Find My Past Import

Mike Davies · Post by **Mike Davies** » 16 Jun 2015 06:53

Hi All
I'm trying to import a small tree from Find My Past. All goes well but when I open the tree in Family Historian the sources from censuses etc are listed but the images are only shown as a blank thumbnail box with a cross through from corner to corner. Can anyone help me retrieve these images.
Thanks
Mike

mjashby · Post by **mjashby** » 16 Jun 2015 09:15

Having previously downloaded a GEDCOM from FindMyPast, it did just that, i.e. did not download any linked sources (images), so I believe you may have to download any you want individually.

Mervyn

Post by **tatewise** » 16 Jun 2015 10:57

I have just performed a similar FMP Gedcom download.
The media links ended up with a format like:

c:\users\mike\documents\family historian projects\http://search.findmypast.ie{0}/record?id=r_859723461%2f2

If the http://... section is copied into my browser address bar it complains Server not found but that is because search.findmypast.ie{0} is not the correct domain and should be search.findmypast.co.uk.
So the following corrected URL opens the FMP document transcript.
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?i ... 723461%2f2

A similar URL technique, but for a photo, also opened OK, and could be Saved as...
You would then have to correct the Media links in FH to reference the downloaded image.

BTW: The Gedcom has several UDF that will need correcting.

Mike Davies · Post by **Mike Davies** » 16 Jun 2015 22:15

Thanks Mike and Mervyn I will look at your suggestions and see how I get on.
Regards Mike

davidm_uk · Post by **davidm_uk** » 17 Jun 2015 08:36

I wonder, if you have a lot of these maybe using a text editor on a copy of the gedcom to do a global find and replace:

find: http://search.findmypast.ie{0}

replace with: http://search.findmypast.co.uk

Mike, what do you think?

Post by **tatewise** » 17 Jun 2015 08:57

Yes, a global edit like that would quickly correct erroneous URL.

I cannot explain why my Gedcom exported with findmypast.ie{0} because I was logged into findmypast.co.uk which is where my subscription exists.

AdrianBruce · Post by **AdrianBruce** » 17 Jun 2015 10:48

Their software is not entirely consistent behind the scenes (I wonder what their rewrite of a couple of years ago did for the software layer!).

Can't remember the exact issue but I found myself having to log in again partway through a session to access one particular collection. Eventually I realised from the URL that I was accessing a .com URL just for that collection even though I'd started out on the .co.uk site. Looked like one menu had not been customised correctly for the .co.uk site and was looking on the .com site for its data. No issue with accessing it with my British subs once I was logged in because it was a British collection.

Similarly, after logging in on the .co.uk site, my top level menu usually defaults to British data, but occasionally starts out at the World level, despite my subs being British-only. Don't know how that one happens but again, the suggestion is some sort of inconsistency of identification behind the scenes.

Mike Davies · Post by **Mike Davies** » 28 Jun 2015 07:34

Hi All
Thanks for your replies but I've had no joy in downloading census images direct to FH. The gedcom just gives me the transcript of the census but what I want is the image of the census that can be attached to narrative reports by default making it easy to export a PDF to my neighbour.
I have uploaded the gedcom to Ancestry but again do not get the images and I have emailed FMP who have said that it is not possible to download the images so I guess that the only way to overcome the problem is to manually download the images to my computer and then add them to the media file.
Thanks once again for your comments
Mike Davies

mjashby · Post by **mjashby** » 28 Jun 2015 10:44

Mike,

You might want to take a look at the utility available at http://www.llenrup.com

The utility is supposedly able to automate the download of Ancestry Tree images linked to a GEDCOM file that you have downloaded onto your computer (and are willing to upload to this site). Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the developer (John Purnell) and don't know how the utility works, but it may be worth a look. There is a user forum, but you have to join Google Groups to access it, and I don't 'do' Google Groups.

Mervyn

Post by **tatewise** » 28 Jun 2015 12:17

I have added that website to the fhugdownloads:contents:service_gedcom_tools_by_john_purnell|> Service ~ GEDCOM Tools by John Purnell and cross-refer to it from how_to:import_from_ancestry|> Import from Ancestry website.

