Importing and Exporting GEDCOM Files

What Is GEDCOM?

Reasons to Use GEDCOM

GEDCOM Limitations

Importing GEDCOM Files into Reunion

Exporting GEDCOM Files from Reunion

Multimedia in GEDCOM Files

What Is the GEDZIP Format?

The Unique ID Number (UID)

What Is GEDCOM?

GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication — a file format developed by the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to meet their genealogical data communication needs and the needs of other institutions wishing to exchange data with the Family History Department.

GEDCOM has evolved into a de facto standard (supported by many genealogy software developers) for the exchange of genealogy information between different apps and computers.

Reunion supports he most recent version of the GEDCOM Specification, 7.0 (released in 2021) and 5.5.5 (released in 2019). Reunion also supports the GEDZIP format, defined in the GEDCOM 7.0 Specification. A GEDZIP file is a single file that can contain archives of source media files associated with the family file. Click here for more information.

Reasons to Use GEDCOM

Here are some typical scenarios that would require the use of a GEDCOM file:

  1. If you already entered information in another genealogy app and decide to switch to Reunion.
  2. If you want to share your data with someone not yet using Reunion — somebody using another genealogy app.
  3. If somebody using another genealogy app wants to share his information with you.
  4. If you have access to genealogical databases on the web (perhaps through a paid service like Ancestry.com) and you need to transfer the information into Reunion.
GEDCOM Limitations

Over the years, the GEDCOM specification has been the root of many problems with genealogical data exchange. There are two primary reasons for this:

  1. The specification was written in such a way that it is impractical for genealogy software developers to support all its possibilities.
  2. The specification contains many elements that may be interpreted in different ways by different developers. Further, between the official releases of GEDCOM 4.0 and GEDCOM 5.5.1, several "draft" versions were created, and some apps utilize elements from draft versions in their GEDCOM features.
  3. A misperception exists that GEDCOM was designed for complete data transfer between software apps. It was not. In fact, according to the LDS church, the role of GEDCOM is limited to transferring data in "common fields." Generally speaking, the transfer of data between fields that are common to different apps is fairly reliable. What is unpredictable, and often problematic, is the transfer of data tied to specific features of a particular app or data residing in fields that are exclusive to one app or the other.

The result is that GEDCOM, as a standard file format, is much less reliable than other "standard file formats" (such as TIFF, HTML, or RTF) as a means of exchanging or translating data. Moving data between different software apps via GEDCOM may not provide a complete and accurate translation of your data, and using GEDCOM does not reconcile differing data structures employed by different developers.

Every genealogy app uses different methods of information management, has different capabilities and limitations, and may interpret or implement GEDCOM differently. These factors all affect the fidelity of information translated between genealogy apps.

Here we explain how to use Reunion to import and export GEDCOM files; however, there simply isn't enough space to review all the potential pitfalls of GEDCOM data exchange. You may contact us if you have specific questions about Reunion's implementation of GEDCOM. If you have questions regarding the implementation of GEDCOM in another app, you should contact the developer of the other app.

Importing GEDCOM Files into Reunion

There are four steps to importing a GEDCOM file.

Tips:

  1. For the fastest results, copy GEDCOM files to your hard drive before importing. Avoid importing a GEDCOM file directly from a CDR, USB flash drive, over a network, etc.
  2. To skip steps 1 and 2 (below), simply drag and drop a GEDCOM file onto the Reunion application icon in the Finder.

Step 1

In Reunion, open a family file or make a new, empty family file.

When you're ready to import a GEDCOM file into Reunion, the first decision you must make is whether to import GEDCOM data into a new, empty family file or into an existing Reunion family file.

To make a new, empty family file, choose File > New Family File and enter a name for the new family file.

To open an existing family file, choose File > Open.

Note: It's important to understand that importing records into an existing family file will add data to the family file. There is no easy way to undo this! Before importing a GEDCOM file into an existing family file, you should...
  1. Choose File > Save A Backup Copy.
  2. Consider importing GEDCOM data into a new, empty family file so that you can thoroughly inspect the data before adding it to your family file.
  3. If possible, check to see if there is any duplicate information — i.e., you should identify any people, families, or branches that appear in both the GEDCOM file (the source file) and the existing family file (the destination file). Reunion does not check for duplicates when importing records.

