GEDCompare confusion.

Question

OK, I'm totally confused, I actually spent two evenings plowing through my1037 name GEDCom report comparing suggested matches and rejecting those that didn't. Today, before going back to look at it, I added my 4 sons' profiles which I had intended to do earlier. I then opened the GEDCompare report and see all these ADD icons for almost all the people, including my sons which I just entered. Can someone straighten me out. Maybe I don't understand how to use this report.

Answer 1

Hi Joe, when you upload a GEDCOM ffile to WikiTree, the GEDCOMpare utility does a search of the current WikiTree Database to find any possible duplicate names for existing Profiles.  This is basically a snapshot of the database at that moment in time so as said, no new manually added Profiles will appear as possible Suggested Matches.

What you can do is to go to the rows on the list for anyone you manually added since uploading the GEDCOM file and on the right you'll see a Compare With button.  Click on that and enter the new WikiTree ID of that person and hit compare.  A Suggested Match Comparison Box will pop up and you can click on the Match button there. They will now appear as Matched on the Report List and not have the Add designation.

Now if there is more data in the GEDCOM file than what you manually entered, you can proceed with Editing and importing the data from the file to the Profile.  This would also be a good learning experience to see what happens when you Edit an existing Profile.  Sometime you get a hodge podge of data that need to edited and cleaned up.

Take a look at this page which has some tips, hints and links to WikiTree Help pages that can assist you in transitioning your GEDCOM file into WIkiTree.

GEDCOM File Usage Primer

This should help with anymore questions you might have right now and the questions you will have.  Trust me on the will have.  LOL

Comments

Thanks r the Star Ellen.

In my best Elvis impersonation voice:

"Thank you, thank you very much!  Uh-huh."  ;)

Answer 2

Hi,

 

I saw your question in G2G but cannot access any info to help you since your profile is unlisted.

 

Please change your PRIVACY status to Private - and one of the yellow privacy settings so we can at least see your tree and gedcom report.

 

Feel free to post any questions.  Thank you!

 

Answer 3

The Gedcom import process is a two step process:

1. Gedcompare -- check for duplicates (don't refresh, or you'll be doing comparisons forever)
2. Add (one at a time) -- you can skip any that you don't want to add (for example the ones you've already added manually)

then, for any profiles added that are connected to each other (in your gedcom), should still be connected to each other (in WikiTree after adding) -- but they may not be connected to any pre-existing WikiTree profiles -- you'll have to manually connect those.

Comments

we try to warn people not to do gedcom imports -- but nobody believes us :)

---

Thanks for your help.

---

@Dennis: I gave up on that with my last one. 

Answer 4

Joe, the GEDCompare report doesn't automatically update with the profiles you entered manually. To get it to update, you would have to refresh the report, BUT DON'T DO IT! You would then have to start from scratch making all the comparisons again. Quite frankly, I don't use GEDCompare for adding any profiles. I did it once and found it didn't save me any time at all--in fact, I think it took more time to clean it up after the add than it would have taken for me to enter the profile manually from the git-go. To each their own, of course. There are probably plenty of people who liked adding from GEDCompare, but I was not one of them.

Comments

OK, I think I understand and will NOT attempt to use the ADD button on any profiles I've manually entered. However, since I'm a "hunt and peck" typist and have devoted many hours over the last 2 years entering data on Ancestry.com to have a tree that goes back 300 years, I guess I'll try using the add button where I can, just to try saving time. Thanks for your help.

---

I get it, Joe. I've been doing the same thing for over 20 years and my full file on Ancestry.com (and in Family Tree Maker) has over 15,000 individuals in it, but I'm still finding it much better to do every profile from scratch. This site is so much different from and better than Ancestry.com because here we're able to write and share fully-sourced biographies of our shared ancestors. I've been here since November, I've only got 111 people in my Watchlist, most of which I've added myself, and all but one I've added manually. I have no intention of adding the remaining 14,900 in my Ancestry file to WikiTree. I just want to add until I link my family to the world-wide tree. I'll collaborate with my cousins to work on our shared ancestors. I'll work with the community to make the world-wide tree as accurate and well-sourced as it can be. I'm loving WikiTree! Hope you will, too!

---

Thanks for your comments, and after trying to deal with it for the last day or so, I guess I'll take your suggestions and go all manual entry. Since my primary goal is to prove our family connections to the Mayflower families, I will concentrate on documenting the Tucker side up to them. My 2nd great uncle had pretty well laid out our connection to the first 5 generations so I have some clues to follow. Again thank you for your comments.

---

Sounds like a great plan, Joe!