Import from... Imatch 3.6 (!)

[fmapilot]

hello All,

First of all, I hope you are all safe and well.

Also, I would like to apologize if this is the wrong folder to start this topic.  And I fully appreciate that my request for advice is likely out of interest for many.

Well, Long Story short, I need to import my IMatch 3.6 database (yes, 3.6, not a typo!) into the new Imatch version.  I had not upgraded for many years (obviously :-)), then bought Imatch 5 (I think v5, the first version with Imatch Anywhere) but never succeeded in importing my old 3.6 data (40k+ photos, 250+ categories including computed ones) so kind of gave up as I could never find the time due to more important health priorities. The categories imported fine, but the photos lost all categories

Now, I want to restart with the latest version of Imatch - and I am very fine with paying the full price (yes, Mario, long overdue and I like to support your work!).

But... I need to find a way to import the old 3.6 database. 

I searched, searched, tried to go thru imatch 4 first (trial version) etc. but I am a bit at a loss...

I still have the Imatch 3.6 active and working flawlessly. I can run the then-scripts (including the one which generates a list of all files and all categories, one file per line (that gives me a 40 MB file...).

So the simple question is: what process would you recommend to import my running Imatch 3.6 database into the newest version?  Ideally a process which would work with the trial version (not installed yet).

Any (constructive) ideas are welcome!  I am reasonably comfortable with scripting, Javascript, Python so was wondering if easier solution would not be to script in order to 1) regenerate all the categories, 2) re-categorize each file one by one (the folder structure has not changed).

Many thanks in any case!

Cheers,
FP

[Mario]

Welcome to the community.

Fully automatic database converters for IMatch 3.x databases where included in IMatch 5, IMatch 5.5, IMatch 2017, IMatch 2018 and IMatch 2019, until IMatch went 64-bit only. Some of the database converter components are not available for 64-bit.

You can just create a new database in IMatch 2020 and import all your files (the same files you managed in IMatch 3).
This re-creates everything in IMatch 2020 and imports the metadata from your files. A lot in metadata handling and standards has changed in the past decade so this has to be done anyway.

If you have IMatch 3 still running, you can export your categories via the option in the Database (?) menu.
Male sure to use the with file links format.
You can then import your categories into IMatch 2020 via the standard Category Import

If you have used Properties (the title and description under the thumbnail window) you can also export this information to a text file in IMatch 3, and then import it into IMatch 2020 via the associated feature: Import IMatch 3 Property Schemas

Its actually quite painless and many users still working with IMatch 3 have done it.
Please understand that I no longer provide support for software a decade old.

[fmapilot]

Mario...!

Many thanks for this quick reply.

I will try those routes (I might have missed the " with file links").

Cheers,
FP

[Aubrey]

I still have most old versions of IMatch executables stored.
I don't know if this would get you to IMatch 5 and then to IMatch 2020
There might be issues with intermediate license payments.

Aubrey

[Mario]

It's also usually not worth the effort.
The metadata must be re-imported anyway and re-creating thumbnails and cache images as needed is sensible. This is what creating a new 2020 database will do.
Importing the categories is quick and easy. Same for properties, if used.