Step 2

Choose File > Import > GEDCOM and choose a GEDCOM file.

Use the window that opens to navigate through folders/volumes. To be considered a valid GEDCOM file, the file must have an extension of ".ged" or ".gedcom" — although you may not see the extension if it is hidden in the Finder.

Step 3

Configure the GEDCOM Import window.

When you select a GEDCOM file, Reunion will analyze it — which could take a while. When it's done, the GEDCOM Import window will appear. This window has two sections, described below.

The General Section of the GEDCOM Import Window

The first section of the GEDCOM Import window is called General. It lists some details about the GEDCOM file, such as where it came from and the number of people, families, and sources. You should examine this information to make sure you selected the correct GEDCOM file.

GEDCOM Character Set

You should choose the proper character set of the GEDCOM file using the GEDCOM character set button. The best selection depends on the source of your GEDCOM file. In most cases, the correct choice has already been made for you based on what Reunion sees when it previews the GEDCOM file. The choices include...

The correct choice will enable Reunion to perform a proper conversion of characters to Unicode/UTF-8. (All text in Reunion is stored in the Unicode/UTF-8 format.)

If you are importing a GEDCOM 7 file, the GEDCOM character set button will be disabled with UTF-8 selected. UTF-8 is the only character set supported in GEDCOM 7.

Automatic Source

In the GEDCOM Import window, the Automatic Source menu lets you instruct Reunion to automatically assign a general source citation to each person imported from the GEDCOM file.

Automatic Flag/Mark

The Automatic flag/mark menu button lets you automatically set a flag for each imported person or mark each imported person. If you choose to mark the imported records, Reunion will unmark all records in the current file before importing.

You can also create a new flag, on the spot, by clicking the Automatic flag/mark button and choosing New.

The Optional Fields Section of the GEDCOM Import Window

The Optional Fields section of the GEDCOM Import window contains two lists: one with person fields and one with family fields. Both lists exclude the basic fields found in the GEDCOM file. (Basic fields would include birth, death, marriage, and divorce.)

For each field, Reunion will make its best guess, based on the tag and the data in the GEDCOM file. However, as explained before, GEDCOM data transfer is often replete with ambiguity.

What Is a GEDCOM Tag?

A GEDCOM tag is a short word that identifies a piece of information in a GEDCOM file. If you were to look at a GEDCOM file in your word processor, you'd see lots of lines of text. Each line begins with a number and a tag that identifies the contents of the line. This example shows the Birth and Date tags:

1 BIRT
2 DATE 2 Oct 1820


Step 4

When the GEDCOM Import window is properly configured, click Import to begin the import.

The process of importing a large GEDCOM file may be very time consuming (especially one with lots of citation records); however, Reunion will keep you posted on its progress.


Exporting GEDCOM Files from Reunion

There are three steps to exporting a GEDCOM file.


Step 1

Open a family file in Reunion.


Step 2

Be sure that Family View is selected in the navbar and choose File > Export > GEDCOM. This will open the GEDCOM Export window which has two sections, described below.

The General Section of the GEDCOM Export Window

The first section of the GEDCOM Export window is called General. In this section, you can make some choices about the GEDCOM file.

For Whom?

Reunion can export a GEDCOM file that includes everybody in your family file or only people who are marked (this includes their spouses).

In addition, you can export marked people and their children, marked people and their parents, or marked people and their parents and children. When "and their parents" is selected, this will export parents of marked people and the parents of the spouses of marked people.

By selectively or automatically marking people, this feature provides the capability to export portions (or subsets) of your family file. For example, you could mark all the descendants of an ancestor or mark all the blood relatives of a person and then export a GEDCOM file containing only marked people.

Other options in this window are explained below (and in the following links)...

Selecting a Destination

In the GEDCOM Export window, you can specify a destination for the outgoing GEDCOM file. Your selection from the Destination button will change the contents of the GEDCOM file.

GEDCOM Character Set

Use the GEDCOM character set menu button to select a character set most likely to be compatible with the destination software. In most cases, unless the destination software is very old, UTF-8 is will be the best choice. (All text stored in Reunion uses the Unicode/UTF-8 format.) The choices are...

