Whether you’re emigrating from Reunion for Mac to Family Tree Maker for Mac or establishing dual residency, you’ll want to get the best possible import of your family file. This video will show you how setup a GEDCOM export to get your multimedia and person data imported and where source information from Reunion appears in Family Tree Maker. Here are the secrets covered in this video:
- Setting up the export in Reunion for Mac (multimedia links, optional fields, and event memos)
- Making Family Tree Maker for Mac actually find the multimedia files
- Where multimedia for sources appear in Family Tree Maker for Mac
- Keeping a list of import problems to correct later (especially the “facts” that won’t import)
- What “[no source-citation information]” means
- Where the free-form text you entered in Reunion for Mac can be found in Family Tree Maker for Mac
- Why the “[Unlinked]” source group in Family Tree Maker for Mac is empty if you’ve got unlinked sources in Reunion for Mac
I mention in the video that about a score of the person fields in Reunion for Mac aren’t imported in Family Tree Maker for Mac. Here’s the list of what I’ve found that doesn’t transfer:
- Cause of Death
- Degree
- Eye Color
- Hair Color
- Height
- Hobbies
- Honors
- Married Name
- Namesake
- Race
- Religious Name
- Research
- Skin Color
- Weight
If you find anything else that isn’t importing please leave a comment here so I can add it to the list.
Ben,
Another great video! Thank you for all that you do to keep us informed.
I have a question which I hope you will consider as related…
I am going to teach a class on Family History at Church, and in preparation for those PC users, I have purchased both Legacy and Roots Magic. When I do the export from Reunion/import into Roots Magic (for example), none of the sources make the trip. Do you have any thoughts as to what I might try?
This seems to be but another example of gedcom ‘standard’ not being very standard.
Hi, Warren. I just imported the GEDCOM file that I in this video, into RootsMagic 4.0.9.7 and the sources made the trip. Have you verified that the sources are in the GEDCOM file? Let me know if you want more information about what to look for.
—-Ben
>@<
Ben,
I’m similar in need to Warren White above. When I gedcom-ed Reunion 8 over into RootsMagic 6, my actual sources seemed to move but their source numbers did not. Do you have any recommendations? I’ve looked over both manuals but can not seem to find my error. Thank you so much if you are able to help.
Sue
Hi Ben,
Thanks for this timely video. My Family Tree Maker for Mac arrives on Tuesday so now I will know how to transfer the info correctly the first time!!!!!!!
I will continue to use Reunion as my main place to keep all my tree info, but want to use Family tree for checking leafs etc., but also keep it up to date with Reunion. Now I will have to be careful to put new info in both progams at the same time.
You have made my use of Reunion so much easier by watching your many tutorials. thank you so much.
Barb
Hi, Barb. I’m so glad you found the video helpful! I’m planning on producing a video (or maybe a series depending on length and complexity) for GenealogyTools Premium Members which will help them to keep the two genealogy programs in sync.
—-Ben
>@<
Ben,
Thanks for the excellent video! I will certainly be more prepared for the import process once the program arrives. I was just wondering though, since you are now starting to provide info about the program will it be shipping any time soon?
Hi, Charles. Family Tree Maker for Mac is shipping. Let me know how the import goes for you when you get your copy. Are you planning to move to it or maintain your data in two (or more) programs?
—-Ben
>@<
That is what I thought as well from the responses of others. However, I just got off the phone with Ancestry support and they told me it was not shipping yet but they hope to start sometime this week. Odd isn’t it? I plan on keeping Reunion up to date as well as use Family Tree Maker.
Mystery solved! It seems you can get a copy of Family Tree Maker for Mac pretty much anywhere (amazon, apple store, etc) right now but Ancestry even though you pre-ordered it from them. How ironic is that? So much for pre-ordering.
I’m kind of bummed about the delay too, but I remind myself I’m only paying $33 for it from Ancestry.com with coupons and free shipping – I don’t need it so quickly I’m ready to pay $70 or more 🙂
Hi Ben,
My FTM for Mac arrived and following your instructions FTM crashed on import.
then I tried limiting what I exported and found that as soon as I checked “include event memos” FTM would crash but would be okay with everything else checked to export.
Also my sources are no good on FTM. First call to Ancestry told me to uninstall FTM and redo it and if that did not work the problem was a corrupt file in Reunion. I checked with reunion and sent my gedcom to them and they said there was no problem with it. Then I emailed ancestry and they now say that FTM for Mac does not support Event memos so don’t import them. they also said there is a known issue with sources and it will be fixed.
All this background just to ask you if you were able to export event memos and have them go into FTM for Mac??
thanks for your good work,
Barb
Hi, Barb.
Yes; I have been able to get event memos into Family Tree Maker 2010 (on the Mac). The trick is, what Family Tree Maker 2010 refers to as “fact notes” aren’t displayed by default. I made a video to show how to enable them.
—-Ben
>@<
I have installed FTM on my new IMAC. The software will not start up. The error message is FTM quit unexpectedly.
Ancestory says they will report it to their developers! I have asked for a refund.
I am having the same problem on my MacBook Pro–very disappointing.
My FTM for Mac arrived several days ago and I have been diligently learning all the features and working with imported files. I have used Reunion for many years. After comparison, I am sticking with Reunion. It’s not perfect, but there are too many things I don’t like about FTM for Mac. In my opinion there are some bugs Ancestry will need to work through and soon to make FTM for Mac a good product. I have years of research, many genealogy files with thousands of names in each. When I imported the GEDCOM file it didn’t act like a normal GEDCOM file and I found myself doing a lot of clean up work that I really don’t have the time to do!! Thanks for trying Ancestry, but LeisterPro gets my bid (still) for a great product.
I have a gedcom file that can be read by old PC versions of FTM, iFamily and other family tree programs. However, when I try to import it into the new FTM for Mac it becomes corrupt.
I have used each program to create a gedcom as well to see if the gedcom creation was a problem. It wasn’t.
The field for place had problems with QLD Is this a problem with their code? I use QLD to represent Queensland
There are some other wierd issues that have appeared as well.
Hi, Sue. QLD isn’t a GEDCOM tag so it shouldn’t disrupt any functions. There is an update to FTM for Mac that upgrades their support of GEDCOM to 5.5.1. Have you tried that yet? —-Ben >@<
Hello Ben,
I am setting up for dual residency of my Family Tree in “Reunion” and “Family Tree Maker”
I find the “Repository” field data in “Reunion” does NOT import to “Family Tree Maker”.
I used the GedCom tag REPO in the “Reunion” program.
I wonder if “Family Tree Maker” uses another GedCom tag for “Repository” info.
Thanks for your help.
Your site is terrific … !!!
Very helpful for intermediate Genealogists.