I am a RM newbie struggling to add a pdf file to Media (RM 11 for Mac). When I select Media and then Add, the file that I want to add is grayed out. Drag and drop doesn’t work, either. I converted the file to a png and RM adds it as I would expect. Is this a permissions or a file format problem?
PDF has to have the “Media Type” set to File. Then when you open the media and select edit it will use your default PDF reader to open the document.
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File format.
The file picker lists all files (asterisk dot asterisk) for choosing Media type FILE:
But it only shows these “image” types for Media type IMAGE:
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I use drag N drop for any any all types of files – you can even add mixed files types. (and I have add over 50 at once). The only caveat is captions and descriptions need to be added later
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Just a question for info only because I do not normally drag and drop files into RM: when you drag and drop files into RM, does RM assign the appropriate file class automatically - Image, File, Sound, or Video?
I do not believe I have tried sound or video but it does file (PDF etc) or image and my db has not nulls and and I have not manually assigned .
I decided to go ahead and try one of each type in a test RM database - Image, File, Sound, and Video. It assigned each of my test files to the correct type when I entered them into RM with a Drag and Drop.
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When you Drag and Drop are you making sure you are dropping the file in the square? When you have your cursor over the square to drop the arrow in will jump up and down.
RM 11 is too dumb to automatically identify non jpg file types and you have to manually select the file type such as pdf. Drag and drop does avoid this issue.
Not sure I understand your point. Calling out “non jpg” file types makes no point. Dumb how?
RM distinctly classifies Image (various extensions), Audio (various extensions), and Video (various extensions) file types. All other file extensions (plus those previously declared various extensions) are “classifiable” under the generic (asterisk dot asterisk) File type (*.*) umbrella.
Being designed as a “portability” format, a .PDF file is not a uniqely classifiable File type. It can be comprised of only one or a combination of many elements such as various forms of graphics, images, text formatting, hyperlinks, comments, audio, video, Javascript, interactive objects, viruses, ETC.
Thank you. It works perfectly when I choose “file” instead of image.
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I was expected it would. I have never found a file type not assigned.
Requiring the user to tell software that a pdf file is a pdf file is just dumb. RM is clueless and FTM has no problem with files other than jpg.
As a mac user most of my downloaded media such as census data with source citation info is converted to a multipage pdf as a one click Quick Action.
Thank you all for the great responses. Looks like most people are “drag and drop” folks. I suppose that’s where I got into trouble - I never like drag and drop because my desktop/laptop screens have always been too small. I’ll have to learn!
not required for drag n drop – been using that method for 5 years.
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I’m still not understanding.
RM doesn’t REQUIRE ANYTHING ~specifically~ about a .PDF file AT ALL. You just aren’t going to see a .PDF file listed under the category selections named Image, Audio or Video…duh… because it DOES REQUIRE something for THOSE three types.
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RM has what I will call “categories” for media, namely Image, File, Sound, and Video. It’s not clear to me why these “categories” are necessary. For example, why could RM not simply treat jpg files as jpg files, png files as png files, pdf files as pdf files, mp3 files as mp3 files, etc. But these “categories” have been around for a very long time in the RM world.
If you link files into RM using Drag and Drop, you do not specify the “category”. Instead, it is assigned automatically. For example, jpg and png files are assigned the “category” of Image and pdf files are assigned the category of File.
If you link files into RM using Add New Media, you do have to specify the “category” and it’s possible to specify the wrong “category”. For example, you might choose to enter a pdf file as Image rather than as File. But a pdf file is much more than an image file. It’s more like a container than can contain text and image . For that matter, a pdf file can contain sound and video. And for that matter, pdf files are really more like an application than like an image file or even a container. For example, they contain a JavaScript engine and are programmable. They can change state. They can contain input forms and can collect and store data.
Under those circumstances, it’s a mistake to enter a pdf file into RM as an Image. So I’m wondering first of all, why does RM even need those four categories of Image, File, Sound, and Video. And second of all I’m wondering if those categories actually are meaningful or necessary, why doesn’t Add New Media simply assign the correct categories automatically the same way as does Drop New Media, rather than giving the user the opportunity to enter the incorrect category.
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The way I see it… it does. It’s the choice Media type FILE, which is categorized by RM as DOCUMENT. (which is WHAT a .PDF ~IS~ classified as). RM is even aware that a .PDF file can be comprised merely of images and will try to load it up to the Viewer (even with Media type Image preventing its selection) IF the user pastes a path to the .PDF.
IMAGE, SOUND and VIDEO separation seem to follow RM’s “theme” or “approach” (used in other selection/search implementations)… of offering a “filter”, so to speak.
Why? Perhaps to make the file picker results pane “less-cluttered” than a list of every filename (asterisk dot asterisk). It could also be a cue (or isolation) for the program about what file selections can be loaded to RM’s viewer (IMAGE) and what ones cannot (VIDEO & AUDIO). Regardless, the Windows version is using the standard file picker tool and conventions of listing supported file types. Don’t know how Apple conventions differ.
I hadn’t considered that possibility, and that possibility is essentially a non-issue when using Drag and Drop instead of Add New Media because the Drag and Drop user will already be looking at all file types. In that sense, the option might make sense. But if that’s the reason, why does the Image, File, Sound, and Video distinction need to persist past the initial data entry. Why could it not simply be a filter for the file picker?
Well, let me answer my own question. I could be remembering incorrectly, but it seems to me that it used to be the case that RM really only supported pdf files as type File. For example, I do not believe that they were supported in scrapbook reports, nor could they be used as the single headshot that could be printed for each person in a narrative report. Again, I’m going by memory and I could be wrong. But in any case, RM11 certainly seems to support pdf files for both of these purposes. If there was a change to support pdf files for these purposes, I don’t know when the change was made.
However, pdf files are supported for these purposes only if they are set as type Image rather than as type File. RM doesn’t appear to peek inside a pdf file to see it only contains images. Indeed, if a pdf file is set as type Image and if it only contains text, then the text shows just fine as the single headshot for a person in narrative reports and shows just fine in scrapbook reports. But RM does not appear to be making the decision as to whether the PDF is type File or type Image. It appears that you as the user have to make that decision.
If you link a pdf file into RM with Add New Media, you can choose type File or type Image. If you link a pdf file into RM with Drop New Media, it defaults to type File and you would have to change it to type Image after the fact.
So it appears that the reason for the File vs. Image distinction to persist after the initial data entry is so that RM can know whether to support the file as a headshot in narrative reports and to support the file in scrapbook reports. I don’t know what happens if you mark a file as type Image when it really can’t work as a headshot in narrative reports or in scrapbook reports.
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ALL files are Media type FILE in RM’s “scheme” (the Windows picker classifies ALL files as Documents). There’s no decision to be made there . I’m puppy-sitting, but I wonder how multi-image .PDFs appear in the headshot? First image only seems likely.