Where were the images stored prior to your current paid access expiring?
Keep in mind, this is NOT suggesting the profile thumbnail would have a red X. It would NOT. That ONLY appears in the Media tab, where the thumbnails are shown, that represent the actual linked full image files. This is to signal to you (the user) that the original image files have moved or been deleted.
I misspoke earlier about the location where I couldnât see images. It was not the media tab. I honestly didnât check the media tab. Rather, it was the opening 5-generation-view on the People tab. A better description of what I saw is that there were suddenly blank profile images in the RM10 file that had remained open during a background TreeShare sync that happened on the morning of Ancestry expiration. The images were there one minute. I went for a cup of coffee, came back, and they were gone. The missing images are the same ones that I am used to seeing every time I open an RM10 file of my Tree. They are imported from the corresponding profile images in my Ancestry database and are automatically used in RM10 as the profile image during the file creation process. When I suddenly didnât see the images, I panicked. Because although I had an earlier RM10 file that still had the images, I was afraid of what was going on. I had one file that was up-to-date as far as fact edits, but with missing images, and another from about 10 hours prior that contained the images, but not the recent numerous edits. In my panic, I resubscribed to Ancestry to get everything back and that worked. Everything is good now (except for my wallet minus $39). But I saved hours of trying to manually reconcile the two files. Now that Iâm resubscribed for another month, I have no way to recreate the data-loss scenario, nor would I want to. I will have to turn off TreeShare before my Ancestry subscription ends next time. I would like to know more about RM10 TreeShare behavior with Ancestry. This is an amazing feature that creates an accurate preservation of my precious genealogical research from Ancestry. But itâs just scary that TreeShare might cause data loss while connected during the expiration of Ancestry. I donât want to ever go through that again.
It may just be a matter of terminology, but Iâm still trying to understand what you saw. TreeShare doesnât sync. And there is no background operations with TreeShare, either. When you make a change to your Ancestry tree, you cannot simply say âsync Ancestry with RMâ the way you can with FTM. Instead, TreeShare assists you to identify the differences between Ancestry and RM and you as the TreeShare user approve the copying of each change to be copied from Ancestry to RM on a case by case basis. TreeShare simply doesnât sync, neither foreground nor background.
So letâs get back to terminology. What TreeShare does support is to copy an entire Ancestry tree to a new and empty RM database or to copy an entire RM database to a new and empty Ancestry tree. After you initiate this kind of a full copy in either direction, it runs unattended until completion. You as the user do not have to approve anything or intervene in any way. You just wait until itâs done. So Iâm wondering if thatâs the process you are calling a sync.
Letâs assume so for just a second. That would raise the question of why after using TreeShare to copy your entire Ancestry to a new and empty RM database there would be no media in RM. I have never done that operation on an Ancestry tree where the subscription has expired. So Iâm wondering if you can use TreeShare to copy a tree from an expired Ancestry account to a new and empty RM database, but that when doing so Ancestry does not allow the media files to be downloaded. That would seem to explain most of your symptoms.
So thatâs what Iâm wondering. Is the term âsyncâ being used in more than one way? The way that RM users usually talk about how TreeShare works, there is no sync and there is no background operation. Anything you do with TreeShare is in the foreground. And the only hands off operation is a full copy in either direction to a new and empty tree or database on the receiving end.trees
IF you downloaded from Ancestry via TreeShare, you will have a Folder with the name of your database followed by âmediaâ like this.
The evidence of a completed sync via TreeShare in RM10 with Ancestry is a browser tab that says, âYou can now close this window.â I was seeing that multiple times. Not just after creation of a new copy of my Ancestry database.
Can you get a screen shot of the message that says âYou can now close this window.â? I think thatâs just the message telling you that RM has logged on to Ancestry. I donât think it says anything at all about transfers completing.
2 Likes
That isnât evidence of anything other than you are logged into Ancestry. This exists seperately of TreeShare, but must happen if you manually choose to run TreeShare. As has been mentioned, there is no background TreeShare sync. The software simply is not written to do that. What does happen in the background is hint checking. Information in your file is not being altered in anyway, let alone deleting your images..which by the way do not happen automatically either. You would have had to manually add an image to a person and have it set as primary in order for it to appear in the profile. The assumption here is that the image existed on your hard drive before you did this, so not an Ancestry issue.
This has been a difficult scenario to follow. I think he is saying that he added the images in Ancestry and then he brought his Ancestry tree into RM via TreeShare. In that case, there would have been no manual add of the image in RM. All the images from Ancestry would have come into RM automatically. Then I think he is saying that he tried the TreeShare again after his Ancestry account expired and there were no images. I think this new TreeShare was a full import into a new and empty RM database.
I have never tried importing into a new and empty RM database from an expired Ancestry account. The only thing I can think of is that Ancestry allows you to import your tree from an expired account, but that it doesnât include the images in the import if the Ancestry account is expired. I donât have an expired Ancestry account with which to test. It would be delightful if somebody has an expired Ancestry account that does has images that could do a TreeShare import into a new and empty RM database to see what happens.
