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From: Shirley Hornbeck <>
Subject: This and That GEDCOM
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 16:03:17 -0800


GEDCOM - HOW TO READ IT - HOW TO USE IT:

GEDCOM was originally designed by the LDS Church for their PAF (Personal
Ancestral File) Program. It is the international language that allows my
Personal Ancestral File to talk to your Family Tree Maker, Family Origins,
Roots, or Brother's Keeper.

Hopefully I can help you learn how to upload it, how to download it and if
in a compressed state (.zip) how to uncompress it and if received in .txt
format, how to convert it. Important to remember is that if you are going
to receive these via e-mail , the person sending must send in the same
format that you use (for instance IBM-compatible PCs use MIME while
Macintosh use Bin-Hex). It is a good idea to tell the person sending this
gedcom to you what you use. I use PAF 2.31 so my instructions may not
work exactly the same for you if you use some other application. If you
have something else, please tell me how you do it.....

MAKE A GEDCOM:
Most genealogy programs have the capability of making a gedcom, and when
created it always ends in .ged extension (i.e. hornbeck.ged). To create a
gedcom, open your genealogy program and look in the menus for GEDCOM, GIE,
EXPORT or SAVE AS or FILE - SAVE AS. You should have an option to make and
export and save a GED or Gedcom file. You will also have an option to
select the drive you want it placed in, the directory you want it placed
in, and an opportunity to give it a different name.

TO SEND A GEDCOM:
Prepare your GEDCOM and either save it to a floppy or somewhere on your
hard drive where you can find it.

Then, write a NEW message to the person you want to send the .ged file to.
Do not hit REPLY to send this file.

On your tool bar in your mail application, you will have an item "ATTACH
FILE". Hit this and then send it. It should arrive as a .ged file not as
text - however if it does, give them the following instructions on how to
use it.

RECEIVE A GEDCOM:
When I receive a GEDCOM, whether by E-mail or by snail mail on disk, and it
is a ---.ged file, the first thing I do it make a subdirectory in my PAF
directory called "TEMP". I then transfer the - - --.ged to that directory
and proceed to convert it to FR following instruction in PAF on how to do
that.

These instructions are for PAF so if you use some other genealogy
application, you may have to experiment a little.
After you receive an attachment by e-mail as a .txt file or the text is
embedded in the e-mail itself, here is one of the easy ways to use it.

1. If it came embedded in the e-mail message as text, then in your mail
application such as Eudora, which is what I use, go to FILE and click SAVE
AS and save the message to a TEMP file. If you don't have a TEMP file,
make one. If it came as an attachment and is already in your ATTACHMENT
directory go to #2.

2. If it came as a .ged file, you can skip this part. If it came as a .txt
file or embedded in the e-mail, go to File Manager or Windows Explorer and
find the file in your TEMP directory. Open it by double-clicking on it.

3. If there is anything before HEAD and after TRLR, delete it being,
careful not to delete TRLR itself.

4. Click on FILE and SAVE AS to a floppy disk in A drive renaming it so it
ends in .ged instead of .txt.

5. Assuming you have your genealogy application set up for multiple family
record directories, make a new directory for this GEDCOM naming it whatever
you like.

6. Move the .ged file to the directory you just created.

7. Now follow the directions in your genealogy program to convert this
GEDCOM into family records.

If you receive a GEDCOM file that is split between two or more files, one
with .ged as the extension and the others with .G00, .G01, G02, etc. -
there are several ways to use these files. If it arrived through e-mail
and the first .ged file is embedded in a message, you must follow
instructions above to open and get rid of the text before HEAD and after
TRLR in the first file. It is easy to work with these files if you put
each one on a different floppy. Following your application's instructions,
proceed to start the conversion to family records. It will ask for the
next file (.G00) so insert that disk, then .G01, .G02, etc.

If you receive this file as a .zip file, go to File Manager and move it to
a TEMP directory. Double click on it and unzip it to that same directory.
It probably will be one or more .ged files. Follow instructions above on
what to do next.

DO NOT ADD THE GEDCOM TO YOUR OWN FAMILY RECORDS FILE UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE
VIEWED IT TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE. AND before you add it to your own family
record files, first make a GEDCOM of your files, or back them up, SO IF
SOMETHING GOES WRONG, YOU CAN GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE!

I invite your comments on how you do it and what works for you so I can add
it to this tip.

This is a revised post to This and That GEDCOM as my previous tip on my
website was VERY confusing and repetitive.

----Shirley Hornbeck -
MY HOME PAGE: <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm>;
HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CETER:
<http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm>;
THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck>;
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