Import gedcom file

 

To import a GEDCOM file, pick File from the menu on the main screen and then pick Gedcom, Import.  If someone else has given you a GEDCOM file, do not add it to your BK database until you know what is in it, otherwise you may not want the data and you will have to revert to your most recent backup copy of your database or else do a lot of deleting.  You could create a new folder and import the GEDCOM file into a new BK database.  Then use BK to look at the data.  If all looks correct, then you can import the GEDCOM file into your main database.  Always do a new backup of your BK files before importing a GEDCOM file.  The BK gedcom import routine will add everyone in a gedcom file to the BK data files in your current open folder and it does not look for duplications. 

 

If you already have a GEDCOM file from another program, skip to the next paragraph.  To transfer data INTO Brother's Keeper, you first must create a GEDCOM file that contains the data in the other genealogy program.  For example, if you have data in the PAF program, follow the directions in PAF for creating a gedcom file.

 

The next step in importing is to run the Import GEDCOM routine so that the data can be changed into BK format.  Pick File, then Gedcom, Import from the main screen.  If there is already data in a Brother's Keeper file there, then it will show you how many names are in the existing file.  The new data will be added to any existing data.  The program will not check for duplicates - all the data will be added as new additional data. 

 

It will then ask for the name of the GEDCOM file to read.  Select the correct drive, folder, and file name for the file to read. 

 

When finished importing, you can use the quality check routine to be sure all the links between people are correct.  You can then use Brother's Keeper to look at the file, and print all the reports.  If you are importing a gedcom file that was created by ROOTS III, you can run the BK quality check routine and it will put the children in the correct birth order. 

 

The Brother's Keeper gedcom routine will only read gedcom files that are not split into separate files.  If you have a gedcom file that was created by another program, and if the file was split into two parts by the other program (one continuous gedcom file in two parts) then make the two parts into one file before reading it with BK.  Normally, if the other program splits a file it will call one .GED and the other will have an extension with a number, such as .G00.  So if you have SMITH.GED and SMITH.G00 on two diskettes, then put them on the hard disk and use the MS-DOS COPY command to make them into one file again.  For example, 

 

COPY  SMITH.GED+SMITH.G00  SMITH.GED 

 

That will attach the .G00 file onto the end of the .GED file so that BK can read it as one file. 

 

If the gedcom file you are reading contains long NOTE lines, you might see an option on the screen to "add a space between CONC lines".  If you see that option, read this:  If a message or note is too long for a gedcom line (over 250 characters long) then it uses a CONC tag meaning Concatenation.  Two or more lines are stuck together during the import to make a long line. The gedcom rules say to split a word in the middle of the word and not at a space when doing that. However, the FTM program splits the line at a space.  So when importing a FTM gedcom file, you should pick the option to add the space.  But for other gedcom files, do not add the space.