Moving GEDCOM from Ancestral Quest ver.16 to Linux Ubuntu - images missing

[cfkerchner]

Hello,

I'm 81 and retired and have been a hobby genealogist in a major way for over 50 years.

I'm an experienced user of Ancestral Quest genealogy software for many decades. I also have access to my data in the RootsMagic version 7 software too, but rarely use that software.

To avoid the Windows pressure to get a new computer to run Windows 11, or suffer with no security updates, I want to move from a Windows 10 platform to Linux, and consider totally abandoning Windows, eventually.

I want to use a software package native to Linux and not use a layered approach such as using Wine. Ancestris software seems like a good option to try. I was successful in downloading the Linux AppImage and installing it on my Ubuntu disk. I first had to install JAVA to get it to launch.

I then created a GEDCOM with image links using my Windows 10 Ancestral Quest (AQ) ver.16 software. The database has about 26,000 records/individuals with about 8,000 images linked to various records/individuals. Some records have only one image and some have as many as eight images linked to a record in the AQ system. I told the AQ GEDCOM creator to include the link to the images.  I then put that GEDCOM on a thumb drive. I then launched Ancestris 13 on my Linux hard drive.

I then created a new database using the Ancestris GEDCOM importing tool. It did the conversion process fine. All the AQ data records were imported fine but the images are not there.

The images in my AQ system are in a sub-folder of the AQ database named SCRAPBOOK which is a sub-folder of the DATABASES folder. The links in my AQ software to the images are using a relative link, as is recommended, since the images are in a sub-folder of the DATABASES folder. I tried to duplicate that setup in my Linux set up when I installed Ancestris, that is creating a SCRAPBOOK folder as a sub-folder of the DATABASES folder in Linux, and putting all the image JPG files into a SCRAPBOOK sub-folder, logically the same as it is in my AQ software. But something is not working correctly. I'm not seeing the images. Just a sort of face sign with a line across it indicating to me a missing image.

I'm totally new to Ancestris and fairly new at using Linux Ubuntu. I'm lost at this point to fix the missing images problem. I don't know where to start. My thinking is that the images are there, I can see the sub-folder, and that the links are just not working, etc. I tried manually linking one or two images and that worked. But I cannot realistically do that for 8,000 images. There should be an automated way.

Can anyone help me to get the images correctly linked to the records.  One can either reply here or contact me via email using a special email address I created for this forum, which is: "ancestris [at sign] kerchner.com] , or both ways.

Also, is there any good manual or printable documentation which would tutor a new Ancentris user in how to import a GEDCOM from a Windows genealogy software program such as Ancestral Quest, with many linked images to the many records, and get them ported over and working properly in Ancestris, on a Linux Ubuntu installed hard drive.

Thank you to anyone in advance who can help me.

Charles Kerchner, P.E. Retired
Lehigh Valley PA USA

P.S. When I downloaded the Windows version of Ancestris 13 to my Windows 10 machine, it successfully imports the GEDCOM file created via Ancestral Quest, and it DOES show all the images correctly linked and showing. The very same GEDCOM file I tried to with with Linux Ubuntu.

[Zurga]

First thing to keep in mind : Ancestris doesn't use any database. The software displays the content of the GEDCOM directly.
So, for your medias, you wrote about "DATABASES" directory, but the base of the relative path is the directory where your GEDCOM file is.

You can use the "Media Manager" to update your media path in bulk. (Menu "File" => "Manage Media Files")
The documentation is there : https://docs.ancestris.org/books/user-guide/page/manage-medias-files

Zurga

[cfkerchner]

Thank you Zurga for the very quick reply. I will give your suggestions a try this evening. It is 7:30 p.m. here in Pennsylvania in the East Coast of the USA. I will let you know how things turn out.

[cfkerchner]

The suggestions you provided worked for 8523 out of 8536 images.  There still are 13 images that could not be found.  There must be some problem with those 13 images, I assume, with those links. I'll have to work on what the problem is with those 13 images.  Possibly the problem with those links is actually back in my Ancestral Quest source Windows Scrapbook folder.  If you have any more ideas to find out why those 13 images are not found, other than my speculation above, do let me know. And thank you very much.

Charles in Pennsylvania, USA.

[Zurga]

For 13 files, you can change it manually.
You could find useful to display the media in the GEDCOM editor (Menu "View" => "Gedccom editor").
You will see the exact value of the path and then, perhaps understand the trouble.

In addition, check the format of the media, Ancestris could display a wide range of media types, but not all.

Zurga