Exporting branches rather than whole tree

[peter]

This is a bit of a sidetrack, but there's a need for a utility that can take a Gedcom and snip off a particular line (this is something that's easy to do with Genopro, but I get the impression that it's a lot harder to do using other tree programs, and for someone who only has an online tree - a surprisingly large number - it's next to impossible). A lot of people share their entire tree with others simply because they don't have any alternative.

Any thoughts?

 

[Alexander Bisset]

I know that FTM2012 and indeed previous versions does this. You simply select the box to export "selected individuals" you then select someone and export them plus say all their ancestors or all their descendants, this includes people married to them so for instance I export ancestors from myself I get my uncle (my dads brother) plus his wife my auntie, but not her family of course. Or you can just choose specific individuals as you wish and only export them.

So I can easily export the appropriate "twigs". However as you say not everyone bothers to do this as often they take the lazy approach and just share everything which is inappropriate.

 

[Tim]

Hmmm, even though I'm embracing FTM2012 at the moment, I'm fully intending to continue using GenoPro. So I will be exporting a gedcom from FTM2012 and importing into GenoPro.

As you say, creating branches is so easy to do in GenoPro, so I could then create a branch and send them a gedcom file.

Haven't explored FTM2012 fully yet but nothing is jumping out about creating branches.

There is an option to save a person to another tree, this sort of makes sense for say the wife's tree but....

 

[Alexander Bisset]

In FTM 2012 when you export on the left hand side it offers All individuals or selected individuals (can't recall the exact wording) by default it's on all individuals. Changing this to selected individuals gives you a new form to allow you to select who to export.

 

[Tim]

Yes, I think I've seen that. I will have to explore it later.

 

[Cathy]

Don't all genealogy programs allow exporting part of the database based on family group, descendants or ancestors or combinations of these? Legacy Family Tree certainly does in a variety of ways.

Perhaps the problem is only with online trees? As far as I can see you can only download your entire Ancestry tree as a Gedcom.

 

[peter]

Don't all genealogy programs allow exporting part of the database based on family group, descendants or ancestors or combinations of these? Legacy Family Tree certainly does in a variety of ways.

Perhaps the problem is only with online trees? As far as I can see you can only download your entire Ancestry tree as a Gedcom.

There's certainly a problem for people who have online trees and don't have a family tree program on their computer, but I suspect that many of those who have an FT program don't know how to export a subset.

Both Genopro and Family Historian do allow this, although I prefer being able to do it visually (in Genopro). Perhaps if we're collecting data on which tree programs work seamlessly with FTA we can at the same time check out the exporting options?

 

[wPaulf]

There's certainly a problem for people who have online trees and don't have a family tree program on their computer, but I suspect that many of those who have an FT program don't know how to export a subset.

Both Genopro and Family Historian do allow this, although I prefer being able to do it visually (in Genopro). Perhaps if we're collecting data on which tree programs work seamlessly with FTA we can at the same time check out the exporting options?

" TMG allows you to use any subset, but you would expect that of a program that does everything"

 

[emjay]

I'm 'trialing' Roots Magic at present, and have just watched one of their video (You Tube) presentations. There is a 'drop and drag' facility to form a file/branch of your tree with selected individuals.

 

[FamilyHistoryGal]

After having negative experiences by sharing my whole tree (in the very early days of the Genes Reunited website) I decided never to share my tree again. I had to find an alternative.

Rather than share the whole kit and caboodle of my tree I produce reports for the line that the interested party requests.

I could choose how many generations I wished to show so could easily exclude living members or children. I'd send the report via email and never got any complaints. Anyone who is genuinely interested won't mind a bit of inputting or just selecting the information they wish to add and ignore anything they don't wish to add.

 

[jpkc]

I use Legacy where it is easy to create gedcoms of branches (as pointed out above) by advanced tagging.
I also have an online tree using TNG software (the best in my opinion - is this what wPaulf meant?) where again a few clicks produces a gedcom file on my computer starting from any individual.
Presumably the problem is with trees uploaded to hosting sites like ancestry or findmypast?

 

[SteveW]

A quick look at RootsMagic7 suggests That you can pretty much export whatever you like and as much as you like. Looks pretty powerful.

 

[LindaB]

Very interesting discussion. I would now really like to split my tree but it would appear that with an on-line tree unless you create separate trees in the beginning there is no way to do this. I use Ancestry on-line but export the whole tree to MyHeritage stored on my computer. Haven't seen anything in MyHeritage that allows the export of subsets - does anyone know if I am missing something?

 

[trebor]

I use Ancestry on-line but export the whole tree to MyHeritage stored on my computer. Haven't seen anything in MyHeritage that allows the export of subsets - does anyone know if I am missing something?

I used to use MyHeritage as it gave me the view of my tree that I liked, was easy to use and also free. However I soon got fed up with the continual pestering to link on line and lots of other "features" I did not want - in fact it became very annoying to use. Family Tree Maker 2014 came along and gave me most of the features I liked in MyHeritage plus the bonus of linking it directly to my Ancestry on line tree with none of the badgering I was experiencing with MyHeritage. OK it is not free but the relatively low cost was offset with free Ancestry time and I feel it is the best thing I have done in advancing my family tree research. My advice is to give it a try - the benefits and flexibility are well worth the initial small outlay. You do not have to continue with the annual cost of Ancestry if you do not wish to.

 

[trebor]

Should have also mentioned that it is easy to export selected branches of your tree in FTM 2014.

 

[trebor]

On Amazon you can buy FTM 2014 with 6 months premium Ancestry which can be tacked on to the end of an existing membership for less than £50 which is cheaper than buying the Ancestry membership. It is a little cheaper on the Ancestry website when I checked. Therefore if you were planning on buying the Ancestry membership the software is free.

 

[LindaB]

Thanks for the tips . I'll investigate further.

 

[chrissy1]

After having negative experiences by sharing my whole tree (in the very early days of the Genes Reunited website) I decided never to share my tree again. I had to find an alternative.

Rather than share the whole kit and caboodle of my tree I produce reports for the line that the interested party requests.

I could choose how many generations I wished to show so could easily exclude living members or children. I'd send the report via email and never got any complaints. Anyone who is genuinely interested won't mind a bit of inputting or just selecting the information they wish to add and ignore anything they don't wish to add.

I had similar problems in the early days of Rootsweb and now do exactly the same as you. I too have had no complaints, especially if I include all my notes as well. As I still use a very old (ca 1995) version of Reunion, I doubt very much that it has a facility for creating a GEDCOM 'tree branch'..............