Of Gedcom Files, Heredis and RootsMagic

Did you jump on the any of the sales prices for genealogy software this week? With a deal like $10 for Heredis, I figured why not try it. Supposedly it has some charting capabilities that outshine my other programs.

Unfortunately, Heredis didn't like my Gedcom file and it took several hours to realize that I needed to find a workaround. I had seen a review that mentioned difficulties with importing Gedcom files to Heredis, but I was in denial that it could happen to me.

I'll admit to using an ancient program to do data entry. It's much faster than "modern" programs. But I routinely export the database to Gedcom for reporting and for use on my mobile devices. Every once in a while there's a minor import problem, but never at the frustration level that I had with Heredis. The problem with Heredis is, that when it fails, it simply creates a log file that shows the line number in the Gedcom where the problem happened and a cryptic reason.

To figure it out, you need to open the Gedcom in a text editor of some sort that will show you the line numbers. After finding the line, you have to back up a few lines to find the person with the issue and you have to figure out what the Heredis import doesn't like. Then change the data in the original program, export the Gedcom again and try the import again. Rinse and repeat.

In this case, the cause of death and the source for it are not accepted by Heredis. The occupation is not the problem. To change the death cause in the original program, I can move it to medical information.

After looping through making changes for a couple of hours, I had reached the end of my patience. Then I thought of a favorite program, RootsMagic. It has never balked at my Gedcom. So I imported the Gedcom to RootsMagic and exported it back out. RootsMagic kept the events and sources and defined them in a more standard way. Heredis than imported the data with no problem whatsoever.

So if you're struggling with Heredis, consider using an intermediate program to cleanse your data. I believe that RootsMagic is the best Gedcom handler in my tool box. I suspect there are others that can do the job, as well.

Thanks, RootsMagic!