Ancestral File: Downloading GEDCOMs

(Last updated 01 March, 2003)

GEDCOM -- Genealogical Data Communication – is a file format that allows genealogists to transfer data between genealogy programs, e.g., Ancestral File to Personal Ancestral File (PAF), or from PAF to other genealogy programs. 

This lesson shows how to download a GEDCOM file from Ancestral File.  Note that the lesson has the user create the file on a floppy disk.  This is much slower than writing it to the hard disk and later transferring it to a floppy, but it confuses rookies less than does the hard-disk method.

The Process

1. Find a family in Ancestral File that you want to copy to your PAF database. For instructions on how to find your forefathers in Ancestral File, see the Ancestral File handout.
2. When you've found an ancestor, press F7 for the Pedigree screen.
3. From the Pedigree screen, press F2 to Print/Copy.
4. Choose the option that allows you to create a GEDCOM file.
5. Choose the number of generations you want to download. Three to five generations are recommended. If you download too many, two problems will arise. First, the download will take a very long time -- maybe hours. Second, when you import the names from the GEDCOM to your PAF file, they won't all fit on your PAF disk, so you'll have to do the whole process over again. Do yourself a favor and download only five generations at a time.
6. When you've typed the number of generations you want, press Enter.
7. Select the settings you want, and press F12.
8. At the copyright screen, press F12 again.
9. Insert a new disk into drive A, the floppy drive.
10. Select drive "A:" as the disk you want your GEDCOM file to be created on.
11. Name the file. Use a descriptive name that will easily identify what's on the GEDCOM. For instance, if you found Abraham Lincoln's family, you could call the file "LNCLNABE" for "Lincoln, Abe".
12. After naming the file, press Enter.
13. When the GEDCOM file is copied to the disk, the screen returns to the Print/Copy menu. Exit the menu by pressing Esc.  Press Esc again to exit Ancestral File.