn't be nosing around in the project file, but it feels like a clue.