I need to fix unfound media files. It’s a big project, not just fixing links. I need to copy file paths from MacBookPro Sequoia into RM. Seems simple enough. But, when I copy the path in Finder and paste it into RM, the symbols of the path change from / to : and the image cannot be found message comes up in RM.
Anybody have similar experiences? Know how to fix the problem?
What you are copying on the mac may not be the full pathname. Instead on the Edit Media panel click inside the filename field and then on the small file icon that appears on the far right. it will open Finder and then you can select the correct image.
I appreciate the suggestions from BobC and rzamor1 but I tried both of those and neither worked.
If you can’t actually select the file to link to it then the file doesn’t exist on the computer. Make sure the file is not in the cloud only and is physically downloaded to the computer.
Think there is a misunderstanding. The file is on my computer. I select it, copy it and try to replace the link on RM that is broken. Replacing it has worked in the past; however, last week the problem began. Problem: when I paste the file path into RM, the path is changed. The / is replaced by colons. I’ve talked with Apple and Apple says if the technique I used works on other applications (it does) and doesn’t work on RM; then, it’s an RM problem.
I would like to know if others using MacBookPro Sequoia have the same problem. If so is there a fix?
Like I said before, don’t copy and paste the pathname. Select the image by clicking on the file icon inside the filename.
I see a different behavior MacOS 15.3.2 / RM 10.0.5. If the folder or file name has a space in it, then when I copy a pathname, whether from right-clicking on the PathBar, Cmd + Option + C, or right-click + option on the file name in the Finder window, Sequoia now puts the pathname within single quotes. If there is no space then the pathname is copied to the clipboard as expected. In either case RM accepts the path + filename as stored in the clipboard. I don’t see the folder separation “/” symbol being changed to a colon “:”.
This behavior seems to be new with Sequioa ( Finder "Copy ... as Pathname" adds odd qu… - Apple Community).
Not sure exactly how you are copying the pathname. You might want to view the clipboard (Edit, Show Clipboard in Finder) to confirm whether it’s RM or Sequoia that is mangling the characters. Am happy to see if I can replicate your scenario if it is RM.
Thanks Kevin, I’ll do the show clipboard move. I did talk with Apple help and they watched me do this; then, determined it was not them, but RM. Wouldn’t hurt to double check the Apple help, though.
The behaviour seen could be the result of differences between macOS and Windows behaviours when handling unicode characters, i.e. a cross-platform programming differencing issue as macOS will allow and (natively) correctly interprets the “/” character if it is used in filenames; but Windows does not; and will change the “/” to “:” resulting in an invalid file path. Presumably RootsMagic’s programming does not allow for this different cross-platform variation and is following the ‘stricter’ Windows logic.
As @rzamor1 responded earlier, linking directly to the image instead of copying the file path will avoid the issue.
Does Cmd-Shift-V paste (as plain text) do something different than Cmd-V ?
EDIT:
RM10 now handles Windows file paths differently than RM7 did:
This style of path:
file:///C:/Users/RM/Pictures/image.png
-Works in RM7
-Fails in RM10 (forward slashes are changed to backslashes resulting in “Media file not found” message.
Perhaps I misunderstand the issue but it seems simple to put all media files in the same top level media folder (with nested subfolders) and then just use the fix media links pointing at the media folder. RM is excellent at fixing media links unlike FTM which fights users all the way.
Confused! I’m MacBookPro using RM for Mac. I don’t understand how Window got into this discussion.
If you don’t mind sharing a screenshot or two, it would be interesting to see an example of the problem – the pathname along with what the clipboard shows. There has been discussion in the past of certain characters that used to be ‘non standard’ and are now allowed by the OS to be in file and folder names potentially causing problems in RM. The discussions have always been general and it would be helpful to have a concrete example to see if perhaps there’s some character(s) in the pathname that causes the issue to be reproducible.
[edit]: The past discussion that I mentioned above was the “tabulmage” error.
What @LeLibran is suggesting is that because RM is compiled to run on both Mac and Windows, the development platform might be incorrectly compiling some windows logic into the mac version.
< Edit Media
Media
Media type
Image
Filename /Users/test/Documents/Roots Magic/RM Media/:Users:test:Documents:Roots Magic:RM Media:1940–NY–NYC–Welfare Island–BARONAS Geroge.jpg
Notice the path has duplication in it. I did not add that duplication.
BTW, I tried clicking on the icon, hoping RM10 would find the file. Sometime it did; sometimes it wouldn’t. I was using an earlier version of the Mac operating system. When RM wouldn’t find the file, I would use Finder and copy the file into RM. Worked beautifully.
But, when I purchased a new computer and upgraded to Sequoia, the issue began.
Kevinm asked to see a copy of the garbled file. I’ve pasted an example there.
Hey guys…operator error! Sequoia is still new to me so I messed up the file name. We think the problem is solved.