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Checking gedcom outside FH

Rich Crooks
 

I love his BEHOLD program.  I’ve been using it for years and he keeps tweaking it.  It is easy to use and hugely useful, not to kention the small purchase price.
Jan Murphy
 

Take a look at Louis Kessler's Behold! software.  Behold reads the contents of a GEDCOM file and makes it human-readable.  You can try it free for 45 days.


The Screenshots tab on the website show what the interface looks like. Features of interest:

The Organize window caption says:
Behold can import multiple GEDCOMs. The idea is that you shouldn't have to waste your time merging GEDCOMs and you should be able to keep data in separate files if you want to, but still be able to view them together:

The tree shown for the sample file has a branch labeled Note Details. 

I'm not sure at what level in FH you saved your notes, or whether the Note Details view will show what you need, but you could try downloading the free trial to see if it would do the job you want.  I use it when I'm fine-tuning my FH files and want something I can quickly scan in addition to reports from within FH or from other GEDCOM utilities.

Jan Murphy
Moderator Pro Tempore
Arthur K
 

On Sat, Nov 12, 2022 at 04:53 PM, trevithick wrote:
GenMatcher works, but the interface is antique.  It will also display duplicate persons and other anomolies.
So long as the interface works, does it matter if it looks outdated?

I'm with Vyger on WinMerge.  It's fantastic for file comparisons and changes if the file format is legible, and gedcoms are.
I've used WinMerge occasionally, and based on my experience of it, I'm wondering how it would cope if, for example, (a) the same individuals appear in both files but with different numbers (I001, I002 etc); (b) the same number (I001 etc) appears in both files but referring to different individuals?

And how would it handle the situation where the files contain the same information but arranged in a different order - I'm thinking of something like a residence and occupation both with the same date, but one file has residence first, the other occupation - this may actually be a similar issue to (a) in the previous paragraph.

It seems to me that WinMerge might potentially produce a large number of false "differences", whereas a program that's designed to parse a Gedcom file into family information might actually give a more appropriate set of results.
trevithick
 

GenMatcher works, but the interface is antique.  It will also display duplicate persons and other anomolies.

I'm with Vyger on WinMerge.  It's fantastic for file comparisons and changes if the file format is legible, and gedcoms are.
--
Mark Trevithick
from somewhere in the Florida Panhandle...
Pauline Parnell
 

My apologies for the sudden silence.  I had visitors.

I can check the gedcom for differences using the advice given - viewing them at the same time won’t be a problem as I’ve got three monitors including the laptop.

John, thanks for the offer. I can remember having issues with my original import so I’ll be taking you up on that as soon as I’ve had a chance to get back on the computer.  Hopefully some time over the weekend.

Many thanks to all.

Pauline

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 23:42, john.hanson via [] <john.hanson=one-name.org@[]> wrote:

Pauline

I still have PAF 5 on my machine so if you want to send the PAF files to me offliist I’ll convert them for you

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 16:55
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: Re: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

Thanks John and Paul.

 

My plan is to compare the three files and copy any missing notes into FH. Then one of the files will be imported to FH with a totally different name so that I’ve got a record of the deleted people.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever need to use it, but there is an outside possibility that advances in dna could prove a relationship somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s line.  There are no written records to connect them. 

 

As an aside, the man who did the research did the whole lot before anything was on the internet. I ran a check once mother’s maiden names became available on the GRO and found just one error - two boys with the same name born in successive quarters where he had relied on the date of marriage to allocate them to parents. It’s a phenomenal piece of work.

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

Pauline

 

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 16:43, John Hanson via groups.io <john.hanson=one-name.org@groups.io> wrote:

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
John Hanson
 

Pauline

I still have PAF 5 on my machine so if you want to send the PAF files to me offliist I’ll convert them for you

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 16:55
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: Re: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

Thanks John and Paul.

 

My plan is to compare the three files and copy any missing notes into FH. Then one of the files will be imported to FH with a totally different name so that I’ve got a record of the deleted people.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever need to use it, but there is an outside possibility that advances in dna could prove a relationship somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s line.  There are no written records to connect them. 

 

As an aside, the man who did the research did the whole lot before anything was on the internet. I ran a check once mother’s maiden names became available on the GRO and found just one error - two boys with the same name born in successive quarters where he had relied on the date of marriage to allocate them to parents. It’s a phenomenal piece of work.

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

Pauline

 

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 16:43, John Hanson via groups.io <john.hanson=one-name.org@groups.io> wrote:

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
Brian Horridge
 

Pauline
Have you thought of using FH as a simple viewer without importing the data into your main FH file.   You can usually do this by finding the files and then right-click on the file and then "Open with" and choose FH.  You can do this with each of files and have multiple copies of FH running at the same time - each in their own window (assuming your monitor is big enough).
Brian

Sent via BT Email App



From: Pauline Parnell <paulinelparnell@...>
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:49:45 GMT+00:00
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
Paul Gaskell
 

 

Pauline

 

If you have a large monitor and want to compare the files visually rather than using software, another possibility is to open them in Word and to use “View Side by Side”.

 

Paul

 

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 16:55
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: Re: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

Thanks John and Paul.

