Using Email to Share Information

Sharing Reports Using Email
Sharing Charts Using Email
Sharing Family Files Using Email

Sharing GEDCOM Files Using Email
Compressing Files

Reunion creates a variety of reports and charts that can be shared with others. One method is to create reports and publish them on the web, or via a file-sharing service like iCloud Drive or Dropbox. See the chapter Web Publishing for more details.

Another method of sharing information is via email. A report or chart can be attached to an email message. Each section below contains tips for sharing information via email.

Note: If you're not sure how to attach files to an email message, please consult the help/documentation for your email app for instructions.

Sharing Reports Using Email

To send a configured report via email (such as a person sheet, family group sheet, Register report, etc.), first decide whether you want to share a PDF file or a text file.

PDF File

Note: Reunion's book feature creates a PDF file directly. There is no need to follow the directions below.

To share other reports in PDF format...

  1. In the navbar, select Reports.
  2. Choose one of the reports.
  3. Click the Destination button and select Printer or your word processor. (If you select your word processor, then click Open in [your word processor].)
  4. Click the Print button. (If you selected your word processor, then choose File > Print.)
  5. Click the PDF button in the lower-left corner of the Print window and choose Mail PDF. The recipient can open the PDF file with the Preview app (if they use a Mac) or with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader app. This should happen automatically.

Text File

To share a report as a text file...

  1. In the navbar, select Reports.
  2. Choose one of the reports.
  3. Click the Destination button and choose Text File.
  4. Click Save Text File and name the report.
  5. Locate and attach the text file to a new email message (in your email app). Note, the report file you created is, by default, located here: Documents/Reunion Files/Reports. (To learn more about changing the default location for new report files, click here.)

Sending Instant Reports Using Email

To send an instant report via email (such as an Events report, Obituary report, Ages report, etc.)...

  1. Click the Share button at the bottom of the report.
  2. Select the name of your Mac's default email app in the Share window.

Or, if the destination options include "Text File" you can save the report to disk and then attach the text file to a new email message (in your email app). Note, the report file you created is, by default, located here: Documents/Reunion Files/Reports.

Sharing Charts Using Email

To share a chart with somebody who already uses Reunion (the same version that you use), follow this procedure...

  1. In the navbar, select Charts.
  2. Choose one of the charts and click Create Chart.
  3. After the chart appears and you've edited it as desired, choose File > Save. Name the chart file.
  4. Quit Reunion, locate and attach the chart file to a new email message (in your email app). Note, the chart file you created is, by default, located here: Documents/Reunion Files/Charts.

To share a chart with somebody who doesn't use Reunion, you can send a PDF version of the chart. Follow this procedure...

  1. In the navbar, select Charts.
  2. Choose one of the charts and click Create Chart.
  3. After the chart appears and you've edited it as desired, choose File > Open in Preview > Chart Only (or Chart with Frame).
  4. Choose File > Print.
  5. Click the PDF button in the lower-left corner of the Print window and choose Mail PDF. The recipient can open the PDF file with the Preview app (if they have Mac OS X) or with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader app. This should happen automatically.
Sharing Family Files Using Email

If the intended recipient already uses Reunion then check with him and confirm that he has the same version of Reunion that you have. If not, convince him to contact us and purchase an upgrade. Then follow this procedure...

To share a family file via email...

  1. Quit Reunion. (This is very important!)
  2. Locate your family file in the Finder. By default, family files are located in: Documents/Reunion Files/.
  3. Compress the family file.
  4. Attach the compressed family file to an email. If the file is too large to send via email, consider using Dropbox or some other file-sharing service.

Sharing GEDCOM Files Using Email

If the intended recipient uses another genealogy app, then you'll need to export a GEDCOM file and send him the GEDCOM file via email attachment. Follow this procedure...

  1. Open a family file.
  2. Export a GEDCOM file, paying particular attention to the GEDCOM character set and the line length.
  3. Compress the GEDCOM file (see below).
  4. Attach the compressed GEDCOM file to an email.
Compressing Files

Mac OS X makes it easy to compress files and folders...

  1. Select an item or items in the Finder (by single-clicking).
  2. From the menu at the top, choose File > Compress. The resulting .zip file is a compressed file which you can attach to an email message.

There are three reasons to compress files prior to attaching and sending by email...

  1. Compressed files are smaller and will require less time to send by email.
  2. Some email apps modify (or mangle) text file attachments when sent or received (like report files or GEDCOM files). Compressing text files before they are attached will prevent this damage.
  3. Files compressed using Apple's Compress command can be decompressed (or "unzipped") by Windows users.

Please consult Mac OS Help for more information about creating compressed archive files.