The following utility may be of interest to some listers and best of all (be still my frugal Scottish genes), it's free! Cheerio Sue The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.RootsForum.com. - GED-IT There are many GEDCOM file utilities around, I am sure I have described at least two dozen such programs in this newsletter over the years. However, this week I had a chance to use a new GEDCOM utility that is quite unlike any I have used before. GEDCOM files are commonly found in genealogy work. (For an explanation of GEDCOM files, see my article "GEDCOM Explained" at http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0219.htm.) All modern genealogy programs are capable of copying their databases to a GEDCOM file, which can then be used to transfer data to someone else's genealogy program. GEDCOM files are frequently stored on online Web sites. The usual method of looking at someone else's GEDCOM file is to download it to your PC or Mac computer and then import it into your genealogy program or else use a third-party GEDCOM viewer to examine the file. However, that method can be slow, tedious, and even risky if you accidentally import someone else's GEDCOM file into your own genealogy database. GED-IT is a new online GEDCOM file viewer created by Julian Pedley. GED-IT lets you access and analyze any online GEDCOM file. It doesn't matter what server it is on, just as long as it is accessible via normal Web protocols, either HTTP or FTP. (HTTP is generally used to display Web pages, while FTP is "File Transfer Protocol," commonly used to transfer files between computers.) With GED-IT, there is no need to download a file to your computer. You simply go to GED-IT's Web site and tell it to display the information on another Web site. GED-IT will transfer the file to its own Web site at very high speed, then display all the information in your Web browser. You can look at pedigree charts or descendant charts or examine details on a family-by-family basis. Multi-megabyte GEDCOM files can be displayed within 2 or 3 seconds. This is all done online; there is no need to install any software on your computer. Macintosh and Linux users will especially appreciate GED-IT as there are not many genealogy utilities available for those operating systems. GED-IT should work also with handheld Windows CE computers although reading the data on a small screen may be a challenge. Nonetheless, the fact that large files do not need to be downloaded and stored makes this a natural fit for handheld systems with limited storage capabilities. I searched on the Web for some GEDCOM files, found several, noted their URLs (Web addresses) and then went to GED-IT's Web site. I entered the first URL into GED-IT. A couple of seconds later I was presented with six options: a.. Select Pedigree chart for any individual in the file b.. Select Descendant chart for any individual in the file c.. View list of Surnames d.. View list of Names e.. Look at Statistics (which is not yet implemented) f.. Start again The use of each option was super simple: move the mouse and click. The pedigree charts are impressive. However, I soon learned to first click on "View List of Surnames" to find the names of interest. That quickly narrowed the search. I then could click on any name to view family charts of that person. If interested, I could then easily view a pedigree chart of the person as well. The only drawback I can find is that the files must be stored on a server in true GEDCOM format; GED-IT cannot look inside files compressed in ZIP format. GED-IT is a winner. Use of this online utility is faster and easier than downloading GEDCOM files one by one. It is also user-friendly; there is no need for a user's manual. Best of all, it is free. The genealogy community owes a big "Thank you" to Julian Pedley for making GED-IT available to everyone. To use GED-IT yourself, go to: http://ged-it.pedleyonline.com