Family Historian User Group

I changed computers and all my photos have disappeared. They are blank with a cross in them. Do I have to rescan photos or is there a way of retrieving them. Thanks for any help out there.
Debbie

ID:5542

What version of FH are you using? Are you using a Project on V4, if so copy the Whole project folder from the old computer.

If you are not using a project, ensure you have copied all the Photographs over from your old computer and then use the Work With External file links tool (on the Tools menu) to tell FH where the files are located.

Thank you for your reply. I have copied the old Family Historian Project but it is still blank. All the Work with External Files are all blank with crosses as well. However there is on my memory stick an old version with pictures which I tried to copy and paste but it did not work. Where do I go from here.
Debbie

Can you confirm you copied the WHOLE folder not just the gedcom file and that you have V4.1 installed.

If you look in the media folder in the project folder are the images there?

On the Work With External files where does it say Family Historian is looking for the files?

Did you open the Project using the Project window?

If you are using the FH V4 Project structure, FH usually uses Relative Links to media/photo files in the project Media folder, but only if you accept the option to copy them there when creating the Multimedia initially.

Otherwise, or if using FH V3 standalone GEDCOM style, then FH uses Absolute Links to media/photo files.

You can tell which applies by looking at the Tools > Work with External File Links option.
Relative Links are headed by Project Data Folder then Media, and should transfer from PC to PC correctly if you include the Media folder.
Absolute Links are headed by C: or whatever hard drive you are using, and often needs changing when moving from PC to PC.

It would help if we knew which version of FH and which version of Windows (7/Vista/XP) are on your old PC and your new PC, because if migrating from say Windows XP to Windows 7 then Windows Easy Transfer would be worth a try.
See Knowledge Base on how to Move Family Historian Settings for more info:
http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id ... e_settings

I am using V4. I found a folder on my memory stick with pictures and transferred it to my computer which seems now to be OK the pictures are by their owners on diagram page. However I have now tried to backup the project folder to my memory stick following your advice to other person on forum - File>Project Window> More Tasks> Copy project but it won't let me. The box comes up'the specified folder location does not exist > Do you wish to create it? - OK - Unable to create folder. As far as working with external files is concerned I find them confusing. The C: has black crosses on the boxes but underneath the Project Folder list seems OK. I am sorry to be so dim!
Debbie

PS My gedcom file tasks seem to have lots of the same name tree most have no pictures but your sample Family Historian does not open either. How do I know if I have only copied gedcom and not project folder.
Debbie

First the problem with memory stick.
There is a bug in FH that prevents saving to the memory stick drive letter without a root folder.
So for example saving to E: won't work but E:FamilyHistorian will be OK. (Your drive letter may be different)
So create a folder such as FamilyHistorian on your memory stick before saving your Project from FH.

Regarding external file links it appears you have both Absolute Links headed by C: and Relative Links headed by Project Data Folder.
I suspect you have moved from a Windows XP PC to a Windows 7 PC.
On Windows XP the Absolute Links would be something like C:Documents and Settings{username}My Documents....
On Windows 7  the Absolute Links should be something like C:Users{username}Documents....
In Tools > Work with External File Links select each Folder name and click Edit button to correct it.
Alternatively, you could use the Re-Map button and choose Re-map to Other Location.

If that fixes the Xs and if there are only a few of these image files, I recommend moving them within the Project Media folder and use the Re-Map button to Re-map within Project Data Folder so you don't have the problem in future.

Have remapped one into Project folder but it still has a cross. Also within the Project folder most of the pictures I scanned are OK but some have crosses and all of the censuses that I took from Find My Past have no pictures. I must be doing something wrong. I did move from Windows XP to Windows 7. Thank you for your time with this.
Debbie

PS The edit box just has the name of Documents and Settings do I put C:users/username/Documents and Settings in here?
Debbie

Also how do I get back my Family Historian Sample Project
Debbie

I have just tried again to save to memory stick with E:Family Historian and it still won't accept it. Unable to create folder.
Debbie

OK, then one at a time:

You must create the folder E:FamilyHistorian on your pen drive using Windows Explorer before using FH, then it will copy OK.

To get Family Historian Sample Project back use Tools > Project Window > More Tasks > Samples > Reset Sample Project.

It is pity you did not have the opportunity to check out the Knowledge Base article on how to Move Family Historian Settings from PC to PC beforehand:
http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id ... e_settings
If you had used Windows Easy Transfer, as suggested there, it probably would have sorted your files out correctly.
However, you are not the first to have landed in this position.

The key to getting rid of the Xs is knowing exactly where your media/photo/image files reside on your PC and telling FH where they are.
You said 'The edit box just has the name of Documents and Settings' which implies that your photos were not in My Documents on Windows XP.
Lets assume they are in My Documents on Windows 7, then the Work with External File Links should show the following where Mike is replaced by your Windows Username:

If there any + expansion boxes next to your Documents and Settings folder then click to expand the nested folders.
Select the lowest folder, and use the Re-Map and Edit buttons to achieve a folder hierarchy as above.

Simply re-mapping a file/folder to the Project Data Folder will not fix the Xs.
You have to move the associated media/photo/image files to the same folder using Windows Explorer.

As I said the key is knowing where your media files are and matching FH to them.

Many thanks I have successfully copied Project to memory stick with pictures and have reset Sample Project. I will tackle crossed boxes in external files later. Do you have any idea why none of my censuses survived?
Debbie

I have just looked at my external links and all the crossed boxes have disappeared! All I have is Project Data Folder>Media and the list of photos and censuses (for which there are no pictures only white blanks with crosses in the media section).
your help has been invaluable
Debbie

I am glad things are getting sorted out.
I am a little confused by your statement that 'all the crossed boxes have disappeared', but then later 'only white blanks with crosses', which appear to contradict each other.

Are you satisfied that everything you expected has been recovered, or are some images still missing?
Can you be a bit more specific about which commands are producing which results.

The Census images from find my past are not jpeg images, but dejavu files. Have you re-installed the enhanced dejavu viewer from find my past?