For years now my family has been investing time in building a well documented family tree on ancestry.com, and I have made sure to frequently backup the GEDCOM file so we didn't lose the data. With thousands of media files on the site I have become increasingly concerned about the loss of a major portion of our research if I was unable to download them.
To combat this problem I finally wrote a small Chrome extension that allows you to screen scrape your media files in an automated fashion. It is not perfect, but considering it is the only way to get your data, it is nice to have.
The extension downloads the files in mass and dumps them all into your default downloads folder. So, you should clear all files out of your default downloads folder before using this extension so you know that all downloaded files belong to Ancestry.
After installing this extension, you need to:
- log into your ancestry.com account
- open up your tree
- open up the Media page, which is one of the items on the menu inside the tree
- click on either the Photos or Stories tab, currently the All, Audio, and Video tabs are not supported
- OPTIONAL: click on the page you want to resume downloading at. This is useful if you need to stop downloading for a period of time, say if you only want to run the downloads during the night. You will likely end up with a few duplicate files if you attempt this.
- click on the Extension icon in your Chrome browser upper right corner, and click the Download Media button
If your browser is asking you to save every file then the extension will not be able to correctly calculated the required download time and it will go on to the next page before you are done. It is expecting the download to automatically start. To fix this problem, go into your browser settings and adjust it so downloads do NOT always prompt you for a save location. Instead set a default location for it to use every time. The only way I could fix this issue would be to create a setting that allows the user to manually click the next page button instead of having it automated. And I think that would kind of defeat the point of the extension.
If your browser is asking you to save every file then the extension will not be able to correctly calculated the required download time and it will go on to the next page before you are done. It is expecting the download to automatically start. To fix this problem, go into your browser settings and adjust it so downloads do NOT always prompt you for a save location. Instead set a default location for it to use every time. The only way I could fix this issue would be to create a setting that allows the user to manually click the next page button instead of having it automated. And I think that would kind of defeat the point of the extension.
If the downloads are occurring too quickly and swamping your computer then let me know. I am planning on allowing the download speed to be adjusted in the future. Currently a file is downloaded every 2 seconds, which works well for me, but for people who upload lots of large files it will not work as well for.
NOTE: There is a small chance that using this is against Ancestry's terms of use. Their terms of use forbid scraping tools, however the language seems directed at automated scripts that run in the background. This tool is simply a browsing aid performing clicks for you, but your browser is still open and doing all the browsing and preventing you from doing other browsing simultaneously.
EDIT 10/2018:
Just released a new version that works with Ancestry's latest photo hosting method. In order to get it working again the extension is going to need permissions to open and close windows as well as download files. When you first try and use the photo downloading feature Chrome will likely popup a few requests asking you to let the extension do downloads and open and close windows. So expect that as you try to get it going.
This version also handles the Start/Stop downloading sensing better. Although, I have noticed that sometimes it takes one or two tries to get it to stop downloading depending on at what point in its execution you click the stop button.
NOTE: There is a small chance that using this is against Ancestry's terms of use. Their terms of use forbid scraping tools, however the language seems directed at automated scripts that run in the background. This tool is simply a browsing aid performing clicks for you, but your browser is still open and doing all the browsing and preventing you from doing other browsing simultaneously.
EDIT 10/2018:
Just released a new version that works with Ancestry's latest photo hosting method. In order to get it working again the extension is going to need permissions to open and close windows as well as download files. When you first try and use the photo downloading feature Chrome will likely popup a few requests asking you to let the extension do downloads and open and close windows. So expect that as you try to get it going.
This version also handles the Start/Stop downloading sensing better. Although, I have noticed that sometimes it takes one or two tries to get it to stop downloading depending on at what point in its execution you click the stop button.
This is awesome! Can you adapt it to also pull down images of documents (census records, birth/death certificates, etc) in an individual's gallery?
ReplyDeleteIn order to answer your question, I need to clarify how data exists on ancestry.com. There are two major categories of Media type data on Ancestry: stuff you upload to your tree, and stuff you attach to your tree.
ReplyDeleteStuff you upload goes into your personal Media Gallery (eg. Photos, Stories, Audio, Video). Stuff you attach to your tree is saved and cataloged in a central location so that anyone can link to a single copy of it.
This extension downloads stuff from your personal Media Gallery. I believe you are asking if it can be modified to download stuff you have merely linked to.
Technically yes, it probably could be. Here is why it will not be. In order to find a list of all such linked items it would have to open up every single record in your tree, from a time perspective that is just not feasible, no user would be interested it sitting through something that was doing that unless they had a really small tree.
