Yes, they should retain the exact appearance/format, but it hasn’t been well tested. You’re opening up new territory here.
In the future I can make exporting just sources an option on GEDCOM export, but for now, here’s a work-around:
- Export the entire tree as a GEDCOM in tree settings.
- Wait for the email telling you the export is ready
- Open the GEDCOM in “Notepad” (not wordpad)
- Delete all lines from the first “0 @…@ INDI” line up to but not including the first “0 @…@ SOUR” line. The first “0 @…@ INDI” line should be around line 14. All of the “0 @…@ SOUR” lines should be at the end of the file. There might be “0 @…@ REPO” lines after the SOUR lines; you want to keep those as well.
- Do a “Save As” to save your GEDCOM under a different name. Keep the “.ged” extension.
- Upload your shortened GEDCOM to a new tree, and view the “Sources” content list to make sure that the sources came through ok.
Like I say, this is new territory. It should work, but it may not. If it doesn’t, email the GEDCOM you exported to me ( support@rootsfinder.com ) and I’ll take a look at it.