Updating / Importing GedCom

Is there anyway to update a tree that was already uploaded to RootsFinder? I do my main research on Ancestry but would love to be able to important changes that I’ve made, via GedCom, to RootsFinder so that I have the most up-to-date information here as well.

This issue is more difficult than it appears. Eventually we’ll have a solution, but here’s why it’s difficult. We have two options:

  1. You import an updated GEDCOM to your existing tree. We need to match the people in your new GEDCOM to your existing tree, add people who don’t exist in the tree, update people who do, and optionally delete people from the tree who don’t exist in the new GEDCOM. Accurately matching people in the GEDCOM to existing people in the tree when you’ve changed their name, birthdate, etc. is complicated.

  2. You import an updated GEDCOM to a new tree, and merge the old tree into the new tree. Same issue as before - we need to match the people in the old tree to people in the new tree so we know who to merge.

Option 2 is on our roadmap. It just won’t be a quick fix.

Yeah, I can see that - I just wish there was a magically easy way to combine / update preexisting trees. It would make life SO much easier. Haha!

How about GEDCOM one person at a time with sources?

@ToRoot58 can you give more details about what you mean?

My workflow is 3 platforms and trying to include the 4th (RootsFinder). In this workflow I use Evidentia (platform 1) software to craft my citations using their Evidence Explained templates. I then upload my GEDCOM to my Rootsmagic database (platform 2). Now the GEDCOM created is not a bulk transfer (created by the Developer this way). It is just one person with all their associated Sources (Citations) with my Evidence Analysis and proof summaries (conclusions or current thinking). So it is only a one by one transfer. It works very well except that FamilySearch (platform 3) does not accept this. My Rootsmagic file accepts this because I can merge into its existing file. However when I use Rootsmagic Share featrue with FamilySearch some of the data gets lost. Now this is where Rootsfinder comes in. If I can get this same (already created) GEDCOM to import to RootsFinder then I can use RootsFinder Compare to get the intact information to FamilySearch. The bulk of my work is done in Evidentia and I need the information to get to FamilySearch and RootsFinder. RootsFinder has the platform to spread my sources to everyone associated with the source in one sitting (saving valuable time not to mention adding to consistency). So I hope I’ve explained it well. I don’t want to create extra steps as I already have enough. If you need me to send you a GEDCOM example let me know.

Or better yet RootsFinder and Evidentia could share each others API and work something out. Yes, lets get source centrix developers to work together. Yes, I know if only it were that easy. Just a thought.

Are you saying that when you imported a GEDCOM, the person being imported would be new to your tree, or that you wouldn’t mind merging them with the existing person? I’ll reach out to Evidentia.

Both abilities would suit me. The merging is the preferred and could more easily be controlled (less persons to deal with).

That’s a lot simpler than trying to merge people on import. I think we could handle this in stages: you would import your one-person GEDCOM into a new tree, and

  1. To start we would add a function to copy your new tree into your existing tree, without merging. So after copying you’d have to manually merge the new person into the existing person.

  2. Later we would add an interactive merge utility that would run before the copy, detect probable duplicates between the new tree and the existing tree, and give you a change to merge them during the copy.

Step 1 would be pretty easy and could be added this Spring; step 2 would be more involved and wouldn’t happen for awhile.

Great! I was wondering how the sources would transfer to your RootsFinder platform through this GEDCOM as that was the issue with my Rootsmagic (it just didn’t do so well). Legacy Family Tree did a little better on the transfer. Did you get to talk to Ed Thompson with Evidentia? BTW, I happened to hear your name mentioned on Mondays with DearMrytle in talking with Randy Seaver. She mentioned Rootsfinder was getting a lot of traffic and praised the site for being a good solution to having a backup to FamilySearch and she attributed some of that traffic to Randy’s article on RootsFinder. He mentioned your site and that you took him and his wife out to lunch. It’s good to see the gaining popularity of RootsFinder among the Genealogy Community.

Thanks! I haven’t had a chance to talk with Ed Thompson yet, but it’s still on my ToDo list.

I am using RootsFinder because of the new DNA features.
I have a tree for an adoptee, that only has the Mom’s side with data, then using DNA, I figured out the Dad’s side and added 5 generations using Ancestry, and want to update the work I did in RootsFinder.

My only option today is to pull in a new tree from the updated GEDCOM, redo all the GEDMatch imports, and then relink all the matches to my tree, send out new invites and then delete my first tree.

I would be happy with entirely replacing the original tree and then manually verifying the few links from DNA to the modified tree.

I understand that this is not useful for people taking full use of your fine application, and merging can get messy.

I am impressed with the quality of this product considering the size of your staff. I have confidence that you will continue to make smart design choices.

What about the following: what if you uploaded your GEDCOM to a new tree, and we gave you a way to copy DNA Profiles from your existing tree into your new tree? After the import was complete, you could delete the existing tree. This would be easier for us to implement, and it seems like it would be the same amount of work for you to attach the DNA profiles and kits to people in your new tree. Do you think this would address the issue?

Yes, for me that would be fine and something I could use today :slight_smile:

Sounds good. I’ll add that to the roadmap. It should be in by the end of the quarter.

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