Manage medias files

This window is a Media Manager that lets you find on your disk the media files used in a Gedcom file and link them back to their corresponding genealogy events.

This situation may occur if you have modified your photo folders for instance, or if you have just migrated your genealogy from another software.

Media management

This screen allows you to ensure the correct link between your Gedcom file and your media files.

The first 3 indicators tell you how many Gedcom files are correctly attached or not depending on their nature, out of all the media files indicated in your genealogical data.

TheIn problemthe thereforeexample concernsabove, one of the media file has not been found. It relates the red line above,above. This is a problem because Ancestris will not be able to display the corresponding media.

If you don't have that red line, you're fine and may move on. Otherwise follow the instructions below.

Where can the problem come from?

Have you movedrenamed your media files?folder or your media file?

If your photo is in a /magénéalogie/mygenealogy/photos/MaPhoto.MyPicture.jpg file and your Individual entity references this photo in a FILE tag with value of /magénéalogie/mygenealogy/photos/MaPhoto.MyPicture.jpg file,, then the link is valid. Everything is fine.

Now, if you move your photo files, or simply rename your photos directory,directory or just the media file, it may generate a broken link. For instance, if your photo wouldfile be here:becomes /magénéalogie/mygenealogy/media/MaPhoto.MyPicture.jpg  (with media instead of photos)photos, Ancestris will not find it because it still thinks it is in the "photos" folder, not "medias".

This is enough to break the linklink. with your Gedcom file which remained on "photos".

The wizardMedia Manager above will thereforeconsequently display your photo as aan mediaunfound not found.media.

Have you moved your Gedcom file?

Rather than movingrenaming youra media,media folder or a file, you may have just moved your Gedcom file.

Relative position between your Gedcom and your media

• If your media files are described in relative position with respect to your Gedcom file, the link is lost, because in this case you would have had to move your media files at the same time.time as your genealogy Gedcom file.
  
• We recommend that you only specify your media in relative position of your Gedcom file location as this allows you to move your files without renaming the links.

Absolute position between your Gedcom and your media

• If your media files wereare described in absolute position, the link to the media is not lost.lost because it is not using the position of the Gedcom file.
  
• But the downside is that if you move your genealogy to a USB key, for example, your media will have remained on your hard drive and you will only be able to see your media if the USB key remains on your computer.
  
• If it is to show your genealogy to one of your relatives, you will have to move the media to the key. But suddenly the links will be broken because the Gedcom file will think that they are still on your computer. You will have to rename them by one in Gedcom or else you use this wizard.Media Manager tool.

Have your files been deleted?

Another possible reason for a lost link between your Gedcom and your files can also be the deletion of files on disk. It is more annoying because you must already get your hands on it before continuing with the wizard or removing the links in the Gedcom file.

The wizardMedia manager does not remove the links, it just renames them.

Resolution of problem

If you are confident that your media files are somewhere on your computer, click the button at the bottom of the window similar to this one.

The following window appears.

ItThis window first gives the name of the directory where the Gedcom file is locatedlocated. andRelative listspaths will start from there.

Underneath, in the table, you will see the list of all the different paths found in the Gedcom below.file (all the FILE tags).

In the followingexample case,above, youout mustof attach10 media files, 1 media whichis wasnot in a documents directory relative to the location of Gedcom (box checkedfound in the Relative"documents" column),folder, 1 media is found in this same folder,  and 8 photosmedia whichfiles wereare found in the photos"photos" directory.folder. All media file links are specified in the Gedcom file in relative position from the Gedcom file location.

On each row, you can click on the "..." button in the Search column.column Theto locate the corresponding media files.

In the example above, the following window appears if Iyou click on the first button.button with the unfound media file.

This window will therefore help you find the lost file.

• The first red message tells you that the documents directory does not exist.
  
• The name in the left column gives me the name of the file to look for: Herald_Tribune.jpg

With the Other... button, you will tell Ancestris the name of another root directory from which to look for the file in question.

Ancestris will search for the file in all directories within thisthe root directory indicated at the top. You can change it using the "Other..." button, or 'Original" to go back to the original root directory.

The files to be found are listed in red in the left column. Otherwise, they will appear in green. In this example, the file to be found is "Herald_Tribune.jpg"

The directories where the files haveexist been found will beare in the right column.

Click

• If no directory appear on the right, it means the file does not exist in any of the folders under the root directory youindicated want.on top. Change the root folder and still no directory appear, it means the file is either deleted or its name has changed. You would have to use your file explorer on your PC to identify its new name or else recreate the media file.
• If one or more folder is listed on the right, select one of them. The Selection button  thenshould becomes available. Press it to set the found directory as the new root directory. You can also directly double click on the directory to be selected.

OnceFor instance, below I changed the root directorydirectory  isto changedmyGenalogy forand the rightphotos one,folder appeared on the right. I pressed the "Selection" button and then, the file inon redthe turnsleft becomes green becauseagain, itand hasthe beenroot found.folder was updated to "Photos". 

CloseThe file had apparently been moved from "Documents" to "Photos". If I prefer to move it back to Document, I can do it using my file explorer after cancelling the window.action here. Otherwise, just click OK.

You seewill thatbe back to this window below,where the firstcounters linehave hasbeen changed, and continue withupdated, the otherunfound lines.file is no longer unfound.

When all the Found boxes are checked, you have found all the lost files.

Click OK.

The Media windowManager nowwill displaysshow this at the bottom:this:

I can always cancel, or continue by pressing next.

At this stage, no modification has been made to the Gedcom file.

 If you are OK to proceed, press OK. Otherwise, press "Cancel request".

 

Result

By clickingpressing FinishOK, onif the previous screen, Ancestris asks you for each confirmation one by one.

Example here with the confirmation to be given on the conversion ofsome media locations.

files

pointers

Confirmation is also requested if locations orin the Gedcom normfile are to be modified.

Ifmodified,  you confirm,will the transformations take place.

In case of simple modification, the following window appears and everything went well.

In the event of a larger transformation, the result window lists all the changes that have taken place.

In another example created to illustrate, here's whatsee a result withpanel errorslike wouldthis look like.one.

The interpretation would be as follows:

• Simple properties have been changed without error.
• The change of Gedcom norm produced one error, listed in the the dropdown list.
• The change of location format converted 85 locations successfully.
• The attachment of the 6 lost media went well.

If you have any doubts and want to start over, you can always Cancel the operation completely by clicking the Undo button  on the general Ancestris toolbar.

If you want to analyze the anomalies, you can also go to Menu / Tools / Validate Gedcom compliance and data consistency.