Genealogy Chat

Having entered up to about 70 names (one by one) with places and dates on the family tree, I decided to take a short cut and import a larger tree (with approx 260 individuals) that I had compiled in Family Tree Maker v9.0, by exporting from that as a GED file. Unfortunately, on importing the GED file to this site's family tree, a good 40% or more of the dates have been completely and utterly fouled up! Some have up to 40 or 50 years added to or subtracted from their birth dates, while my grandmother had 108 years added, making her 40 years YOUNGER than myself, and 110 years younger than her husband..... When exporting from Fam Tree Maker, I selected as File Type - Destination: FTW; GEDCOM:Version 5.5; and Character set: ANSI plus checking the 'Abbreviate tags' box... Does anyone know what caused this mess, and is there a way to import ged files without this happening again? I don't fancy having to check and amend all these items again, especially as when saving each alteration seems to be getting slower as I continue (if/when the site doesn't freeze at the same time)! Thanks in advance for any tips and advice anyone can offer, Kevin

Hi Kevin, when you export the file from FTM, destination has to be PAF GEDCOM, not FTM gedcom. This could be the cause of the problem. Try exporting again using PAF as the destination, along with GEDCOM Version 5.5 and ANSI.

Hi Keith, Thanks for you reply; when I first choose to 'Copy/Export Family File' I get the choice of 'Save as type:'- Family Tree Maker (versions) 4.0 to 8.0 (*.FTW); FTM for DOS - uses GEDCOM (*.GED); GEDCOM (*.GED) At this point I select GEDCOM - then, after giving a file name and clicking 'Save' I then get the dialog box ('Export to GEDCOM') which I select as in my first post. In the 'Destination' drop-down, there are the choices of - FTM, FTW, TempleReady, PAF, and ROOTS - the default is FTW In the 'GEDCOM' drop-down, there are the choices of - Version 4 and Version 5.5 - the default is Version 5.5 In the 'Character set' drop-down, there are the choices of - ANSEL, ANSI, IBMPC and MACINTOSH - the default is ANSI Below these is 'Do not change these options if you are exporting this file for use in another program', followed by two check boxes - one for 'Indent records' (unchecked) and one for 'Abbreviate tags' (checked by default). I assume I actually am saving/exporting this as a GED file, but do the different options in the 'Export to GEDCOM' affect anything? Kevin

Hi Kevin, its the Destination drop down that needs to be PAF, NOT FTW Save as Type GEDCOM, destination drop down select PAF Gedcom drop down select version 5.5 Character set drop down select ANSI I always leave the lower boxes set to default.

nudging as I'm trying to pluck up the courage to attempt something like this as well.

I have never changed the destination drop down. I just accept the defaults as they are and mi files load on GR ok. What is the effect of changing it to PAF?

Hi Keith, Thanks again; missed the bit about PAF on your first reply, but have tried that now - still no success! Have also spotted two sisters (couple of generations back) that now have 70 years between them.... There seems no rhyme or reason to the changes; some individuals are unchanged, while with those that have changed, the new dates don't even match a parent, child or sibling (just in case one datum 'jumped' a line...) Ah well; back to amending one by one...... Karen - best of luck - it might work for you, BUT - perhaps download/export whatever you've already entered on here and keep as a backup BEFORE you try uploading a GED file from another program? If yours goes wrong, then you could re-import what you downloaded and backed up... Kevin

Peter, the default on mine is PAF.

...And the latest - After three or four attempts to import a ged file without getting corrupted dates, I have finally created a stripped-down Family Tree file with only the year(s) entered (abouts/betweens/days/months all deleted), converted this to a GED file and uploaded...... Guess what? Out of 12 nieces/nephews, 8 were all born in 1994 to a 55 year old couple and a 60 year old couple, while 3 more were born in 1940 - the same year as their father! There are NO twins, triplets, quads etc among them, by the way..... Four cousins were born in 1920 (same year as their father) while another cousin was born in 1940 - same as her father, who is now 40 years younger than his wife..... My grandmother (who was previously 40 years younger than me) is now only four years younger than me, but also 74 years younger than her husband (my grandfather)......... These are only what I've spotted so far - is there perhaps some limit to the number of individuals you can include in order to stand the slightest chance of it remaining correct? Kevin

I have uploaded loaded many gedcom files created from FTM into GR without any problems at all. My current GR file has some 2,000 names in all and others have loaded much larger files. GR's will say that the file is loaded warts an all so if there is a problem it must be of your making, not theirs. That aside, somehow you need to try and pin down the source of the errors. Do you know someone with a tree program who could read your file in and see what it looks like?

This interests me so saving.

Hi Peter, yes, already tried that - I created and converted the file on Family Tree Maker v9.0 ( which I've had a few years); both a copy of the FTW file and the converted GED file have been checked in FTM 2006 on another computer, and the GED file has been imported into Cumberland Family Tree v3.14 on yet another computer. All details are produced perfectly without fail in each case! The GED file has been imported to GR from two different computers (in the same house), so unless my broadband link is extremely and unbelievedly selective, I cannot find any fault at this end..... Perhaps I'll have to try uploading it to LDS and see what happens then? Just a thought - perhaps try converting it from Cumberland to GED and try that one..... Kevin

....And for my latest - As a test, I deleted my tree (wiped the slate clean), entered 13 individuals manually on GR and then requested an export GED file. When loaded into FTM or Cumberland, in both cases, dates were changed, while where Date of death had been entered for two people, the download totally wiped both out. After various tests, in one example I found that where one person's(mandatory) year of birth was entered as 1952 with (optional) date of birth Abt. DEC 1952 - the download alters date of birth to DEC 1 - that is as in the year One! In other words, the optional date of birth overrides the mandatory year of birth! If the (optional) date of birth is shown as DEC 1952 (no day), the GED file produces 1 DEC 1952.... As these are in the GED file created at GR, this is surely something that need rectifying - could there be similar bugs elsewhere? It looks more and more as though the only way to get correct info on the site is doing each individual one by one, and realising that any export back to me cannot be relied on to be accurate.... Kevin