Note: This is a very long article. If your not doing a frequent exchange of GEDCOM files with other people, or you don’t have any problems when you do so, you should probably skip this. This grew out of a problem I had with a relative. We did much of what was listed below, until we were comfortable in knowing what the problems were on both sides, and how to work around them.
It’s a very serious problem in the genealogy software world – there are companies that can make it difficult, or at the least don’t make it very easy, to migrate or share information between platforms or genealogy programs. The idea being that they want you locked into their software.
If your having problems with GEDCOM files, going between Macs and PCs (even Macs to Macs or PCs to PCs), there are a few things you can do:
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Check whether you are exporting using ASCII, ANSEL, or Unicode (UTF-8 or UTF-16). Keep in mind that ANSEL is a super-set of ASCII and contains ASCII’s characters.
If you are importing from a PC, have them generate GEDCOMs in ANSEL and Unicode format, and check both of them out. Pay attention to any warning messages you may receive.
It may not be a character set problem, it maybe your program or their program is generating too much information (too many custom tags, etc.), or one of the programs is writing data that is not contained within the proper fields and/or the going back and forth is cutting it off. Technically, the originating program may have no problem with storing data that falls outside of the GEDCOM standard, but when it goes to export and puts that information into the GEDCOM file, it’s either cutting it off, or placing it somewhere outside of the normal GEDCOM structure or creating a tag or a field that is ignored by the importing program.
It can be tedious to find where any problems are happening. Many genealogy applications will store data they couldn’t import properly in another area, maybe it’s under some kind of research notes, or in a database that is not based on a text-based format like GEDCOM.
That doesn’t always help you though, other than tell you that, yes, there is a problem, and here is the data. It doesn’t say “next time, export in this format instead”. It can help you though, if you determine there are only a few minor errors – you can then work with the other person on how they have their data organized – if it’s just one or two tags having problems, you can maybe have them place the data in another tag, or move that information into a note.
Your best bet is for each of you to create a new file, with maybe three generations in a family, with no more than 10 individuals. Try to fill out all the tags that you can, print your file and have them print their file (both printings should be in some kind of format that shows as much data about several individuals as possible).
Then exchange these 10 person GEDCOM files, and then each print again. Put the printouts side by side, and see how everything came out.
You can also take a standard blank GEDCOM file, edit it with a text editor (but be careful, some text editors want to turn it into an RTF format, or you could end up with a Unicode file by accident), and repeat the same process as the simple 10-person GEDCOM mentioned above.
You can find blank GEDCOM files here:
Heiner Eichmann’s GEDCOM 5.5 Sample Page – this site has a lot of information about GEDCOM files, and about the different character sets and fields, and it’s a good starting point. GEDitCOM’s developer hosts a GEDCOM Torture Test Files page as well.
Heiner Eichmann’s GEDCOM 5.5 Sample Page – this site has a lot of information about GEDCOM files, and about the different character sets and fields, and it’s a good starting point. GEDitCOM’s developer hosts a GEDCOM Torture Test Files page as well.
I would recommend trying Smultron (Smultron – Mac App Store) on the Mac side or the built-in editor for Mac OS X – TextEdit, and make sure to export as plain text. Be wary of other text editors, especially ones that get fancy, as they trend towards putting everything in RTF format, especially on the Windows side. On the Windows side, I would say give Metapad (Metapad) a try. Both Metapad and Smultron have the ability to easily export clean text files. Adobe creative cloud won't load apps. Regardless of what you choose, you should be able to easily find a way to generate a clean text file.
Another way, you can go and download a GEDCOM file from half a dozen places on the internet, just random GEDCOM files, each of you import them, print out the full details for a few individuals out of each one, and compare notes. That is even more tedious, but it might help you pinpoint where problems are occurring, because at this point your (hopefully) trying out GEDCOMs that were created on completely different applications than what you and the other person are using.
Yes, that increases the chances that there will be problems, since your adding to the equation, but at the same time you maybe able to learn a little bit more.
You can also fall back to an older standard on some applications when generating a GEDCOM file, and repeat the above process.
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If you are not going to be exchanging data very frequently, it’s not going to be worth it to go through all of the above.
