Genealogy Chat

Some time ago I imported my Genes Reunited tree to Family Tree Maker. Then produced an error report which showed about 10 entries with dates that FTM didn't like, an example of an error message is " Line 136 : Tag: DATE, invalid date: 3rd Q 1913, line ignored" I understand why FTM doesn't like this date format, but does anyone know how I find Line 136 to enter an alternative date format

When you have exported your gedcom file, right click on the gedcom icon and select "Open With" - select Notepad.
The file will then open in Notepad.
Highlight the text, right click and copy it.
Open Excel or a spreadsheet program and paste it into there.
Look for the line number.

I already have the list of line numbers. I just don't know which entry they refer to

Find the line number and then scroll up a few lines until you come to the name.

Hi Elaine. Sorry if I appear a bit thick here, but that was my original question, how do I find the line numbers in my tree?. I have a sheet of paper with about 10 line numbers on it?

Sorry Keith - I didn´t explain myself properly!

Do what I said in the second post - open with Wordpad - copy the text - open up Excel or spreadsheet program and paste the text into that program.

Not sure if you have used a spreadsheet program before but if not you will see that the columns are marked with letters A, B, C etc and the row numbers are marked with numbers, 1,2,3 etc.
When you paste your text from Wordpad into Excel each piece of information from your gedcom will be assigned to a new line.
YOu will see the numbers (line numbers/rows) at the left hand side of the page - just scroll down to the one you want. You may then have to scroll up a few lines to find the name of the person the data entry referred to.

Sorry - it´s really difficult to explain but I hope you can undersand what I am trying to say.

- or the alternative way is to just do it in Wordpad.

Right click on your gedcom file and open in Wordpad. Then just count down the line numbers!
It´s not too bad doing it that way if you have a small file but would take ages to do if it´s a large file!!

Thanks for your patience Elaine. I will have to do it the spread sheet way because one of the errors is on line 4491.

Thanks again
Keith

I have a similar problem but a different solution. I use Family Historian and, where I know the quarter of the event but not the exact date, I enter it as, for example, Q2 and that is what appears in the information box. However in the GEDCOM file it appears DATE BET APR 1944 AND JUN 1944. If I upload this file to GR then the date information disappears from its displays. The answer is both easy and quick. Open the GEDCOM in Word and use the replace facility to replace BET APR 1944 AND JUN 1944 with JUN 1944. I do this with each of the four quarters. In order to preserve the original unedited file, my working one, I save the file with a new name, remembering it’s a GEDCOM, and upload it to GR. The GR version may not be as accurate as the original but it does include the approximate dates.

By experience I have discovered it is not a good idea to edit files downloaded from GR. Their version of the GEDCOM format isn’t quite standard, individual numbering starting at 0. This can confuse some family history programs.

The easy way to correct a fault in a gedcom is to alter the text in Wordpad.

Finding the line the error is on can be a bit of a problem if the error is on line 4567, this means you have to count all the lines.

The easy way is to write down or copy and paste the error report generated by programs such as FTM and correct each error manually.

Open Wordpad (Start, All Programs, Accessories, Wordpad.)

Click on Open and navigate to your gedcom, once opened click on Edit, then Find, type the incorrect date or whatever the error is into the Find What search field then click Find Next, when you can see the error in the gedcom click on it once to highlight it and then double click on it, you can then alter the text or date, you can click on Find Next again to see if that error is in the gedcom more than once, when you have made all the corrections close Wordpad using the X at the top right of the screen and say Yes to save the changes.

You can now import your gedcom and all will be okay.

Ron
www.genealogyprinters.com

Of course, if you are doing it the sensible way then you really should never have the need to download a gedcom from GR!
It is far better practice to keep the master copy of your tree on a family history program on your own computer - it is totally under your control and you are not reliant on a third party to keep your data safe. If you want to post your tree on external sites such as GR, Ancestry, Tribal Pages etc. then you would export a gedcom file from your family tree program and upload to the external sites. When you need to update the external sites then you just export a new gedcom and upload again.

Elaine, of course, is quite right. The only reason that I have to edit a copy of my working GEDCOM is so that when uploaded to GR it shows more date information.

What you say Elaine does make perfect sense but a lot of GR members start their tree on this site and it's only after a while that they realise they may need a program on their own PC to store their data, that's when the problem arises, or sometimes when moving gedcoms from one program to another the errors will crop up.

Ron
www.genealogyprinters.com

Ron's explanation is exactly my sequence of events. As a novice, I had built quite a tree on GR before realising that it would be more sensible to have it on my PC, and that is when I decided to export it to FTM, which then generated this error report which I am now trying to correct manually.

I now keep a more detailed tree on FTM, and a basic tree on GR, so I guess I will never need to export again.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply. With your help, I'm sure I will be able to sort it out.

Done it via the Wordpad / Edit / Find route.

Thanks again to all who helped