More Dialog Boxes...

Add Media to Project Dialog

This dialog box is displayed when you add media to a project, either from a menu (such as by clicking Pictures on the Add menu) or if you use drag-and-drop to add pictures, or other media, to a project. It is also displayed if you add media to a project by using copy-and-paste. The various methods of adding media to a project are discussed below.

Adding Media Using Drag-and-Drop

Probably the quickest and easiest way of adding media to a project is to use drag-and-drop. If you are viewing one or more files in File Explorer (called 'Windows Explorer' in some versions of Windows), or on the Desktop, or possibly elsewhere, click-and-drag on the files, and 'drop' them (release the mouse) in one of the various 'drop zones' within Family Historian. Different drop zones perform different functions. If you just with to add a media file to a project, you can drop the media file anywhere in the main body of the application. But you will often want to do more than that. You might, for example, want to add a media file to a project, and link it to a particular Individual record. In that case, you should drop it on the Media tab of the Property Box, when viewing details of that Individual. See the list of drop zones for Media, and their various functions, below.

You can drag-and-drop multiple files in one go. To do this, just select all the files you wish to drop, and then click-and-drag on any one of them to drop them into Family Historian.

As well as dropping files, you can also click-and-drag on actual images viewed in the Web Search Window or in an external web browser. However, be aware that some web browsers may not let you do this unless you enable this feature in one of their options. Also, whether or not an image can be simply dragged-and-dropped will depend in part on whether this is permitted by the website itself. Bear in mind also, that images may be copyright. Just because you can drag-and-drop (or otherwise copy) an image, does not mean that you are in fact permitted to do so.

Irrespective of where you are dragging images from, the possible drop zones in Family Historian are these:

Media tab of Property Box for an Individual record	Add the media to the Project and link it to the Individual.
Media tab of Property Box for a Family record	Add the media to the Project and link it to the Family record
Media tab of Property Box for a Source record	Add the media to the Project and link it to the Source record
Media tab of Property Box for a Place record	Add the media to the Project and link it to the Place record
Floating Media Window showing all media linked to a fact or to a source citation.*	Add the media to the Project and link it to the fact or source citation.
Anywhere else within the application	Just add the media to the Project

^{* The floating Media Viewer can be
opened to show fact media, by selecting a fact and clicking the Show
Media button on the Facts
tab toolbar.}

When you move your mouse over a drop zone, within Family Historian, the cursor will change to show white box with a '+' sign. This indicates that the media can be dropped here. With all drop zones listed above, except the last, a thick blue box will also display around the drop-zone, as you move your mouse over it. No thick blue box will appear with the default drop zone (the 'anywhere else within the application' drop zone).

To learn more about drag-and-drop within Family Historian, see Drag-and-Drop.

Tip: To cancel a drag-and-drop, simply press the Escape key, or release the mouse when not over a drop zone. Or you can simply cancel within the 'Add Media to Project Dialog'.

Fields

Copy File(s) to	When you add media to a project, a media record is created to represent each media item that you add to the project. Ordinarily, you will also copy the actual media files into the project folder and you are recommended to do that, unless you have a good reason not to. However, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. If you prefer to leave the media files where they are on your hard disk, select the option '<don't copy - link only>'. For most purposes, you will not be able to tell the difference. You can treat 'linked' media exactly as you do 'copied' media. So why do we recommend that you should copy media files into the project folder? The reason is that it is much easier to copy a project (if you want to give a copy to a relative say, or to a specialist genealogy printer), or to make a backup, if all files relating to the project, are stored as part of the project. Also, if you keep files elsewhere on your hard disk, the links to these files could get 'broken' if you accidentally or deliberately, renamed or moved some of the folders they belong to. Tip: If you do have any problems with 'broken links', the External File Links tool (accessible from the Tools menu) is designed to help manage links to media - both links to media kept within the project folder, and media held outside it. If you opt to copy the media files into the project folder, you can, if you wish, leave it up to Family Historian to decide where to put them. In that case, you should select the option '<Default Location within the Project Folder>'. Some users prefer to have their own system for arranging media files within the project folder. If you have already created folders that you have previously copied media into, those folders will be listed as options to copy the media to. If you want to create a new folder, or select an unlisted one, click on the Location button. Note: the option '<don't copy - link only>' will not be available if you are adding media images that you have copied to the clipboard, and are pasting into the application.
Save File as	If you are copying a single file into your project folder, you can if you wish change its name here. This is a good idea, especially if the current file name is meaningless (for example, some websites generate file names consisting of random letters and numbers, for file downloads). You will be warned if there is already a file with the name you have chosen in the specified target location. If you copy more than one file at a time, you will not be given an option to rename the copied files. Instead the existing files name will be used, unless they clash with file names already in use in the target folder, in which case the file names will be modified very slightly, to ensure their uniqueness.

Copy File(s) to

When you add media to a project, a media record is created to represent each media item that you add to the project. Ordinarily, you will also copy the actual media files into the project folder and you are recommended to do that, unless you have a good reason not to. However, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. If you prefer to leave the media files where they are on your hard disk, select the option '<don't copy - link only>'. For most purposes, you will not be able to tell the difference. You can treat 'linked' media exactly as you do 'copied' media. So why do we recommend that you should copy media files into the project folder? The reason is that it is much easier to copy a project (if you want to give a copy to a relative say, or to a specialist genealogy printer), or to make a backup, if all files relating to the project, are stored as part of the project. Also, if you keep files elsewhere on your hard disk, the links to these files could get 'broken' if you accidentally or deliberately, renamed or moved some of the folders they belong to.

Tip: If you do have any problems with 'broken links', the External File Links tool (accessible from the Tools menu) is designed to help manage links to media - both links to media kept within the project folder, and media held outside it.

If you opt to copy the media files into the project folder, you can, if you wish, leave it up to Family Historian to decide where to put them. In that case, you should select the option '<Default Location within the Project Folder>'. Some users prefer to have their own system for arranging media files within the project folder. If you have already created folders that you have previously copied media into, those folders will be listed as options to copy the media to. If you want to create a new folder, or select an unlisted one, click on the Location button.

Note: the option '<don't copy - link only>' will not be available if you are adding media images that you have copied to the clipboard, and are pasting into the application.

Save File as

If you are copying a single file into your project folder, you can if you wish change its name here. This is a good idea, especially if the current file name is meaningless (for example, some websites generate file names consisting of random letters and numbers, for file downloads). You will be warned if there is already a file with the name you have chosen in the specified target location.

If you copy more than one file at a time, you will not be given an option to rename the copied files. Instead the existing files name will be used, unless they clash with file names already in use in the target folder, in which case the file names will be modified very slightly, to ensure their uniqueness.