MacFamilyTree:

How Do I Add Pictures And Other Media To A Person?

Step 1 — Locate The Person Editor And »Media« Pane

To add a picture, PDF document, audio or movie file to someone in your family tree, you need to open the Person Editor for that person.

Look for a pane with a tab labeled »Media« (1). By default, the tab is hidden, in the right portion of the person editor and behind the »Quick Navigation« pane (2).

You can tell from the color of its tab that a pane is hidden: if a tab has a light blue color, it belongs to the pane in the foreground. If the tab has a darker blue-gray color, its pane is hidden behind another pane.

To bring a hidden pane to the front, please click on a tab, and you will see the view switch. In our case: click on the »Media« tab, and the Quick Navigation family tree view will be hidden by a view of a silhouette of a human torso. This means, that you are looking at the Media pane, but that there is no picture or other media file associated yet with that person.

Step 2 — Adding A Picture

On the bottom of the Media pane, you will see our notorious »+« (plus) button (1). Single-click it with your mouse, and a small floating pane opens (2), offering several options. For now, just click on the first button »Add Picture« (3) and ignore the rest. We will return there later.

When you click on »Add Picture«, a requester window opens. Search for the picture file you want to add (4) and click »open« (5) to add it to that person's Media.

You can see that instead of the torso, MacFamilyTree now displays the picture you just added in the Media pane:

»Main View« vs. »List of Media«

The single picture, the Media pane defaults to, is what we call »Main View« (1). This is the standard view for the Media pane. but there is another view you can easily switch to: the »List of Media« (2)

You will need the List of Media, once you add more than one media file or picture to a person:

To switch between both views, use the two buttons below the Media pane (3): click on »Main View« to bring the single picture to the front, click on »List of Media« to hide the single picture, and display the list view of all pictures and media files (4) associated with this person.

More Information About A Media File…

Double-click any of the media files in the »List of Media«, and MacFamilyTree takes you to the editor of that specific picture or PDF document. In this Media Editor, you can resize, zoom-into an image, browse a multipage PDF and export the media file to your hard disk. It is here that you can also add notes and labels or link sources.

What Other Media Files Are Supported?

In the small floating pane which opens whenever you click the »+« (plus) button underneath the Media pane, there are several options. Let's have a brief look at all of them:

»Add Picture«
Click here to add any kind of picture. MacFamilyTree opens a requester for you to point it to a picture file at any location on your local on an external hard disk or even from your network. MacFamilyTree then copies the picture to its own database, thus relieving you of the task of keeping track of the pictures inside your family tree.
»Add Picture from iPhoto«
Click here to load a picture directly from your iPhoto Library: MacFamilyTree opens a view of your iPhoto Library for you. This is a handy way of working with iPhoto and MacFamilyTree without having to switch between both applications.

Currently, we only support taking still pictures with the iSight. However, a comprehensive support for also making live video and audio recordings with your iSight will be available in the future.
»Take Picture«
Make a snapshot of whoever is in front of your Mac's iSight! This is useful if you want to picture relatives on a family reunion or while they are visiting you and have your MacBook or iMac at hand.
»Add PDF«
MacFamilyTree supports loading multipage PDF documents like digital brochures of family reunions or historical documents which are available in digitized form. You can browse the pages of the PDF documents as those files will be loaded in their entirety into the MacFamilyTree database.
»Add Sound«
Just like with the »Add Picture« option from above, you can add any kind of audio recording to your family tree — as long as it is available in digital form: AIFF, AAC, MP3, most audio formats are supported. Use this feature to add interviews with your family members or historical audio recordings.
»Add Video«
This option works for video like »Add Sound« works for audio. Add snippets of your favorite vacation movies with your loved ones, or maybe you have digitized VHS or even Super 8 recordings from your own childhood.
»Add URL«
Use this feature to add an Internet URL as a link to a person's web page. This is handy too, if this person has a web page or if there's some related citation, quote or document available online.

GUI Basics — The User Interface Explained