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Work with External File Links Dialog
External File Links Dialog
Media items can be pictures, videos, sounds, documents, OLE Objects ... or anything that can be stored in a file. Family Historian automatically creates one Media record for each media item you add to your project. When you add the media item you will be asked if you want to copy the media file into the project folder. If you opt to do so, the Media record will store a link to this file. If you opt to not copy the file, the Media record will store a link to the file in its original location. This dialog box allows you to inspect and manage all the external files links in your file - whether they be to files stored in the current project folder or elsewhere.
Why do you need to manage external file links?
However you organise your media files, it is quite possible that you will find at some point that you wish to re-organise them. You might, for example, have stored your files on CD, and then find, when you buy a new computer, that your new CD drive has a different drive letter. Or, you might keep media files in your project folder, but decide at some point that the folder structure you have used is not ideal for your purposes and you want to change it. Or files might be moved accidentally, and the file links might be 'broken' and you want to fix them. Whatever the reason, this dialog box will make it quick and easy for you to see what external links you have, and to fix broken ones, or change file links in whatever way suits you.
Elements of the Dialog Box
The fields and buttons in the dialog box are described below.
| File Links |
Displays all external file links in a tree structure, similar to that used by Windows Explorer. Each file link in Family Historian stores the 'path information' which gives the location of the target file. If the file is stored in the current project folder, the 'path' merely gives the files location within the project folder. If the file is not stored in the project folder, the 'path' specifies the full location of the file, including which drive its on. The tree structure makes it easy to see all the link targets, and how all the links are structured (in terms of folders targeted as part of the link - i.e. referenced as part of the stored file name). It also makes it easy to re-target all links in the file. By selecting a folder in the diagram, and clicking on or you can update all file links that target that folder as part of the link. For example, if a file's full name was "C:\media\pictures\Campbells\Tony.jpg" (i.e. the file was stored outside the project folder) you would see the 'C:' drive in the File Links box, and under it a folder called 'media'. Within that there would be a folder called 'pictures'. Within that there would be a folder called 'Campbells'. And within that there would be a file called 'Tony.jpg'. Some or all of these folders might contain other files or folders too, of course. If you used the button to change 'pictures' to 'pics', the new file link for this picture would be "C:\media\pics\Campbells\Tony.jpg". Any other file links that included the pictures folder would be similarly affected. Of course you can re-map or edit the actual filename part of links, as well as the folder part of links. And if a link points to the wrong drive, you can select the drive and click to correct that too. Links to files that are stored within the project folder are shown in a tree branch in which the highest level item is not a drive, but the Project Data Folder itself. Like Windows Explorer, folder or file names have a little icon next to them to show what kind of thing they are (folders or files). If these icons have a cross through them, it means that Family Historian was unable to find the relevant target folder or file. If the folder or file is located on a CD or some other kind of removable medium, this does not necessarily mean that something is wrong. It may just be that the CD that stores the folders or files is not in the CD drive. However, where folders or files are stored on your hard disk, an icon with a cross through it does indicate that (and where) one or more file links have 'broken'. |
|---|---|
| Where Used | When you select a single file in the File Links tree, this window will show the Media record that stores that file link. You can go to the record that contains it by clicking on the button. |
| Re-map | This button allows you to re-map any link to a file onto the
file's actual location (if the file is not where it is supposed to
be). But more than that it allows you to select any target folder
(folder which is included as part of the targeting for any number
of links) and re-map this folder onto the correct location. For
example, if you 're-map' the folder 'Pictures' from within folder
'C:\Media' to within folder 'C:\Family Historian\Media', then all
file links which previously had stored file names that began
'C:\Media\Pictures\…' will now store file names that begin
'C:\Family Historian\Media\Pictures\…'.
works with multiple selection. See Tips below for more on multiple selection. It also allows you to map links to locations outside the current Project Data Folder, to inside it, and vice versa. |
| Edit | This button allows you to change the stored link names of target
files, folders or drives. You are not renaming external files. You
are renaming file, folder or drive names stored as part of
external file links.
requires single selection only. |
| Refresh | If you wish to move or rename external files you should use Windows Explorer to do this. Having done that, if you then press , Family Historian will update its icons so you can see which files and folders it has found (i.e. which files and folders do not have a cross through their icon). |
| Go To | If you select a single file, will close this dialog, and will take you to the record which contains the relevant file link. If you have made any changes, you will be asked if you want to save them. |
| Auto Repair Links | This button will prompt Family Historian to attempt to find missing media files and fix any 'broken' links. This can be a slow process, but a progress dialog is displayed so you can stop the search at any time if you wish. The search will begin with the current project folder, and ripple outwards from the current project, eventually including other fixed drives on your PC if necessary (and if there are any). The search will stop automatically when all missing files are found. As well as finding missing files, this function will also check if links to media files in the media subfolder of the project folder are setup as they should be, and will automatically fix the links if necessary. |
| Preview | When this option is checked, a preview panel displays next to the 'Where Used' box at the bottom of the dialog. It will display a thumbnail image of the currently selected image file, if any. |
| Show Broken Links Only | When this option is checked, the display will switch to only showing 'broken' file links. If you have made any changes you will be prompted to save them before switching. |
The File Links box supports multiple selection, for use with Re-map. However, all the items selected must be 'sibling items' - that is, they must all belong to the same folder or all be top-level items. To select them, use the usual techniques: e.g. click in an unused space, next to a folder or file name, and, holding the button down, drag diagonally downwards to create a stretchy box, and 'lasso' the items you are interested in. Alternatively, you can click on one item to select it, and then press the Shift key while clicking on another item, to select all items in between.
This dialog box is resizable. Click on an edge and drag to make it bigger. You cannot make it any smaller than its initial size. Click on the Maximize button to make it fill the screen.