* Media preferences

[gwilym'smum]

Happy New Year,
Not a terribly important query but when I open the media tab in the property box all the images are mixed up. They have their correct numbers and appear as liked in the focus window but in the media window they are jumbled up. I click the preferences tab but when I close, then open again the order is lost. It is not desperate but I like them in life order. Thanks Ann

[trevorrix]

Double click each media thumbnail, and ensure that you have entered a date/year in the top right box. When you have done that the media should appear in date order when you next open the property box for that person.

[gwilym'smum]

Many thanks.
Ann

[davidm_uk]

Or - in the media window use the up and down arrows (to the right of the Add Media button) to rearrange the Preference Order (see also the Preference column in the pane above the media display ). Useful if you don't have a date for the media item, or the date doesn't put the desired media item as highest priority.

[gwilym'smum]

Hi, actually looking at it I have the dates ok but it is the preferences order which I require as some of the cropped images I use on reports etc are not within the date order. I click the preferences arrow and it comes as I want it but it is when I close and reopen that the preferences order changes. Is there a way to make the preferences list the default please? Thanks Ann

[tatewise]

Apologies if I'm wrong, but Trevor's or David's advice has no real affect on the order Media is listed in the Media tab.

Setting the Date does not of itself force the Media into Date order.

Using the up/down arrows changes the Preference order, which is the order they are listed in the Gedcom file, and determines the order they appear in Focus Window, Reports, and Diagrams.

The order they appear in a Media tab of a Property Box is determined by their order in the Media tab of Records Window.
Usually they are in alphabetical Title order, but if you sort on the Date column, then that will display them in that order in the Media tab of any Property Box, and is remembered when FH is closed and reopened.

[gwilym'smum]

Thanks Mike, not sure I can get what I want, but it isn't really important just a faddy thing on my part!
Ann

[DavidNewton]

The order they appear in a Media tab of a Property Box is determined by their order in the Media tab of Records Window.
Usually they are in alphabetical Title order, but if you sort on the Date column, then that will display them in that order in the Media tab of any Property Box, and is remembered when FH is closed and reopened.

I have to say that this doe not accord with my experience - perhaps there is a setting somewher? If I change the preference order in the media tab of an individual using the arrows in the bottom bar then the numbers in the Pref column change to reflect the new order but the actual list does not change. When I close that individuals Property Box and then re-open it the media list order has now changed to reflect this new preference order and is not dependant on the alphabetical title order.

David

[trevorrix]

For me setting the year for the thumbnails in the Media tab of the Property Box does indeed dictate the order of those thumbnails.

All of my media titles (and image filenames) commence with the year. The media tab in the Records window is sorted on the Media Records column. Maybe there is some interaction between the two?

I have never needed to change the Preference Order.

[tatewise]

On further investigation it is certainly not as simple as I described.
Having got them in Date order in the Property Box they are stuck that way whatever I do to the Records Window.
Changing the Preference order does not behave for me in the way David describes.

I know there are no Tools > Preference settings for the Media tab.
The order is certainly not remembered in the Gedcom file or any Project settings.
I cannot see where it may be remembered in the Windows Registry.
So I am stumped

[DavidNewton]

Just to be sure we are dealing with the same media links. I am referring to media in the media tab of the property box, that is, they are directly linked to the individual. As an experiment I ran FH and Notepad++ simultaneously on the project GEDCOM. I have three photographs attached to one individual and in the GEDCOM I get the following list
1 OBJE @O1575@
1 OBJE @O1576@
1 OBJE @O1508@
attached to the individual record. Now switching the first two using the preference arrows, and saving the file in FH. Notepad++ detects the change and asks if it should reload, having done so the list becomes
1 OBJE @O1576@
1 OBJE @O1575@
1 OBJE @O1508@
So FH is in fact saving in the GEDCOM the list of media attached to an individual in the preference order.

David

[tatewise]

Correct. The Pref number is in effect the INDI.OBJE[x] index number.
But apart from clicking on the Pref column, I cannot get them to display in anything but Date column order.
And the Pref column order is not 'sticky' if I switch Property Box back and forth.
I have looked everywhere FH might be saving that sort order setting but not found it yet.

[DavidNewton]

Hi Mike

I see the problem but not the solution. My media is un-dated, mainly because I don;t have the dates. I put in a some random dates and got the behaviour you mentioned. Removing just one of the dates put that one to the end of the list. It strikes me that this ordering is built-in: Order by date, if there are no dates order by preference - but I'm speculating.

David

[gwilym'smum]

Hi
I seem to have opened a can of worms! Like David I don't always have dates. For as many people as possible I crop my favourite photograph to have their face appear in the focus window and in reports etc. so this has to be preference 1. Then I put the media, including images of censuses and certificates and photos in life order. In this way I see the focus person's life in pictures as opposed to the facts list which is in words. It is therefore my preference list which is my defining setting. As I said unfortunately this does not remain the same when the media tab is re-opened. Sadly I don't understand the intricate details of where things are stored.
Regards Ann

[tatewise]

Ann, don't worry about the intricate details, but it looks like David may have the correct interpretation.

If you want the Media to be listed in Preference order then adopt one of the following strategies:

1. NEVER put anything in the Date field of any Media.
   You can add the date to the Title if you wish.
   In Reports the images will not have Year & Age in the caption, unless you employ the Use Note as Caption feature.
2. Starting with the highest images, ensure the Date in each Media is in same order as the Preference.
   The lowest entries can have no Date and will stay in Preference order.

[gwilym'smum]

Thank you for the succinct explanation Mike. I can follow that now.
Regards Ann