However, Mike's problem is with FindMyPast, but could try that GEDCOM Tools > Downloader just in case it happens to work.

You might need to fix the erroneous URL as explained below before using the Downloader.

Let us know if it works or not.

mjashby · Post by **mjashby** » 28 Jun 2015 13:06

Mike (tatewise)

Thanks. I only mentioned the online Ancestry Downloader utility because 'the other Mike' said he had uploaded his Gedcom to Ancestry as well, but had no luck there either.

I am always a little nervous about 'pointing to' online services that require hard drive file access/data uploads, unless I can establish the author's credentials/terms and conditions of use etc. In the case of this relatively new utility the website isn't particularly helpful in doing that and I haven't been able to locate any independent reviews, so if anyone can offer a more authoritative overview of the Utility and how well it works I'm sure it would be appreciated.

Mervyn

Bundle · Post by **Bundle** » 29 Jun 2015 11:51

Be cautious about the Utility for Ancestry images at llenrup.com. I thought I would give it a go. There is not very much information on the site at all about the developer. I joined his Google Group - there is only one welcome message from John Purnell and no replies. I decided to experiment out of curiosity and did follow the upload instructions which are all very straightforward. Basically, make a gedcom in the normal way on Ancestry, then upload it to the llenrup.com site. After uploading, a box appears on their site asking for your Ancestry user name and password. Then presumably the gedcom is available for uploading to program of your choice! I changed my Ancestry password immediately. I didn't see anything different in the little gedcom I imported into FH from other ones I have tried - the Ancestry image data is still the usual unintelligible (to me) filenames.

Apologies to him if it is all legit. But I'm not so sure.

mjashby · Post by **mjashby** » 29 Jun 2015 18:27

'Bundle'

Sage advice. Your experience is exactly why I was wary about mentioning the Utility site. I couldn't see how it could possibly work without access to an Ancestry User Name & Password which, of course, opens up your Account Details until you restore security by making essential changes as quickly as possible.

I intend putting a 'warning' on the Gensoft Reviews site, which is where I saw details of the utility, warning of the security risks that you have confirmed.

Mervyn

Post by **tatewise** » 29 Jun 2015 19:07

I tried the GEDCOM Tools > Downloader too.
It uploaded my Ancestry Gedcom OK and asked for my Ancestry Username & Password (which are essential to be able to access the Media files).
It then offered a choice of DropBox or Google Drive into which the Media files would be transferred.
The Google Drive option did nothing.
The DropBox option produced a login popup for its Username & Password (another security risk) but gave an Error message that my DropBox account could not be accessed.

I assume the idea is that the Media files should be copied to DropBox and then a Gedcom with modified Media links would be available to download, but I cannot get that far.

Mike Davies · Post by **Mike Davies** » 30 Jun 2015 11:14

Hi all
Thanks for your many repilies all of which have been very interesting and informative. I think I will abandon trying to get the images easily uploaded from FMP as it is too much hassle for what was a favour for a neighbour albeit enjoyable upto now. I hope that FMP will alter their download gedcom in the future so that this is possible.
Once again thanks for everyones help from this fantastic user group.
Mike Davies

jimlad68 · Post by **jimlad68** » 30 Jun 2015 12:08

It might be worth contacting (pestering) FMP to mention your problem. They are much more communicative than they used to be, and also more competitive so if they can make their product more flexible they could add it to their todo list, which might only bear fruit in the future. I know their latest search re-write is a disaster (most re-writes are, gain bells and whistles, add feature, lose a few), but they have had lots of complaints so I am hoping the are working on that, I hoped their acquiring of Modaco might help.

Anyway, my philosophy is to rattle off a quick complaint as often as possible, and encourage others too, don't expect immediate fixes, but could help in the future.

AdrianBruce · Post by **AdrianBruce** » 30 Jun 2015 22:04

I wonder if their decision not to transmit the images with the file might in part be explained by copyright concerns? Downloading single images, manually, one at a time, is one thing. But a GEDCOM could be set up to contain a lot of people and therefore to download a lot of source images. So you may find that FMP are not forthcoming.

Frankly, if I was writing it - I'd want to cripple it somehow to stop that happening. My two-pennorth.

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