Ancestry Image Problem

[Pauline]

I have suddenly started having a problem saving Ancestry images to my computer. Previously, having loaded an image, I then clicked the orange Save button in the top right corner and then selected "Save to my computer" from the dropdown selection. The image duly downloaded as expected.

Now I am missing the option to "Save to my computer" and instead have "Save image". When I click this option the image opens as a jpg in a new window with no save options or anything - to save the image to my computer I have to right-click it and select save as.

I am using IE10 but from googling it seems that others having this problem are finding it is not dependent on the browser being used. Also, I've tried IE10 on another computer (and comparing the settings, all appear the same) and that is still loading images with the "Save to my computer" option.

I've also tried saving files using IE10 on this computer from other sites - here, FMP, FamilySearch etc and everything works normally. I don't have another browser installed so can't try that - but as I said, it seems the problem is not browser specific anyway.

Ancestry support does not seem to have an answer and everything they asked me to check is set as it should be. They also suggested listing Ancestry as a trusted site but that didn't make any difference. The problem seems to be that I am getting a different version of the image display page with different Save options from that which I used to get, and which others are still getting.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

The image is probably getting opened in another program, almost certainly there is an addin or extension or some program on your computer that IE is deferring to when opening files of that type. The key to this sort of issue is the phrase "the image opens as a jpg in a new window". Remind me what version of windows are you using? I'm guessing Windows 7 or 8? as XP wouldn't run IE 10.

Try seeing if you can tell what program has opened it will probably have a file or help menu that will tell you what it is with an about option. My guess is it is the build in photo viewer, or similar. To fix this you simply tell it not to be the default behaviour for that type of file using the "default programs" program.

 

[Pauline]

The image is probably getting opened in another program, almost certainly there is an addin or extension or some program on your computer that IE is deferring to when opening files of that type. The key to this sort of issue is the phrase "the image opens as a jpg in a new window". Remind me what version of windows are you using? I'm guessing Windows 7 or 8? as XP wouldn't run IE 10.

Try seeing if you can tell what program has opened it will probably have a file or help menu that will tell you what it is with an about option. My guess is it is the build in photo viewer, or similar. To fix this you simply tell it not to be the default behaviour for that type of file using the "default programs" program.

Thanks for the reply - I'm using Windows 7.

Ancestry has its own image viewer and it's there that the issue is arising because I am no longer getting the option to "Save to my computer". The "image opens as a jpg in a new window" is something that happens as a consequence of no longer having the "Save to my computer option", and having to select "Save image" instead.

I should have been clearer, but the new window is a new IE window, which initially IE 10 blocks as a pop-up, and only opens when I click to temporarily allow an Ancestry pop-up. When the pop-up opens it is showing the image on the Ancestry server with the URL beginning mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk .... The image is not opening in my default image viewer which is Irfanview.

I have no idea why I am no longer getting the "Save to my computer" option in the Ancestry image viewer. I have tried the usual deleting my cache & cookies etc, signing out of Ancestry and signing in again - and re-starting my computer! All to no avail - I am still missing the crucial "Save to my computer" option.

Hope that clarifies the situation.

 

[Tim]

Hi Pauline,

It sounds like you are no longer opening the image in the Ancestry viewer. Have you made any recent changes or downloaded any new software from when it lasted worked correctly?

You may be able to use the restore function to roll back to a previous version.

Having said all that, I've just reread your post. So the image is opening up in IE. You can change that.

I found this on Google.

"Depending on file associations and installed programs, Internet Explorer often tries to open all files, instead of giving users the option to save the file or open in. Also, in the IE menu to save/open files, there is a setting allowing to always open that type of file. If you turn on the "Always Open" setting, it’s not immediately obvious how to turn it off.

To change the "always open" setting:

1. In Windows Explorer, click on the "Tools" menu, choose "Folder options"
2. In the window that appears, click on the "File Types" tab, and scroll through the list until you find the file extension you want to change (they're in alphabetical order). For example, if Internet Explorer always tries to open .zip files, scroll through the list until you find the entry for "zip".
3. Click on the file type, then the "Advanced" button.
4. Check the "Confirm after download" box, then click OK > Close."

 

[AndyMick]

Have Ancestry changed their image viewer? Just a thought - probably the best one I've had today

 

[Tim]

Have Ancestry changed their image viewer? Just a thought - probably the best one I've had today

There's still works for me..

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for the suggestions.

It sounds like you are no longer opening the image in the Ancestry viewer. Have you made any recent changes or downloaded any new software from when it lasted worked correctly?

No, the image is still opening in the Ancestry viewer. Other than recent changes made by Ancestry themselves (eg ditching the old search) my Ancestry experience is exactly as it was - until I try to save an image.

The only software change I have made recently is to upgrade IE9 to IE10, but I can't remember if that was before or after I last was able to save an image at Ancestry without problems.

So the image is opening up in IE. You can change that.

I found this on Google.

"Depending on file associations and installed programs, Internet Explorer often tries to open all files, instead of giving users the option to save the file or open in. Also, in the IE menu to save/open files, there is a setting allowing to always open that type of file. If you turn on the "Always Open" setting, it’s not immediately obvious how to turn it off.

