Keith,
An excellent explanation. I was aware of the Folder Sync program (not realizing it was a freeware add-on though) when I originally implemented Dropbox, but I didn’t really understand how it worked so I just plunged ahead with moving stuff to the Dropbox folder. This add-on is additional configuration, but it does eliminate all the relinking it looked like you would have had to do. As a final note however although this thread has concentrated on Dropbox, the fact remains that for Legacy picture links to work on multiple systems the files must be in the same place on both computers, Dropbox or not. Your configuration prior to all of this was compliant, your pictures were in C:\Legacy\Pictures on both computers. The default configuration recommended by Legacy (everything in C:\Legacy) also accomplishes this. There are complaints on this list occasionally that Legacy does not follow standard Windows protocol by putting data in the user area, e.g. My Documents. There is certainly some justification for these concerns (it is non standard), but in this limited case (links shared across multiple computers) it turns out to be a good thing. Thanks for the explanation. As I’ve already configured everything, I’ll just leave things as is. If I was starting from scratch, now that I understand the add-on, I might have gone that way. My only concern would be support for the add-on and whether Dropbox ‘endorses’ it and would help solve problems or whether they might just brush off problems as being caused by the add-on, not their software. Paul From: Keith Allred [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: March-20-12 5:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Dropbox and Legacy Paul, you are correct that when the Dropbox Folder Sync software is intalled and properly "synced" on all Dropbox enabled computers, (subject to one exception discussed below) there is no need to change the location of where Legacy normally looks to open the fdb file and pictures files. Thus, this avoids the need to redirect the links that Legacy uses to access pictures and pdf files, thereby avoiding the who problem previously discussed in this thread. Dropbox Folder Sync software is a freeware program (found at http://satyadeepk.in/dropbox-folder-sync/) and based on my limited testing it apprears to work just fine. As I understand it, the Dropbox Folder Sync software creates "symbolic links" between where your files are nomally found and your dropbox folder. All computers using dropbox should have the Dropbox Folder Sync software installed and the appropriate files "synced" using that software (the URL shows how to sync the folders). Thus, there are two levels of syncing that is going on when everything is in use -- (i) Dropbox Folder Sync syncs between your normal folder for your fdb file and your pictures folder and (ii) Dropbox syncs the the dropbox folders on each computer. When changes are made to your fbd file on computer A or a picture in your picture file on computer A, when you close Legacy on computer A, those files in the Computer A dropbox are updated and available for use on a second computer. When Dropbox has finished syncing the two compters, the latest version of your fdb file (or picture files) will be available to Computer B. When you open Legacy on Computer B, the latest version of the fdb file (or picutre file) is found by the second computer. Both computer A and B look for the file where the file is normally stored (for fdb files, normally in Legacy/data) and for pictures (in my case, at Legacy/pictures). Finally, Dropbox Folder Sync requires the the sync be configured at a folder level, not a file level. So, in my case, I created a new folder in Legacy\data called Legacy\data\dropbox into which I put my fdb file. I then used Dropbox Folder Sync to sync that folder. Since my picture files were already in Legacy\pictures folder, there is no need to create a new folder and Dropbox Folder Sync works just fine on the existing Legacy/pictures folder. And, you are abolutely right that one should have Legacy open on only one computer at a time, and that one should wait until Dropbox fully syncs the two computers before opening Legacy on another computer. Otherwise, you get a conflicted fbd file. Keith From: Paul Gray <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 11:22 AM Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Dropbox and Legacy Keith, I would be interested in what you find out regarding the 'sync' software. As I understand it, it creates a sort of 'virtual dropbox' which links files between two computers without having them physically in a Dropbox folder. If I am speculating correctly, this would allow you to leave your files where they always were, i.e. in C:\Legacy\Pictures on both computers, therefore your links would work on both. Really, the issue about sharing links across two computers is that the files must be in the same place on both computers, irrespective of whether Dropbox is in the equation or not. Paul From: Keith Allred [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: March-20-12 11:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Dropbox and Legacy Paul, you are exactly right. I had not thought of the problem that installing dropbox into the users area on the computer would cause. Since the embedded Legacy links are exact paths, as you describe, having dropbox in the user area will cause the links to fail at least as long as the two computers have different user names. Making two computers have the same name on a home network may be impossible, but at a minimum would create real problems. So, the your suggested resolution would do the trick. The April 21 Legacy webinar Dropbox for Genealogists by Thomas MacEntee does not address this problem. In fact, he suggests using the default location for the dropbox install. There may be another solution, which I am exploring, using the dropbox addon sync software that he discusses briefly in the webinar. The thing that I have to confirm is that the dropbox addon sync software sync's both ways. If it does, you can leave your ftb and picture files whereever you want. Again, thanks to all for your replies. Keith From: Paul Gray <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 8:43 AM Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Dropbox and Legacy Hi Keith, There are really two issues here. 1) Relinking all of your pictures to your new location in Dropbox. I have no experience with this, but as others have said as long as they were in one folder, and are now just in another folder (the Dropbox folder) there seems to be a way for Legacy to 'find and relink' all photos from one folder to another. Let us assume that you do this on your desktop. 2) However, the key to those links working between your desktop and laptop is the location of the Dropbox folder on both the desktop and laptop. It must be 'outside' of the user profile area (i.e. My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Video). The best place for it is right up in the C:\ directory e.g. C:\Dropbox. This is not the default installation of Dropbox. If you do not select something different, Dropbox installs in My Documents on each computer. The problem with putting Dropbox in My Documents is that the exact path to it is usually different on two computers. For sure, if one computer is XP and other Win 7, the path is different. If both are Win 7, the path will be different if the user names are different on the two machines. Why is this a problem? Because Legacy will have links to the EXACT path on the desktop, and if that exact path isn't on the laptop, it's "file not found" If you put Dropbox right up in the C:\ directory on both computers, the paths on both systems will be the same. If your Dropbox installation is in My Documents, you will want to correct it first (on both systems) before you do any relinking. I must admit I don't know how to do this. It may be as simple as using Windows explorer to move the Dropbox folder. I have C:\Dropbox on my two computers. On both systems within that, I have a Legacy Data folder (FDB and FSD files are in there) and a Genealogy Pics and Genealogy Docs folders. Links work flawlessly on both. Hope this helps, Paul Gray From: Keith Allred [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: March-19-12 2:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] Dropbox and Legacy I have just downloaded dropbox and installed it on my desktop and laptop computers. I have been using Legacy for some time and have many pictures that are located in my pictures folder in legacy. I have created numerous links which link pictures to various individuals in legacy. Each link creates a link with a given path designation (in my case, Legacy/pictures/xxxx). When I created my dropbox folder, I dragged and dropped the Legacy/pictures folder to my dropbox. So far, OK. I then used dropbox on my laptop to download the pictures file in that is in my dropbox folder on my desktop. But, how do I am I now able to use all of the links that I have previously created? If, on the laptop, I go in Legacy to Options, Customize, Locations and then change the location of my pictures folder to my dropbox on my laptop, all of the links are useless. (I know that if I had started out using my dropbox folder as my folder to which my pictures were linked, all would be fine. But, I now have thousands of links and do not want to reinvent the world.) Or do I have each time to download what is in my dropbox to the Legacy/pictures folder to be able to use the links. A simple way to solve the problem would be to have the dropbox folder and the Legacy/pictures folder sinc each time a change is made to the Legacy/Pictures folder. What is the solution to my problem? 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