Tuesday, February 10, 2015

TUESDAY’S TIP - DRAGGING & DROPPING PICTURES INTO LEGACY MEDIA GALLERY

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They say we need to learn something new every day.  I don’t know who “they” are, but I know that learning new things is good for our brains.
 
Today I learned something new regarding the use of Legacy 8.  I’ve been a Legacy user since 2007 and this is one tip I didn’t know about.  Maybe it wasn’t available in the earlier versions?  I updated to Legacy 8 as soon as it came out, but I continue to learn new features.

DRAGGING & DROPPING IMAGES INTO THE MEDIA GALLERY

I add media to my Legacy database almost daily.  Most of the time I am adding JPG images.  I like to add them in JPG format because they show up as thumbnails in the gallery, instead of just showing a “link” as is true of PDF’s.  Adding images in TIF or PNG format also allows them to be shown as a thumbnail in the media gallery.

Previously I have always gone into the Media Gallery, clicked on “Add Media” and used one of the choices shown there.   In this case I would choose “Picture” then go to my computer files, open the correct folder, find the photo and click on it to add it.  Of course, you can also scan directly into the media gallery or paste from the clipboard.

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What I didn’t know was that you can DRAG & DROP an image into the gallery.

NOTE:  I use a desktop computer with two monitors, as I know many of you do.  This allows me to have Legacy open on one screen and the internet or anything else open on the other screen.  I can’t even imagine not having two monitors any more.  When I am away from home I still have two monitors.  I use a laptop and my iPad to accomplish the same thing.  The only difference being that I can’t drag things from one screen to the other like I can at home.
 
All you need to do to add items to you Media Gallery in Legacy is to have the item you want to add to the gallery in front of you and the Gallery open.  That’s it.  Just drag the item into the Gallery.
 
I used this method today.  I have my folders open in Explorer and the Media Gallery open in Legacy and dragged the JPG images I wanted right into the Gallery.  I tested it with TIF and PNG files and found it worked just fine.

You don’t have to have two monitors to accomplish this.  You can always use the split screen view as shown below.

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NOTE:  I tried this with PDF and Word files, but it doesn’t seem to work.
 
I enjoy learning new ways of accomplishing all the tasks that we do so often.  If you have any tips you want to share, please leave them in a comment.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

TUESDAY'S TIP - USING THE "INTERNET SEARCH" OPTION IN LEGACY 8
LEGACY 8 - THE CENSUS LIST - HOW TO USE IT 
ADDING A RECORD FROM ANCESTRY TO LEGACY 

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2015   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

6 comments:

  1. Great tip Diane!

    I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-february-13.html

    Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks Jana! I was surprised when I found this feature strictly by accident :) :)

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    2. I use the drag and drop continuously....but yes, it doesn't work anymore with pdf, doc and other file types. This used to work and then after a certain build, it did not work anymore. So for those file types, instead of a split second drag and drop, it now takes me between 8-18 clicks to move one item....way too time consuming and antiquated for such a great software. If enough users voice their wishes to LFT, maybe they will fix this.

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    3. Gail - I suspect if we tell Legacy that we would like that feature back, they will add it in a future update. Because 90% of the images I add are JPG, I'm pretty satisfied for now.
      Thank you so much for your comment and for stopping by.

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  2. I just tried this out. Yes it works for JPG. It also works for PDFs but I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't get the PDF into the right place and so it doesn't show up when you use View - Scrapbook - Print Media List either as an "image" or a "document".

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    1. Thanks for letting me know Cathy. I don't use any PDF files for anything I place into Legacy. I convert all images or documents to JPG format. Just my preference. I'll try to make a note of this in my post before leaving on vacation. I don't know how many others use PDF as a format. I appreciate your input.

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