What is a GEDCOM and How is it Used?
GEDCOM is an acronym for Genealogical Data Communication and is a means to exchange genealogical data between different types of genealogy software programs. On-line genealogical sites and off-line genealogy programs allow for uploading or downloading files in a GEDCOM format.
If you download a GEDCOM file from the Internet or receive one from another researcher, you must have a software program installed on your computer in order to open the file.
There are free genealogy programs offered by Legacy, My Heritage and others, as well as programs that can be purchased. Simply type "download free genealogy programs" and several will come up.
Here is a screenshot of free ones from Legacy and from My Heritage, for example.
Once you have a program installed, opening a GEDCOM file is simple. If you have a program, just double-click on the GEDCOM file, and it should open with your genealogy software. Or go to your program and click on import, search for the file which should have an extension of .ged
Recently someone said she was thinking of giving up her Ancestry account. At almost $200 per year, Ancestry is an expensive place to store one's tree, if you are not actively searching for data and documents for your ancestors.
You can, at any time, download a GEDCOM file from Ancestry of your family tree. Unfortunately, it will not include photos and documents, and all sources you got from Ancestry will show Ancestry as the source. But it is far better than allowing your information to be lost.
I made a simple diagram, below, to illustrate the steps to access the screen to download the GEDCOM.
Hi Betty, I love your blog. I have a question about member's trees on Ancestry after they pass on or quit Ancestry. Do their trees always stay available if they were Public?
ReplyDeleteThank you. I believe if the person quits Ancestry and leaves their public tree online that it remains online. Of course if the tree is deleted, it is no longer available. I believe if that person decides to renew, they can pick up on their tree. If a person dies, I believe Ancestry will allow another person, possibly one who is already an Editor on the tree, to take ownership of the tree. That's what we have been told by Ancestry in the past.
ReplyDelete