FTM2017 - A Thought on Media File Naming - Follow Up

Earlier this week, I did a Blog post FTM2017 - A Thought on Media File Naming and I wanted to do a follow up on it. I understand that the blog post was very long and typed, but it was the only way I could get the full picture of the Filenaming scheme that I use, specifically, in the Family Tree Maker program.

As a follow up, I thought that I use the same scheme for all of my files on my computer. For example: an Online Bank Statement

Bank_Name-Account_Number-YYYY-MM-DD

Vender_Name-YYYY-MM-DD for bills

Photographs, what ever, the same basic format. They will be in different Folders on my computer. For example, A Bank Folder, a Bill Folder. There could also them be sub-folders, for each Bill for example. Sorting and Grouping so that I can find them easily.

Now, having said that, I use a similar filenaming scheme for things like Cemetery Photographs, not headstones, but those photographs that I "book end" a series of pictures of headstones, where I have a photograph that has the name of the Cemetery before any of the headstones, and a photograph of some other part or sign of that Cemetery.

My "sorting" is a little different. But I follow the way a Citation might be crafted for a Census Record. "Largest to Smallest".

State_Town-Cemetery_Name

Notice the Dash and the Underscore. My earlier concept of making in readable and to separate the  parts of the filename holds here as well. Location (with the underscores, State and Town) DASH Cemetery Name.

When I look at File Explorer, I can see the Cemeteries grouped by State, then Town, then Cemetery Name.

Kansas for example:

Three Cemeteries in three towns.

A little more difficult, and this is only s part of Maryland.

The first entry is the 10th photo from the Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. The Deer Creek Friends Meeting Cemetery has 3 photographs. As you can see they are grouped, first by state, then town, then Cemetery. The State and City are separated by the Underscore, and that is separated from the Cemetery Name by the Dash. The Cemetery Name is readable, All of what are important for me.

Before I go further, I want to re-state my warning about the Changing of Filenames that are files used in Family Tree Maker:

WORD OF CAUTION: Rename the files within the Media Workspace of Family Tree Maker and NOT outside of the program.

I routinely do a review of all of the Filenames, Captions, Links, and Descriptions in the Media Workspace. The image below, is the Media Workspace, to show the two tabs or views of what is in the Media Workspace, Collection and Detail. You will see that I have the List by Media Category. That would have the list if Media Categories that I have created. More on that shortly.

Please note, that the 3 images that you see are how those "New Cathedral Cemetery" media files appear. This view doesn't have the number shown, but that can be adjusted with the Thumbnail Size at the bottom, right of the center panel.

The Media Category, Left Panel, looks like this.

There are two categories that have not media files, at the moment, Video, and World War I Index. The Video was supplied by Family Tree Maker, and I have a World War I Index media that I will be adding.

A Rule that I have in my file, is that I Privatize any "Index" records, because I did a Screen Capture for my information. I do not care to Share them in the Linked Ancestry Member Tree (AMT). Understanding that all of my media files have a Citation, so the Citation that has those index screen captures WILL have the Citation that can be seen in the AMT.

To compare File Explorer and the Media Workspace, to see what I have for images for my grandfather:

File Explorer 

Media Workspace (the last two images are on the next line in FTM)

My Review of the Media Workspace, and all of the Media files is this.

• Review by Category
• Verifying that each Media file is Linked to a CITATION
• Verify the Filename that meets my format
• Verify the Caption format that meets my format (see earlier post)
• Verify that the Description field is filled in (which is the Citation Detail of the linked Citation

IF a Media file does not comply, I remove the Category Check box, so that the [Uncategorized] media files need to be fixed.

I do this review in the Detail Tab:

Across the top is the Mini-Nav bar that lets me move from Media File to the next Media File. The Caption is at the Top of the Right Panel, below it is the Data (if there is one), The category name (Cemetery Photos) and the Description. That is the Citation from the Link in the lower left of the screen. I copy and paste the Citation Detail from that Link, and paste it into the Description field. I want ALL of my media files with a Citation. The filename is under the Description and the location of the image in below that. 

In this example, the Private box is checked. That means that this image will NOT be uploaded to my AMT. The reason is that this image came from the Find A Grave website and I do NOT have permission to use it. However, I want to be able to see it within FTM2017. In many cases, I have my own photos from these cemeteries, which I will publish, but I have a Different Category name for them. This specific category "Cemetery Photos" will ALL be private. 

But, what IF I want to name the people in a photograph. That information should be seen and the best place, I have found, is in the Description field. AND I want to include the Citation, as before.

Here is an example of a Scanned Image that I received from a cousin.

There was information about that media file that I want to be able to see in the description field and in the AMT.

Reeves & Graland families went to church here

Elizabeth W. Leeds met the Reeves & Garland families here. Samuel & Catherine Reeves Worthington were married here

Russ Worthington Scanned Image Collection, 06/11/2018; privately held by H R Worthington III, Hackettstown, New Jersey, 2018.  Cottonwood Friends Church, Emphoria, Kansas (1860 - 1960).

 Russ Worthington Scanned Image Collection, 06/11/2018; privately held by H R Worthington III, Hackettstown, New Jersey, 2018.  Cottonwood Friends Church, Emphoria, Kansas (1860 - 1960).

I captured the writing that was on the image that was scanned, which is this case was very important, that image has a citation, where I got it from. The Citation is then linked to Samuel and Catherine' Marriage Fact.

The next step, now that my Media Files are linked to a Citation, have the Filename it the format I want, the Caption is correct (both for Sorting and readability on the computer and in the AMT). I will now go back and review my Citations, making sure that they are in the EvidenceExplained / Source Template format. 

One final note: Remember that these Media Files in the Media FOLDER linked to the FTM2017 FILE are COPIES of the original files. Any Media that came from a Web Merge from Ancestry, will not be duplicated, as they are on Ancestry and NOT uploaded to Ancestry. That image of Cottonwood Friends Church is also in a Photo Folder on my hard drive, which is backed up "to the cloud" and to an external hard drive. I do NOT mess with those original files. Same with Documents that I will include in FTM2017. Those scanned letters that I have remain in the appropriate Folder under the Documents folder and sub-folder. Remembering that the Sub-Folder for those original files replace the Category feature of Family Tree Maker.

Lessons Learned:

Establish YOUR filename scheme
Establish YOUR filing system (Folders, Sub-Folders)

Review the Media Workspace from time to time.

I have 2,745 media files, currently in my database. It took about a week to review AND UPDATE, correct typo's of those files. Most of the clean up was to meet my current file name format, along with the Captions and links.

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Copyright © 2018 by Cousin Russ