Genea-Musings Scenario 1 (Roots Magic 4 to FTM2012)

A Genea-Blogging friend, Randy Seaver, has posted a number of blog posts about the new Family Tree Maker version 2012 program.  I have been commenting on his posts, but I wanted to test out and post my findings here:

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 6: Understanding Media Items

Here is his Scenario 1:

* Scenario 1: When a GEDCOM file, created by another program or online database, is imported into FTM 2012, then the images of the Media are included in the FTM 2012 Media workspace, are put into the /Family Tree Maker/"Scenario 1"/Media file folder on my computer, and links to those Media files are included for the Person(s) and Facts involved in the FTM database. If this FTM 2012 file is exported to a NEW Ancestry Member Tree, the Media images are included in the Ancestry Member Tree.


For this Blog Post, for Scenario 1, a Roots Magic 4 will generate a GEDCOM file. The file in Roots Magic 4 has one image in it for this test.


To the best of my knowledge, a GEDCOM file will NOT include any images in that file. You can open and edit at GEDCOM file with any word processor and it will NOT include any images or media files.

For part one of this test, I created a test file in Roots Magic 4 and generated a GEDCOM file (created by another program). Here is the header information from that GEDCOM file:

0 HEAD
1 SOUR RootsMagic
2 NAME RootsMagic
2 VERS 4.0
2 CORP RootsMagic, Inc.
3 ADDR PO Box 495
4 CONT Springville, UT 84663
4 CONT USA
3 PHON 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC
3 WWW www.RootsMagic.com
1 DEST RootsMagic
1 DATE 13 OCT 2011
1 FILE Scenerio-1-RM-GED.ged
1 GEDC
2 VERS 5.5.1
2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED
1 CHAR UTF-8

This file is opened by the Windows program Notepad.exe Nothing fancy about this program and there were NOT images in that file.

There IS a link to the Media file that is in this Roots Magic file.

1 OBJE
2 FILE C:\Users\Russ\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Inferential Genealogy Study-2012_Current Media\Howard-James_M-DavidR.jpg

This entry is the LINK to that JPG file that is on my computer.

The next step is to Open that GEDCOM file, created by Roots Magic 4 with FTM2012. The Import Status indicates that  there is one image.

You will notice ONE multimedia file. That is because of the link to that image already on this computer.

Here is that image:

However, looking in the Media Workspace for this image, you will see where this image is located.

The image that is in the above screen capture is the SAME image that Roots Magic uses. The Path to that Image is Identical.

What this means, is that for a Media item to show up, that has a Link to any image, that Image MUST be on the computer in the Path that is indicated in the Link in the GEDCOM file.

For this test, to check out my theory, I MOVED that image from the folder that is indicated above so that FTM2012 would not see that file.

Now you will see that FTM2012 can NOT find that file, although the image is still showing.


Since I saw the thumbnail, I clicked on it to see if the Error Message was correct. This is the screen that appeared.

I selected the "Let Family Tree Maker search for this file." It found the image.

That image is now in the Media folder for this file, where it should be.

The link will point to where the file was, in Roots Magic, and FTM2012 found it on import. Moving the image, FTM2012 can find it, IF it is on the SAME computer, as long as the filename is the same.

Another option is in the Media Workspace, Media Menu, Find Media.

This option will search for ALL Missing Media files.

This is that Missing Media file, if there are others, they will be listed in this window, If FTM2012 finds the file, the options are to Copy the file to the Media Folder for this file or to put a Link from this family file to that image, in the other folder. The choice here is to Copy.

This scenario shows the ability for FTM2012 to read a GEDCOM file, from another genealogy program, in this case Roots Magic 4. Embedded in that GEDCOM is a Link to an image / media file that was used within Roots Magic 4, The key here is that the IMAGE / Media file MUST be on this computer.


Lets say that Randy sent me that GEDCOM file via Email. He would have to send that Image, with the SAME filename to me in that email or a separate email, and I would have had to saved that image on my PC. FTM2012 has a feature to Find that Media file, as long as the Filename is the Same and that it's on this computer.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington