Clicking URL in Notes

[sgtbob]

Some time ago, I discovered while researching the internet, that I could click the internet address and 'drag' it to the 'Note' and to the 'Memo' fields on my REUNION files. Recently, I had occasion to remove some data from my files by preparing a GEDCOM file, opening it in a test editor program and remove the errors. When I then opened the saved GEDCOM file into a new REUNION file, all those nice blue internet connections were converted to plain text and I lost the ability to re-connect to the web site. The text showing the web site remains, but I can no longer return to the 'blue' web site by clicking on the saved setting.

I can of course 'copy/paste' the data from my REUNION 'note' or 'memo' into a search engine and get to the site, but it was a great feature while it lasted. A minor glitch I suppose, but it is disheartening that I lost this capability.

Bob

[Mark]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Hi Bob,

...I can no longer return to the 'blue' web site by clicking on the saved setting.

You should be able to change the URLs back into blue links by CTRL+Clicking on them and selecting "Make Link". CTRL+Clicking on a valid URL (even if it isn't blue) should also give an "Open URL" option.

HTH

[sgtbob]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Hi Bob,

You should be able to change the URLs back into blue links by CTRL+Clicking on them and selecting "Make Link". CTRL+Clicking on a valid URL (even if it isn't blue) should also give an "Open URL" option.

HTH

I'm a bit confused, using your CONTROL+Clicking on the data does not produce any feature that allows a selection of 'Make Link'. Where am I going wrong?

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

I'm a bit confused, using your CONTROL+Clicking on the data does not produce any feature that allows a selection of 'Make Link'. Where am I going wrong?

Hi Bob,

You should highlight the link text, making sure you don't highlight the space on either end of the link text, and then Control-Click or Right-Click.

If you are in Notes, you should see the option to "Make Link". I do this all the time in my notes about the Find A Grave memorial location.

If you are in the Memo section of an Event, etc, or the Detail section of a Source it will only bring up "Open URL", i.e. you will not get the active blue underlined URL address.

I would love to be proven wrong on these last two!

Hope this is helpful,
Kaye

[sgtbob]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Hi Bob,

You should highlight the link text, making sure you don't highlight the space on either end of the link text, and then Control-Click or Right-Click.

If you are in Notes, you should see the option to "Make Link". I do this all the time in my notes about the Find A Grave memorial location.

If you are in the Memo section of an Event, etc, or the Detail section of a Source it will only bring up "Open URL", i.e. you will not get the active blue underlined URL address.

I would love to be proven wrong on these last two!

Hope this is helpful,
Kaye

I have highlighted the test and done as suggested; however, under 'notes' I do not find any option to 'Make Link'.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

I have highlighted the test and done as suggested; however, under 'notes' I do not find any option to 'Make Link'.

If your link text is in the "Notes" space-

After you highlight the link text, place your curser on the last letter/number of the link text. Then hold down the CONTROL button and click (or, right-click if you have that option on your mouse which is the way I do it). You should get a drop down list of options. The second option should be "Make Link".

If this doesn't work for you, try a couple of times; otherwise, don't know what else to say.

[Frank]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

This feature is also documented in the manual.

Search the manual for "notes link" (without the quotes) and then click the first search result, scroll down to the topic "Editing the Destination of a Link in a Note field."

[Mark]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

When I then opened the saved GEDCOM file into a new REUNION file, all those nice blue internet connections were converted to plain text and I lost the ability to re-connect to the web site.

On a side note, this happens because GEDCOM does not support HTML links -- when you export to GEDCOM, the links become plain text. As a result, when you import the GEDCOM, they come in as plain text.

I hope this information is helpful,

[sgtbob]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

This feature is also documented in the manual.

Search the manual for "notes link" (without the quotes) and then click the first search result, scroll down to the topic "Editing the Destination of a Link in a Note field."

Kaye and Frank - In viewing the manual reference, I see what you are proposing; however, the screen to which you referred me is not the same as the one I see by following your instructions. Granted - 'make link' appears in the manual; however that is not what I see by (1) Highlighting the text; (2) placing the cursor on the last letter in the text and (3) CTRL + RIGHT CLICK produces the attached page - totally unlike the manual reference.

[sgtbob]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

On a side note, this happens because GEDCOM does not support HTML links -- when you export to GEDCOM, the links become plain text. As a result, when you import the GEDCOM, they come in as plain text.

