Exporting Ged or PAF friendly Files from Family Search/Family Tree for import into a stand alone pro
Comments
-
Jade said: Thank you, Cathy, for the very kind words. I feel the same way about your posts -- more so -- you take such care to include what a person might find useful.0
-
Connie Williams said: I'm one of the 'oldies' that still likes PAF. I know I need to change, but just keep putting it off. I have, however, started using FamilySearch now that it seems to be up and running and more stable, so will probably use that more and more. I do wish I could transfer more than 4 generations to Ancestry. Every time I find new info in Ancestry, I can't 'attach' it. I really appreciate the new licensing agreement with Ancestry, Myheritage, etc. thank you!0
-
Connie Williams said: by the way....I find PAF was/is MUCH easier to input information that FamilySearch. I find FS time-consuming and frustrating. So, I'm using it...doesn't mean I like it.0
-
Stephanie Louise Grogg said: I too was PAF only and a few years back switched to Legacy and I'm glad I did. I did GedCom all my files over and in no time I was in love with Legacy and how it's interconnected with family search. Don't hesitate to move to one of the new programs. They're everything PAF is and more.0
-
Stephanie Louise Grogg said: They all have free versions too! And many times people use just that, the free version.0
-
cej said: I have tried all of them, with varying degrees of success. In my opinion, none of them do as good of a job of pulling in information as one would like. Further, the one that does the best job does it REALLY slowly. The download took hours for myself, and days for people that I work with that have lots of LDS family. This is something that could be done much quicker with an export function.0
-
freeseek said: I completely agree. It almost seems to me that familysearch does *not* want on purporse people to be able to download the information from the database.0
-
freeseek said: Ancestral Quest does not even download half siblings even if "Include Families" is activated. Not a very good option to download information from FT.0
-
freeseek said: @cej if you are comfortable using command line tools, I have written a python script to download genealogy information in GEDCOM file format from FamilySearch Tree: https://github.com/freeseek/getmyance...
It is quite primitive right now and only downloads basic information, but I would be willing to expand it if there is interest. I use it to extract my data from FamilySearch Tree and upload it back into Ancestry.com, 23andMe.com, and FamilyTreeDNA.com.0 -
cej said: @freeseek I am very comfortable with command line tools. I will give this a try in a couple of days. Thanks for letting me know.0
-
Teddy said: The best one for me is Ancestral Quest 14 and it's FREE0
-
freeseek said: I wrote a python script (https://github.com/freeseek/getmyance...) that does a much better job at climbing multiple trees than Ancestral Quest 14. It all depends on your needs.0
-
Alexander Keith Barclay said: PAF files have the generations linked together into the tree structure.
However when you export a gedcom from PAF (and presumably from other programs) the gedcom is just list of individuals with no tree structure - no notes or photos etc are included either.
If you have a gedcom of say 200 people, you typically have to compare each one of them against between 1-30 people that are already in Family Tree and then designate Match / Not a Match in each case. After doing that you then have to add each individual to FTree. So it can be a long tedious process.
Even after you have added your gedcom people to FTree, they are not automatically linked to YOUR tree in FTree - you have to search for the people you have added using the Find function (not Search) and then link them to your tree.
Even so - it is a good thing to upload your gedcoms to the FS site - even if you dont go through the compare-match-add process. They are saved on the site for all time. At any time you can download them, edit and then upload them again - or just delete them.0 -
Mary E. Schade Ashbaker said: I would like to be able to create a gedcom file from familysearch. Not for PAF....but so I can upload it to myheritage.com which has wonderful search tools and now can search your family names in other languages. I really hope this becomes available.0
-
freeseek said: @Mary the python script at https://github.com/freeseek/getmyance... would be able to do that. Furthermore it is also the case that myheritage automatically takes data from familysearch to provide hints.0
-
Mary E. Schade Ashbaker said: yes, but I don't want to re-enter all my tree information into myheritage......
I'm not sure I'll understand how to do the python script thing.0 -
freeseek said: @Mary They recently added a feature to search records directly into MyHeritage from FamilySearch. It is not a substitute for what you need but a bit of a compromise. I deal with a situation similar to yours. I put my data in FamilySearch and every six months I download it and upload it back into Ancestry through the python script. Not ideal, but it is the best compromise for me. I still think including information in FamilySearch is the best thing you can do as it is freely available to anyone, it is available to people using MyHeritage, and in the long run it should become available also to users of Ancestry. It is the right model in my view. The information we provide should not be silo-ed into one system only.0
-
Stewart Millar said: The pc software product Ancestral Quest allows you to download either the ancestry or descendants of an individual on Family Tree - from which you could create a gedcom file.
