* Archive PDF Searches

[Tony_Fowler]

Hello all,

I am no longer able to visit LG Archives for research purposes and have a researcher make a search and report for me. Is there any place in FH that I can store these reports in PDF format? I have already inserted individual data from the report in my Family Tree and referred to the report.

Tony Fowler

[tatewise]

Hi Tony,
You can attach a PDF media file to a Source record in the same way you attach image (JPG) media files.

In FH open the Source record and add the PDF to the Media tab.
In AS use the Linked Images Add/View Images option, which despite its name will allow PDF.

BUT in both cases, in the file selection dialogue, the lower right box above Open & Cancel buttons, must be changed to All files (*.*) to reveal non-image files.

See how_to:v4:adding_multimedia|> Adding Photographs and Other Multimedia and scroll down to Adding Other Media.

[tatewise]

If Nick Walker sees this then perhaps the AS support for non-image Media could be enhanced.

Generally, wherever the words image or images occur in AS dialogues and Help pages, replace them with the word media.

The only special cases are within the Image/Media Viewer dialogue.
The messages in the viewer pane on the left should replace the word image with something like media file.
The options towards top right should become:

• Link new image media
• Link new non-image media
• Link existing media already in the project

Note that the last option does in fact already show all media not just images.
The first two options should display the Open file dialogue with an appropriate file types filter.
i.e. All valid image types for 1st option (as now), and all valid non-image types for 2nd option (PDF, DOC, TXT, WAV, etc, etc.)

Hopefully, FH will eventually follow suit as the demand for better support of non-image media is growing.

[Tony_Fowler]

Thankyou Tatewise. Sorry for not replying sooner. I will give it a go and then let you know. Tony

[Tony_Fowler]

Seems very straightforward for single person documents. But where' o' where do I attach a source which has references to births, deaths, and marriages of several people in a report? My first thought was to attach them to my root ancester but all I have of him is his name, the name of his wife and his children and their descendants (my ancestors).

A pity there isn't a general/miscellaneous source archive.

Any suggestions?

Tony

[tatewise]

You posted the question in the Ancestral Sources Forum, so I assume you have been using the ancestralsources:index|> Ancestral Sources free companion program to create Source records that are cited by your Facts as per your posting Source Recordings FH/AS (12755).

So, for example, a Birth Certificate would be associated with a Source record that would be cited by all the derived Facts, such as the Name and Birth Event of the Individual, plus the Name, Residence, and perhaps Occupation of the parents.

So your PDF Report would be associated with a Source record that would be cited by all those Facts you mentioned. Perhaps that is what you mean by a general/miscellaneous source archive?

Maybe your problem is that AS does not offer a general Source type. So you cannot use AS to create all the Citations for all those Facts against just one Source record.

There are several solutions.

• Use AS to create a separate Source for each event (Birth, Marriage, Death) but link the same PDF Report as the Media for each one.
• Optionally, then use the FH Edit > Merge/Compare Records command to merge the multiple Source records (two at a time) into one, and finally change its Source Type to say Report or Biography.
• Bypass AS and in FH create all the Facts and Citations of the one Source record directly, but mimicking what AS would have done.

[Tony_Fowler]

Many thanks tatewise. I am in your debt once more.

I will certainly look at your advice over the weekend.

I may not have made myself very clear. I can see the point of making the report the source for every name and type that I have extracted from it and will certainly do this.

What I also wanted to do was store the complete reports as a separate archive in FH to which I, or others after me, could refer. But perhaps in view of the fact that all data is sourced to the reports this is pointless? Of course the reports are already stored in my genealogy file and on disc.

Hope I am not being pedantic or foolish?

Tony

[tatewise]

Depends on what you mean by "separate archive in FH".

As you say, they already exist in the Media folder within the FH Project, and you could dedicate a sub-folder just for such Research Reports.

Additionally, in the Project Public folder you could create a Research Reports sub-folder and archive copies of the Research Reports there too.

But I do not understand why these Research Reports warrant such special attention different from all your other Source Media documents. The whole point of the FH Project structure and backups is that it provides a neat container that you can archive as a whole.

[LornaCraig]

There is another technique you could use to find all the research reports from within FH.
Each of your PDF media items will presumably be linked to a corresponding Source Record which in turn is cited by many facts. So you could use the Source Type field to help identify them, using a Source Type called 'Research Report'. Then in the Records Window on the Sources tab you can sort on the Type column to bring all these together in the list, for ease of reference or browsing.

[Tony_Fowler]

Thank you Lorna, that I will try.

Tatewise, thank you for your help. After reading your last para. I, too, wonder what I am fussing about.

Cheers

Tony