I’ll Send You a GEDCOM

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By MaryLynn Strickland

In my early days of researching online (from 2001), I made contact with people far and wide through message boards (remember those?)  Once in a while I would encounter someone who inserted her entire family file into a message that went on and on. . . and on.  But usually people would ask, or offer, to share a GEDCOM.

What was that?  From the FamilySearch Wiki, it is the acronym for GEenealogical Data COMmunications.  GEDCOM is a data structure created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for storing and exchanging genealogical information so that many different computer programs can use it.  It is identified by the file type “.ged”.

(Stay with me here; this technical part is brief!). “The GEDCOM Standard is a technical document written for computer programmers, system developers, and technically sophisticated users.”  The GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5, 2 January 1996 [Revised 10 January 1996].

Copyright © 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This document may be copied for purposes of review or programming of genealogical software, provided this notice is included. All other rights reserved.

Oooh!  “technically sophisticated users”, I like that!

Get with it, Jeffrey! #genealogy #familyhistory #ancestry #gedcom

So, GEDCOMs are text files that contain the information and linkages necessary to exchange genealogical information between two entities.  These entities may use the same or different software.  Thus a Legacy user can share with Roots Magic or Family Tree Maker users, even Mac OS users.

You use a GEDCOM to upload your family file to the DNA sites so relatives can compare files, possibly finding common ancestors.

You use GEDCOM to upload your family file to Ancestry, FamilySearch, and MyHeritage among other sites.



And what goes up, can also come down.  You can download family files that you own on those sites.  Have you begun your family file in Ancestry and now want to put it in a genealogy software on your own computer?  No problem, download it as a GEDCOM and import it into your software.  Same thing from My Heritage or FamilySearch.  Some sites are a little more complicated (FamilySearch uses a Python script getmyancestors to create the GEDCOM).

There are a couple important points to remember.  A GEDCOM is a text file.  Pictures, images of census pages, gravestones, etc., do not come along.  You might want to keep that in mind when you start attaching images to individuals in your online family.

The other important point is that a GEDCOM is a tool.  I found myself treating GEDCOMs as precious articles.  That file represented 7 or 8 generations of my ancestors.  All the work that went into arranging that information was not to be taken lightly.  It took a very down to earth retired Boeing engineer to help me change my attitude.

David liked the formatting in Legacy as far as keeping his family files.  But he preferred the charting interfaces in Family TreeMaker.  So, when he wanted to print a chart, he produced a GEDCOM from Legacy, put it into FTM, printed his chart and then deleted the GEDCOM.  What?  Delete a GEDCOM?  Sacrilegious!

Of course, it isn’t.  As soon as you create the Legacy (or Ancestry or whatever) family file from the GEDCOM, it has served its purpose.  When you open the family file and make a correction or addition, and believe me, you will, your GEDCOM is obsolete.  Don’t put it somewhere for safe keeping.  It isn’t intended to be backup or in case you want to share it with somebody in the future.

Now, please excuse me while I look at some archaic folders on my hard drive and thumb drives.  I am sure I have some *.ged files from 2002 or 2003 that I can safely delete!



MaryLynn Strickland

Comments

  1. Katie HanzeliFebruary 11, 2019 at 2:58 PM

    Great stuff! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ValorieFebruary 11, 2019 at 3:06 PM

    Yay! Thanks for making it simple, MaryLynn. I love Rootsweb WorldConnect (when it's working) to generate smaller gedcoms for just one person. These are great for sites like FamilyTreeDNA or Gedmatch as cousins allow us to upload their results - and their gedcoms, even when they haven't done much research.

    ReplyDelete

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