The other reason this is a bad idea is that linked data is not your data, it could be removed or changed at anytime, you have no control over it. I have a standard in my trees of taking a screen shot of census records and uploading them to my personal media gallery which this extension can then download and backup. Once I do this the data is mine, Ancestry.com cannot randomly change the data, or lock me out of it if they want to start charging me to see that particular census record in the future.
Does that answer your question and possibly give a solution?
I came across this Python script which goes after all the Ancestry.com Database records that are attached to persons in a GEDCOM file. The author claims it is against the Ancestry.com T&C, but for those interested...
Deletehttps://nerok00.github.io/ancestry-image-downloader/
Check out the "OPTIONAL" step. Did you attempt to click on the page number before resuming? If so, what error did you get? Don't forget, it will start at the beginning of whatever page you click on, so you will probably get a few duplicate files from that page if that page was already being downloaded prior.
ReplyDeleteit does not seem to preserve the file name such as John2000web comes down as 27d275e0-ae78=480c-b8f3-9181ef84fb74b74.jpg ?
DeleteUnfortunately that is true in many instances. It was a limitation I found in either javascript or the browser. The best I was able to do was a mapping file matching the file name up with the record.
DeleteJereme - Amazing work, and sorely needed! Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me - the button text changes, with no obvious error messages, but it doesn't seem to download any files. Could it be because I'm a user of Ancestry.co.uk, not .com?
ReplyDeleteI added a small update I think might make it work for .co.uk. Give it a try and let me know the results.
DeleteUnfortunately your latest comment about it still not working for .co.uk does not seem to have saved to the site.
DeleteWould you check the version of the extension you are using? The one with the update is 0.122. I have noticed that sometimes it takes a couple of days for the updates to push out to users.
Yes, you are correct, it was designed specifically for the .com version.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way you can use the .com version to log into your account? I think I can modify it to work with .co.uk as well, but I am unlikely to be able to test it easily.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCan you check your extemsion still works, doesm't work for me just leaves an excell file in my downloads folder AncestryMetaFile_Photos_pg_1
Deletethank you Jereme! I downloaded over 850 images in less than one hour saving them as tmp files. It doesn't seem to be able to download stories as easily but perhaps I am missing a step. When it downloads stories it also saves them as tmp files but I can't open them. Am I missing something? thanks for all your work and for sharing your extension to ancestry users
ReplyDeleteHi Franco,
DeleteIt should not be saving any files as tmp files. Pictures should be downloading as whatever extension they are saved in Ancestry with, along with a .csv summary file. And Stories should be downloaded in their original format, or as .txt files.
Other than some form of browser corruption during download I cannot think of a reason for the results you are seeing. I just tested the extension to make sure it is working correctly for me in downloading both Photos and Stories.
Could you possibly update it (or made a separate version) to work with .ca as well?
ReplyDeleteI just published an update that works on .ca for me. It should also allow the .co.uk to work which was not working before.
ReplyDeleteit looks like any of the ancestry websites can be logged into with your normal username and password. So a user of a different domain can always log into the .com version to use this extension. It looks like the .com version would show up in your native language.
I have tried to use your extension to retrieve my Ancestry.com images. I cannot get it to work. I followed your instructions and no photos are being copied to my hard drive. I have version 0.123 of your extension. I checked the Temp folders, the default download folder and did a search for them. I did notice that my download folder is filling up with files I have deleted. Any ideas would be appreciated. I am grateful that you have used your talents to figure a way to get my 3000+ images from Ancestry.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it appears as though Ancestry has made some changes to their site breaking this extension. I will fix it as soon as I have time.
ReplyDeleteI just published version 0.124 which should get things working again.
ReplyDeleteWorks for me. Much appreciated! Saved me a TON of time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, by the way for creating the script.
DeleteI am glad it was useful.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome!! works great! Had zero issues with got 100 images downloaded in about 2 minutes! Its not fully automatic but I have no complaints. Thank you for creating this!
ReplyDeleteGary
I agree this is awesome!! However I have 34 pages of photos on one tree and it stopped after page 1 (or 25 photos). No complaints if I have to do it page by page as still is awesome but by reading the description and comments thought it would download all 35 pages or 800 photos without me having to restart it manually. Thoughts? Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteLisa
It should automatically page for you. They must have changed something on their site, whenever they do that it breaks functionality in this extension until I am able to get it fixed. Thanks for letting me know.
DeleteThis is amazing. you wonderful wonderful person :)
ReplyDeleteFinding your tool was like receiving a Christmas gift, yay!! I appreciate that you created this, and I will share it with others who may need it as well.
ReplyDeleteI just published a fix for the extension that should fix the paging issue Lisa found. The updated package should start showing up for users in about an hour according to google.
