Addon:MediaMerge

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Media Merge Tool's "Number of merges done" Results dialog and Before(top) and After(Bottom) screenshots of the Media List View

The Merge Media tool can search your database for media file entries that are pointing to the same actual file and when found, they can be merged together.

Usage

Select Tools ->Family Tree Processing -> Merge Media from the menu.

The tool will start with an 'Undo history warning' that suggest that you back up your work.

The tool then scans your family tree and depending on the result you are then presented with the:

Number of merges done

If any duplicate media is found and merged you will see the Number of merges done dialog with the resulting number that was merged.

No modifications made

If no duplicate media is found or remain to be merged you will see the No modifications made dialog with the result that "no media media items merged".

What is it For?

The Merge Media tool searches your database for media file entries that are pointing to the same actual file. This can occur with certain import types, and can occur if the user adds the same media more than once. When found, they are merged together.

The Merge Media tool:

  • Compares all the media 'pathname' values, converting them internally to a common format for comparison.
  • For Windows users, differences in capitalization on the path are ignored, as are differences in the path separators "\" vs. "/".
  • For all users paths that are relative (using Edit -> Preferences -> Base path for relative media paths) are also compared to absolute paths or paths relative to your home directory.
  • For all users, paths that contain "../" forms are also properly collapsed during the comparison.
  • All of the above allows the addon to find variations that actually point to the same file.
  • The addon will NOT find variations that include 'links'.
  • The addon will NOT find 'UNC' style paths that have been assigned to drive letters (Windows users). For example, if "\\MyPC\d" is assigned to the drive letter "D:", and files are entered each way, they will not be matched and merged.
  • When merges are done, the media with the shortest pathname is kept.
  • If pathnames have equal length, then the one with the lowest 'ID' is kept.

See also

  • The Third-party Addon Media Verify Tool is used verify a one-to-one relationship between media objects and files in the media directory.