Note that if you have chosen a destination of GEDCOM 7.0, the GEDCOM character set button will not be appear.

Line Length, Email Attachments

The GEDCOM 4.0 & 5.5 specification permits line lengths up to 255characters. (A line is a string of text ending with a return character.) However, if you intend to send a GEDCOM file via email (as part of an email message or as an attachment), the sending or receiving email package may insert return characters to break lines in the GEDCOM file over a certain number of characters. It does this because the attached GEDCOM file is simply a text file. The data in notes fields is most susceptible to this type of email mangling — causing longer note lines to become truncated and potentially damaging the GEDCOM file so that it cannot be imported.

To avoid this problem, there are two options...

  1. Limit the line length when exporting a GEDCOM file from Reunion. To set the maximum line length, use the Line length button in the GEDCOM Export > General panel.
  2. Compress the GEDCOM file before attaching it to an email message. This will prevent modification of the GEDCOM file by the email software. Compressing the GEDCOM file also has the added benefit of making the file smaller. As a result, it will take less time for you to upload the file and less time for the receiver to download the file. More information about sharing files via email appears here.

Note that if you have chosen a destination of GEDCOM 7.0, the Line length button will not be appear.

GEDZIP

If you have chosen a destination of GEDCOM 7.0 a GEDZIP checkbox will appear. Checking this option will create a GEDZIP file.

A GEDZIP file is a single file archive that can contain one or many files; the GEDCOM 7.0 file and optionally any original source media files linked to the records included in the GEDCOM file. A GEDZIP file will have a file type of .gdz where all other GEDCOM files will have a file type of .ged. GEDZIP file is compressed to make better use of disk space or download bandwidth.

Note that if you have NOT chosen a destination of GEDCOM 7.0, the GEDZIP option will not be appear.

Submitter Information

To record a name, address, and phone number for the submitter of a GEDCOM file, click the Submitter button. Most genealogy software apps ignore submitter information when importing a GEDCOM file.

The Optional Fields Section of the GEDCOM Export Window

The Optional Fields section of the GEDCOM Export window contains two lists: one with person fields and one with family fields. Both lists include fields in use and reserved fields (such as address-related fields) but do not include the basic fields in your family file which are always exported. Basic fields would include birth, death, marriage, and divorce.

Each list shows the name of the field and the GEDCOM tag. Both of these are defined in Reunion. Learn more.

When you export data to another app, the other app may or may not understand all GEDCOM tags. You may want to change a tag in order to facilitate the transfer of data to another genealogy app.

To change the GEDCOM tag of the outgoing fields, you can type directly into the Tag column in the list. This does not change the field definition in Reunion — it only applies to the exported GEDCOM file.

The last column (Export) contains check-box buttons that let you select whether or not to export each field.

Exporting Event Memos

To include the contents of event Memo fields in the exported GEDCOM file, check the button Include event memos in the Optional Fields section of the GEDCOM Export window, shown above. To exclude event memos in the exported GEDCOM file, uncheck this button.

You may want to exclude Memo fields when exporting data to Ancestry.com or other software that does not support Memo fields. Or, you may want to exclude the Memo fields if you typically enter data into event memos that you don't want to share with others. More information about memo fields is here.


Step 3

When the GEDCOM Export window is ready to go, click Export.

This opens the Save window, where you enter a file name and click Export. If the file is destined for a PC running Windows, use a file name with a .GED extension so that the receiving app can read/recognize the file.

Multimedia in GEDCOM 4.0 & 5.5 files

Reunion supports the GEDCOM tag "OBJE" for importing and exporting links to multimedia items. This includes multimedia items linked to person, family, and source records. This feature lets you move data and images between different genealogy apps and platforms — if the other app also supports multimedia links in GEDCOM files.

Reunion supports URLs using the OBJE tag also. Here's an example from Ancestry.com:

1 OBJE
2 FILE http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=2978f60e-93f9-489c-8833-05644d4360bd&tid=87201235&pid=10

When URLs appear with the OBJE tag, Reunion will save the complete URL as a "web address" and it will be "clickable" in Reunion's Media and Source windows, and also in Reports > Multimedia Usage.

Reunion also imports cross-referenced media items (as exported by MacFamilyTree, for example).

