Bookmarks (Compare 3.6 to Imatch 5)

[kiwilink]

I copied over a small directory I had from 3.6.  See attachment "Bookmark_Imatch3".  In Image "IMG_3939" you can see the bookmark symbol in the upper right hand corner.  The other image (IMG_3940) has no bookmark shown.  Under Imatch 3.6 when I was going thru my images under the database view  I would look for this Bookmark and toggle it off when I assigned an Image to a category.   This was my way of knowing which images I has assigned to a category and which ones I did not assign to a category.

After copying this same directory to IMATCH 5 I then went to look and see if this bookmark was visible in one image and not the other.  See attachment "Bookmark_Imatch5".   In IMATCH5 I envisioned doing the same thing (under "Media and Folders") and looking for the bookmark. 

I must be doing something wrong or I am probably misunderstanding the way bookmarks work under IMATCH5 because I don't see the bookmark.  I can move my cursor over each image one at a time and then I see all of the flags but I just wanted to see all of the pictures and have the bookmark only show up if it was present.

Can you help me do the same thing in IMATCH5?  I know I'm missing something or maybe I was using bookmarks for the wrong thing in IMATCH3.6.  I looked in the help file and read everything about bookmarks but didn't find the answer.

Thanks!

Michael

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Richard]

Hi Michael,

I am not sure of what you are asking. Did you expect the Bookmarks applied in 3.6 to appear in IMatch 5? If that is correct, I don't have an answer. I doubt it can be done before Mario provides the means to convert 3.6 databases for IMatch 5.

If you are asking how to Bookmark an image, I can help. Select a thumbnail and watch the left border as you press B on your keyboard. Each time you press b you will toggle the Bookmark on or off. If you select several thumbnails, they will all be bookmarked when you press b. After you have Bookmarked a few, go to Collections and select "Bookmarks. All of your bookmarked images will be shown. Note that there are several types of Collections. Dots, Pins, or Flags can be used much like Bookmarks.

An added note: You can also toggle Bookmarks by clicking on the Bookmark symbol.

[kiwilink]

Hi Richard:

Thanks for the reply.  You are correct.  I have over 100,000 images in Imatch 3.6.  Over the last year or so I have been slowly categorizing every photo.  When I first started IMATCH I had the bookmark set to every image I brought into IMATCH.  I specifically used the bookmark symbol to signify which photos I categorized.  I would use the database view and slowly go thru and assign pictures in a directory to multiple categories.  Each time I was finished assigning the image to those categories I chose, then I would turn off the bookmark toggle.  I just assumed that when I migrated to IMATCH5 the bookmark symbol would transfer over and I would see it either turned on or off. 

I could keep 3.6 up and as I assign them keep doing what I am doing and routinely export categories from 3.6 to IMATCH5 but that wasn't my plan.  Maybe Mario has something else in mind because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one using the bookmark toggle in IMATCH 3.6.

Thanks for the quick response Richard!

Michael   

[Richard]

Hi Michael,

We will have to wait for Mario's input about importing Bookmarks.

In 3.6 I use the Properties (Ctrl + Alt + 7) with the Categories tab selected to assist me when assigning categories. Another aid I use is that all new images are assigned automatically to: Who, What, When, Why, Where. Thus all of my images are assigned to those 5 categories. If one of the Ws does not apply to an image, I can remove it from say Who by selecting Who in Properties and right clicking or pressing Delete. Or the image may need to be assigned to several categories to answer Who. In Properties I can see for sure that I have assigned to image to all the people shown and then remove it from Who.

[Ferdinand]

As fas as I know there's no way to *directly* import 3.6 bookmarks into IMatch 5 at the moment.  Probably the easiest way would be to create a temporary category in IMatch 3.6 and assign the bookmarked files to it, then export the categories from IMatch 3.6 and import them into IMatch 5.

Mario has said that there will be a database converter for migrating to IMatch 5, and while I suspect that this will include bookmarks, I have no way of knowing whether they will be included.  After all, the general idea of bookmarks is just to create a temporary collection.  If you want a persistent collection you'd be better with a category.

