Multimedia Preferences still call out iPhoto Library

[LyndaCook]

Finally getting around to using R-13, after just updating to a new iMac 27" 2020. I still have my old iMac sitting side by side with the new one and after updating to R-13 I found a lot of link breaks. I deleted my Reunion Preferences, thinking this would correct the issues, but I have 764 files that are 'in the red.' When I check the old file, the MM is present with no ? showing. When I look up the item in my Reunion Photos file, most are found. These I can correct easily, but there are still over 700 items to be fixed. Some of the missing appear to be in my Photos files (yes I know I should have all in my R-Photos file) but I'd like to just get them back in the reports for now. The fact that the MM Preferences still shows the ability to search iPhoto instead of Photos might be part of the problem. Has anyone encountered this problem and how did you fix it?

[LyndaCook]

Update, I just checked my old system and there are only 99 missing mm items. Since I just copied the file over from the old one, What happened to the other 600+ links?

[Mark]

The fact that the MM Preferences still shows the ability to search iPhoto instead of Photos might be part of the problem.

That's not the cause of the problem - Reunion doesn't search the Photos Library because Reunion won't link to files stored inside the library. If you add an image from Photos to Reunion it actually makes copy of it and places it in:

Pictures/Reunion Pictures/Imported Media/

This is done specifically because of what happened when Apple transitioned from iPhoto to Photos -- they completely re-jiggered (yes, that's a technical term) the library in such a way that Reunion couldn't "follow" the images, causing many users to lose links to items that were stored in an iPhoto Library (and subsequently moved to the Photos Library).

But, let's get back to the issue at hand.

...I have 764 files that are 'in the red.'

Does the "Location" for these images, shown in the Multimedia Usage report, have "iPhoto Library" in it?

Thanks,

[LyndaCook]

Some of them are ~/Pictures/Photos Library, others are ~/Pictures/Reunion Pictures and a few are from when they were on the desktop and I added them from there, before I added them to the Reunion Pictures.

[LyndaCook]

Mark, is there a way to set up the missing file information so that it can be printed and I can work by where the originals apparently are stored? I used to be able to select all and print them out, but now I can only highlight one entry at a time.

[gencea]

I have 2201 broken links. All stored in the iphoto/photo library. How do I fix those?

[Bob White]

Don't use the Photos library. What Mark mentioned above is one of several incidents over many years.

Recommend that you store all photos in the Reunion Pictures folder in Reunion Files in your Documents folder. Get things linked from there.

I have done that for many years. And the only broken links I had were when I did something dumb myself. There are many discussions on this topic in these forums. There are also many Reunion users doing as I recommend. (Note: The folder with your pictures doesn't necessarily need to be in Reunion Files. It just needs to stay in the same place.)

[Warwick Dilley]

Bob White is absolutely correct. Don't compromise your Reunion image links by linking to images in Photos, iPhotos, or , for that matter, any other photo management system. Only link to photos in a folder in Finder where you can actually see them.

[danette mulrine]

Thanks. This discussion on photo linkage was very helpful. I see some of the problem I am having with the media message I am getting.

[Rcljersey]

So Bob or others, if I have many photos which I'd like to use or see in Reunion, currently parked in Photos, how best do I re save these so that I have them in my Reunion files folder, please ?. Can I do many at a time ? Sorry if this is a very basic question, or that you all know about this, but I'd like to understand and get this as right as I can as I clearly have many hundreds of pictures currently in the wrong place. I often have family photos sent to me, either on WhatsApp, Facebook or email, which end up in Photos on my phone, my iPad or my desktop iMac. I now feel I should be moving those to my Reunion files folder as soon as I receive them.

[Bob White]

Not to worry about taking said photos out of Photos. When one drags from the thumbnails view in Photos to the Desktop or a folder, a duplicate copy is produced at the destination and includes all of the EXIF information. As you can see in the screenshot, I just drag straight to the Reunion Pictures folder. I have zero concern about the photo being in both places.

After dragging into the Pictures folder, I go to that person's family card, click on the + sign in the appropriate multimedia area and use the resulting Finder dialog to navigate to the Reunion Pictures folder, "Select" the photo and done (other than adjusting position/sizing in the view). (Hint: If one is doing several in a row, starting with the second one, the Finder dialog will already be at Reunion Pictures.... sweet...) 2021-02-22_15-22-24.png

[Mark Woods]

Wow I really appreciate the discussion on this topic. I have been mulling over how to and where to store the support files. This has helped immensely. Thank you all.

[Mark Woods]

Along the same line can anyone tell me about location restrictions for the media folder? I would like to keep the folder in my iCloud account manly because space requirements. Dropbox only allows 2.5GB where I have a 50GB in iCloud for 99 cents a month. Can Reunion in Dropbox look for the files in my iCloud account?

[Bob White]

The Reunion application is not in Dropbox; it's local on your Mac. The Family File is in Dropbox (plus anything else you put there). That being said...

I believe the answer is "Yes" as I just right now tried that and successfully added an obituary that is stored in my iCloud drive. But there could be a "land mine" here...

e.g. The iCloud and Dropbox are both mirrored on your local computer. The possible "land mine" is that I don't know whether the obituary in my test was connected via the local copy or the iCloud copy. Mark or Gregg or Frank can answer that question. And, of course, they know what other users have encountered and what the application is designed to do.

(Note: I'm leaning toward the iCloud copy. Doing a Show in Finder on the obit in the multimedia box reveals a path of iCloud Drive > a couple of folders > the obit file.)

[Mark Woods]

Thanks Bob, what I plan on trying is copying the vital records and pasting them on iCloud. Then using the iCloud files as the source. I keep everything in Photos as tiffs or jpgs. I do this because I keep three backups of Photos and one of them is off site. None of them are cloud backups, I don’t trust the “cloud” for many reasons. I know that’s being paranoid but that’s me. The reason I won’t mirror the files is that a glitch can delete the cloud file and that might cause the original to disappear. Again me being paranoid. It is extra work for me but I will feel that my files are safer. I will let you know how that works out. I use iCloud instead of Dropbox for cost.