The method of embedding multimedia items in GEDCOM files using the "BLOB" tag is not supported.

Real World Example

Let's say you've been using genealogy software on a Dell PC and you purchase a new iMac and Reunion. There would be two steps to moving data and images to Reunion...

  1. Export a GEDCOM file from the Dell/PC genealogy software and import that file into Reunion.
  2. Copy the multimedia files from the Dell/PC to your iMac, maintaining the directory/folder structure.

In the GEDCOM file exported from PC genealogy software, links to images files might look like these examples...

2 FILE PhotoFolder\SmithFamily\Gregory1938.JPG
2 FILE D:\Stuff\Jones\My Documents\My Pictures\Jones\Photo2001.jpg

After importing into Reunion, the links (the paths to the image files) would look like the examples below. (To see the paths of multimedia items after importing a GEDCOM file, use the Media window Information panel, described here.)

~/Pictures/PhotoFolder/SmithFamily/Gregory1938.JPG
~/Pictures/Stuff/Jones/My Documents/My Pictures/Jones/Photo2001.jpg

Note that the default repository for images on the Macintosh is: Home/Pictures (this is typically abbreviated as: ~/Pictures).

A large capacity flash drive should suffice for the task of copying lots of pictures (or folders of pictures) to your Mac. After doing this, you'll need to do one of two things...

  1. Rebuild the folder structure as it was on the PC so that the "paths" to multimedia files are valid, or...
  2. Add the folders containing the multimedia items to the list of "Multimedia Search Folders" in the Multimedia Settings. Doing so will enable Reunion to search inside those folders and find the images faster.

The Nuts and Bolts

Reunion will export the following tags in a GEDCOM file when the Include multimedia links button in the GEDCOM Export window is checked:

Level
Tag
Description
1
OBJE
Marks the start of a media item.
2
FORM
File format. Examples: image/jpg or image/png or audio/aiff.
2
FILE
Path to the file.
2
TITL
User-entered file description.
2
NOTE
Optional user-entered memo.
2
_TYPE
Type of file...
PHOTO - Images.
PHOTO DOCUMENT - Images with Treat as Document button checked.
SOUND - Sound file.
VIDEO - Movie.
PDF - PDF File.
TEXT - Text file.
RTF - RTF file.
DOCUMENT - MS Word document.
2
_SENS
Set to 'Y' if the media item is marked as sensitive; line excluded otherwise.
Example: 2 _SENS Y
2
_PRIM
Set to 'Y' if media item is the preferred picture; 'N' otherwise.
Example: 2 _PRIM N
2
_SIZE
If _TYPE is PHOTO, width and height of image file are included.
Example: 2 _SIZE 117.000000 150.000000
2
CROP
GEDCOM 7.0 files include a CROP tag followed by level 3 TOP, LEFT, WIDTH, and HEIGHT for images that have been cropped.
2
_CROP
If _TYPE is PHOTO and the user cropped the image; origin and size of cropped portion are included.
Example: 2 _CROP 106.296295 151.851852 182.407410 237.037033
2
_ANGL
If _TYPE is PHOTO and the user rotated the image; the angle is given, otherwise this line is not included.
Example: 2 _ANGL 90

_SENS, _SIZE, _CROP, and _ANGL are tags unique to Reunion.

CROP, TOP, LEFT, WIDTH and HEIGHT are tags unique to GEDCOM 7.0.

When importing GEDCOM files, Reunion only requires a FILE path under the OBJE tag. All of the other tags that are exported are also supported on import but not required. So if the TITL is not included, the file name is used as the description. If the _TYPE is not provided, Reunion will guess based on the file type.

If there is no _PRIM tag explicitly indicating that a media item is the preferred picture, then Reunion will assign preferred picture status to the first image linked to that person in the GEDCOM file.

Note for both importing and exporting: colons, forward slashes and back slashes can't be used in media file names. These characters are reserved to be file path separators. The forward slash on OS X, Unix and the Web; the back slash for Windows.

Miscellaneous GEDCOM Issues

The Unique ID Number (UID)

Reunion supports the "Unique ID" or "Unique Identifier" (UID) numbers that began appearing in GEDCOM files exported by PAF version 5.

(Note: this is not the User ID which is explained here, or the Person/Family ID which is explained here.)

