Source window - multimedia tab

lesleyl · Post by **lesleyl** » 05 Aug 2009 18:05

I've had a search through old posts and the on-line help, but I can't spot what the Date column refers to (date on a certificate, date source entered or what?). Also where else is that date used? Can anyone enlighten me please?
Thanks in advance.

ID:3911

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 05 Aug 2009 18:29

The corresponding GEDCOM Tag is '_DATE' so this field is not formally defined in the GEDCOM 5.5 standard. The FH Help file does contain the following:

You are recommended to provide a Title for all multimedia items. If possible you should also provide a Date - this is the date at which the object was created.

So it does not refer to the source itself, or to any dates contained therein, but merely to the multimedia object. Thus it is suggested it would contain the date of creation of e.g. a scanned image of a birth certificate, or the date a photograph was taken. Apart from this I'm not aware of how the Multimedia Date field is used.

Post by **nsw** » 05 Aug 2009 21:41

Ignoring the interpretation of the FH help file for now, if it is a photo of someone taken in 1915 I think it is that date that you would record rather than the date the photo was scanned and turned into a digital image. Again if it is a certificate then it ought to be the date of the certificate or possibly the date of the certified copy rather than the date it was scanned in.

Personally, I think it would be very confusing to have a photo of someone taken in WW1 with a date of 2009 because that happened to be the date the jpeg copy of it was made.

lesleyl · Post by **lesleyl** » 05 Aug 2009 21:47

Thank you Peter.
Where did you find that text in the on-line help? I can't find that in the on-line help at all - I would have expected it to be in the page on the Multimedia window.

lesleyl · Post by **lesleyl** » 05 Aug 2009 21:49

Thank you for you reply as well Nick.
Hmmm, I think I may just leave the field blank for now....

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 06 Aug 2009 07:54

If you enter it, where people are shown in reports, it will show their approximate age in the caption.

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 06 Aug 2009 11:28

Lesley,
I found the above quote from the FH Help file by doing a search for 'multimedia date'; it was on the page headed Property Box: Main Tab for Multimedia Records. The same search also finds page headed Edit Media Item which contains the following for the date field:

It is a good idea to enter a date for a picture - even just to the year - if this is known. Family Historian can use this date to provide additional information in picture captions - such as how old a given person was at the time. Double-click on this field to open a Helper dialog for editing the date.

This (and Jane's helpful reply above) make it clear that, for a photgraph linked to an Individual, the date must be the date the photograph was taken (as Nick and I also said above). The same would apply to a video or sound recording linked to an Individual. It is not so obvious what, if anything, to enter for the date of a scanned image of a certificate linked to a Source rather than to an Individual.

lesleyl · Post by **lesleyl** » 06 Aug 2009 13:29

Thank you Peter and Jane.
I understand now how my uncertainty arose. I was attaching a certificate to a source, not a photo to an individual, so the use of the date isn't readily apparent.
Thanks again

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