How can I create a gedcom file from FamilySearch with fewer than 5000 names?
I know I can use RootsMagic to create a Gedcom file of my tree in FamilySearch. But there are 7400+ names in the file. When i try upload the Gedcom file into WikiTree I get the message that WikiTree cannot upload a Gedcom file with more than 5000 names. I also know there are two versions of RootsMagic, one free and one chargeable. I only have the free one. Is this a feature that is only available on the chargeable version?
Answers
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RootsMagic (certainly my paid-for version of RM9) lets you start the import with any PID, so can you not split your tree up into multiple imports/gedcoms, e g. father's tree and mother's tree separately, or whatever gives you workable numbers? If that doesn't help, you will need to raise this with RootsMagic themselves.
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I use Family Tree Maker rather than RootsMagic. FTM also allows the creation starting from any PID and the option to include/exclude siblings of ancestors or children of siblings of ancestors. The filtering creates a precise (and smaller) group for upload to another site.
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RM doesn't let you filter beyond the number of ancestor/descendant generations, irritatingly.
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You'll need to explore the genealogy software end of this; there's nothing to be done on the FamilySearch end. (Once you've used RootsMagic to download/create a file, you're free to use whatever software you want to edit said file. You can even use Notepad, if you really want. It is at root just a text file.)
Or, better yet, don't do a GEDCOM on WikiTree. Get the WikiTree Sourcer extension for your browser and use it to improve existing profiles and add new ones, one at a time, based on the information on FamilySearch. You'll create fewer duplicates and other messes that way.
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I appreciate all of the comments. I thought I might get some interesting information from WikiTree but now I'm not sure it is worth the effort.
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I can also highly recommend researching on WikiTree without uploading a GEDCOM, Certainly on my maternal side, there are already duplicates and triplicates on WT. I visit periodically and start the merge process on a few or collaborate with other researchers.
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@J. Scott Moreland, you're by far not the first person to want to transfer data to WikiTree without reinventing the wheel or retyping the phone book. :-) Hence my recommendation of the Sourcer extension: I use it regularly, so I know it works well for transferring FS profiles, complete with all of their sources. It'll even generate a biography for you, if you choose those settings. Once a family is all "cleaned up" and fully-sourced on FamilySearch, copying it over to WikiTree takes less than a minute per profile using Sourcer.
There are multiple reasons that GEDCOM — despite its original intent — is not well-suited to such data transfers. One is the duplication problem. While WT doesn't have the century or so of legacy data that we deal with on FS, nor the various (ill-advised) BYU projects turning random data sets into disconnected profiles, it does have an ever-growing large tree. Depending on the genealogical activity level of your cousins, and on the notability of your relatives, you may find entire branches of your family that already have profiles there. Finding and identifying such existing profiles works much better when addressed one at a time, instead of by the thousands.
Another reason GEDCOM is ill-suited to the data transfer task is its handling of sources. To put it mildly, it's not very good at them. Depending on the software used to generate the file, the sources may be stripped entirely, or they may be presented in a less-than-legible arrangement. Given WT's emphasis on sourcing, this is a major problem.
Whether the effort of the transfer is worth it depends on what you're looking for. Compared to FamilySearch, WikiTree has a much bigger variety of chart views and other tools for "playing" with data, and the developer community is constantly coming up with new toys and improvements to the old ones. Also unlike FS, WT offers DNA tools, along with profile management that can limit what other people can do with profiles of your near or recent family. (In fact, name a feature that people commonly ask about on FS, and WT probably has a version of it.)
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