ReplyDeleteThe symptom fixed was after clicking Download, the pages contents would be downloaded, and the next page would be navigated to, however that next pages contents would not automatically start downloading.
SUPERHERO!!! Jereme - You are awesome! Works like a charm. Cannot tell you how much ALL of us appreciate this utility. You definitely are a superhero!
DeleteHappy New Year! ~ Lisa
Thanks so much for doing this! I just downloaded 1400 records.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I have wanted to migrate my photos, but it was too time intensive! Your script was so fast. :)
ReplyDeleteI did the appropriate steps but it only downloaded a CSV file that includes the links to the desired files:
ReplyDeleteAncestryMetaFile_Stories_pg_1.csv
AncestryMetaFile_Photos_pg_1.csv
BTW, I am using a Chromebook with ChromeOS but the Chrome browser is standard.
DeleteI just tested downloading both Photos and Stories on my computer and they are both working correctly for me. I have never tested on a Chromebook, but as long as you can download other files normally then I see no reason why this extension would not work for you.
DeleteI thought the entire point of a chromebook was that it had no local storage and sent everything to the cloud
DeleteI just tried again with my "stories" tab. I only have three so it is easy. Again, the script downloaded a CSV file with the names and locations of the three files but NOT the files themselves.
ReplyDeleteIs it normal for the script to download these files? Or, are they used by the script to download the files them selves -- and deleted afterwards?
Since ChromeOS now holds over half the market share of school laptops, it is very significant. More and more people are using ChromeBooks. It is my go-to device.
Would you like for me to be a test bed for you to make your script work on ChromeOS?
I appreciate the offer, however this script is not targeted at a school audience or the ChromeOS. Most people doing significant ancestry research are using traditional desktop computers where they can store all their research.
DeleteYes, it is normal for the script to download those .csv files. They are used to store meta data about the files being downloaded that I am unable to put in the filename of the file itself during download.
The main purpose for this script is simply to allow me to backup my ancestry files on my Windows computer. I just released it in case anyone else had the same need.
For what it is worth, to you and anyone else reading this post. I just tested this extension on a Chromebook with Chrome OS 70, and it worked perfectly.
DeleteI download the app today. I am on media files, and hit download. It copied the first picture in csv file and only the first picture. csv is all text...how do I get it to continue on the next picture and how do I get it in something other than csv? thanks
ReplyDeletethe stories worked perfectly...this is referring to the photos
DeleteThat is very odd, I just tested the photos and they are working for me. Someone has had issues doing it on a Chromebook. What type of computer are you using? I test on Windows 10.
DeleteI am using a Lenovo computer with a windows 10 os
DeleteI am at a loss as to why it would not work for you when the other tab does. You could try opening up the page and going straight to photos. Perhaps doing stories first caused a problem when you moved on to photos.
DeleteGot it thanks
ReplyDeletehey, I'm having the same issue as Gina - on the latest version of Chrome on Win 7 and it will download all the story data but not download the images. I just get the csv file. Anything I can do to troubleshoot it?
ReplyDeleteTry it now, I just released a new version that should overcome this issue.
DeleteI just updated my Chrome, and I am now seeing the same issue. It is redirecting to the first image instead of downloading it.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible this is a Chrome issue, or an ancestry issue, you could try rolling back to an earlier version of Chrome, which does not sound fun.
Otherwise, as soon as I get time I will try to figure out the issue and fix it.
If you are a javascript developer, all Chrome extensions get downloaded to your computer upon install, which gives you the source code, and you can modify and re-package the extension on your own.
I have the same issue and it used to work until the last week or so
DeleteIt looks like ancestry.com has made two recent changes to their site. The first change is that they started using a separate subdomain to serve up their images. This breaks the javascript i was using.
DeleteHowever, in doing this change, they also seem to have broken their own site. Clicking on the image in ancestry.com no longer brings it up for me.
I think we are going to have to wait until they fix their site and things settle down to see if there is going to be an option to bring my plugin back to life.
Hi, I'm using ancestry.com.au and the download button doesn't work at all? Cheers
ReplyDelete.au is probably not one of the supported domains. Currently ancestry.com has changed their structure taking advantage of a new security protocol introduced into Chrome which breaks this extension.
DeleteI have not had time to find a successful hack around this. At the moment it looks like it really will have to be a hack to reduce browser security if I am ever able to get it working again.
Hi, Jereme,
ReplyDeleteI've just downloaded your extension and followed the instructions for downloading photos from ancestry.com. When I click on "Download Media" (after having navigated to the ancestry.com media photos page), nothing happens. Any ideas?
