Hi guys,
Well, at least I know it is not just me and I'm not alone...
I have spent well over a hundred hours correcting download errors so haven't responded to this thread which got lost quite early. I've used two computers and two OS with similar results so I suspect I am not alone. I was able to get some assistance from tech spt but no joy there. They copied my tree but didn't "experience" any of the issues; possible but really hard to believe. Their answer is to work through another article (sigh).
Bottom line: about 1,000 of my 10,000 citation media had various issues. Most issues occurred at initial download during FTM installation. The issues occur with any source and not just censuses. The media naming convention is apparently the source name followed by the sequential download number (e.g., 1920 census-16). However, I find the image may not be a 1920 census image but, maybe, a death and marriage certificate (I've experienced both and others) from another person in my tree. You can't tell until you look at the image. Also the opposite occurs, too. This naming convention is poor because the name does not identify the media. Take a look at the FTM Media menu and try to identify the images by name and icon (groan).
I should mention that although I thought the download of my smaller tree was okay, after I had experience finding problems in the large tree, I found similar issues in the small tree. At least the problems were fewer and easier to fix. :)
I quit making FTM backups because they have no purpose until you have a valid download. The need for a backup is questionable even then. You can't restore a backup and re-link it to ATM without uploading to ATM which creates a second ATM tree with the same (maybe more) errors than before.
Here is how I corrected my initial media download, at least as far as I can tell at this time; I may find more as I progress:
1) I checked each source for citations that looked strange, (outliers). That is, one or more that wasn't formatted or didn't look like the others. I unlinked and deleted all media that I could identify that was incorrect. For example, if one citation has a media icon and the others do not, that image is probably incorrect.
2) Then I screened each source for missing media icons in the citation box (Sources menu) and download each individually.
3) I also had a few sources with no citations and deleted these sources, too. Can't tell where they came from.
4) Finally, I tried Ctl-F5 to download any remaining missing media. It aborted a few times but finally took off and gave me a few more.
5) Often I had to check AMT to determine what should be downloaded or correct some detail like a source without a title (I had 170). I don't know how this happens since it's on AMT.
One final thought: In making these corrections, I have discovered many links to citation media on AMT do not download correctly. I don't know why but sync will download when the AMT media is removed and then relinked. Generally, the “bad” sources and citations do not display the green 3-leaf icon but a green “paper” icon with the corner turned down. I assume the former denotes media and the latter no media.
Onthuhlist128, you are right...a user should not have to troubleshoot the application. Merge and other workarounds are not answers to the problem: the download MUST be correct.
HTH and best regards,
Sturdy2
Well, at least I know it is not just me and I'm not alone...
I have spent well over a hundred hours correcting download errors so haven't responded to this thread which got lost quite early. I've used two computers and two OS with similar results so I suspect I am not alone. I was able to get some assistance from tech spt but no joy there. They copied my tree but didn't "experience" any of the issues; possible but really hard to believe. Their answer is to work through another article (sigh).
Bottom line: about 1,000 of my 10,000 citation media had various issues. Most issues occurred at initial download during FTM installation. The issues occur with any source and not just censuses. The media naming convention is apparently the source name followed by the sequential download number (e.g., 1920 census-16). However, I find the image may not be a 1920 census image but, maybe, a death and marriage certificate (I've experienced both and others) from another person in my tree. You can't tell until you look at the image. Also the opposite occurs, too. This naming convention is poor because the name does not identify the media. Take a look at the FTM Media menu and try to identify the images by name and icon (groan).
I should mention that although I thought the download of my smaller tree was okay, after I had experience finding problems in the large tree, I found similar issues in the small tree. At least the problems were fewer and easier to fix. :)
I quit making FTM backups because they have no purpose until you have a valid download. The need for a backup is questionable even then. You can't restore a backup and re-link it to ATM without uploading to ATM which creates a second ATM tree with the same (maybe more) errors than before.
Here is how I corrected my initial media download, at least as far as I can tell at this time; I may find more as I progress:
1) I checked each source for citations that looked strange, (outliers). That is, one or more that wasn't formatted or didn't look like the others. I unlinked and deleted all media that I could identify that was incorrect. For example, if one citation has a media icon and the others do not, that image is probably incorrect.
2) Then I screened each source for missing media icons in the citation box (Sources menu) and download each individually.
3) I also had a few sources with no citations and deleted these sources, too. Can't tell where they came from.
4) Finally, I tried Ctl-F5 to download any remaining missing media. It aborted a few times but finally took off and gave me a few more.
5) Often I had to check AMT to determine what should be downloaded or correct some detail like a source without a title (I had 170). I don't know how this happens since it's on AMT.
One final thought: In making these corrections, I have discovered many links to citation media on AMT do not download correctly. I don't know why but sync will download when the AMT media is removed and then relinked. Generally, the “bad” sources and citations do not display the green 3-leaf icon but a green “paper” icon with the corner turned down. I assume the former denotes media and the latter no media.
Onthuhlist128, you are right...a user should not have to troubleshoot the application. Merge and other workarounds are not answers to the problem: the download MUST be correct.
HTH and best regards,
Sturdy2