In a message dated 1/15/00 10:51:29 AM, [email protected] writes: >MICHAEL >SINCE WE ARE FAIRLY NEW AT THIS .PLEASE EXPLAIN GED-COM FORMAT.BE GLAD >TO HELP IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE >DR.T Dr. T., I hope you don't mind that I'm going to send a copy of this email to our RAGAN-ROOTS cousins. This question comes to me quite often so perhaps it'll help others too. A GedCom can be created by most any genealogy software. It's a text file which, when read by someone elses computer/software can put together (imported) into a family file of the sender's research/family history. Since most computers and software are different I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending any particular brand. But I *really* like the one called "Reunion" and it's for the Macintosh platform. I also have and use Family Tree Maker (FTM) for the Mac, but don't like it as well. FTM is available for the PC platform and is very popular, but there are many others available also. I think the GedCom format was put together by the Later Day Saints (LDS). It's really nice since it works across platforms (Mac->PC, PC->Mac) as well as across different software types too. The reason I prefer getting others family information in the GedCom format is because then I don't have to worry about making any typos when importing their data. Also it saves me *much* time (something I never seem to have enough of). Best wishes, Michael W. RAGAN ============ If there is a 50/50 chance of something going wrong, nine times out of ten it will. ============