[Mario]

The yet-to-write database converter will convert bookmarks. But it's easy to import them now, using the temporary category trick mentioned above. Takes only a minute and all bookmarks can be imported into the IMatch 5 database. Also a good test for the entire process. We're still in Beta and all is in flux and to be considered buggy 

[kiwilink]

Ferdinand/Mario:

Great idea!!!!  Don't know why I didn't think of this.  I will try it when I get home.  One related question about the bookmark in IMATCH5.  When I click on and off on it sometimes it is hard to tell when the flag is set to on and off because of the background of the picture.  Is there something you recommend so its easier to tell when the flag is on or off?

Thanks guys for all of the input!!!

Michael

[Mario]

If this disturbs you, disable the Stretch Thumbnails option in your file window layout. If this is off the thumbnail will not fill the area occupied by the icons.

[picolo]

Is there something you recommend so its easier to tell when the flag is on or off?

You could also use something like
<Run Foreground='#FF3300'>{File.Bookmark|is:Yes,Bookmarked;is:No}</Run>
in the window layout

[JohnZeman]

The yet-to-write database converter will convert bookmarks. But it's easy to import them now, using the temporary category trick mentioned above. Takes only a minute and all bookmarks can be imported into the IMatch 5 database. Also a good test for the entire process. We're still in Beta and all is in flux and to be considered buggy 

But will the IM3 category export > import into IM5 actually work when we're using different test files in our IM5 test databases?  My understanding is the import will only be successful if the exact same files exist (as opposed to copies of the original files) in both the IM3 and IM5 databases.

[ChrisMatch]

But will the IM3 category export > import into IM5 actually work when we're using different test files in our IM5 test databases?

I assume you will need to make use of the 'Relocate...' feature
to tell IM where the copied files are.

[JohnZeman]

If it's a new test database with copies of the original IM3 files, there won't be anything to relocate to though will there?

I just tried an experiment exporting a category branch from my IM3 database, then importing it into IM5, and the category tree did not import even though it said it did.  Right now I'm doing a database analysis and repair on my IM5 database to see if that solves the problem.

[ChrisMatch]

If it's a new test database with copies of the original IM3 files, there won't be anything to relocate to though will there?

I thought your question was refering to the scenario with the 'yet-to-write database converter'.

[JohnZeman]

I just tried an experiment exporting a category branch from my IM3 database, then importing it into IM5, and the category tree did not import even though it said it did.  Right now I'm doing a database analysis and repair on my IM5 database to see if that solves the problem.

Strike that, the category branch did import, I just couldn't see that forest through the trees. 

[JohnZeman]

If it's a new test database with copies of the original IM3 files, there won't be anything to relocate to though will there?

I thought your question was refering to the scenario with the 'yet-to-write database converter'.

No, it was just an "in general" thought.

[Mario]

If you work with copies of your original files in the new IMatch 5 database (which you should), the automatically assignment of categories can only work when you enable the Map files using check-sum mode.

By default the category import will try to find the assigned files by their exact file name. Since the files in your IMatch 5 database are not in the same location as in the IMatch 3 database, IMatch will not be able to find them on import. The CRC check-sum mode will search the files by their unique check-sum instead. This check-sum does not change when you copy a file.

[gunda]

There is another way.  After you create the duplicate copy of your files you also create a duplicate copy of your database.  In the duplicate database you relocate the folders to point to the duplicate copy of the files, and then export the categories.  Then import the duplicate files into Imatch 5 and then import the categories by file name and path, or whatever it is called.

I did this because when I tried to import all my categories to a database containing a complete duplicate of my files using checksum, it appeared to me that not every category assignment was imported.  I can't be 100% sure, but that's how it looked.  So I tried the above and it looked better.  With 77,000 files it's hard to know what was missed.

No I didn't keep logs.  I could try it again, but I have more pressing problems at the moment, which I am about to document in a bug report.