Renaming media files in rm9

RootsMagic
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1

up til now, I have used the following naming convention for my media files when using TMG:

100 Doe John Death certificate 2022_01_01 (where the number identified the person in the TMG database)

Having imported into rm9, the record number has changed for illustrative purposes to 200, therefore the filename would be 200 Doe John Death Certificate 2022_01_01. This keeps are the exhibits for one individual together and easier to locate.

I have over 5000 media files. Is there anyway to make the filename changes while maintaining the links and associations without handling each file and person individually?

Or is there an alternative to my naming convention that would require less work?

2

Short answer is No. I think the simplest way to continue your file naming structure would be to add the existing ID number that you have assigned to the REFN field of each Person. That would require 1 edit per person and you wouldn’t have to touch any media files. There is a General setting that would enable you to display the Reference number after the person’s name.

3

Afraid of that. I already have that number listed, thanks to TomH.

Fortunately, there are very few duplicate numbers (where TMG and RM match) so i’ll just pick up with the new numbers for new people added.

Thanks.

4

Question: How does your naming convention handle a media item where multiple people are involved, such as a census or a newspaper article?

5

for census, i use head of household and family.100 Doe John Family_1920 US Census)
for marriage, i use both numbers and names (100_101 Doe John and Jane nee smith marriage certificate 2020_01_01).

Although I may have make some modifications for RM9. Haven’t gotten that far yet.

6

My TMG person numbers were imported into RootsMagic several years ago. I still have them in my database as a separate fact (tag). You probably know this, but if not, you can change the settings in RM to display the Ref# number for each person in the person index.

7

If the media links are unbroken, it is possible with sqlite queries to generate batch rename commands to convert the media file names to the RM9 record numbers and to update the database to match.

8

11 posts were split to a new topic: Organizing Media and Data