Jan HallAugust 08, 2018
ReplyDeleteHi,
I was so looking forward to downloading over 800 images with your extension but I am seeing the issue where it opens the first image in a separate window and just sits there. I'm using 64-bit Chrome at 68.0.3440.84 on a Windows 10 laptop. Thanks for any suggestions or help.
PD2 I just experienced the same problem! :(
ReplyDeleteWin8 64 bit.
I have 1300 pic and docs I would like to backup.
Just get the first photo.
Something seems to be broken. It just downloads a AncestryMetaFile_Photos_pg_(number).csv for each page, loads the first picture in a new tab and does nothing else.
ReplyDeleteWin 10 - Chrome Version 68.0.3440.106 (Official Build) (64-bit)
:-( I missed the window of time when this worked? I'm only getting the .csv file.
ReplyDeleteTry it now, I just released a new version that should overcome this issue.
DeleteYes, it is a pretty big bummer. I haven't had any time to look at this lately. But the hack to make it work again is not going to be an easy one, if it will work at all.
ReplyDeleteGood news. I finally found a hack around Ancestry's new site design. I need to clean up some user experience stuff, make sure paging works and stuff, but it looks like I should be able to get this extension working again.
ReplyDeleteA new version of the extension has just been uploaded to the Google Store. At the moment it seems to be working for me again. And I got it to download the actual picture file names, which is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Chrome will likely popup a few things asking you to let the extension do downloads and open and close windows. So expect that as you try to get it going.
Will this work for ancestry.com.au?
ReplyDeleteJust added support for .com.au and uploaded v.131. Should be available in the store in the next hour.
DeleteThanks for this, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. It seems to be downloading the very first photo then it gives me .csv file of the first page. If I change to the next page it just repeats the process of downloading the first photo on the first page. Same with the .csv file, first page only.
ReplyDeleteWhich version are you using? And is the photo actually downloading, or just opening up in a new browser tab?
DeleteHi - great extension. Unfortunately I'm having same problem that it always starts downloading on page 1 of the photos even after pre-selecting a later page. Also, the csv file shows 24 files for the page but only the first 13 files actually download then it moves on to next page. I am on extension version 0.131 and tried logging into both ancestry.co.uk and ancestry.com (same behaviour). Thanks in advance for any help.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I will have time this week to see if I can re-create this issue.
DeleteGood news, I found and fixed both the re-starting issue, and the not downloading all the files on each page issue. I uploaded v.132 that should fix both these issues. Should be available in the next hour for download.
DeleteThanks for finding these by the way. I didn't even notice them when I was using it.
DeleteHi - I hate to complain because it's so wonderful you've updated this and got it working, but I'm finding it's skipping a lot of files for some reason. Each csv page has 24 files listed, and on page 1 I got 12, on page 2 I got 6, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhich version are you using? That sounds like the bug Anonymous found in v.131. V.132 should have fixed it.
Delete0.132
ReplyDeleteI will try turning off my other extensions and see if that makes a difference.
DeleteI doubt that it will. What you are describing is a javascript timing issue. The plugin schedules all the downloads, then schedules the page turn. If you are using a slow browser, or for some reason I have the timing calculations wrong, then the page turn will occur before all the images have started downloading.
DeleteYou are correct, disabling all my extensions and closing all tabs but the Ancestry one did not make a difference. The only other thing I can think of is your instructions say the extension will use the local download folder and for me it's saving them to my NAS in my Genealogy/Photos folder. I am on a gigabit hard-wired connection though so I would think it would respond fast enough. The other thing is, for each file it's making me click "save", which would be tedious if my Ancestry account had the 3,000 photos my MyHeritage account has. Ancestry only has 92.
DeleteAh, ok, that last bit of information is key. If it is asking you to save every file then that is why it is running out of time and going on to the next page before you are done. It is expecting the download to automatically start.
DeleteGo into your browser settings and adjust it so downloads do NOT always prompt you for a save location. Instead set a default location for it to use every time.
The only way I could fix this issue would be to create a setting that allows the user to manually click the next page button instead of having it automated. And I think that would kind of defeat the point of the extension.
Ok, thanks. Thanks so much for your time in updating the extension and helping me today
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust found your extension today, I'm using chrome on Mac OS.
ReplyDeletePlease say it will work, I can't wait to try it out...
I would expect it to work on any OS with a Google Chrome browser. Probably even Chromium. However, there has been one user who reported it not working on a Chromebook despite his using Chrome.
DeleteMy guess in his case though is that he was using Chrome mobile rather than full Chrome.