Ancestry was the only place where I ever manually set a personâs profile image. What thejerrybryan says in his first paragraph is accurate, regarding how the images appeared in my RM10 file during its creation via TreeShare. That was in the final hours of my active Ancestry subscription. I definitely did not manually execute TreeShare on my new RM10 file after it was created. But I was logged in to Ancestry and had the RM10 file open at the same time. Itâs a mystery to me why I was suddenly not seeing those profile images. It caused me to panic and I assumed the worst - that the data had been wiped. Itâs possible that it was just a temporary glitch as a result of TreeShare noticing the change to my Ancestry account, and that I didnât actually lose the images. They didnât come back until I resubscribed. Thatâs where I am at now. Next time I am not taking any chances. I will unlink the tree before sub ends. Henceforth, I expect that I must only make further edits in RM10. I donât know anything about whether itâs possible to re-link the tree again sometime later. That sounds risky to me.
The only was is to do a Restore of the database at the time it was linked.
In other words, if a month from now you want to do this, you would lose any changes you have made.
You would have to Upload via TreeShare again and probably give it a different name on Ancestry.
Folks are struggling to help because the RM program doesnât work in a way that fits what you are experiencing. Starting and stopping your ancestry subscription should have no impact on your existing RM db. I suggest stepping back a bit to see if we can some additional clarity on whatâs going on in your db.
The profile image that RM displays for a person is defined within the Edit Person Window. The profile image must be added to the âPersonâ Fact for the person in question. (This fact now displays as âPerson (general)â and itâs at the top of the Fact list.)
The image that has the âPrimaryâ checkbox selected will display as the profile photo for that person and only images added to the âPersonâ fact have the primary photo checkbox option. You can click on the media tab of the âEdit Personâ window or the media icon for the âPerson (General)â fact to see this detail.
It would be helpful if you would share a screenshot like the one below for Elsa Samuelsson (or any of the people whose profile images disappeared). We need to see the entire Filename field so you may have to stretch the window a bit.
The filename field displays the location and name of the file when it was initially added as media. If your media came from ancestry, via treeshare, the file location should be in a folder that ends with â_mediaâ as @MadDog posted earlier.
Also, as others have mentioned, when an image is initially tagged to a fact or citation, RM creates a thumbnail. That thumbnail is stored inside the RM database while the actual media file is not. So even if the media file gets deleted, the profile image will remain, as you can see below:
The red x indicates that the media filename can no longer be found in the location where it was initially located. However the profile image persists because the thumbnail exists inside of the RM database.
Once your ancestry account became inactive it makes total sense that new treeshare actions would not include images from the ancestry gallery but it does not make sense that existing RM thumbnails would disappear or that reactivating your ancestry account would cause them to reappear. Seeing the filename should shine some additional light on the situation.
1 Like
See attached for the requested screenshot from the file in its current state which previously failed to display ANY profile images. I am not continuing to face an issue.
Thanks, everyone. Iâm not looking for further help â just wanted to raise awareness about what happened in my case so others can avoid a similar scare. Iâve shared what I can here in the forum. Iâll be taking extra precautions going forward. Appreciate the discussion.
The OP has said they periodically do a fresh TreeShare download. That download to a new RM database should not include any Ancestry images so there would be no thumbnails from them. Is that what they did?
If so, what did they do with the previous database that has the images. They should still exist unless they were deliberately deleted. Even if deleted, was there a backup made? Those older versions should still have their TreeShare connection to the same Ancestry Tree. When the temp subscription expires, tthey should reopen them to see if they observe a repeat of the phenomenon.
That said, I remain puzzled by the description of what they observed and the lack of evidence from which the rest of us can be convinced by their conclusion.
@thejerrybryan --I did a full import into a new and empty RM database of my test tree from an expired ancestry account-- right before importing, I had added a couple of pictures to different people in the Ancestry database and an 1880 census --media included..
All of them were imported with the file and there are no broken links
Thanks. Thatâs good information, and it disproves the one possible theory I had.
That is why I asked my question earlier. Somewhere - within Ancestry info - there was a mention - paraphrase - that indicated (to me) that if your Paid membership lapses, all your entires would still be there but you would only be able to :see" that covered in your current member statue"
Somehow that meant, to me, that if some document was, for example from Newspaper.com, not included in a âfreeâ membership, those âfactsâ would not be visible.
New to this, so not impossible my S.W.A.G. is completely wrong, but will not be able to test it until my current/first subscription runs out in a few weeks.
It is however why I have taking the time to tediously save any images separately to my computer
Sorry I misspoke. I tested after posting and, as @nkess notes, creating a new RM db from an ancestry treeshare download includes both Ancestry source images and gallery images, even when your ancestry membership has expired. (Similarly, subsequent treeshare downloads of gallery images are also successful.) I was under the impression that only source images were available on expired accounts but clearly that it not the case.
@SFGallagher, thanks for the screenshot. I can think of no explanation as to why you experienced what you did. I think youâll find that, like the rest of us, you wonât need to disconnect your RM db from your Ancestry tree once your membership expires and encourage you to follow MadDogâs advice to make a backup or db copy before disconnecting so that you have the option to restore that connection.
Since the Ancestry link requires internet connection, suggest you turn off your internet link and test RM to determine where the differences are.
I do not depend on Ancestry to store anything for me. Often times file resolutions are changes or otherwise comprimised to the point they are not usable. All files, documents, notes and images are archived and a copy is used to support the media file needed for RM and to place on Ancestry when needed.
Yes you are correct --once your subscription expires on Ancestry, you can NOT view on Ancestry any document that is NOT free-- the 1880 census is free and open to the public and maybe social security ( not sure)
BUT @kevinm is also correct that you evidently can treeshare all source documents as well as all the media in the gallery BUT you would be better off doing it your way and download it to your personal computerânote if still available DO NOT save it to your shoebox on Ancestry as once your subscription expires, it is no longer viewable in the shoebox.