 

My plan is to compare the three files and copy any missing notes into FH. Then one of the files will be imported to FH with a totally different name so that I’ve got a record of the deleted people.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever need to use it, but there is an outside possibility that advances in dna could prove a relationship somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s line.  There are no written records to connect them. 

 

As an aside, the man who did the research did the whole lot before anything was on the internet. I ran a check once mother’s maiden names became available on the GRO and found just one error - two boys with the same name born in successive quarters where he had relied on the date of marriage to allocate them to parents. It’s a phenomenal piece of work.

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

Pauline

 

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 16:43, John Hanson via groups.io <john.hanson=one-name.org@groups.io> wrote:

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
Janis Rodriguez
 

There is a GenMatcher and a GenViewer from MudCreek.  Years ago one of the Arlington RUG members did two great presentations on the software,as it was then.  This was before we started recording presentations but the handouts he provided were virtually manuals, very comprehensive!  You may want to check it out.  I remember the sw was amazing for this kind of exercise. On our website, www.rootsusers.org, it should be listed under the Meeting Presentations tab on the left.  

Regards,
Jan Rodriguez
VP Arlington RUG


On Nov 10, 2022, at 12:48 PM, Arthur K <kengen@...> wrote:

Another possibility might be GENMatcher from MudCreek Software - http://www.mudcreeksoftware.com/genmatcher1.html

I've found their GENViewer useful for viewing Gedcom files, with the reassurance that it doesn't make any changes. I haven't tried GENMatcher, but I suspect that's read-only too.

Arthur K
 

Another possibility might be GENMatcher from MudCreek Software - http://www.mudcreeksoftware.com/genmatcher1.html

I've found their GENViewer useful for viewing Gedcom files, with the reassurance that it doesn't make any changes. I haven't tried GENMatcher, but I suspect that's read-only too.
Vyger
 

Pauline, 

I use another free program to compare GEDCOM files, WinMerge.

It is not specifically a GEDCOM comparison but it will be immediately obvious what is different.

I do this as I manipulate GEDCOM files from time to time.

Jackson


On Thu, 10 Nov 2022, 16:55 Pauline Parnell, <paulinelparnell@...> wrote:
Thanks John and Paul.

My plan is to compare the three files and copy any missing notes into FH. Then one of the files will be imported to FH with a totally different name so that I’ve got a record of the deleted people.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever need to use it, but there is an outside possibility that advances in dna could prove a relationship somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s line.  There are no written records to connect them. 

As an aside, the man who did the research did the whole lot before anything was on the internet. I ran a check once mother’s maiden names became available on the GRO and found just one error - two boys with the same name born in successive quarters where he had relied on the date of marriage to allocate them to parents. It’s a phenomenal piece of work.

Many thanks for your help.

Pauline

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 16:43, John Hanson via groups.io <john.hanson=one-name.org@groups.io> wrote:

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
Pauline Parnell
 

Thanks John and Paul.

My plan is to compare the three files and copy any missing notes into FH. Then one of the files will be imported to FH with a totally different name so that I’ve got a record of the deleted people.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever need to use it, but there is an outside possibility that advances in dna could prove a relationship somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s line.  There are no written records to connect them. 

As an aside, the man who did the research did the whole lot before anything was on the internet. I ran a check once mother’s maiden names became available on the GRO and found just one error - two boys with the same name born in successive quarters where he had relied on the date of marriage to allocate them to parents. It’s a phenomenal piece of work.

Many thanks for your help.

Pauline

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 at 16:43, John Hanson via groups.io <john.hanson=one-name.org@groups.io> wrote:

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
John Hanson
 

Pauline

Depends on what you want to do with it

Just read it – then as Paul says notepad++ will do it

 

However, Gedcom files are not the easiest to read at times and if you then want to import it into FH then is a more tortuous route

 

The descriptions of both Legacy and Rootsmagic will import a PAF file up to version 5

 

Later than that you would need to use PAF

 

There are also several articles in the FHUG on “importing from PAF”

 

Regards

John Hanson FSG

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Pauline Parnell
Sent: 10 November 2022 15:50
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: [family-historian] Checking gedcom outside FH

 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline
Paul Tanner-Tremaine
 

If you haven't already got Notepad++ installed on your computer - search for it in google and download from the sourceforge website.  There is also a Compare Plugin that can be installed with it.  see: https://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-compare/
It is free software, and will do the job, and lots of others!  There are videos on using it off the same website.
One word of warning.  It is an editor, so be careful and only work on a copy of your active gedcom.
Pauline Parnell
 

This is not strictly an FH problem, but I know I’m going to get the answer I need here!

Back in the olden days, when I was new to computers, I used PAF5 after a distant cousin sent me his tree on a floppy disc. Fairly recently I realised that his research also included a number of unrelated people with the same name so I deleted them my main tree. I thought I’d created a second file with just those people in case I needed to refer back to them, but since changing computers I can’t find it.

Clearing out my old tech last week, I found three copies of my PAF file on two laptops.  They are all different sizes.  Assuming that gedcom picks up the notes field, I want to compare the gedcom rather than import the files to FH to look at them. One copy should have notes taken on the fly at a family event (I suppose I should own up to it being a funeral 😄) The problem is that I have no idea how to do it once I’ve exported the files.  Could someone tell me what I need to do please.

Many thanks,

Pauline

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