Thanks, I did see the user comment you mention. I'll let you know how I get on with it, you'll at least know it also works on Mac os. I hadn't seen any previous comments re mac users
DeleteHi I tried the extension and it generates the csv file for page 1 but after downloading 1 image it just stays open on the image and doesn't progress.
DeleteAny suggestions?
You can try troubleshooting the code: Press F12 on the tab with the image that is supposed to download, and look for the Console, see if there are any red lines in it.
DeleteMy guess is that it is a security setting/restriction on the Mac. Hard to know for sure because I do not have one.
I'm having the same problem as tom mc. I do have a mac and I can download the first image and the csv file but seems to sop there.
DeleteI do not have a mac, which makes troubleshooting hard. Try the F12 suggestion. Also, each image should be opening up in its own window, is that happening with the one that is downloading?
DeleteI have the same issue. Here's what I get in the console:
DeleteScripts may close only the windows that were opened by it.
(anonymous) @ AncestryMediaContent.js:208
setTimeout (async)
downloadFile @ AncestryMediaContent.js:207
(anonymous) @ AncestryMediaContent.js:31
setTimeout (async)
(anonymous) @ AncestryMediaContent.js:30
Perhaps opening each image in a new window/tab would fix this? Right now, Ancestry Media Download opens the photo in the same window/tab that I opened (the Media Gallery), which Chrome then won't allow it to close (though I'm not sure why it would be trying to close rather than just navigating back in the window history).
Interesting, the Mac must handle mouse commands differently from other OSs then. Those photo windows should be opening in separate tabs, the fact that they are not means the Mac must be ignoring the Ctrl key command when the mouse click event is sent.
DeleteI am using the mouse click event rather than the javascript window.open event because the javascript actually opened a whole new window, and it make it very difficult to maintain control over your computer once it had started.
I suppose I could put an option in settings to allow switching between the two. Hard to know what else would work on a Mac without having one. Your error line numbers were very helpful.
Here are the two blocks of code, the second one is the one I am using.
line 90:
//window.open(photoUrl + '&AncestryPhotoDownload=' + name + '.jpg');
var a = document.createElement("a");
a.href = photoUrl + '&AncestryPhotoDownload=' + name + '.jpg';
var evt = document.createEvent("MouseEvents");
//the tenth parameter of initMouseEvent sets ctrl key
evt.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
true, false, false, false, 0, null);
a.dispatchEvent(evt);
If you can find a good pure javascript method that works well on a Mac to open a new window let me know.
On a Mac, it is Command+click that opens a new window (ctrl+click opens the contextual menu). According to (https://javascript.info/mouse-events-basics), the javascript property name is `metaKey`.
DeleteHowever, it also looks like .initMouseEvent and .createEvent, as used in your code, are deprecated and not guaranteed to work cross-platform (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MouseEvent/initMouseEvent). You might be able to emulate a middle click directly using the new MouseEvent constructor (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MouseEvent/MouseEvent). The middle button works to open a new tab/window for me in Chrome, however I see conflicting information online about support for middle-click on Mac.
Have you tested the middle button click code on the Mac? Back when I first introduced this change, middle button clicking was not working as desired, which is why I went with Ctrl click.
DeleteBut if you have a line of code that works on the Mac, I would be happy to try it on a windows box if you don't have one. As long as it works i'll update the code.
Something to be aware of, due to bugs and/or security features, not all code functions the same way as a users input does. For example, while middle clicking a real mouse button does work great via a physical mouse, triggering that call via javascript does not function the same. So testing has to be done with actual code, not via direct keyboard or mouse inputs.
DeleteI just published v 0.134, it should be available after Google has approved it.
DeleteTry this version and see if it works on the Mac. I have attempted to detect a Mac using:
var isMac = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('macintosh') > -1;
and trigger the Cmd key instead of the Cntrl key in that case. Hopefully it works.
Can you please change the description terminology from "screen scrape" to something else?
ReplyDeleteI got the impression it is doing something I sometimes have to do on a site when I cursor over an image and right-clicking doesn't show "Save Image As ..."--I increase the image size and then use MS Snip to capture a partial screen shot, then save that.
I followed the Support link on the Crome Web Store which mentioned this blog, and it's obvious from the discussion here that's not what the extension does--it downloads the actual image files.
But obviously a lot of folks aren't going to "follow the chain", or will assume "screen scrape" means some kind of screen capture.
Screen scraping is a pretty general term, it sounds like you need to refine your search better. As long as your "save as" activity is targeted at the ancestry media files that this extension says it was made for, then it should do exactly what you are doing only in an automated mass fashion.
DeleteThe definition of screen scraping is not limited to screen capture programs, in fact the term is typically not used for such programs. Screen scraping deals much more with parsing and combing through unstructured data on a website and taking actions based on it.
