Question marks on multimedia that I scan and add

[Linda Fischer]

I started using Reunion a few months ago. I moved my tree from Ancestry into Reunion. All of the media are little icons that I have to click on and open up in Ancestry. So, I have been scanning my media as I come to it and adding it to my multimedia in Reunion. Sometimes there is a little red question mark on the media that I have scanned and added. When I open the media with the question mark it say "Reunion can't find the multimedia file". I can see the media that I added. Does anyone know why it does this? Thank you

[Mark]

Hi Linda,

Could you outline your process for adding the images?

E.g. are you saving the scans to your Desktop, then dragging them into Reunion, then dragging them from the Desktop into the Trash? The more details you can provide the more likely we'll be able to determine the cause of the problem.

Thanks,

[Linda Fischer]

Yes, I usually scan them to my desktop. Sometimes I download them to my desktop from Ancestry. Then I drag them to my Reunion page, my files in Google Drive and then Ancestry if it isn't in Ancestry. Now I don't necessarily do them in that order. Sometimes I might drag them to Google Drive and then to the other 2. I'm not consistent in which one I drag to first. Someone told me that I probably should be dragging them to Reunion last but I haven't tried that yet.

[SGilbert]

ALL my multimedia resides in the Reunion pictures folder. (alias on desktop) From there, I drop them in the appropriate multimedia section (select multimedia in left column, sections for husband, wife, or couple on right).

[Mark]

Someone told me that I probably should be dragging them to Reunion last but I haven't tried that yet.

That's what I would recommend. The question mark icon indicates that Reunion can't locate the original file (though it still has the generated thumbnail). Normally Reunion can track files as you move them, but it's possible that when you move the file to Google Drive, Google Drive is doing something that's interfering with Reunion's ability to "follow" the file. It'd probably be best to move the file to where ever you want to keep it before linking to it in Reunion.

HTH

[Linda Fischer]

Thank you for your help. I did try dragging them to Google Drive first and then to Reunion last and I did not get the red question mark. Do you know of any way to get rid of those question marks without deleting those and adding them again.

[Mark]

Do you know of any way to get rid of those question marks without deleting those and adding them again.

If you know where the original images are, then you can do one of two things:

1 - Double-click on the multimedia item in the Multimedia sidebar to open the Media window and you should see an option to locate the missing file.

2 - Go to:

Reports / Multimedia Usage

And drag the multimedia item from a Finder window onto the appropriate entry in the list of multimedia.

I hope that helps,

[Steve E]

Just checking - I've moved through half a dozen versions of Reunion. My pictures started out in the, uh, Pictures folder, but as I've updated and the family files got new numbers (…10, 11, 12), I started changing the name of the Pictures folder to match (I'm not sure I could tell you why, other than an anal personality). That has never been a problem; the pictures still appear where they're supposed to. Now in 12, when I open the Multimedia sidebar, the photos show there with the red question mark, but if I click on them, the mark goes away. I assume this means that Reunion is initially annoyed that my pictures are in Pictures 12 instead of Pictures 11, but (after I've listed Pictures 12 in the Multimedia preferences), it can and does find them when prompted. Does that sound right? And is there anything else I should take into account? Thanks.

[theKiwi]

In the Multimedia Preferences screen, click the "Repair Multimedia Links…" button. That should sort it out

Roger

[Steve E]

Thanks, Roger. That did in fact fix the links. Oddly, when I tried it before posting here, it kept saying "! found 1 link, to the Pictures 12 folder" (more or less), but wouldn't delve deeper. Today, however, it did. Maybe I needed to reopen the app? I dunno, but it works now.

[Bob White]

Please consider stopping the habit of changing the name of the folder. Not totally sure but I think the Reunion Pictures folder started in either version 5 or 6. And the name has stayed exactly the same. Each successive version is going to look for where the previous version stored the photos. Thus, if one doesn't fuss with the name, the new version will find the photos without a hitch.