HELP - TREE - IMPORT GEDCOM

Use this option to import the data from the GEDCOM file into the Family TreeXcel workbook.

*This option will erase any existing data in your tree already.

 

RULES & LIMITATIONS:

1. The GEDCOM File is not open elsewhere.
2. Must have at least 2 people in the GEDCOM.
3. Should not have more than 6,000 people to avoid performance issues
4. Only Names, Dates, Places, and families will be imported - no sources.
5. Everyone will be imported but only a person's first (7) spouses and first (32) children will be linked to them as these are the maximum amounts for each.

 

"ANSI" ENCODING (Optional):

Switching your GEDCOM file to "ANSI" encoding BEFORE importing allows diacritical marks (è) on names and places to display properly in Excel. 

You can open the GEDCOM file in a text editing software like "Notepad" or "Notepad++", which are free and available on most computers, and then save the file with ANSI encoding.

The following steps will show how to do this in the "NOTEPAD" program:

1. Right click on the GEDCOM file you want to import and choose "Open with" then select "Notepad" (A).
2. Once open, click on "File" in the top left corner then "Save As..." (B).
3. At the bottom of the "Save As" window - change the "Encoding" to "ANSI" (C).
4. Change the filename to reflect the new encoding if applicable (Optional) (D).
5. Press "Save" (E).
6. Close the file and Notepad.

 

IMPORT GEDCOM:

1. Double click on "IMPORT" (A).
2. Click on "GEDCOM FILE" (B).
3. Read the prompt and then click on "Yes" (C).
4. Select the GEDCOM file to import (See limitations and ANSI above).
5. A prompt will display with the number of people imported when finished.

*This process can take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on how many people are in your tree - please be patient.

*If you have less than 6,000 people and this process takes more than 5 minutes or if relationships are incorrect then check TROUBLESHOOTING for help.

 

RECOMMENDED STEPS AFTER (Optional):

1. Sort your Tree by DOB. See SORT for more details

*For speed purposes the data will import in ID order. 

2. Mass change places to USA abbreviations. See CHANGES for more details.

*This will make US States their postal code abbreviation and common variations of United States become "USA".  This helps make the places uniform and minimizes the characters for places so they are more legible on charts.