"screen scraping" = "the action of using a computer program to copy data from a website."
If someone who actually knows, uses and likes the extension came up with a good description that would appeal to its user base. I would be interested in that.
Hi, I just tried your extension for the first time on ancestry.com.au website. Worked great with all of first page and half of second page but then it stopped for some reason.
ReplyDeleteJust tested it for photos and it successfully went on to the third page and kept on downloading. Perhaps these questions will shed a little more light on what went wrong:
DeleteDo you only have two pages?
Were you downloading images or stories?
Did you try it a second time?
Were you trying to do anything else with your browser, or were you just letting it run?
No. The CSVs are not designed to work with GRAMPS. They are just basic CSVs with data in them. That does sound like that would be a good upgrade to do though if we had the data GRAMPS required. At the moment the downloads are more designed as a disaster recovery feature just to ensure you can recover the data (albeit painfully) if you lose everything on Ancestry.
ReplyDeleteSomeone would have to get me the GRAMPS required CSV format.
That looks like all GEDCOM data in their CSV spec to me. Not images or file attachments.
ReplyDeleteSomething you could try doing is export from GRAMPS a sample of what you are trying to import, and see what kind of CSV file it generates. Considering the CSV files I generate only contain the name and type of a given file, I don't think there is much that importing the files will be able to give you.
To gain all the associated post data from Ancestry would be best accomplished by a local program (not a browser extension), and that would definitely be in violation of Ancestry's terms of service. However, I have heard that one does exist, I am not sure what it's capabilities are though.
For some reason I am not able to get it to work for me. It downloads the csv and then just opens each picture in a separate browser tab. It works fine for my mom on her pc though. :(
ReplyDeleteIm on Windows 10, Chrome is up to date and the extension was just installed today from Chrome store.
I am able to get the stories to work as expected.
DeleteFor the photos, it opens all the photos on that page in separate tabs. I then can go to the tab and click on the extension again and it reloads the page - in turn it then downloads and closes the tab.
I have never seen it heard of that happening before. It kind of sounds like some sort of permission or power savings type issue.
DeleteCheck to see if you have any securing type settings or extensions that do not allow JavaScript to run on pages that do not have focus.
Hi - I appreciate this extension as I have so much media on my Ancestry tree.
ReplyDeleteNeed some help - after I did this, I can no longer download my GEDCOM or see my ThruLines.
When I try to download my GedCOM, it sends me to: https://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/stream/namespaces (with then my tree info on the address) and the message that appears is: {"ResponseStatus":{"ErrorCode":"EmsCannotRetrieveMediaMetadataException","Message":"","StackTrace":"","Errors":[]}}
My Thrulines message is: You may not be seeing suggestions from ThruLines because there is not enough information in the linked family tree.
Add as much information as you can to the tree, including real full names, birthdates and birth locations for you, your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
I have uninstalled the extension to see if that is the problem, I deleted cookies and cleared cache....
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Teresa
If the issue is still happening even after you have removed the extension, then changes are it is not related to the extension.
DeleteOne other thing you could try is using a different web browser to try and download the GEDCOM.
Will try that - Thanks!
DeleteThank you. I was ale to download all the media and stories with no issues.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for your generosity! i have followed your directions and pushed the download button, should there be any indication that its working, progress, etc because there is none. I have almost 50,000 photos on Ancestry. my intention is to load these into Family Tree Maker. Any special directions for that, or will I create a nightmare of duplicate images?
ReplyDeleteIt should be very obvious that things are happening. Your browser should start doing things on its own.
DeleteAs to your intention. I think you are going to be in for a world of hurt. My tool is merely intended as a hack for backing up things. There is no restore or conversion option, it would be a very manual process of re-attaching one image at a time back into your tree.
Family Tree Maker used to have a reasonable integration with Ancestry, there might be some sort of connection or import right inside that tool. You should reach out to their support.
i have no indication other than "stop downloading" that media is being downloaded, when i first hit the download button, i saw in bottom right corner caching, connecting to facebook and then nothing. i see now download indication from download in chrome, nor was i asked where to put the download. i am using chrome on mac os mojave. thanks
ReplyDeletesorry - not right hand, left hand corner of Chrome.
DeleteThe problem is likely that you are using a Mac. This extension was designed and tested on Windows.
DeleteMacs use a different key sequence for opening new windows. While I did recently try and implement a patch for macs, no one had verified whether it works out not.
It probably needs someone who knows some coding to test it.
