Shirley Hornbeck <[email protected]> Subject: This and That Genealogy Tips on GEDCOMs GEDCOM was originally designed by the LDS Church for their PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Program. It is the international language that allows my Personal Ancestral File to talk to your Family Tree Maker, Family Origins, Roots, or Brother's Keeper. Most genealogy programs have the capability of making a gedcom, and when created it always ends in .ged extension (i.e. hornbeck.ged). Actually all you have to know to be able to use a GEDCOM is how to upload it, how to download it and if in a compressed state how to uncompress it and if in some format other than .ged, how to convert it. If you are going to receive these via e-mail , the person sending must send in the same format that you use - for instance IBM-compatible PCs use MIME while Macintosh use Bin-Hex. Explanations on loading and downloading should be in the manual for your program. When you receive a gedcom, whether on a floppy or from a download, the main thing is that it ends with the file extension .ged. If it arrives as a .txt file, it can be renamed as a .ged in File Manager, but you should cut everything before 0 HEAD and everything after 0 TRLR be fore you rename it to .ged. I just open and read the .txt file in File Manager, cut out the necessary garbaaaage, then rename it as a .ged file. You can do this same thing with your word processor. And there have been times when I have not "cut" at all and it still worked out OK. I then create a sub-directory in my PAF directory called, for instance, "hornbeck" and move the file into this directory. Your manual or menus should then give you instructions on how to make family records from this Gedcom. I NEVER add it to my existing family records until I have first had a chance to look it over. It's best to put it in it's own family records file while you do this. Personally, what I like to do is to make a "booklet" from the file by using GED-BOOK or some similar application, then print it out to view it and work with it. To create a gedcom, open your genealogy program and look in the menus for GEDCOM, GIE, EXPORT or SAVE AS or FILE - SAVE AS. You should have an option to make and export/save a GED or Gedcom file. You will also have an option to select the drive you want it placed in, the directory you want it placed in, and an opportunity to give it a different name. GEDCOM EMBEDDED IN THE MESSAGE: If you receive a gedcom file embedded in the text of an e-mail message, here is what has to be done: 1. save message as a text file to a floppy or to another directory.<> 2. click on it in file manager or use a text editor to open it. 3. get rid of everything before HEAD. 4. get rid of everything after the TRLR. 5. Now save file as a .ged file or rename it to .ged. 6. Import the file into whatever your favorite genealogy program is and work with it from there to convert to a family records file. GEDCOM SPLIT INTO TWO FILES: If you receive a GEDCOM file that is split between two floppy disks, one with GED as the extension and the other has the rest of the file has another extension: Open the file without the .ged extension in Notepad, select all the text, except the header (if any) and press Ctrl C, close the file and then open the .GED file; move the cursor to the end of the file, and press Ctrl V. This should paste the first file into the .GED file and save it. Another way (which I have not tried): (a). Go to a DOS prompt in a "Temp" sub directory-- assuming, of course that you have an IBM pc and are using DOS. (b). Copy the two files from their floppies into that "Temp" sub directory. (c). Using a text editor or word processor, look at each of the files at the beginning and end. Cut everything before 0 HEAD and everything after 0 TRLR and save the edited file in ASCII format. (d). At the DOS prompt, enter the following command: File#!.ext + File#2.ext File#3.GED File#3.GED is now a new file formed from the two separate files. If you put the files in the right order in the DOS command, the file will begin with the line "0 HEAD." Your genealogy software should be able to import such a file. More This and That Genealogy Tips at my webpage: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> Shirley Hornbeck - [email protected] My Home Page: <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm> HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CENTER: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm> THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> Carol P. Martoccia 903 East Fifth Street Greenville, NC 27858 Pridgen Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6297 Pridgen Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl