Searches any specified location on the user’s PC to check for files that are not linked to Media Records in the current project (of particular interest to users who link existing media files to their project rather than copy them into the Media folder).
The plugin menu enables the user to specify either the Media folder, any other defined folder, or all folders that contain at least one linked media file. Output can be formatted to show either separate folder and file name, similar to the default configuration of the Records Window, or with the full file path.
Files with names beginning with either a dot or a tilde character (~) are excluded from the search, as these are normally temporary or hidden files, as are files with a .db extension, commonly used by image management software. This new plugin fully supports files with Unicode characters in their name and path that may not be processed correctly by the earlier Check for Unlinked Media plugin.
Unlike the earlier plugin, which only supports searching the project Media folder, this new option does not currently offer the facility to either move or delete unlinked files. When a plugin deletes a file, it is deleted permanently from the disk, not send to the Recycle Bin, and selecting the wrong folder accidentally could result in a very large number of accidental file deletions.
If users want to delete all the files listed, the recommended method is to export the output to an external file and use that as the basis of a batch file/command script to perform the deletions.
Download Check for Unlinked Media (FH7) V1.1.1
- Family Historian Version(s): V7
- Plugin Type: Standard
- Written by Mark Draper
- View Source Code
- Downloaded 155 times
- No additional help available
Version History
Version 1.0 (Feb 2024) – Initial Store version
Version 1.1 (May 2025) – Enhanced tooltips and support for multiple monitors added
Version 1.1.1 (Aug 2025) – Listing files from defined folder/subfolders corrected
I do not use Project Media Folders for my Media files as I have many thousands of photos that I have organized in local folders. I saw you Plugin and thought it sounded promising for identifying which photos are not linked to profiles.
When I run it against Selected Folder and subfolders, I get an error message.
“[string Pie\FamiIy 3: attempt to index a nil value (global ‘filedlg’). No changes have been made to data records.”
The Folder path is C:\Users\xxxxx\Pictures\Family – Genealogy with many subfolders for genealogy categories.
Sorry about that Mark, and thanks for reporting the bug. The store plugin has now been updated, so should now run correctly.