Question

Are there programs that will convert a GEDCOM ancestry file into a “book” format that can be published

Comments

The Complete Genealogy Reporter is really good, not free though, costs about $35.00. http://www.tcgr.bufton.org/index.html

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Checkout Ancestralgenie it lets you easily publish your ancestry data into ebooks

Answer 1

Hi Gary,

Not to my knowledge. I reckon it would have to be created by spreadsheet. However my answer doesn't mean that there isn't one.

Answer 2

Many programs boast the ability to produce 'reports' and 'books', but your results are going to vary no matter which software you decide to try... The main factor when looking for this type of software is going to be:

1. The amount of data you have available:
   • Do you want to just 'export' the information you have in a GEDCOM directly into a PDF or other non-editable format; or
   • Do you want to export the information into a format such as .doc or .rtf that can be further modified using word processing programs?
2. Your budget:
   • Most software that handle GEDCOMs and are worth their weight will cost you anywhere from $20+.
3. The specific capabilities of the software and the source GEDCOM.
   • Even though GEDCOM is a standard, it is interpreted differently by different softwares.
   • If your GEDCOM was created in one program, the data may need to be cleaned up in another program.

With that said, you can look at:

• Personal Ancestral File 5 - PAF is no longer supported and the download is hard to find these days, but it is free if you can find it. The options are not great (I have tried it before) and I would generally skip this option.
• RootsMagic - While a free version is available, you cannot run the Publisher option without a purchase. RootsMagic is probably one of the better options I have tested, and has the most features, but the book created is (for lack of better wording) just a template in which you have to populate information to. You are honestly better off trying to create a book from scratch than pay for a new software, learn to use it, import your data, clean it up and then try to figure out the Publisher option.
• Family Historian -  - I have never used this, but it is an option that seems to be popular amongst other users
• Legacy Family Tree
• Heredis 2017
• Branches
• Ancestral Quest 14

In all honesty, you are better off working on a online presence that can be shared (look at TNG - The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding) or working from scratch on your own format and layout by hand with a word processing program. 

 

Answer 3

I use MyHeritage Family tree builder as program and you can save your data in a PDF format and print it. This program is free of charge if you dont publish more than 250 names, but you can print all the data you have. For my part, I have more than 5000 names in my tree. You can buy also a premium. Hope that it may help!

Comments

Heredis.

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This program will do it:

https://github.com/nigelhorne/gedcom

[ full disclosure - I wrote the program ]