Genealogy Chat

Good advice Ken and Inspector. I tend to keep my main tree on Family Tree Maker.

My advice is only ever to use websites, or indeed any other location that you have no direct control over, for "throw away" copies of your tree.

I maintain my records on Family Tree Maker, and the data is backed up and stored safely on a regular basis.

My trees on GR, Ancestry, Tribal etc are updated from time to time from FTM. If the data gets trashed then I simply upload a new file.

As Ken says, not all software handles all gedcom options so some data can get lost or corrupted during transfer. For example, I have noticed that some databases have reduced length fields in certain cases which means data gets truncated. For example, I regularly use the recognized notation "Bet. 1901 - 1911" which doesn't always transfer across correctly. Date formats are often a problem too if the recipient software does not support all possible versions. I always use the format 13 Apr 1992 and find this works in most cases. Other date formats may not.

So, if you tfr, say, from FTM to GR to Ancestry back to FTM then don't expect to get your original data returned as it was. You will be surprised how many differences there are. I've tried it.....!

Some words of warning:

GEDCOM files are text files, you can't transfer videos, photos etc.

Not all software handles all the latest GEDCOM functions

Sorry, Jill :)

SRS gave a good link, and I shall try to find a thread that gives information, too :)

Hi Jillian,

When you save your family tree, you save it as a gedcom file. This file will then open in lots of different family tree programs as it's universal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM

Thanks for this. Can I confess to something I can't be alone to not understanding. I hear GEDCOM mentioned and I think everyone but me seems to know what it means. I know it's a way to share stuff but there my understanding ends.

Thanks, Jill

You could try one of the free family tree programs first as an experiment then you could transfer the GEDCOM to a bought one such as family tree maker.

If you put
free family tree programs
in google, there are quite a few.

Just discussing all the threads about the changes to the tree with hubby. He was a bit surprised that I didn't have everything backed up. So he is all in favour of me spending a bit of money and getting some software for this new computer.

Please and I have some recommendations. And I'm not technical so simple language please if you can.

Muchos Gracias Amigos