I hope this information is helpful,

I was afraid that the problem would be as you proposed. The text is not in 'blue' (ostensibly indicating an HTML web connection. Its too bad that by correcting one problem via GEDCOM review in a text editor, that when re-opened in REUNION, it lost all the connection features I had entered for thousands of records.

I guess this can be filed under the 'law of unintended consequences'. I may return to the pre-GEDCOM file and make the necessary detail errors by hand as I encounter them.

Bob

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Kaye and Frank - In viewing the manual reference, I see what you are proposing; however, the screen to which you referred me is not the same as the one I see by following your instructions. Granted - 'make link' appears in the manual; however that is not what I see by (1) Highlighting the text; (2) placing the cursor on the last letter in the text and (3) CTRL + RIGHT CLICK produces the attached page - totally unlike the manual reference.

Bob, what you show is in the manual under the "Editing the Destination of a Link in a Note Field" which is what happens after you make the active link and control-click on it.

***Please note, you should use control-click if you only have a mouse with one button (like the regular Mac mouse). If you have a mouse that has 2 programable buttons, you can right-click. You don't do both at the same time.***

Going to the same "notes link" section in the manual, do the section just above "Editing..." - "Adding a Link in a Note Field". I didn't know about dragging the icon onto the notes page. Just tried it. Works great...don't have to do all the highlighting and control-clicking that I indicated...however, it doesn't show the actual URL. For Find A Grave, it makes a link showing the person's name, b. & d.years & "Find A Grave Memorial". When I make a report & then PDF of the report, the link is not active. If I do it the way I described in the earlier post, the link shows the full URL and this is active in the PDF (although it isn't underlined or blue in the PDF, it is still an active link)

For your purposes, already having the URL there, think you will need to follow the information I already posted or step 2 in the Manual (see step 6 in my attachments).

So---
1) Want URL address to show & be active in a Report PDF - Do it my way, which is the 2nd way shown in the manual (see steps 1-4 shown in my attachments).

2) Want a "title" to show, instead of the URL (see step 5 attachment), which is not active in a Report PDF - Do step 1 in the manual.

I bet you are thoroughly confused now . Actually, the directions in the manual are much clearer than mine...I tend to go into too much detail.

[jbastin]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Kaye and Frank - In viewing the manual reference, I see what you are proposing; however, the screen to which you referred me is not the same as the one I see by following your instructions. Granted - 'make link' appears in the manual; however that is not what I see by (1) Highlighting the text; (2) placing the cursor on the last letter in the text and (3) CTRL + RIGHT CLICK produces the attached page - totally unlike the manual reference.

The difference is, the text you're selecting is *already* a link, so the "make link" function isn't applicable.

Attached is a picture of what I get when I inserted ***plain text*** into the Notes field, dragged over it to select it and then Control-clicked on the last letter. The drop-down menu then contains the "make link" command.

Hope this helps.

[Bob White]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Let me throw some fuel on the fire! This is a good how-to discussion. However, if anyone asks me about how-to deal with URL's being stored in any genealogy software, the first thing that comes out of my mouth is a recommendation to not do this.

My experience over the years is that, once one gets away from the big guys like Ancestry, Internet addresses of genealogy research related sites is just one big moving target. e.g. One finds a source and finds it 404 when one goes back a year or two later. (404 = site not found)

Instead, I name the site that I sourced from. If the site moved to a different domain (which happens often), I'll find it. If the maintainer got old and fuzzy and let the site go, it's not to be found anyway. Bottom line is I'm sure that I spend less time looking for the source again than I would trying to maintain URL's in my notes or wherever and spend zero time worrying about what happens to a URL when it gets into a GEDCOM file.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Bob & all,

Good reasoning. Actually, when I use a URL, I also show the site name, etc. (see attachment #4 on my other post). That being said, most of my URLs are for Find A Grave memorials and Ancestry.com Family Trees. I have begun using them for other web sites, too, but, as I said, I also show the site name, etc.

[sgtbob]

Re: Clicking URL in Notes

Thanks all - as opined earlier on, I am totally confused; however, I will try to 'educate' myself and get back to this discussion later.

It appears that the 'blue' site data may not be a good item to drag into the notes field. I'm beginning to think that one of the suggestion to copy/paste the web address into notes or other receptive spots and then reverse this process should I wish to return to that web site. Will experiment more to see if I can follow the advice above.

Bob