Genealogy Chat

The last few weeks I've been having problems saving ancestry images. I do as instructed (and as I have done in the past) but the image I save to disk is always image.x and none of the usual software recognises the file. I have changed the suffix to .gif and .jpg but still the file is unrecognised. Ancestry are less than helpful. Does this make sense to anyone? MHB

No need to change the suffix. Thats what all images are called on Ancestry. Just change the filename to whatever you want. That usually works for me (the file is already going to be downloaded as a GIF file anyway). Make sure your settings are setting to disguise file name extensions (.exe, .jpg etc). When you save the file it should have Save as Type = GIF image underneath the name where you name your image. Hope this helps Steve

Well I had proceeded down the 'leave everything alone' path and my attempts to change the suffix were a desperate attempt to solve the problem - it has worked in the past when similar situations arose. When I go to 'save as' it does inform me that the format is gif and I would expect photoshop to read a gif, (which it does on all other occasions but not these ones) Where is this 'settings are setting to disguise file name extensions' you talk of. This is new to me. Bamboozled Hill Billy ps I should add that I used to get a small preview image as an icon and I don't get that anymore either - the icon is the standard piece of paper with the corner folded back.

Well. Go to Tools menu - then to Folder Options and then click on the View tab. One of the options down in the list says Hide Extensions for known file types, in the box beside this tick or untick the appropriate one. Steve

OK Steve, which application are you accessing the tools menu. I've got an option for extensions on the browser firefox but nothing like that on IE. Needless to say I'm not getting the option you've mentioned. I had no problem with this till a few weeks back. MHB

Well its no program just an open folder. Steve

Could be an additional problem here as I'm on a mac. That option doesn't come up on mac folders. MHB

Well I'm still bewildered why after months of having no problems these files should suddenly be such an issue but I have just discovered a solution: An application called graphic converter which opens the file, recognises it's a gif, and gives it a gif icon. It can then be viewed in photoshop and saved in a photoshop format. 'Quite a pavlova' as me 'ol mate Delboy used to say but it works. I noticed it seems to be a compuserve gif so I'm wondering if that's part of the problem? So if any techies out there can shed more light on the problem here's the place to do it. many thanks, Mr Muswell (Blood pressure stable again) Hill Billy