Is there a way to create a gedcom file that contains only the ancestors of a specific individual without having to check each individual from a list?
When you get to the screen that shows the list of everyone in the database, mark the person you want the ancestors of and the click the MARK button and select Ancestors of the highlighted person.
create a new database then drag & drop starting with a specific person and select ancestors
Thanks for the really prompt and helpful response!!!
A new database is not necessary. It is sufficient to do the selection from the GEDCOM export dialog.
There is a minor awkwardness with the process that cannot be avoided. Even if you have the person of interest highlighted at the time you initiate the GEDCOM export, at the time you get into the Marking dialog that person will not be highlighted. You will need to Select From List to get into the Marking dialog. Then you will need to highlight the person of interest before marking that person’s ancestors. The easiest way to highlight the person is to enter their name into the search box above the list of people. Then you can mark their ancestors.
One tip to Marking is ignore the concept of highlighting for selection of individuals. The dialog is designed specifically to utilize the checkboxes. Highlighting is only designed to populate the right hand panel with some of the basic identifying info about a highlighted person. It does no selection for GEDCOM export, in and of itself.
It is correct that highlighting a person in the Marking dialog doesn’t really select the person. The person really does need to be check marked to be selected.
You can check mark each person one at a time if you wish. But often it’s more useful to check mark a bunch of people all at one go by using some general rule such as “check mark everybody born before 1900”. One of the kinds of general rule that is supported is something like “check mark all ancestors of John Doe” or “check mark all descendants of John Doe”. In order to make this kind of check marking work, you do first have to highlight John Doe rather than check marking him. That’s the one case where you don’t ignore the concept of highlighting. With this kind of check marking, you highlight one person and then check mark a bunch of people all at one go based on their relationship to the highlighted person.
Yes, the “… in highlighted” and “… of highlighted” are self-explanatory and, as Jerry said, THAT highlighted person really does need to be check marked to be selected (included in the GEDCOM).