In a message dated 11/6/1998 2:46:18 PM, Larry wrote: >A gedcom is a text file which has a certain order to it which can be used >by family tree programs to place peole and events together in a >comprehendable way. It can be used to trade info between two different >family tree programs. In other words it is the common laungage of family >tree programs. What's nice is that Gedcom files can be swapped by just about anybody. My mother has an old DOS version of Family Tree Maker for IBM. We used to keep everything on her computer but then I bought Reunion for Macintosh. I exported from FTM to Gedcom, uploaded to Reunion and there were the family files. I made my updates, exported out to Gedcom, and she got all my current information. Some things we've noticed: The names, birthdates and vital statistics translated fine. We did notice that wherever a ? was entered for a date in FTM, my Reunion program did not recognize the question mark and instead put a "See Notes" memo in that field. The "notes field," "source field," "misc. field", "card 4" -- whatever you all call that small text file attached to each person's card in your various programs -- does not always translate well. We are having to manually check each person's note fields for garbage characters and broken sentences. And be sure you know what your program's limitations are on the number of people. My mom's old FTM program cannot hold as many people in a file as my Reunion program will. Paula Wethington Rose