Help:GEDCOMpare

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Categories: WikiTree Help | GEDCOM Help | Profile Creation Help

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GEDCOMs are not imported into WikiTree. Instead, after you upload a file our "GEDCOMpare" tool enables you to conveniently ...

  1. Compare your tree with our shared tree. We show you the most likely matches. This can be used by itself — a handy way to see if anyone in your family is already on WikiTree.
  2. Add & edit profiles on our shared tree using your GEDCOM. You add people one at a time after confirming or rejecting suggested matches.

Contents

Action Buttons

The following action buttons conditionally appear in the WikiTree Profiles column of the main GEDCOMpare table and comparison pop-ups.

  • Add: Click this button to create a profile for the person on WikiTree.
    • Add buttons don't appear on the main table until all suggested matches in your GEDCOM have been confirmed or rejected. This could be a pain in the butt if there are a lot of suggestions but we believe it's important for preventing the creation of duplicate profiles that would later need to be merged.
    • Add buttons don't appear on comparison pop-ups until all suggested matches for all of the starting person's nuclear family members have been confirmed or rejected.
  • Edit: On comparison pop-ups use this button to edit an existing profile on WikiTree.
    • Edit buttons only appear when there is a confirmed match.
  • Compare: Every suggested, matched, or rejected WikiTree ID will have a compare button next to it. Clicking it takes you to a detailed comparison pop-up with more action buttons.
  • Compare With: If there are no suggested or confirmed matches but you think the person may be on WikiTree, click this button to enter a WikiTree ID manually.
  • Match: On comparison pop-ups use this button to confirm that the person in your GEDCOM and the profile on WikiTree represent the same person.
  • Match With: This action button appears on comparison pop-ups by nuclear relatives of the starting person in your GEDCOM. It enables you to directly set a match for a corresponding relative of the starting profile on WikiTree without comparing them first.
  • Reject: On comparison pop-ups use this button to reject a suggested match. Only do this if the profile on WikiTree does not represent the person in your GEDCOM.
  • Search: If a person on the GEDCOMpare table does not have any suggested or confirmed matches you'll see a button for searching WikiTree. Our search form will be automatically filled with the person data from your GEDCOM. Direct searches are a good idea if a name could have different forms or the dates may be entered differently.


Comparison Pop-Ups

When you click a "compare" action button you'll see a detailed comparison of the person in your GEDCOM (on the left) with the corresponding profile on WikiTree (on the right).

Beneath the starting person are rows for the Father, Mother, Siblings, Spouses, and Children of the person in your GEDCOM and the profile on WikiTree.

Accepting and rejecting matches

Comparison pop-ups generally give you all the information you need to decide if the person in your GEDCOM matches the profile on WikiTree, i.e. if they represent the same person. If they do, click the "match" button. If they don't, click the "reject" button.

If you're not sure whether they're the same person you can take a closer look at the profile on WikiTree by clicking the person's name in the right column. If the WikiTree profile is private you may need to contact the Profile Manager or request Trusted List access.

You can take a closer look at the person in your GEDCOM by clicking the plus sign (+) icon that appears near the top of the left column. However, this shows you the "raw" data from your original file and may not be helpful.

If you click a match or reject action button, the comparison pop-up will close. It will also close if you click another compare button.

Adding and editing profiles with comparison pop-ups

"Add" buttons will appear on the main table if you have accepted or rejected all suggested matches in the GEDCOM. Add buttons will appear sooner on comparison pop-ups. You only need to have reviewed all the suggestions for the family members who appear in the pop-up.

"Edit" buttons appear on comparison pop-ups when you have accepted a match. These enable you to edit the profile on WikiTree using data from your GEDCOM. Please do this thoughtfully, especially if you are not the Profile Manager of the existing profile.


GEDCOMpare Table Usage Tips

Here is more information on using the main GEDCOMpare page.

Table columns and sorting

Each row of the table is an individual in your GEDCOM. You can resort the order by clicking any one of these column headers:

  • ID is the identification number or code for the person in your GEDCOM. These are usually meaningless — assigned when your GEDCOM was created — but it is helpful to have a unique identifier for each person. By default, the rows are sorted in ID order.
    • The checkbox in this column marks the person as completed (see below).
    • The + sign in this column enables you to view the raw data on the person that is in your GEDCOM. This isn't generally necessary.
  • Name of the person in your GEDCOM. You can click this to view the rows in alphabetical order.
  • Birth date of the person in your GEDCOM. You can click this to view the rows in birth order.
  • Death date of the person in your GEDCOM. You can click this to view the rows in order of when they died.

Matches

The WikiTree Profiles column of the main table has WikiTree IDs prefaced with one of the following:

  • suggested: These are WikiTree profiles that may correspond to the person in your GEDCOM. Or not. They may be very bad suggestions. It's up to you to compare them and decide.
  • matched: These are confirmed matches. They may have been suggested matches that you accepted, matches that you set manually through a "match with" action button, or profiles that you have already created with your GEDCOM data.
  • rejected: These are suggested matches that you have rejected because they don't represent the person in your GEDCOM. To avoid clutter, rejected matches are not displayed unless you click the "show rejected matches" button near the top of the page.

Completed rows

After you have created or edited a WikiTree profile using a person's data in your GEDCOM, the person's row in your GEDCOMpare table will automatically be marked as "completed."

Other reasons for marking a row as completed:

  • if the person was born before 1700 or 1500 and you don't have the Pre-1700 or Pre-1500 certification that our community requires for editing these early profiles, or
  • if you don't have the names, dates, and sources for the person that are required for creating collaborative profiles on WikiTree.

You can manually mark or unmark rows by checking or unchecking the small box that appear on the far left side of the row on the main table. These checkboxes also appear at the top of comparison pop-ups.

Marking rows as completed is entirely for your convenience. It may help you know when you are done with a person so that you can move on to other people. It does not mean the person is ready to import.

Completed rows are hidden by default. You can see them by clicking the "show completed rows" button that will appear near the top of the page.

Refresh

There is a "refresh" link in the Add & Edit section above the table. This just reloads the page.

Refreshing should not be necessary. The counts and action buttons should automatically update and change as appropriate.

Saving changes

You don't need to save your progress on GEDCOMpare. You can close the window at any time and return to it later.


Refreshing Suggested Matches

You can refresh the suggested matches at any time. Look for the button at the bottom of the GEDCOMpare report page.

Refreshing can be helpful if it has been more than a few days since you uploaded your GEDCOM. New profiles are constantly being added to WikiTree. There may be new profiles that match the people in your GEDCOM.

Plus, we limit the suggested matches for each individual to five. If you have rejected matches, refreshing them may show suggested matches that were not visible before.

When you refresh the suggested matches, your confirmed and rejected matches will not be lost. Only suggested matches will be refreshed. If new suggested matches are found during this process, you will need to accept or reject each new suggested match before "ADD" buttons will reappear.


Questions and Problems

Lost files

Click here for a list of GEDCOMs you have uploaded.

If you don't see it, your file may have been deleted and you'll need to upload it again. See below for more information on deletion.

Also note that we send out an e-mail when your GEDCOMpare report is created. If you didn't receive it, please search your e-mail for "WikiTree." Our message may be in your spam folder. If it is, you will have trouble getting future messages from WikiTree and members of our community unless you indicate that it is not spam.

Deletion

Deleting profiles on our shared tree is complicated. See Deletion FAQ.

Deleting your GEDCOM is easy. Look for the delete link at the bottom of your GEDCOMpare report page.

You don't need to delete your GEDCOM. Files will be automatically deleted 60 days after you last used it to compare, create, or edit profiles.

Search limitations

After you upload your GEDCOM, we automatically search WikiTree using all the names and their corresponding birth and death dates in your file. We also use parent information to eliminate some matches. The most-likely matches appear as suggested matches.

Unfortunately:

  1. bad suggestions are made, and
  2. real matches are missed.

Our search functions are not very "smart." Most notably, the search does not account for locations. This is very difficult because location names can be written in so many different ways.

You will be able to easily dismiss many of the suggested matches. Depending on your GEDCOM, this may take a lot of patience. We hope you will understand and think the end result is worth it.

Ask for help

If you can't easily find the answer to your question, ask our friendly community in G2G. Be sure to tag your question with GEDCOMpare.



This page was last modified 17:14, 23 February 2022. This page has been accessed 187,571 times.