Gedcom confusion

Kendalyn Kaye Hill

I have a gedcom uploaded in familysearch. I am very novice and the help articles aren't helping me. Is there anyone who knows how to get the information from the gedcom to my pedigree in familysearch?

Wayland K Adams

Hi Kendalyn Thanks for your question about GEDCOM files. Copying your GEDCOM into your pedigree on Familysearch is not a trivial task and there are some fundamentals that you should understand first. Pardon me if you already know this but just in case. The tree on family search is very different from say a tree on Ancestry or even on your own computer. Those trees are standalone trees and only you can make changes to it. On Family Search, the tree is a universal tree meaning shared by everyone. That means that we only want one profile per person. And the profile is shared by everyone. Because of this, when you move a GEDCOM over to the tree, every name in your GEDCOM needs to be compared to what is already on Family Search. And where duplicates exist, they must be reconciled. With this requirement, here are some things to consider in deciding if you want to proceed.

1- You should only load small GEDCOM files, recommended is a file with not more than 100 names. If you load a file larger than that, it just takes a long time to go through the comparison/reconciliation process which is very error prone.

2- You should investigate to see if the names you want to add are already on Family Search. Consider doing a search on Family Search for one of the older names on your GEDCOM. If you find a match, then consider not proceeding with your GEDCOM and just make sure you have all the right relationships to connect your line with the existing tree. It is generally easier to use what is already on Family Search rather than imposing a whole new set of profiles which must be compared and reconciled.

3 If you have a small file with mostly names not already of Family Search, then you may want to continue. Here is a link to the instructions. You can also call the help line at 866-406-1830 if you are in the US or Canada. If outside that area, refer to the contact us under the circle with the question mark at the upper right corner. Hope this helps, Feel free to reach back for additional help.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-copy-information-from-my-gedcom-file-into-family-tree

Pascal Petitjean

There are three genealogical software who can help you with FS, they can write on FS and find what's already there. Rootsmagic, Legacy Family Tree and Ancestral Quest. They free versions.