Gedcom Files/Family Trees...?

Question

I currently am working on my family tree and have it on genesconnected. I have exported the gedcom file and have acquired Family Tree Maker 10 but I'm very new to it.

What I would like to know is that obviously as your tree grows you find matches with other people etc etc, well if someone should email me their gedcom file so that I can copy details over then is there a way/program to incorporate that file into yours without retyping the details?

Answer 1

yes



But very important....



Save a backup of your own files as they are with only your information! You will find that some people aren't as interested in facts & exact information as you are. If you start importing files it's sometimes hard to fix mistakes if you import a file full of problems. Always best to have that original to go back to if necessary. Even make a couple of copies of your original. Then work from one of these copies as you find more facts. You can always import a file into the original once you've found it's free of mistakes.



That having been said, on Family Tree Maker, you would go to File & then APPEND/MERGE a gedcom file. It's been a while since I've done this, but I believe it will ask you who you want to import from this file. You can narrow it down by say choosing all the people that are related to Emily Jane Smith from that file, who you know is the same Emily Jane Smith you have in your own file. It will probably ask you questions about some or even each of the people you import, depending on how much information you already have on that person in your own file. It's trying to make sure that the duplicate names you are merging are indeed the same people you have from your own file. You may sometimes find, that depending on how close the information is, you may have to later manually verfiy that yes, the two David Smiths are in fact the same person by going to PEOPLE & then MERGE TWO SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS.

Answer 2

I'm going to tell you exactly what I was told, when I had the exact same problem! - If you go to your family tree maker file and do the following (Choose the PAF option as this is what i use) ) Exporting GEDCOM files from Family Tree Maker To export your Family File to GEDCOM: 1. From the File menu, select Export File. 2. From the fly-out menu, select from Entire File, Selected Individuals, Copy/Export Individuals. 3. Click the Save as type drop-down list and select GEDCOM (*.GED). 4. In the File name field, type a name for the GEDCOM file. It must have the extension .GED. 5. In the Save in fields, select the drive and folder where you want to place your file. 6. Click Save. Family Tree Maker displays the Export to GEDCOM dialog box. 7. Make the appropriate File Type selections as described below: Destination- Use this to allow Family Tree Maker to check for special requirements of the program that will use the GEDCOM file. FTW offers the most complete export features; select it if you plan to later re-import the file into Family Tree Maker for Windows. If the program you are exporting to is not listed, choose FTM. When you choose a Destination, Family Tree Maker automatically chooses GEDCOM and Character set options. However, if Family Tree Maker's suggestions are incorrect for your purposes, make your own selections. Whenever possible, choose Version 5.5 in the "GEDCOM" field; it offers the best export format. If you don't know which file type to use, choose Version 4. Indent records – Check this to make the file more readable in a word processor. Some programs cannot read indented records, in which case this setting will be ignored. Abbreviated tags – Check this to use abbreviations for the GEDCOM tags, instead of full names. 8. Click OK. Family Tree Maker creates the GEDCOM file.

Answer 3

There should be an import function in a decent Family Tree program.



Look in the Help file on Family Tree Maker. They might use a another word to describe what you want to do.



By the way, don't assume that the stuff you are importing is 100% correct. Check it out yourself.

Answer 4

Writing a GEDCOM is usually called "Exporting", and reading one is called "Importing". You usually click on

File -> GEDCOM -> Import

(or Export). The exact sequence varies from program to program, but for most of them you start by clicking on "File".



If the data is accurate, you can import it at 1,000 lines a second. If is it inaccurate, you can still import it at 1,000 lines a second, only when you finish you have filled your original data base with garbage. There are ways to avoid this.



http://www.tedpack.org/gedcom.html

has three pages about GEDCOM files for beginners.

Answer 5

Family Tree Maker 2006 has an "Append/Merge" function that you can use to combine databases.

I have only been using FTM for a few months so I am not too sure if it is available in V10.

Look under help for merge or combine.



Most importantly though, make a good back up of your current DB before you try to merge anything.