For others who may be following this thread, there is a more complete answer in the FHUG Forums.

The reason why FH does not delete the Media file linked to a deleted Media record is it may be a precious file needed for other purposes.

That file may actually be linked to another Media record and the one being deleted is a duplicate.

Also remember, that FH can link to Media files outside the Project folder and thus may be used by other applications.

So FH fails safe and does not delete external files. You would not want the only photo of some special event to be deleted.

Regards, Mike Tate

Hello Mike,

Thank you for the information.

Yes, I have found the ‘duplicate’ files in the Project Media folder. Bit disappointing though that when you delete the media record in FH it doesn’t delete the Media file as well. Weakness of the Delete function?

I did look at the Query options to look for these duplicates, however, it looks like a Custom query would need creating.

I will also take you advice regarding the Knowledge base.

Thanks again.

Regards

John Burton

Hi,

When you enter source documents two things happen:

1. A Media record is created that links to a Media file
2. A Media file is added into the Project folder structure in the Media folder

When you delete the Media record it does not delete the Media file.

So one solution, when recreating the Media record is to browse to the Media file that still exists in the Media folder.

That will be at …\Family Historian Projects\<project>\<project>.fh_data\Media where <project> is your Project name.

Otherwise, when you ask FH to recreate the Media file, Windows finds the file already there so gives the new one the (2) suffix.

Another solution is to run the Check for Unlinked Media Plugin, but as a newcomer, you may not have discovered Plugins yet.

The best way to learn about them is in the FHUG Knowledge Base > Family Historian Plugins at:

https://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=plugins:about

Also from your description, it is not clear whether you have a clear understanding of the Individual, Source & Media records structure.

There is much free introductory tutorial material in the FHUG Knowledge Base at https://www.fhug.org.uk/

Regards, Mike Tate

Hello,
I'm new to FH and have struck a problem when entering Source documents. I entered a Source document then deleted it while trying to standardize all other Source records. When re-entering it I got the 'name conflict ...' error message. I can enter the document but it will add a (2) etc. at the end. I don't want this. It appears the original deletion did not clean up all 'behind-the-scenes' records/links. How do I check for and cleanup the original entry to resolve this? There is only one source file I am trying to enter into FH.
Thank you.