What a simply wonderful thing you have provided. With nearly 5,000 images on Ancestry I was daunted by the task of storing them somewhere else. Now I am sitting here eating chocolate and sipping coffee watching the pics zoom into download, and as a happy as anything. Thank you so much. What a genius!
ReplyDeleteReading through this blog I am still not up to speed on what has been achieved. Obviously media is stored on my local PC. Fine. If I do this will I then be able to upload this stored data automatically into Legacy9. I am trying to have my family trees in my possession rather than being tied to Ancestry.com. Just wondering what the second stage in this process would be if I hitch my wagon to Legacy9 rather than ancestry.com.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately no. The only thing this extension achieves is an "oh shit" backup of all your picture and document data. It does attempt to product .csv files mapping download names to image names. However if you ever need to use the data again, it would take a great deal of effort to restore it from the downloaded format. Sadly, Ancestry provides us no way at all to get media data out of their system, so this at least makes sure your data won't be completely lost if they go down for some reason.
DeleteRootsMagic has an Ancestry TreeShare feature that will allow you to download your Ancestry media. Unfortunately it's one person at a time and a lot of clicks for each, but it's something and RootsMagic is very reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThat does not sound like an automated process at all, you could also download all your media directly from Ancestry.com one person at a time with a lot of clicks. What makes RootsMagic's feature stand out?
DeleteIt looks like it can import into its own software, which is a plus if you use that software. RootsMagic does claim to be integrated with Ancestry, so if you wanted to spend money on it it could be a workable option as long as you used it as your primary tree, and Ancestry was just for display.
Does RootsMagic off the option of a full offline backup? Ancestry only allows you to backup the gedcom file.
Just confirmed. RootsMagic does bring down media file as well. It makes a folder in your ...Documents\rootsMagicFileName_media folder. Here is a youtube video of how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDOlq7EFIWA . Go to 16:18 on the video. It shows it bringing down media files locally.
DeleteIt sounds like RootsMagic is the preferred method for those who have it. Is there a free version that supports this, or is it pay only?
DeleteRootsMagic does have a free program "Essentials", but I don't know if it offers the connections to Ancestry and MyHeritage that the full version does. The full version is only $30. And yes, it does do a full offline backup that includes media.
Delete"RootsMagic does claim to be integrated with Ancestry, so if you wanted to spend money on it it could be a workable option as long as you used it as your primary tree, and Ancestry was just for display."
DeleteActually, I do just the opposite and use Ancestry for working and RootsMagic as a backup for Ancestry.
Works fine on 46 photos downloaded using Chrome on MacBookPro, OS 10.15.4 Catalina
ReplyDeleteTwo xls files also downloaded providing the photo list/descriptors
Thanks
Jack
That is good news, maybe we finally have Macs working.
DeleteI used this a few months ago on my mac and it worked fine. My question is with so much media attached to so many people and all those file names not starting with the persons name what is the method of sorting through it all after its downloaded. Id love to (and have) download everything but its then just a giant pile of work with no real way to get things associated with the correct people again. Maybe I missed something along the way, it wouldn't be the first time (:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately you are not missing anything. This app is more of an emergency solution, if you actually have to recover from the downloaded data you are in a world of hurt. The csv files make it possible but not easy. The only reason for this extension is that Ancestry offers nothing in this area. Although, Jan Hall above did mention that the paid version of RootsMagic can connect to Ancestry and download data from it.
DeleteIt looks like the CSV doesn't have a column for the family members name who the media is associated to. Is that right?
ReplyDeleteThat looks correct. Name of the file, type of the file, url of the file are the three columns listed. I think the plugin is opening each file before downloading it, if so, it looks like they now display the user associated to it, so it is possible a future version of the plugin could have that data.
DeleteThanks for that Jereme, That would be an amazing update. Can I make an official feature request (:
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ReplyDeleteDownloaded 563 images from my family tree just now. This has been a life saver since my hard drive died. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteThis app seems really useful, but the download button on google chrome web store is greyed out. How can one now obtain this app.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Ian Davis
textserver.com@gmail.com
The button is not greyed out for me. Is it possible you are using the new Microsoft Edge browser instead of the official Chrome?
DeleteUsed your Chrome Extension to copy over 700 Photos & Stories from my tree today.No issues.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly
Dear anonymous, could you please describe your downloaded files. Mine came down as excel spreadsheets with urls, probably pointing to the media. And I don't know how to load those into family tree maker. Thanks in advance if you can help.
DeleteLike Deb I can't see how I get these images as images. If I copy a line from the CSV and paste it into Google I see the image, but doesn't that mean the image is still on the net and not on my PC? Sorry if this sounds dim!