Some restrictions exist - mainly on the descendants of siblings of direct ancestors - and that downloading any associated sources can only be done individual by individual.
But it does all the names/dates/places basics.0 -
freeseek said: @Stewart the Ancestral Quest software does not allow to download the ancestors of multiple people. Also, their method is buggy. If you try to download all the ancestors of a given individual and let's say your family tree already contains the grandparent of this individual, then the software will fail to download the ancestors' branch corresponding to that grandparent. Somehow the software assumes that if you have an individual in your family tree then you don't need to go after his ancestors as well. My two cents: not reliable. The python script at https://github.com/freeseek/getmyance... has a lot more flexibility and reliability and I am happy to add more features if there is demand.0
-
Franklin Reid said: But nobody answered the man's question from Leon Clifford.
He basically asked how to create a GEDCOM inside of FamilySearch for his computer to be used later with any program. Never mind many can download data directly, but although many told him how, it didn't answer his first question.0 -
Tom Huber said: This is a very old discussion and outdated.
The requirement is for the currently certified family tree management programs to be able to download into a new database both ancestors and descendants from Family Tree.
I have checked and the big three -- Ancestral Quest, Legacy, and Roots Magic, all have free versions that have this ability. Each of those programs can then produce a GEDCOM file that can be imported into other programs that have that import feature.
The bugs have been worked out mentioned three years ago and the resulting GEDCOMs are very usable.0 -
Tom Huber said: FamilySearch does not now have the capability of producing a GEDCOM, and because it is a shared tree, it is unlikely the feature will be developed, at least over the next few years. The only option is one of the free versions of the software already mentioned.0
-
Tom Huber said: By the way, MyHearitage is also working with a system to allow a person to download their tree's information into MyHeritage and then use that tree to feed back changes into Family Tree. A fiasco that took place caused them to break the link.
There has been a lot that has transpired over the past three years since this discussion took place.
As far as a tree to use with DNA on those sites that will link your DNA results with a tree, one of this year's RootsTech speakers talked about preparing a special limited tree that contained only ancestors for about four or so generations back.
The reason is that unless a person ties into one of those people, any shared DNA is likely to be corrupted by multiple linkages between the DNA profiles that are being compared. The only truly effective results are within third (or less) cousins, and not any further.0 -
freeseek said: I beg to differ. You can download GEDCOM files with this software: https://github.com/Linekio/getmyances...0
-
Tom Huber said: If you are computer literate and don't mind working with geek software.
Plus, it is not a certified application (I looked through the app gallery and did not see it listed anywhere.
Get it certified and listed among the apps. Otherwise, you are advertising your own product.0 -
freeseek said: It is not my product (anymore). And it just works, on any platform, and it has a lot more options than Ancestral Quest, Legacy, Roots Magic, to specify exactly what you want to download.0
-
Tom Huber said: You are still advertising... which is when you say that your program is better than (name of product), and adding nothing to the discussion.... Please stop the promotional posts. And arguing isn't allowed, either.0
-
David Newton said: A python script!! Oh dear, dear me. You really don't know your audience here do you? Oh and it gets better: it runs on Linux!
To expect stick-in-the-muds still using PAF to change to a Windows program with an installer is almost as bad as getting blood out of a stone. To expect them to change to Linux, know how to use it, download the Python runtime and then run a script? That's full parting of the Red Sea level of miracle required.
There are some people here (like me) who could actually do what you are suggesting. We would be very disinclined to because of the lack of FSFT certification.
Stop spamming this forum, and do some market research before even trying to promote the script.0 -
freeseek said: I am tempted to stop replying, but I need to correct you. The software runs on any platform, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. I am not doing any advertisement. You are providing misleading information by advertising Ancestral Quest, Legacy, and Roots Magic which I have tried many years ago and they all fail to provide the tools to properly download GEDCOM files from FamilySearch.0
-
David Newton said: Tsk, tsk. Someone's been spamming on the Familysearch wiki as well haven't they. I wonder if Flominator on the wiki and freeseek are the same person? What are the chances of that?
Stop being wedded to such an antiquated format. Stop spamming. Get your script certified for communication with FSFT. That is the way to do things. If you won't get your script certified then frankly I hope that your it is blocked from accessing FSFT at all if that is possible.0
This discussion has been closed.