I would definitely recommend against merging data from one or more GEDCOM files generated by applications other than what you are using, for the simple fact that you should always be careful about what you import (i.e. keeping an eye on your source references). Plus, if there are slight differences between what is originally generated and what is imported, you might not find them until later on, and the problem goes from being relatively harmless to hours and hours of fixing (or simply reverting to an older GEDCOM if you keep good, regular backups).
More information on the GEDCOM 5.5 standard here : GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5 and Wikipedia’s GEDCOM page.
Mac Genealogy Software Reviews
GEDCOM 6 XML, that is supposed to fix all of our problems, will be a standardized format in time for your gg-grandchildren to use (or rather the automated software applications that go out and do the research for them 😉 )
Note: A GEDCOM with an extension of.uged or UGED is MacFamilyTree’s way of showing that a GEDCOM file is in the Unicode (UTF-8) format.
February 2012 Update: FamilySearch is proposing GEDCOM X, a new standard that takes into account linking, digital documents and sources, and online work.
Genealogy apps should always follow the GEDCOM standard, right? You’d be justified in thinking that if you’ve read many of my articles, and generally speaking, apps should follow the standard, especially 5.5.1, since GEDCOM 5.5 is obsolete. However, what should apps do when there are mistakes in the standard? Should they import, export, and/or validate GEDCOM files strictly according to the standard, or according to how the standard should have been? This is a letter versus spirit of the law question, and the answer depends on the mistake in question and the purpose of the app.
To make this question concrete, let’s take the example of the Event structure, used for both family and individual events and beginning with the tag EVEN in a GEDCOM file. The GEDCOM standard contains specific structures for many events, such as birth, marriage, death, etc. However, for events not covered by these specific definitions, many apps use their own product-specific tags. The GEDCOM standard allows this, calling them NEW_TAGs, and they’re supposed to begin with an underscore, but several apps incorrectly omit the underscore. The main problem with product-specific tags is that they’re product-specific, meaning data you share with other people or transfer to a different application can be misinterpreted or ignored. Some apps try to play nice and correctly read other apps’ product-specific tags, even though the standard does not and cannot require them to.
But there’s a better way to specify events that aren’t specifically defined in the standard, and that’s to use the Event structure. (There’s also a structure for attributes not defined in the standard, the Fact structure, but I won’t get into that in this article). The partially expanded structure for a Family Event is as follows (you can find the full definition on pages 32 and 48 of the GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard):
n EVEN [<EVENT_DESCRIPTOR> | <NULL>]
+1 HUSB
+2 AGE <AGE_AT_EVENT>
+1 WIFE
+2 AGE <AGE_AT_EVENT>
+1 TYPE <EVENT_OR_FACT_CLASSIFICATION>
+1 DATE <DATE_VALUE>
+1 <<PLACE_STRUCTURE>>
+1 HUSB
+2 AGE <AGE_AT_EVENT>
+1 WIFE
+2 AGE <AGE_AT_EVENT>
+1 TYPE <EVENT_OR_FACT_CLASSIFICATION>
+1 DATE <DATE_VALUE>
+1 <<PLACE_STRUCTURE>>
You would think that, with the exception of the HUSB and WIFE elements, the Individual Event structure would be the same, but from the partially expanded structure that follows, we can see one crucial difference:
n EVEN
+1 TYPE <EVENT_OR_FACT_CLASSIFICATION>
+1 DATE <DATE_VALUE>
+1 <<PLACE_STRUCTURE>>
+1 TYPE <EVENT_OR_FACT_CLASSIFICATION>
+1 DATE <DATE_VALUE>
+1 <<PLACE_STRUCTURE>>
The crucial difference is that the Individual Event structure lacks the EVENT_DESCRIPTOR. Now why would this be? Clearly it was an oversight on the part of the authors and editors of the standard, because on page 48 of the standard, the following example is provided for an EVENT_DESCRIPTOR on an Individual Event:
1 EVEN Appointed Zoning Committee Chairperson
2 TYPE Civic Appointments
2 DATE FROM JAN 1952 TO JAN 1956
2 PLAC Cove, Cache, Utah
2 AGNC Cove City Redevelopment
2 TYPE Civic Appointments
2 DATE FROM JAN 1952 TO JAN 1956
2 PLAC Cove, Cache, Utah
2 AGNC Cove City Redevelopment
The definition of EVENT_DESCRIPTOR even states that it is “Text describing a particular event pertaining to the individual or family” (emphasis added). So it should be obvious that omitting “[<EVENT_DESCRIPTOR> | <NULL>]” from the Individual Event structure was an oversight. Which brings me back to my original question, what should apps do about this mistake? The answer depends on whether the apps are importing, exporting, or validating GEDCOM files. The best practice for each case is as follows:
Importing GEDCOM Files
Read the EVENT_DESCRIPTOR for both family and individual events and, if the data are to be stored in the app’s own database, import the data into the corresponding field. Apps that ignore these data, especially without any warning, do users a disservice by discarding data. It is not even a good practice to import the data into a note attached to the event; just import it into the EVENT_DESCRIPTOR where it belongs. This practice ensures the maximum amount of data is imported.