To change the "always open" setting:

1. In Windows Explorer, click on the "Tools" menu, choose "Folder options"
2. In the window that appears, click on the "File Types" tab, and scroll through the list until you find the file extension you want to change (they're in alphabetical order). For example, if Internet Explorer always tries to open .zip files, scroll through the list until you find the entry for "zip".
3. Click on the file type, then the "Advanced" button.
4. Check the "Confirm after download" box, then click OK > Close."

My file associations are all as they should be - I can see that from the icons, but I've double-checked by opening a few images on my computer. Most browsers incorporate a very basic image viewer and some websites use this to display their images - often as a pop-up.

But I see that I have not explained the problem clearly enough so I will write a new post and upload some screen shots which I hope will clarify what is happening.

 

[Pauline]

As promised I will try and explain more clearly the issue I am having with Ancestry images.

Everything goes normally and as expected and when I click to view an image, it opens up normally in the Ancestry viewer.

The issue arises when I want to try and save an image. I click on the orange save button and this produces a drop-down menu with 3 options. Previously the middle option was "Save to my computer" and when I clicked this, after the usual IE dialogue, the image file downloaded to the default downloads folder on my computer and everything was hunky-dory.

Now when I click the orange Save button the middle option is "Save image" and when I click this, after an IE dialogue asking if I want to allow a pop-up, Ancestry opens a pop-up browser window containing the image and nothing else.

So the real issue here is not that my browser or computer is doing anything wrong when I try to save an image, but that Ancestry is no longer giving me the option to "Save to my computer". I am assuming that if it did, and I selected that option, everything would work as it did previously - as it still does on other sites.

The really odd thing is that if I try this on my husband's computer, using the same operating system, the same browser (upgraded from IE9 to IE10 at the same time as mine), and with the same browser settings and using the same Ancestry account to view the same image, when I click on the orange Save button there it is still giving the option to "Save to my computer".

The URL on the image page is exactly the same on both computers and I think the difference may be in the scripting behind the page, which is really beyond my expertise. I think that either the scripts are different or that there is some conditional statement within them causing the page to display one option on my computer and another on his. What I would like to know, if this is a correct analysis, is what that condition is.

I am including screen-shots to illustrate this. The first shows the whole viewer window which is identical on both computers. (I have obscured the name and parts of the will in case of copyright issues.) The second shows the Save drop-down as on my computer and the third as on my husband's (and as I used to get it).

I hope this clarifies things.

 

[peter]

The question in my mind is whether you can save the image that appears in a separate window - if you can there's surely no problem?

 

[Pauline]

The question in my mind is whether you can save the image that appears in a separate window - if you can there's surely no problem?

It is possible to save the image from the pop-up window by right clicking and "save as" but there are still two problems:

Firstly, it's a much more convoluted way of saving the image to my computer, which also involves things like overriding my browser pop-up blocker, and doesn't save the original name with the image. And whilst the original name isn't always useful - particularly if it's just a series of numbers - often it is useful in defining which data set it has come from, and who it relates to.

Secondly, I'd really like to know why I (along with certain others using various different browsers) am no longer being offered the option in the Ancestry viewer to "Save to my computer", which was a very quick and straightforward way of downloading an image to my computer (and in my case incorporated a security scan by my AV program) - when most people still seem to have that save option. Is it an indication of a problem on my computer that may in due course cause other issues, or is it something in our Ancestry account, or what?

If I knew what was going on and why, then hopefully I would be able to get the normal "Save to my computer" option back, and have things working properly again. In other words, I'd like a proper fix and not have to make do with a work-around.

 

[peter]

It seems there's really little difference between what you're having to do now and what I've always done, ie load the downloaded file into Irfanview and save it in the relevant directory with a more appropriate name.

Were you previously able to specify where the file was saved and what the filename was? Excuse me if that sounds like a basic question but it's long time since I've willingly used IE.

 

[Pauline]

It seems there's really little difference between what you're having to do now and what I've always done, ie load the downloaded file into Irfanview and save it in the relevant directory with a more appropriate name.

Were you previously able to specify where the file was saved and what the filename was? Excuse me if that sounds like a basic question but it's long time since I've willingly used IE.

Yes, previously I could choose where to save the file, and if I wanted to change the file name then I could do so as with any other file on my computer. However, often I only need to keep a downloaded image on my computer temporarily, and then it is useful to have its original file name rather than having to choose my own.

But, as I said before, having the "Save to my computer option" did make things much easier, and for me a priority also is finding out what's gone wrong, why, and how do I fix it?

 

[peter]

Yes, previously I could choose where to save the file, and if I wanted to change the file name then I could do so as with any other file on my computer.

I'm not sure if I've ever had that option using Chrome. But if I use IE11 then I get a pop-up at the bottom of the screen which allows me to choose 'Save As'.

I'm probably happier with the way it works under Chrome as I like to trim the images in Irfanview before saving them.

