Importing & Exporting Reunion Family Files

Importing Family Files

Combining or Merging Reunion Family Files
Importing Files Into Older Versions of Reunion

Exporting Family Files, Sources, Logs, and Media
Exporting a Branch or Subset of a Family File

Exporting Just My Relatives

Saving a Copy or Template of a Family File With No Data

 

Importing Family Files

Reunion lets you add records from one Reunion family file to another. If necessary, you can work on separate branches of your family and later combine them into one file.

The Import Family File feature in Reunion will only import Reunion family files (version 5 or newer). It will not import a family file from another program, such as Family Tree Maker. If you want to import the records from a Family Tree Maker file, ask the Family Tree Maker user to export a GEDCOM file. Then, you can import the GEDCOM file.

This feature should not be used when upgrading. I.e., if you upgraded to Reunion 13 and need to convert an older family file for use in Reunion 13, then choose File > Open and simply "open" the older family file. When opened, the older file will be converted. Learn more.

Importing will add records to the family file. There is no simple way to undo this! We recommend inspecting the data before adding it to your family file. Or at least choose File > Save A Backup Copy before importing.

To import a Reunion family file...

  1. Be sure that Family View is selected in the navbar.
  2. Choose File > Import > Reunion Family File.
  3. Select the family file that you want to import.
Import Choices

You'll have some decisions to make before you import one family file into another.

People

Automatic Flag and Marking

You can 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.

Marking or setting a unique flag for the imported records will make it easier for you to review new records after importing.

A new flag can be created, on the spot, by clicking the Automatic flag/mark button and choosing New.

Sources

When importing sources, Reunion will compare the source records in both family files and will add unique sources to the current family file. This will likely result in renumbered sources in the incoming data.

A source is not considered "unique" if its first 75 characters are the same in both family files. In this case, the sources will be merged with those in your existing family file. If the sources are unique (not the same in both family files), they will be added to your source list when you import a file.

See also Match and Merge Sources.

Media Links

This option enables the importing of media links to people, families, and/or source records in a family file. Media files are not imported, only the path (or link) to each media file. Learn more.

Logs

This option enables the importing of logs in a family file.

Does All Data Import?

Using the Import Family File feature...

This data is imported...
people
families
logs
media links
used fields and sources
text style and color
extended characters
citations and details
marked status (unless Mark is selected in the Automatic flag/mark button).
report layouts
printer settings
family views
font choices
choice of home family
other minor settings.

Combining or Merging Reunion Family Files

Reunion lets you add records from one Reunion family file to another via the File > Import > Reunion Family File feature. You can combine entire family files or just subsets of family files. Some refer to this process as "combining trees."

Note: this feature is for importing another Reunion family file. If you need to import a GEDCOM file, click here.

For example...

Here's the step-by-step procedure...

  1. Before proceeding, open each family file and choose File > Save a Backup Copy. This is very important in case you're not exactly sure who's in each family file and the combination doesn't turn out the way you want or you change your mind later.
  2. Open the Jones Family (the one into which you want to import records).
  3. Choose File > Import > Reunion Family File. A window appears wherein you can select the Miller Family and click Open.
  4. A window with merging options will appear. To merge all the data from the Miller Family, select All people. Other options in the Import window are described above.
  5. Click Import. Reunion will then import the Miller Family into the Jones Family.
  6. The last step will be to link the imported Miller people with the existing Jones people wherever the two families connect.

    The key here is that after you import records, there is no link between the existing Joneses and the imported Millers. They're all combined in the family file, but they're not linked together.

    If John Doe from the Miller Family was in the Jones Family and you imported his ancestors from the Miller Family, then, after the import, you'd need to link them together. To do this, you'd go to John Doe's record (find him in the People sidebar), click the Add (+) button above his name, choose Add Father From the Sidebar, and drag his father's name from the sidebar and drop him into the button where he belongs (above John's name).

The goal is to import as little "overlap" as possible, otherwise you'll need to delete duplicate records after importing and linking.

Reunion does not check for duplicate data when importing another family file. If the files you are merging contain some of the same people, these people will be duplicated and you will have to delete the duplicate people/families after importing. Reunion's Match & Merge feature will help in many situations.

Importing Family Files into Older Versions of Reunion

Reunion 13 family files can't be imported into older versions of Reunion (version 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, etc.).

If you need to send a family file to somebody who has an older version of Reunion and they're unable to purchase Reunion 13 (for example, if their Mac can't run on macOS 10.9 or newer), then the only way to send them data is to export a GEDCOM file.

Exporting Family Files, Sources, Media, and Logs

The Export Reunion Family File feature makes it easy to answer questions like, "Can you send me just the descendants of Uncle Harry?" or "Can you give me just the ancestors of my grandson?" The answer is "yes" for these and many other cases where only a portion of the family file is needed, for any reason.

To export portions of a family file (marked, unmarked, or all people, sources, media, and/or logs)...

  1. Be sure that Family View is selected in the navbar.
  2. Choose File > Export > Reunion Family File. This opens a window with several options, described below.

exportfamilyfile

People

Sources

Media

Logs

This option enables the exporting of logs in a family file.

Exporting a Branch or Subset of a Family File

To export a branch or subset of a family file...

  1. First, selectively mark records, by selecting Mark in the navbar. Many different subsets of the family file can be marked automatically, such as relatives of somebody, ancestors of somebody, descendants of a couple, etc. Learn more.
  2. After you're finished marking the people you need to export, be sure that Family View is selected in the navbar.
  3. Choose File > Export > Reunion Family File.
  4. Configure the window so that Marked people is enabled.
  5. Make choices regarding the inclusion of media items, sources, and logs.
  6. Click Export.
Exporting Just My Relatives

Let's say you have a family file (A) that contains your relatives and your spouse's relatives, and you want to copy your relatives into a separate family file (B) for use on the same Mac. Shown below is the two-step process of marking your relatives and then exporting them into a new family file.

Step 1
Step 2
Marking Your Relatives

  1. Open family file A and navigate to your record.
  2. Select Mark in the navbar.
  3. Using the Who button in the Mark panel, choose All Relatives.
  4. Using the "of" button, choose your name if it's not already appearing.
  5. Click the Mark button.
  6. Select Family View in the navbar.
Exporting Your Relatives
  1. Choose File > Export > Reunion Family File.
  2. Check the Marked people button.
  3. Include All sources, All media. Do not check the button "Copy media files..."
  4. Click Export. Name and save the new family file which will only contain your relatives.
Saving a Copy or Template of a Family File With No Data

To save an empty copy (or template) of your family file...

  1. Choose File > Export > Family File.
  2. In the Export window, select No people, No sources, and No media.
  3. Click Export.

This will create an exact copy of a family file minus all people, families, sources, and logs. One reason to create a template (or clone) is if you've customized a family file with elaborate family views, report layouts, field definitions, defaults, etc., and you want to make a new family file without redoing your customization.