Monday, October 17, 2011

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 7: More GEDCOM Trials

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I hate to harp on this issue, but I still think that there is a problem with the GEDCOM export from Family Tree Maker 2012, at least for some program options.  See  Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 5: Importing and Exporting Media Files with GEDCOM and Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 6: Understanding Media Items for the background.  In those posts, genea-bloggers Russ Worthington (Family Tree Maker User) and Caroline Gurney (Caro's Family Chronicles), tried to educate me on Media items and how they work with FTM 2012, and also made helpful suggestions while trying to understand my problem.  I appreciate their help!
I have done a lot more testing today on this, and I think I have figured it out.  In the previous tests, I used a large Ancestry Member Tree, synced it to FTM 2012, and then created a GEDCOM file for selected individuals (only to make it faster to do the test).  When I imported that GEDCOM file into FTM 2012 or into RootsMagic 4, links to the Media items in the file folders on my computer were not included.

In Post 6 comments, Caroline noted that:

"I have replicated your Scenario 2. I created a small new tree on Ancestry, to which I added 2 media. I then imported the tree from Ancestry into FTM 2012. The 2 media were attached and showed up correctly. I created a GEDCOM and checked the box to include media files. In the Export to GEDCOM box I chose Other and UTF-8. After exporting the GEDCOM to my Desktop, I looked at the file in Wordpad and the media file links were there. I then imported the GEDCOM back into FTM 2012. The Import Complete window showed that the import included two multimedia files and the media showed up correctly in FTM 2012."

Okay, so maybe I'm wrong about this?  Let me try to replicate Caroline's GEDCOM exploration with one of my own Ancestry Member Trees.  I have a small tree there with 18 attached Media items.  Here are the FTM 2012 actions on this tree:

1)  The Ancestry Member Tree was imported into FTM 2012 and synchronized:


2)  The Person screen for one of the persons in this tree, with icons showing Media for four Facts:


3)  The Media workspace for the entire database shows 18 Media items:


4)  To start the GEDCOM download, I went to File > Export:



On the "Export" screen, I kept the "Entire file" for export, selected Output format for export = "GEDCOM 5.5", and in the "Export to GEDCOM" menu I selected Destination = "Other" and Character set = "UTF-8."

After clicking OK, I named the file with a unique name (call it "Entire"), and the resulting GEDCOM file was created.

5)  I went to the Plan workspace, and imported this "Entire" GEDCOM file into FTM 2012, naming it "Entire." The screen below told me that I had 18 Multimedia items in the imported GEDCOM file:


6)  The Media workspace for the imported "Entire" GEDCOM file also shows 18 Media items.  So far, so good!


7)  I then created another GEDCOM file (named "Selected") from the synced Ancestry Member Tree in FTM 2012. The only change I made was to click on the "Selected individuals" (instead of the "Entire file") and included everyone in the file, selected "GEDCOM 5.5," "Other" and "UTF-8," and exported the GEDCOM file.

The resulting "Selected" GEDCOM file import into FTM 2012 showed:


The Multimedia count for this imported GEDCOM, using Selected individuals rather than the Entire file, shows 0 items.  The Media workspace is empty, and there are no media images in the Media file folder for the "Selected" database.

When I worked in Post 5 and Post 6, I used the "Selected individuals" option rather than the "Entire file" option in the FTM 2012 GEDCOM export.  When I use the "Entire file" option, I get the Multimedia items, just like Caroline did. 

I've done this twice just to make sure I did it consistently and obtained the same results both times.

It looks to me that we are both right, doesn't it? 

13 comments:

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

For a test, use the FTM Version 16 option under the GEDCOM UTF-8 and see if there is a difference.

Russ

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

I exported my file from FTM2012 to a GEDCOM, Other, UFT-8. Then opened that GEDCOM file in FTM2012 and all images were there.

Russ

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

When you said: "synced it to FTM 2012, and then created a GEDCOM file for selected individuals (only to make it faster to do the test). When I imported that GEDCOM file into FTM 2012 or into RootsMagic 4, links to the Media items in the file folders on my computer were not included. "

Did you look at the GEDCOM file, created from the AMT to FTM2012, and do a CTRL+F and search for "jpg"? Where there any entries?

Russ

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

I just created a one person GEDCOM file who had One Image 2 citation images and a SmartStory. Exported Selected, GEDCOM, Other, UFT-8. Then imported that GEDOM file and ALL of the files, including the Smart Story was in FTM2012.

Russ

Geolover said...

Randy,

Thanks for doing these tests - your posts should become a valuable "How-To" reference for FTM2012 users.

What happens when some of your files attached to the AMTree are PDF or .txt or word-processor files, rather than *jpg images?

Many tree owners have such items attached in their AMTrees, and would love for them to be in synch with FTM2012.

Randy Seaver said...

Russ - comment #1: I did a Selected, GEDCOM 5.5, FTM16, UTF8 and had no multimedia when opened GEDCOM file in FTM2012.

Likewise, did the same for Selected, GEDCOM 5.5, FTM16, ANSI and had no multimedia when opened GEDCOM file in FTM2012.

Randy Seaver said...

Russ - comment #2: Entire file, or selected file?

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

Did you open the GEDCOM file in Notepad and CTRL+F jpg?

Russ

Randy Seaver said...

Russ - comment #3: There was no GEDCOM file whwen I brought the AMT into FTM2012 to look at.

When I created the GEDCOM file from the "Entire" file, there were @M1 @M2 etc. OBJE lines in the GEDCOM file linking to the JPG media items in my computer files.

When I created the GEDCOM from the "Selected" file, there were no OBJE lines linking to JPG files.

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

Since we are not seeing the same results I have to ask.

Did the Individuals you selected have Media files?

Russ

Randy Seaver said...

Russ,

Yes, sorry, they had Media files from the AMT sync with FTM2012.

The differences are in the details of the files and the export, I fear.

The only way I've been able to have them show up in the file imported to FTM2012 via GEDCOM is by selecting Entire file.

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

Sorry this makes no sense. I exported ONE person. That ONE person had several JPG files. One Person file, 2 Citation Media, and a Smart Story.

I will email you the GEDCOM file.

Please see if you see the links.

Russ

Eileen said...

I finally received and installed my FTM 2012. The first thing I did was export my entire file, including media, to GEDCOM 5.5 UTF-8.

First I tried to import this GEDCOM into TMG 7. It would not import at all. I received a message that the program encountered an End-Of-File.

Then I tried to import into Legacy 7.5. This went reasonably well. There were some media files missing but that looks like a source problem rather than the GEDCOM and import.

Finally, I imported it into RM 4. RM lists 2 media files or 8 media files, etc. for individuals but they don't show up. When I go to Media Gallery to display the media, the window is blank. I could not find any media in RM.

In addition, back at FTM 2012, I tried to generate my pedigree chart. This used to be instantaneous (I have a small database as those things go) now it takes at least 30 seconds of watching a blank background until the report appears. All the reports are very slow to generate compared to 2011.

I am not feeling very happy about FTM 2012 right now.