* Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Importing from another genealogy program? This is the place to ask. Questions about Exporting should go in the Exporting sub-forum of the General Usage forum.
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E Wilcock
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Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by E Wilcock »

This is may be a stupid question. But can fh import (or open to view) a GEDCOM exported from FTM on an Apple mac Computer?

A new and very welcome researcher in our family is using the latest Family Tree Software and her computer is Apple. She is not a computer person. It has been set up by her son. I looked on line and saw FTM has an apple version so it is not running in simulated Windows.

She asks how can she can send me her info? And before explaining about GEDCOMs I want to be sure about how Windows and Apple cope with each other's data.

I'd be grateful for advice from someone who knows more about computers than I do.
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tatewise
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by tatewise »

Since GEDCOM is a plain text file, it will be fully compatible across all types of computer such as Apple Mac and Windows PC.
That should be true whether it is encoded using ANSI, UTF-8, or Unicode.

You first mentioned they are "using the latest Family Tree Software and her computer is Apple".
Is that MacFamilyTree 8 or some other genealogy product?

If they have that, why would they want to install Family Tree Maker (FTM), because then they would have the problem of migrating from MacFamilyTree 8 (or whatever) to Family Tree Maker.

MacFamilyTree 8 has its own GEDCOM export capability as do most genealogy products.
See http://www.syniumsoftware.com/macfamilytree/tech-specs under GEDCOM Support.

Will you also need to transfer Media files, photos, document images, etc?

Most file formats are compatible across all computing devices and include plain text (TXT, GED), PDF, JPG, PNG, and even popular office documents such as DOCX.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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mjashby
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by mjashby »

A GEDCOM File is just a plain text file, so in that sense there is no difference between a GEDCOM file produced on a Mac and a one produced on a Windows (or Linux) PC.

The controlling factor is the application producing or exporting the GEDCOM. Recent releases of FTM by the publishers, Ancestry and now Mac Kiev, (on both Windows and Mac platforms) use the same data structure, so should produce (in theory) identical FTM Files and GEDCOM output, with identical compatibility problems/issues when transferring the data to other software, i.e if the Version of FTM for Mac is 3.0 or later there should be little if any difference.

Mervyn
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E Wilcock
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by E Wilcock »

Sorry - my error. I previewedmy post 3 times but didnt spot that I had used the abbreviaton FTM and then left the word Maker out of my next sentence!
The researcher told me she had bought and was learning how to use
Family Tree Maker 2017, because "it was reviewed as the best one compatible with Apple Macs".

I thought FTM had gone out of existence but I did a google search and it seems to have been taken over from Ancestry by MacKiev
FTM has always been a very popular programme in genealogy groups here in the UK.

She is interested in all descendants of one couple, so some months ago, I sent her a journal report as a word document and she has copied in my data. And from now on we shall be sharing data.
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by E Wilcock »

Mike - I did find an on line review by Keith Riggle providing some details of the GECOM compliance of FTM 2017

I hope it isnt infringing copyright to post it here. I know GEDCOM is of great interest to you and fh.

"MacKiev president Jack Minsky previously committed to making FTM as compliant with the GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard as possible. Changes in FTM 2017 that move in this direction include:

Using UTF-8 encoding by default and removing invalid character sets
Exporting “Cause of Death” as part of a death event instead of a custom tag
Importing and exporting lat and long coordinates
Exporting concatenation tags correctly
Importing ANSEL character set correctly
Importing tag “RESN privacy” as private facts
Importing and exporting child order correctly

FTM 2017 still has room for improvement on GEDCOM 5.5.1 compliance, but at least it’s making progress. Most other developers aren’t even trying to improve their compliance."
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tatewise
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by tatewise »

Just to be clear we are now discussing two layers of compliance.
  1. File type compliance between Apple Mac and Windows PC, which is NOT a problem for most popular files such as plain text (TXT, GED), PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX, etc. For a GEDCOM file, that deals with the way each individual character is encoded in the file. So you can transfer GEDCOM files and associated Media files between Mac and PC.
  2. GEDCOM compliance with Release 5.5 and Draft 5.5.1 is a different matter. That deals with how the family tree data is represented in records and tags. FH is compliant with Release 5.5 and offers some support for Draft 5.5.1. Many other products such as FTM claim compliance with Draft 5.5.1 and the FTM committent is a welcome improvement that will make importing into FH much easier. If every product was fully compliant with both Release 5.5 and Draft 5.5.1 then migration would be so much easier. It would be fairly easy for them to be compliant with both, because the file header identifies which version is in force. Thus the data structures can be interpreted correctly, and there are only relatively small differences anyway. However, we are far from that ideal.
So in summary, the issues of migrating a GEDCOM and Media files from FTM to FH are unaffected by the involvement of Apple Mac and Windows PC. The issues would be exactly the same if both computers were Windows PC.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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E Wilcock
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Re: Import Gedcom from a Mac?

Post by E Wilcock »

Thanks Mike. As usual a very clear explanation.
Excellent that her using a Mac wont be a problem.
I am off to explain the existence of GEDCOM.
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