I would love the ability to change the file name and location of media. I inherited a very messy folder structure and would love for RootsMagic to be able to do that.
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File/Tools/Move/Rename
Sorry, left out left bottom ( Browse for Destination)
Hello @Sparticuz .
I suspect that this matter is still unresolved because “File Move/Rename” applies to the whole RM8 database ; NOT the media!
I think the following may help.
Media is actually stored on your computer, outside the database and is accessed by RM8 using links to the actual media files in whatever file-structure they are stored.
Now read the help wiki at Three vertical dots ( top right of any main RM8 page ) > Select “ Help” > Type “Fix” in the search box (near top right of new window) > Press ENTER (Windows) > Select “Fix Broken Media Links.
I’ll assume that your database has no broken links at this point. You can check this by examining the icons in the MEDIA page of RM8 * ; any with broken links will have a red cross on the affected media item icon and these should be corrected before proceeding.
Next, Set up a new Directory-structure named and organised the way you want it.
COPY all media from the old directory structure into the new, organised as you want it. Do NOT change any file names.
Make a note of the PATH AND NAME to the parent directory of your new media folder
Before proceeding further make sure you have a current backup of your database named so that you can return to it if things happen to go wrong!!! - You probably know to do that anyway.
In RM8 open Settings > Folder settings (2 nd icon from left) > Make a note of the nominated path and media folder name being used by RM8 . (Insurance so that you can go back if needed.)
Now change the path and name to point to the parent directory of your new media file stucture.
Check the MEDIA page for broken links*. Hopefully there will be none .
If all looks good, select any icon and in the side panel check that the path being used is the new path.
If good, rename the OLD parent directory by for example prefixing it with XXX. (More insurance!)
Recheck for broken links.
If all good, then the OLD directory structure AND ITS CONTENTS can be deleted and you are done.
*NOTE: Checking for broken links can be also be done with MEDIA > 3-dot menu > Fix broken media links which brings up a window that tells you how many broken links there are and allows you to use RM8 to search for files. It is useful to choose the “ A selected drive or folder ” option and enter the path to the parent directory of the media set in the box (unless you want to search the whole computer) if using this tool to fix links so that RM8 only searches in your desired media storage area.
Any problems with this please raise them here.
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RM7 had a somewhat clunky way to rename media files from within RM that would make sure that RM had a proper link to a newly named file. The same thing can be accomplished in RM8, but it’s about 100 times as clunky as in RM7. I’m going to start a new thread to discuss this problem in a little more detail.