I read the help feature on 'Meaningful Picture Names' and have been considering adopting the suggested system. It seems pretty logical, but I do have some questions about how to best apply the suggested method. Mr. James Perry's method of identifying photos and use of Access is quoted in part '...My naming convention starts with the unique User ID number that I assign to each individual into my family file. The User ID consists of the first four letters of their surname plus their four-digit RIN number. For example, Hugh Joseph Lyall, RIN 339, was assigned User ID Lyal0339. If this family file is ever exported, the RIN number may change, but the User ID will always stay the same. Its uniqueness can quickly be checked with a Detailed Search. (To quickly assign User ID numbers to the thousands of individuals in my family file, I created an Update Query in Microsoft Access.) When naming the image of Hugh Joseph Lyall, I called the file Lyal0339ind.jpg. I named the images of his marriage and death certificates and picture of his cemetery marker Lyal0339mar.tif, Lyal0339dea.tif and Lyal0339bur.jpg, respectively. The three letters following the User ID part the filename represent what the picture is about (the individual, or his/her marriage, death and burial events, etc.)....'. I made 4 copies of my *.fdb file so that if a problem arose, I would have 3 to recoup. I change the .fdb to .mdb (ignoring the warnings) and opened my experimental file in Access. I opened 'tblIR' and a made query to extract just the Surname and IDIR (the RIN number). Using the first four letters of the surname and 5 digits for my RIN number (I use 5 digits instead of Mr Perry's note, since I have almost 17000 RIN's in file). Entering 'RUNI00001' as the user ID in the IDIR column, I added 9 more with different data. I exited Access, changed the .mdb back to .fdb, opened the file and observed that everything worked as I had hoped and that no untoward errors were encountered - in other words it worked! Surprised me!!! The 10 people I had assigned User ID number's reflected that data in the User ID field. By doing this method, I discern two major issues I need some advice in the Access portion (I'm a real 'noob' when it comes to Access usage - enough to be dangerous!): (1) Is there a way in Access to 'quickly assign' (Mr. Perry's words) and automate the preparation of the User ID without having to physically enter each one? (2) Once the photos for the 10 were renamed, they disappeared from the Legacy screen. I had to re-install each of them because of the re-naming. Is there some way to automate re-naming several hundred photos in my Legacy Data file to Mr Perry's suggested naming? At the moment, I suspect that individual USER ID changes to each RIN and for the re-naming of each Photo would have to be done individually - but I'm hoping there is a way. Sorry for the long winded explanation to ask some questions, but I'm hoping someone with more experience can assist me.
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