Media in Events

[Miss Myrtle]

I have a question about media in Reunion. When I create a source, of course I always attach the media there. I quite like the feature to add the media as well to the event so that I can see it quickly. But if it's say a census record and there's 12 people in the family, when I add that media to each person's census event, do I now have 12 copies of that in my database or is it simply directing to the one file stored on my computer?

I can't find anything in the manual that addresses this other than how to add it.

I should clarify that I am adding the media to both the source and the event by dragging it from my external file folder on my hard drive multiple times.

I believe I understand, although perhaps mistakenly, that the media itself is not stored within the Reunion database, only the thumbnail images.

CleanShot 2026-05-21 at 03.37.34@2x.jpg

[alan]

I've always done exactly as you mention; "simply directing to the one file". It only counts as one file used by ?/many people. The same way when entering a marriage certificate or register entry - one file for two people.

Alan

[Miss Myrtle]

I've always done exactly as you mention; "simply directing to the one file". It only counts as one file used by ?/many people. The same way when entering a marriage certificate or register entry - one file for two people.

Alan

Thanks, Alan. I guess that's what I'm not quite sure I understand. Am I directing it to the one file or am I dragging numerous copies of the one file?

[Kathy C]

Reunion does not actually add media to a file. It links to the media on your hard drive so that you can "add" the media (you are actually just linking it) to numerous people. That is the reason that you can move a media file to another location on your hard drive without losing the link ... unless you change the media name.

[Miss Myrtle]

Reunion does not actually add media to a file. It links to the media on your hard drive.

But it does add all those thumbnails. So is each thumbnail instance a new copy?

[DrJJWMac]

But it does add all those thumbnails. So is each thumbnail instance a new copy?

When you add a media link in Reunion, you add it as an address to the source file. The link address gets a picture. The picture is the thumbnail. If you add a media link to another location in Reunion, you add the address to the source file at that other location. That address also gets the same picture. It is akin to writing the address to a friend at two different locations in your family history book, and, each time you write that address, you add a smiley face icon next to the address.

Thumbnails take essentially no space compared to the source media file itself. You can have a gazillion thumbnails pointing to the same source file, just like you can have a gazillion smiley face icons in your family history book (but only one friend at the address that is being referenced a gazillion times).

Hope this helps.

[Miss Myrtle]

Thumbnails take essentially no space compared to the source media file itself. You can have a gazillion thumbnails pointing to the same source file, just like you can have a gazillion smiley face icons in your family history book (but only one friend at the address that is being referenced a gazillion times).

Hope this helps.

Very much so Ty!

[William Shaw]

May I ask about the significant compression my original *.tif family photos (scanned at 600dpi) undergo to become thumbnails? Reunion allows me to publish so many new forms these days, including websites, that I am unsure if one thumbnail is up to the task.

[DrJJWMac]

Consider a photo called MyFamily.tif stored at 600 dpi and 4k in size. Open that photo in the ColorSync utility. Apply the operation that will resize the photo to about 64x64 bit at 72 dpi. Save the resized image as MyFamilySmall.png. Compare the two by selecting each one and using the space bar to open a dynamic preview. The .png is the example of what may be created as a thumbnail.

Alternatively, in some cases, a thumbnail for a given file may simply be a generic icon that the given app uses for the particular file type. In such a case, a thumbnail for every image will have the same appearance, as will the thumbnails for Word documents or for text files or for Webpages or ...