Photo Tool

Photo Tool 150 150 Heredis Help Knowledgebase

Heredis offers an ideal tool for enriching your Genealogy. Very sim­ple to use, it allows for example, for all genealogists to identify per­sons in a group photo or in an act and capture faces or signatures.

If the pictures or captures of acts are not perfect, you may correct them with the photo editing tool.

The photo tool is available in your software from the Immediate Family, XXL Family, Personal Data and Family Group Data tabs but also from the Media research panel and from the various index­es.

  • Select for example the Immediate Family in the Family tab and dou­ble-click on the media of the primary person
  • or click the button if it is in your toolbar
  • or click on the Tools Menu > Photo Tool

Mac Photo Tool 

Windows Photo Tool

This tool consists of four tabs, Media, Edit, Details and Identification, a display area for the image and input fields to complete media infor­mation.

You have information concerning a photo: enter in the input fields the date and notes to clarify the context and thus complement your genealogical data.
If necessary, indicate that this is a private media. Thus, you can avoid transmitting it when exporting or publishing your file: tick the Private Media box.

Starting with Heredis 2025, you can add a flag to your media.
For example, indicate that it is a signature or a portrait. See the article Personalized flags for more details.
Click on the pencil to the right of the Private Media box.

Mac Photo tool flags

Windows Photo tool flags

If the desired flag exists, select it. If not, click on Flags index to create it. See the article Flags index if necessary.

Once the flag has been created, don’t forget to attach it to the media. Click on the pencil again and select the flag.

Mac Media flag

Windows Media flag

A zoom slider under the image allows you to adjust the size of the displayed picture.

The Media tab

A list of media appears in this tab in the form of photo thumbnails. This list will depend on the context of launching of the photo tool.

For example, if you run the tool from the thumbnail of the Primary Person in the Immediate Family, the media displayed will be those of the Primary Person.

If you run the tool from a picture of the union in the Personal Data tab, Heredis will only list the media for that union.

A zoom slider at the bottom of the tab to the right of media counter allows you to adjust the size of the thumbnail displayed.

You have a series of buttons to act on the media displayed:

  • Button : You can add a media from the hard disk, the index or the clipboard.
  • Button : press this button to detach the media of the Primary Person without removing it from the Media index.

Info and buttons are not displayed if you launch the photo tool from the Media index.

  • Button: the star symbol identifies the photo you have selected as a favorite. It is this photo which will illustrate the person in question in all documents. Select a thumbnail from the list and click this but­ton to place it as the favorite.
  • Show all media linked to primary person button: this button will display all the media concerning the person and you will see the wed­ding picture or pictures of the Primary Person, as well as those asso­ciated with his or her name…

Info • the Star and All Media buttons only appear when you display the media of the Primary Person.

  • button: to find a media more easily in the displayed miniatures, you can sort them by name or date.
  • button: if you have made a mistake in adding a media, click this button to replace it with another media on your computer.
  • button: you have made changes to a photo which do not suit you and you want to go back to the original version of this photo: click the Reload button. Heredis will automatically reload the original picture saved on the computer.
  • button: You can save a copy of the displayed picture to the Photo tool on your computer.
  • button: allows you to rename media. See Rename media.

The Edit tab

Editing is possible for images media: . jpg, . jpeg, .png… It is not possible to touch up a PDF or a .docx. It is therefore preferable to put image-type media even for your deeds rather than PDFs.

If your photo is not perfect, you can easily modify it.

For example, crop the image to remove unwanted parts with the Crop  button. When you click the button, a selection box appears on your cap­ture. Adjust the dimension with your mouse cursor by stretching or narrowing one of the 4 corners of the selection area. The cursor changes shape when you position it on the dotted lines of the selec­tion area: hold down the left click and drag the window to move it. When the selection area is adjusted, click Crop. Your image is now well framed.

If you want to orientate your photo in any other way, rotate the image in the right direction by using the orientation buttons Rotate Left  Button, Rotate Right  button. You may flip the image horizon­tally with the Horizontal Flip  button but also vertically with the Vertical Flip  button.

With Heredis, you do not need any other software to embellish your photos. You can adjust brightness, contrast, or definition to sharpen an image to its true value.

You can also change a color photo to black and white by clicking the button but also reverse the colors of the photo by clicking on the button .

Do not hesitate to try different changes, because you can always return to the original photo with the Cancel button.

Once your image is satisfactory, you may confirm the changes by clicking the Apply button.

The Details tab

With this tab, Heredis informs you of the different uses of the image displayed and shows you where the original is located on your com­puter. If you click on the displayed path, (Windows) Windows Explorer / (Mac) Finder will open.

