RootMagic8, Ancestry.com and TNG

[John Paul]

Hello Everyone. I've read most of the threads here about exporting a gedcom file from Ancestry and trying to import into the desktop software then export from that and import into TNG. But as a lot of you know, something in the ancestry.com gedcom and some of the other desktop apps changes your people and family IDs which is very annoying to say the least.

I have a couple more thousand people and families in my Ancestry.com tree that I have in my TNG database and have tried several ways mentioned in the forums here without any luck.  The IDs would always change.  So, I put a support ticket into RootsMagic about this and with their permission here is the email comversation I had with Jackson at RootsMagic Support:

Quote

Jpjones55, Aug 25, 2023, 02:25 MDT:

Hello Support. I have started a new RM8 install and have imported my gedcom file from TNG (The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding). Now I want to import a gedcom file from Ancestry.com. I have a lot more people and families in my Ancestry.com tree than my TNG tree. I want to import the additional info from ancestry BUT I don't want to lose the people and family ID's from TNG, so I can create another gedcom from RM8 and import back into TNG with the additional info from ancestry. Is this possible? Please advise.
Thank you,
John Jones
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Jackson, Aug 25, 2023, 09:23 MDT:

Thank you for contacting RootsMagic Support.
 Instead of a GEDCOM import from Ancestry, I would recommend a TreeShare download of the tree.  THis would download all attached media to your computer.  THen you can GEDCOM the data back to TNG.
 Jackson
RootsMagic Support
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Jpjones55, Aug 25, 2023, 11:42 MDT:

Jackson, thank you.
But won’t that still change all the TNG people and family IDs? That’s what I’m trying to avoid. I got almost 45,000 people in my TNG database with the original IDs assigned to them and I don’t want to lose that. I’m not worried about the media files. I already have like 95% of the media files already linked to my TNG people and Family tables in the TNG database..
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Jackson, Aug 25, 2023, 12:47 MDT:

That should not change those IDs when you merge duplicate people.  If you are doing it in RM, you would be adding the additional facts in the merging of duplicates.
 
MAKE FREQUENT BACKUPS!!!!  For each successive backup each day, add an incremental number or letter to the date in the backup file name, to avoid overwriting the previous backup.
 
Start with your current TNG file in RM, make a backup.  Import the GEDCOM file. Use the Automatic Merge under the Tools icon.  This will merge any exact duplicates.  Make a backup,   Start the Duplicate Merge.  THis will present POSSIBLE duplicates for you to merge manually, you can Edit the records before merging to Remove any facts that are conflicting.  Pause every so often and MAKE A BACKUP!  You will need to restart the Duplicate Merge with each break; you may even need to restart RM.  Hope these suggestions help you.
 
Jackson
RootsMagic Support

 

Well that worked for me and I posted this to hopefully help others here on the form with the same issues.  Like I said, this worked for me using RM8.  I know alot of you guys and gals use different apps if you use one at all, so I can't say this will work for you.  "Your mileage may vary"

FYI, on my genealogy computer, I use RM8 running on a Dell Optiplex 790, and Windows 10 pro.  I tested the gedcom created from RM8 on my local wampserver running PHP v7.4.33, which is what my sites at Simply Hosting is running