ReplyDeleteYou should be getting a lot more than just a CSV file being added to your downloads folder. If all you are getting is the CSV, then something is broken. If you are on a MAC, we've had issues with that OS. The extension should be opening up a bunch of tabs in your browser, then closing each of them. If that isn't happening either then something is broken.
DeleteI'm om Windows 10. I'll try again and watch more carefully as to what happens in the downloads.
DeleteThanks
What else should I see in the Downloads folder?
DeleteThe extension can now be added to Opera (which I use as my default browser), and the download worked. The CSV files also downloaded but why are these required?
DeleteYou should be getting both the CSV files and the images and document files themselves put into the Downloads folder. The images and document files generally do not indicate which profile they belong to, so the CSV tries to gather a bit of meta data about them so you can figure that part out if needed.
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ReplyDeleteI love this so much. I can't even say what a thrill it was to watch all thousands of images just magically landing in my safe home disk.
ReplyDeleteJereme. Thank you for this extension. It worked great today—at first. Then I noticed the page reload on its own and it looked like Ancestry added a bit of code saying that they were blocking it. The extension looks like it is trying to work but nothing downloads. I am on a old Mac running macOS High Sierra.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great timesaver!! Its still working on Windows, but it occasionally stops at the end of a page and needs a restart on that page before continuing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, on my browser (Chrome) the tabs are not displayed correctly (only as thin green lines), so finding the separate image and story tabs for it to work was difficult. Once I found out they were there adjacent to the original all media "tab" (by carefully hovering my mouse to the right of that "tab") and could be selected by a careful click, the extension worked as described.
Thanks again!
Another try at leaving a note.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this. I so appreciate it. Experience/feedback given below.
Used latest Chrome. D/L latest script. 1st page smooth. Seemed to hang on 2nd page. I was not sure what had or had not been done so restarted on page 3. Got chrome note: "Ancestry wants to download multiple images. OK?" So I answered Yes and the script proceeded to process page 3 to the end (I only had 8 pages). Then I looked an had no page-2.csv nor any images from page 2. So I selected page 2 and restarted the script; it processed page 2 and then stopped (did it see that page-3 had already been done and stopped?).
Anyway, thanks so much.
-ceej
It definitely sounds like something is broken. Unfortunately for the near future I no longer have time to maintain this script as much as I would like to. Hopefully in the future myself, or someone else will be able to continue the project.
DeleteI have a new laptop (an Acer running Windows 11) and this extension will not work. I tried deleting and re-downloading and it still does nothing other than change the button to say "stop downloading" instead of "download media," Got any thoughts on why?
ReplyDeleteAllan July 7 2022
ReplyDeleteI have just come across this extension but 404 page keeps coming up has it been taken off?
It looks like it. Google has been threatening for awhile to take down all apps that don't get regularly updated with whatever standards Google comes up with at the moment. I have not had time to maintain this extension in awhile.
DeleteAny chance you will get to updating it? I have over 2000 images and stories I would like to download so I can clean up my trees. Thanks
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately probably not anytime soon. It's no longer a simple issue of fixing it, now Google wants it re-written to follow their new standards. I'd happily email it to any developers that are interested in doing that.
DeleteJerome, thankyou for this extension. I hope you can get it remade someday. It has been a wonderful tool, tried to copy it for a friend and realised it was gone. But I wanted to thankyou for the years that it worked.
ReplyDeleteHey guys, hope some of you are actually subscribed to this post. I have finally re-written the plugin and it is working again. At the moment I am fighting with Google trying to get them to re-list it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately their documentation has gotten rather vague as they crack down on stuff. So expect to see this plugin working again as soon as I can get through all the blocks they keep throwing up.
Thank you, Jereme!
ReplyDeleteI think it might be live. Give it a try.
ReplyDeleteHi Jerome. Thanks for taking the time to make this extension. I have a windows and I'm on Chrome and I followed all the directions and when I click download media the page refreshes but nothing happens. I've made sure there are no pop-up blockers. I've tried it a couple of times and nothing produces in my downloads folder and there's no indication anything is downloading. Would you happen to have a suggestion?
ReplyDeleteHi Gretchen, my guess is that it is broken again if it is not working for you. The downside to an extension like this is it relies on the destination site not changing. In this case, ancestry.com changes pretty frequently.
ReplyDeleteI won't likely have time to fix it again for a couple of years unfortunately. And no one else has been interested in stepping in to help maintain it.
Jeremy, Thank you for all the work you have done, I was never able to attempt to use it, but I still appreciate your time and efforts. I think its a shame that I cant keep the documents I paid extra subscription $$ to purchase, but I guess that's how the Mormons build those really beautiful temples......
ReplyDelete