What is a media ?
A media is a file outside your genealogy that you link to your genealogy file.
It can be a deed, a photo, etc...
Heredis software manages media on two levels: originals and thumbnails.
The originals
The originals are the media that you have saved in your computer. When you take a screenshot, scan a document or download a deed or a photo, you save it in your computer at a given location.
When you link your media into your genealogy file, you select that original media in your computer.
As long as that original is always in the same place on your computer and called the same way, Heredis software will display the original.
Thumbnails
When you link media into your file, Heredis creates a copy that is placed inside the genealogy file. This copy does not always have the same quality as the original.
This copy is called a "thumbnail".
If the Heredis software does not find the original, it will display the thumbnail.
The thumbnails are placed in a folder called Media, inside the .hmw folder that contains the genealogical data.
Some important concepts
- If you move or rename the original, the Heredis software will no longer have access to it. The software will then display the thumbnails, the quality of the images will then be limited.
- If the Media folder is deleted from the .hmw folder, the Heredis software will no longer have access to the thumbnails and will not be able to display them.
- If you move to another computer, you must transfer your genealogy files, but also all the original media that were linked to them. Otherwise, Heredis will only show you the thumbnails. If the media folder has not been transferred, the software will not be able to access the thumbnails either.
- The GEDCOM format does not always support media. The GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard is the one that is still most commonly used. This standard never takes the media in the GEDCOM file. Depending on the software/website from which the GEDCOM is created, the paths may or may not be present, but the images will never be present. Some software/websites allow you to create a folder that contains a copy of the media. It is highly recommended that you create this folder so that you can easily find your media.
- The new GEDCOM 7 format allows you to embed a copy of the media. When you import a GEDCOM 7 file into Heredis, you will find your media. They will be placed in the Media folder, right inside the .hmw folder that contains the genealogical data.
- If the originals are placed in clouds (OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc...) their access paths are likely to change at any time or to be blocked by an anti-virus. We recommend you to leave the originals locally, i.e. on your computer and not to put any original documents in a cloud. To learn more about clouds, you can read our article : Click here
The procedure to link your media records to the originals
Heredis software contains a tool that allows you to link your media to the originals if you have moved or renamed them or if you have changed computers.
Open your genealogy file and go to the media indexes. Click on the wheel :
Select Check Media :
A window opens in which you have three tabs. For each of these three tabs, click on Update :
Navigate to the location of the original media on your computer and select the folder that contains it.
The Heredis software will then link the unfound to the originals.
Be careful, this only works if the originals have not been renamed in a different way.
The management of your original media is up to your organization. The tool we have put in place is there to save you time. However, it is not up to our company to intervene in the way you store your media on your computer.