 

[Tim]

I think that now you have screenshots 2 and 3, I would contact Ancestry again.
Send them the screen shots and they should be able to explain under what circumstances the different views are displayed. You may wish to stress that your email be directed to someone in the programming team as you don't want a helpdesk person giving you a non answer.

 

[Pauline]

I think that now you have screenshots 2 and 3, I would contact Ancestry again.
Send them the screen shots and they should be able to explain under what circumstances the different views are displayed. You may wish to stress that your email be directed to someone in the programming team as you don't want a helpdesk person giving you a non answer.

Good thinking! I have written again (that's the 3rd time so far) with the screen shots and hope I may hear back overnight, but I'd already written when I read this from you and didn't ask specifically for the email to be directed to someone in programming. However, I had been thinking that if I don't get a helpful reply this time I might try telephoning rather than emailing next, and could ask then for the issue to be escalated to the programming team.

Thanks!

 

[Alexander Bisset]

which also involves things like overriding my browser pop-up blocker.

As an aside Pauline most popup blockers will allow you to add certain sites to your allow list so that it doesn't say you all the time. Ie: if you know it's always going to ask and you know it's safe and normal then it makes sense to disable the blocking for that one site.

 

[Pauline]

As an aside Pauline most popup blockers will allow you to add certain sites to your allow list so that it doesn't say you all the time. Ie: if you know it's always going to ask and you know it's safe and normal then it makes sense to disable the blocking for that one site.

Yes thanks, I did know about the option in my pop-up blocker to add sites to an allowed list.

But had I not known it would have been useful to know, so thanks for the tip.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Fascinating subject matter which I have only just discovered. Having more than one computer/laptop and most capable of working with IE/Firefox or Chrome (depending on the use I have for each) with Windows versions Vista/Windows 7 & Windows 8.1. I chose to experiment. I used IE10 in all cases except Vista which was IE9, and once each in Firefox & Chrome running in Windows 7. I can report that all except IE in Vista gave the same results Pauline mentions; No Save to computer option. However Vista using IE9 did indeed show the middle option to be 'Save to my Computer'. I tried clicking on an image and it came up with the elongated (and gobbledegook) name given by mediasvc.ancestry, with an Open or Save option. Of course the save option would allow it to be renamed.

I have a large Public Tree in Ancestry as I have mentioned a few times before and regularly SAVE transcripts to a person's page or to a shoe box if still undecided whether something applies. I am full of praise the way this works and for Ancestry use IE10 for most of the time. I rarely save original images, although I do print them out now and again for my files, especially for direct ancestors. For this reason I cannot say when things changed regarding use of the orange save button. However I strongly suspect it occurred when they introduced their new (improved) image viewer. I recall being nagged by Ancestry to try their new viewer and eventually succumbed. I also recall when using XP ( or it may have been Vista) being told the new image viewer was designed to work with IE10 and later. However, against this, I cannot see a whit of difference in the visual appearance of the IE9 browser and that in IE10, so the reason for the change may lie elsewhere. (Incidentally just before posting I noted by clicking 'tools' the 'basic viewer' is still offered. However the result was exactly the same in each case),

Ancestry, Family Search and of course FMP are constantly trying to improve things -as they see it - and I suspect the 'save/save to computer' change is just one such step. It will be interesting to see how Ancestry responds.

 

[AnneC]

I can report that all except IE in Vista gave the same results Pauline mentions; No Save to computer option.

I use Google Chrome, and the "Save to my computer" option comes up every time.

 

[Pauline]

Fascinating subject matter which I have only just discovered. Having more than one computer/laptop and most capable of working with IE/Firefox or Chrome (depending on the use I have for each) with Windows versions Vista/Windows 7 & Windows 8.1. I chose to experiment. I used IE10 in all cases except Vista which was IE9, and once each in Firefox & Chrome running in Windows 7. I can report that all except IE in Vista gave the same results Pauline mentions; No Save to computer option. However Vista using IE9 did indeed show the middle option to be 'Save to my Computer'. I tried clicking on an image and it came up with the elongated (and gobbledegook) name given by mediasvc.ancestry, with an Open or Save option. Of course the save option would allow it to be renamed.

Many thanks for all your experimenting, Bob. I was beginning to think it must be all down to an incorrect setting in my brain.

Ancestry, Family Search and of course FMP are constantly trying to improve things -as they see it - and I suspect the 'save/save to computer' change is just one such step. It will be interesting to see how Ancestry responds.

More frustrating than interesting, I'm afraid. Yet another email telling me that it was due to my having IE set up incorrectly. So I rang up this morning and was told yet again that as they can't replicate the issue using my account it has to be my browser at fault. I pointed out that although I was well aware that browser problems can cause web pages to display incorrectly, surely my browser can't change the page wording from "Save to my computer" to "Save image"?

Eventually I managed to get the helpdesk person to agree to forward my emails to the technical team, and I asked her also to put 3 explicit questions to them:
1) Why is there more than one version of the image viewer page with different dropdown options on the Save button?
2) What condition(s) determine which version of the dropdown options you get?
3) What can I do, if anything, to get back to the version which has the "Save to my computer" option?

Now I'll have to wait and see if the technical team can come back with something more helpful.