Best Genealogy Software For Mac
Exporting GEDCOM Files
Legacy Genealogy Software For Mac
3d design software for mac. Include an EVENT_DESCRIPTOR field in the app’s design and export it to the EVEN tag for both family and individual events. Use the Event structure for common events not defined in the standard, such as Employment, Military Service, Marital Separation, etc., instead of product-specific tags, as well as user-defined events. This practice ensures the maximum amount of data can be read by other applications.
Validating GEDCOM Files
GEDCOM validators must validate files according to the GEDCOM version specified in the header, even when the standard is mistaken (and there are many other mistakes in addition to the missing EVENT_DESCRIPTOR, as Tamura Jones has identified). However, validators should caveat error statements about an EVENT_DESCRIPTOR on an Individual Event in GEDCOM 5.5.1 files with a comment like this: “The GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard, page 35, does not allow an EVENT_DESCRIPTOR on an Individual Event, but that was clearly a mistake, since it is included in both the definition and example for “EVENT_DESCRIPTOR” on page 48.” This practice ensures that both the letter and intent of the standard are validated.
Of the 13 apps I reviewed in my Family Tree Software Alternatives Series, nine both imported and exported EVENT_DESCRIPTOR correctly: Family Tree Maker 3 (for Mac) and 2017, RootsMagic 7, Legacy Family Tree 8, Ancestral Quest 14, Family Historian 6, Gramps 4, MacFamilyTree 8 (but not 7), Family Tree Builder 7, and GEDitCOM II. The following four apps failed to import and/or export EVENT_DESCRIPTOR correctly: Reunion 11, Heredis 2015, iFamily for Mac, and Brother’s Keeper 7. Reunion and Heredis have released major new versions, which I will test in the future, but genealogy apps seldom change with respect to GEDCOM handling. I have also tested two GEDCOM validators, although I haven’t reviewed them yet: Chronoplex and GED-inline. The Chronoplex validator produces the warning statement, “Line value for tag ‘EVEN’ not expected.” GED-inline produces a similar warning statement: “Tag EVEN has non empty content.” It would be better if they caveated this warning by pointing out the mistake in the standard.
The GEDCOM Event Structure is an elegant way of handling events that aren’t defined by the standard, and genealogy app developers would do well to use it instead of their own product-specific tags. They should also allow users to add their own events, to include the EVENT_DESCRIPTOR for both family and individual events, even though it was mistakenly omitted from the structure for individual events. As I explained in “How to Scrub Your Data,” users would do well to convert product-specific fields such as Employment and Military Service to Event fields. In Family Tree Maker, for example, they’re called “Custom Facts,” but they’re exported correctly using the Event Structure. All good apps have this same ability but may call it different things. In the end, the goal is to allow users the flexibility to record their genealogical data while ensuring the data is compatible with other apps.
Note: Software developer Tim Forsythe wrote about the EVENT_DESCRIPTOR, after I brought it to his attention, in an article called “A New GEDCOM 5.5.1 Wrinkle” (GigaTrees Blog, 22 Dec 2015, no longer available).