Family Historian User Group

I am using V4.0.2 having upgraded from V3.

When I upgraded I allowed the installation to import all the multimedia files from V3 into the Media Folder in the Project Folder.

Since then I have continued to update my records and some I have copied to the Media Folder and others I have left with a link to their original folder in my research. This is because some of them are things like biographies (i.e. doc files) which I am still amending and I did not want to risk having an ‘original’ and a ‘shadow’ file (i.e. the one in the Media Folder).

If I eventually want to import all of these files into the Media Folder is there a way that I can do this en bloc?

I know that I can do this easily on a one-by-one basis but I thought there might be as the upgrade installation had the feature which auto-imported all my external links into the Media Folder.


ID:4060

You can do this with the Work With External File links option.

How?

That really was my question as the basic rule with using the tool you suggest is that it does not physically move the file but merely relabels the link to where it is.

If I want to not only relabel the files but physically copy them into the Media folder how can I do it using this 'Work with...' tool?  I assume that there must be some way as there was an import function when we upgraded...maybe not[frown]

When you remap to the Media folder a non broken link it will offer to copy the files, or at least it did when I tried it.

I will experiment with a couple - thanks once again[wink]

I have tried what you suggested with an existing file but - while it moved the 'label' to the media file - it did not offer to copy the file. I checked and the file was not copied.

I tried again by adding a pdf to my desktop and linking to my record without copying (i.e. leaving it on Desktop). Once again it would 're-map' the label to the Media folder but gave no option to copy and did not copy automatically.

Any ideas? I assume the facility IS there as it is there when you upgrade but I can't seem to find any reference to it in Help or the 'Getting the most from...' manual.

Could you just move them in Windows Explorer? You may need to order them by date and only move the ones after project creation date. And if you move them, rather than copy them, it will identify them in FH by saying they're not there any more and so enable you to remap them in FH.

Adrian,

Thanks.

I could do that but I thought that - as there was a feature in V4 which auto imported them into the Media Folder when I upgraded from V3 - then that same feature may have been made available to users to simply convert the ones which I (and others?) may now want to move into the Media Folder.

Jane's reply that the 'Re-map' would activate the Copy function raised my hopes as I thought what she said made sense but I can't get that function to work as she describes.

No - I've tried it as well - I suspect the import on conversion may be a block move, which is why it's not there for odd ones later.

This thread has made me look more closely at my directory structure. I find that before changing to the Project idea I had a number of folders under FH eg. Pictures; Census images; PDF files; Certificates, separated to Birth, death and marriage, etc etc. Now I look at the project directory they all seem to be lumped together under one enormous folder - 'Media'. How can I easily get back to my more ordered organisation? Also, at least one file that was not linked to a source has not been transferred so how do I check that all the files I had previously have been transferred?

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

The easy answer is to create a new File structure within the Media folder you have already mentioned using Windows Explorer.

Taking mine as an example, I have -

Media - Census - (folders for each UK Census year 1841-1911),
     - Certificates - {folders for Birth, Marriage, etc },
     - Photos - Weddings
              - Funerals
              - Parties (usually Wed Anniversary or Birthday)
              - Xmas
              - Individual

Once you have your structure created, move the photos (again with Windows Explorer) to their relevant Directory. Once satisfied, use the 'Work With External File links' option to re-link the photos {read the help file first - it has an excellent description of how to proceed}.

It sounds like a lot of work, but believe me its worthwhile [wink]

Hope this helps

Bilko [smile]

Adrian Bruce said:
No - I've tried it as well - I suspect the import on conversion may be a block move, which is why it's not there for odd ones later.

Glad it is not just me. Wonder how Jane managed it and whether anyone else has had any success[confused]

Will have to resort to Windows but as the script must have been there when I upgraded I wonder if it could easily be converted to run as a feature after the upgrade. Maybe I will put it into wish list!

I have 825 separate files, plus any that might not have been copied across - do I have to do them individually??

Jeremy

To continue - SOME, not all, of my files were moved into the project folder. My assumption is that those not moved did not have a link. I can cope with that. I have tried to re-map a group of files using work with external file links, and ALL of them now have a cross, to show the link is broken!! Could someone give me an idiots guide as to what to do having moved the files to my new directory structure within Projects.  Thanks,  Jeremy

jeremyhills said:
This thread has made me look more closely at my directory structure. I find that before changing to the Project idea I had a number of folders under FH eg. Pictures; Census images; PDF files; Certificates, separated to Birth, death and marriage, etc etc. Now I look at the project directory they all seem to be lumped together under one enormous folder - 'Media'. How can I easily get back to my more ordered organisation? Also, at least one file that was not linked to a source has not been transferred so how do I check that all the files I had previously have been transferred?

Jeremy

I had a similar problem. I discovered that a file which I had agreed be automatically copied to the Media Folder during the installation upgrade from V3 to V4 had actually been moved as opposed to copied.

I then had to physically check each individual file in the Media Folder against the folders they had been copied from to ensure the same hadn't happened to any other file - it hadn't but it was pretty boring and time consuming[frown]

jeremyhills said:
To continue - SOME, not all, of my files were moved into the project folder. My assumption is that those not moved did not have a link. I can cope with that. I have tried to re-map a group of files using work with external file links, and ALL of them now have a cross, to show the link is broken!! Could someone give me an idiots guide as to what to do having moved the files to my new directory structure within Projects.  Thanks,  Jeremy

If the file name (e.g John Smith.jpg) has not changed it is easy. Once you know which folder the file is now in you simply have to got to the Work with External Links function (on the Tools Menu of the toolbar); select the file with a X next to it; and then all you have to do is click Re-map; go to the folder where the file now is and select it and FH will auto link it.

If the file name has changed then have open both FH and the Windows Folder containing the amended file and copy the file name from the Windows Folder and paste into FH using the EDIT function in the Work with External Files window. Dont forget to add the file extension such as .jpg You then use Re-map as above.

This is not a problem when you are doing one or two whose names have not changed but only their folder is different. However, when you are doing loads it can be a but tricky using this feature because - if you want to amend the file name and need to use the GO TO function to go to the file itself - there is no Go Back button to get you back to the Work with External Links feature once you have gone to a file.  

An alternative way to do this with a large number of files (particularly if you have also changed the image's file name) is: from the Focus Window select Media from the Toolbar; then select View All Media.  The screen will then display a main pane in which all the Media Files are listed and to the right of this you will see a pane (like a margin) in which the images will be displayed. Images where the link is broken will not be shown but in place of the image will be a large X.

If you want to check why a link is incorrect select one of the images shaped like a X from the right and then go to the main pane where the file relating to that will be highlighted.  

Double-click on the highlighted file name and this will open another window showing the actual Multimedia Object.  In this pane there are two Windows one marked Main and one marked All

Select the MAIN Tab and you will see a box marked LINKED FILE.  This will show you the full file name path - you can now check why it is incorrect.  If you want to change it, click on the file name in this file path box (LINKED FILE) and a small box will appear to the right of the LINKED FILE box. Click that and you can select the correct name.

This is one way of doing it but please note that even when you select the correct path the image on the right pane will NOT convert from a X to the correct image until you close and exit FH and re-open the programme.  Bit frustrating this when you are doing a few but you can check the image is now correctly linked by double-clicking on the highlighted file name again in the main pane and the image should then be displayed in the box in the Multimedia Object window.

I hope someone will post a more simple solution for you but in the absence of any other ideas I used a combination of both the above.  Took some time[rolleyes]