UIDs are automatically assigned to person and family records. The purpose of these numbers is to assist in Match & Merge. For example, if you give someone a GEDCOM file representing a portion of your family file and they make changes that you later import back into your main family file, you can match and merge these records based on the Unique Identifier numbers to 'realign' all the imported duplicate entries. Put another way, the UID is only useful after importing a part of the family file that previously was exported from the main file. (This assumes that the genealogy software at the other end preserves the UID numbers when records are imported/exported via GEDCOM.)

Like its name says, each UID is designed to be totally unique. It is not based on a person's name, system, or software. Each number was never generated before and will never be generated again by any system or software, ever. Here is an example of a UID number appearing in a GEDCOM file...

1 _UID C241A8F0570ED51186A34445535400003FC6

The UID number is 32 digits consisting of the numbers 0-9 and the letters A-F. It is painfully long and hard to look at; thus, these numbers do not appear anywhere except in...

They are preserved in GEDCOM files, TEXT files, and backup copies of a family file.

UID numbers may be excluded when exporting a GEDCOM file using the Optional Fields section (for people and families). If you're exporting to genealogical software that does not support UIDs, you'll receive far fewer errors by disabling the export of UIDs.

General information about the concept of a "globally unique identifier" appears in Wikipedia.

The QUAY Tag

If the QUAY tag (the submitter's quantitative evaluation of the credibility of a piece of information, aka "quality of data") is encountered while importing a GEDCOM file, its value will be ignored.

Geo Codes in GEDCOM

Geographic coordinates (geo codes) are exported with places in a GEDCOM file. These consist of a numerical value (expressed in decimal degrees) for latitude and longitude. Any place with an associated geo code or note field will appear in the GEDCOM file (near the "end") using a "0_PLAC" record, like this...

0 _PLAC Slingerlands, NY
1 MAP
2 LATI 42.6304340
2 LONG -73.8722920

When importing a GEDCOM file, the number of "0 _PLAC" records (like the example above) appears in the General section of the Import GEDCOM window. Geo codes and notes for those place records will be imported.

Of course, Reunion also imports places in a GEDCOM file located within the INDI record. When these places have associated geo codes and notes within the INDI record, then these are also imported.

When importing places into an existing family file, the places that have geo codes will be imported into the database of places maintained by the family file. If a GEDCOM file contains a place that has been used multiple times or has previously been defined in the family file, then the first instance of a geo code assigned to that place will be used. I.e., if the place already existed in the family file before the GEDCOM import and had geo codes assigned, then those geo codes will not be replaced.

Learn more about recording geo codes in Reunion.

Last Modified Date for Source Records

Reunion imports and exports a last modified date for source records. However, this date does not appear in the Source window.

Memo Fields

If an event Memo field in a GEDCOM file is too large for Reunion to import (over 2,500 characters), the text string "See Notes" is put into the Memo field and the complete memo text is put into the Misc. Notes field under a heading of the event type. Learn more about memo fields.

Citation Detail

When importing a GEDCOM file, citation details containing more than 1 line or more than 250 characters will be appended to the Free-Form Text field of the cited source and the detail will be blank (in most cases). Before the detail is added to the Free-Form Text field, the source text is scanned to make sure that the detail info is not already in the text field to avoid duplicated transcriptions in the source record. Also, see the next section for special accommodations made for GEDCOM files from Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker.

Importing GEDCOM Files From Ancestry.com & Family Tree Maker

The following accommodations for source and citation records are implemented when importing GEDCOM files from Ancestry.com or Family Tree Maker...

  1. If an incoming source citation is considered "complex," the cited source record is duplicated into a new source record in Reunion and the extra citation information is added to the new source record. A source citation is considered complex if any of the following conditions are met...
  2. If a field (for example "birth") has linked media, then a new source record is created and the media that was linked to that field is added to the new source record. The new source record is added to the list of citations for the field.

The following accommodations are made to provide better compatibility when importing GEDCOM files from Ancestry.com...

Exporting GEDCOM Files To Ancestry.com

When exporting a GEDCOM file with a destination set to Ancestry.com (in Reunion's GEDCOM Export window), the following changes are made in order to provide better compatibility with Ancestry.com (regardless of the settings you see in the window)...