See also Media Index and Media articles.

The Identification tab

From this tab, you can identify persons in a group photo or persons named in an act by cutting out their photos or signatures. If you then navigate through your software, you will see that the cut portraits or signatures illustrate persons with whom they are associated.

Using your mouse, enclose the people on the picture in the display area.

Position the mouse cursor over a person, hold down the left mouse button and draw a cut-out frame around the person. When you release the left click, Heredis instantly offers to search the index of persons of your genealogy for the person in question.

If you know this person, type in the given name or surname or both. Immediately Heredis displays the list of persons with this name and forename or variations in your file. Select the person from the list and click (Windows) Choose; (Mac) OK. Check the summary of existing persons to make sure you choose the right person.
(Mac) The summary appears in the always accessible summary tab.
(Windows) The summary appears after selecting an person.

Identification

If you know this person, but he is not present in your genealogy, click the  Create Person button to create the person directly from this screen.

If you do not recognize this person, click the  Unknown Person button to indicate that this person is an unknown person.

A frame appears around the person. You can always adjust this frame at any moment.

When you place the mouse pointer on the contours of the frame, it changes its appearance. By holding down your mouse, you can move the frame. By touching the corners of the frame, you can enlarge it or reduce its size to make it fit perfectly.
To the left of the photo, the list of numbered frames appears progres­sively as you identify the different persons in the photo.

A cogwheel  appears when you move your mouse over the media in the list. If you click this button, you have access to the fol­lowing functions:

  • Remove the Frame: you have made a mistake, select this menu to simply remove it. Note that all the frames are automatically renumbered.
  • Rename the framed picture : Heredis automatically assigns a name to the media which you have just created and if the name does not suit you, you can change it.
  • Re-Identify: if you have identified a person as unknown or you have made a mistake concerning the person, you can always assign to this frame the right person in your genealogy file.
  • Export the framed image: You can save the newly created image managed by Heredis to your computer.

All images are stored directly in the Media Index. They are also assigned automatically to the media of the identified person.

Click the  Show all picture frames button at the bottom of this tab to display only the frames numbers in the display area of the image.

You can print the picture as displayed in the image display area by clicking the Print button. Specify the print options and click OK. The document opens in your usual word processor.

Take this printed document along with you during visits to your family: the people around you will enjoy your work and perhaps iden­tify unknown persons in the group photo.

Info • When you browse and launch the photo tool for a person with whom you have associated a signature for example, Heredis indicates above the display area of the image that the media selec­ted has been cut from another picture. If you click the Display the Original link, it will be displayed in the image display area. If you want to hide it, click the Hide Original link.

You cannot recut a picture that has already been cut out.

Some editing functions are not available for a group photo if you have already identified persons in this picture.
If you close your genealogy file without saving, all edits, cut-out pho­tos and signatures… will be lost.

Identification can only be performed on files in photo format: . jpg, . jpeg, . png … A PDF is not a photo format. There will therefore be no identification on a PDF media.

PDF Media (Mac)

Arrows on either side of the number of pages can be used to change pages.

The PDFs that appear in the summary allow you to scroll through all pages one after the other, zoom in or out.

 

PDF Media (Windows)

Since Heredis 2023, PDFs now display all pages in all media areas. A specific toolbar appears.

The first button allows you to display the pages one below the other. The + allows you to zoom in, and the – to zoom out.
The following buttons change the layout on the PDF screen.

The buttons allow you to change pages one by one or to go to the very beginning or to the very end.

 

Sharing media

Export a file containing media

Media are integrated in your genealogy file. When you export a part of your file by creating a new Heredis file, the media assigned to the exported data are integrated into the new file, unless you had unticked the Media box of the Heredis export screen.

When you synchronize your genealogy file with your cellphone or with another computer, they are also integrated in the data.

Export media files

You can extract one or more media from your genealogical file for transmission to other people or for another use on your own comput­er.

  • Double-click on the media to access the edition screen of the media,

1. (Mac) Choose Export This Media… in the right-click menu on the media, or (Mac & Windows) click on the Export selected media button.

(Mac) Export selected media

(Windows) Export selected media

2. Keep the same name or change it and choose the destination loca­tion for the exported media.

  • In the Media Index,

1. Make a selection of media using the display filters for different types of media or uses. Display for example images used for sources in the submenus.
2. Click the (Windows) Tools / (Mac) Options button on the toolbar of the index and choose Export Displayed Media….

(Mac) Export media from Media index

(Windows) Export media from Media index

3. Select the destination folder for the exported media.

For further details, see Media Index.