How to Keep Media (Pictures) Linked to a Family File When Moving to a Different Computer
If you put the Media folder in the same location as the family file when moving your file from place to place no links will be broken because of the special [Family File Folder] token that is used in the Master Media Folder List. For the following steps, we are using the Sample file as an example. Your family file name will be different.
1. Open the Sample file. Click on View > Master Lists > Media Folder List. You should have one folder in the list called: [Default Media Folder]\
Highlight this folder then click the Change button. Navigate to the [My Documents]\Legacy Family Tree\Data\ folder.
2. Then click the New Folder button and enter something like "SampleMedia" for a new folder name. Then highlight that folder and click OK button. All media from the original location is copied to the new location.
3. Now notice the new name for the folder in the list. It should be called : [Family File Folder]\SampleMedia\
4. Then highlight that folder and click OK button. All media from the original location is copied to the new location. Now notice the new name for the folder in the list.
It should be: [Family File Folder]\SampleMedia\
Programmer's Explanation:
What's cool is if you have a whole list of sub folders all of the sub folders are also moved to the new location.
If I was a professional genealogist doing work for clients I would create a new folder for that client. Save the family file in that folder and put a media folder in the same folder. For example if my client was Adams my folders would look like this.
C:\Users\Ken\MyDocuments\Legacy Family Tree\Data\Adams\AdamsFamily.fdb
C:\Users\Ken\MyDocuments\Legacy Family Tree\Data\Adams\AdamsMedia\
And you can have as many sub folders inside the AdamsMedia folder as you like. Some people are organizers like Geoff is.
C:\Users\Ken\MyDocuments\Legacy Family Tree\Data\Adams\AdamsMedia\Cemetaries\USA\Arizona\
C:\Users\Ken\MyDocuments\Legacy Family Tree\Data\Adams\AdamsMedia\Cemetaries\USA\Utah\
C:\Users\Ken\MyDocuments\Legacy Family Tree\Data\Adams\AdamsMedia\Obituaries
etc.
Now all you would have to do is copy the Adams folder or zip that folder and give that to your client and have them unzip the folder or copy the folder where ever they want to put it. And, all of their media will be linked.
Note: One thing I should point out is when you click Change on the Master Media Folder List and select a new location only media that is linked to Legacy in some way is copied. If you want to move all media I recommend using Windows Explorer and copy the folder manually then when you click on Change and select that new folder and all of the files are already there the links in Legacy are changed/corrected to point to the new place but nothing gets copied since the files already exist there.
Another Note: This Change folder is a cool way to find out what isn't linked. For example my wife works hard on our family file all the time. She has been adding head stone images from Find A Grave. She usually takes a copy of the entrance or name of the cemetary. Then gets all of the different images people have taken of the head stone. She saves those into her media folder in the appropriate sub folder (each cemetary gets its own folder). What if she forgot to link one of the six pictures she just saved. Once in a while I can click Change, give it a new folder somewhere. All media gets copied to the new folder structure. I then click Change button once again and set it back to her original folder. I then use a folder compare program to see what's different between the two folders. I can then show here all of the images she never linked. It gives her a bunch to go do to make sure they are all properly linked. Just to make sure everyone understand. When I click the Change button I'm always on the first main folder in a grouping. Since all of our pictures are in a [My Documents]\McGinnisGenealogy\Media folder and there are hundreds of sub folders below the Media folder I click on the first on in our list which is the main Media folder and all sub folders below that are copied to the new place.
Back to the help topic. All of the info in the help topic still works fine. I'd just recommend moving the media folder inside the data folder if you don't want the users to have to mess with running the re-linker or setting up their default media folder to be the same as yours.
Thanks,
Ken McGinnis
Millennia Corporation
