Family Historian User Group

I'm wanting to back up my gedcom file and source folders (eg multimedia), and may also wish to email the whole package to people. I'm concerned that when I do this, the links to multimedia files will no longer be valid cos of being moved (so not in the location originally specified). Is this the case?

In other words, does Family Historian use absolute file locations literally (eg if you save it on your C: drive but back it up on the E: drive, it won't find the transferred files cos they no longer match their original file location - even if the whole package retains the same folder structure)? Or is it possible to link to multimedia files using relative file names, as in web design (eg ../sources/census/1891/1891 Census for 1 The Road, London - Joe Bloggs)? Or using some other means?

How do other people cope with this? I'm trying to organise my files better, so this info will really help me.

Thanks,
Neal

ID:2669

The addressing (for me) resolves to the root of the ged file. I have a carbon copy of the family history file structure from my C: drive which gets copied to a USB disc variously as I: on the PC and E:z on the laptop. Wherever I open the ged file I get all my links working, regardless of which machine I work with.

Hope this helps!

As long as you retain the same folder structure it is very straightforward to relink your GEDCOM file to your multimedia in Family Historian using the menu item Tools->Work with External File Links.

If you move your whole folder structure as-is from one drive to another, FH will auto-magically recognise this and change all the references to multimedia files. It will also do this even if you move the folders around - so long as you keep the same relative structure. This is from memory, but I'm pretty sure that this is how FH works.

The issue with sending your multimedia files around (as I don't expect the recepients of your Gedcom to be running FH) is that all file references in your Gedcom are absolute (including drive letter) and so aren't easily portable. Other genealogy programs might not necessarily recognise the files either. Using Gedcom to transfer data only guarantees that the minimum amount of data can be transferred, not that all your data is. Even with FH being 100% gedcom compatible, other programs aren't so the compatibility figure quoted for FH doesn't mean anything.

Thanks guys, I'll stop worrying now and just go ahead. I like things that work auto-magically, Jon.