Need help converting a file please

RootsMagic
,
21

It is still true indeed, and I have tried to figure out whether Chat GPT could translate a narrative text to a GEDCOM file, but the last time I ‘asked’, it didn’t work.

And this would be even more fun for charts, because as humans, we have no problems with boxes that have names and vitals in them, and lines that connect persons to parents, where the relative position defines the parent’s sex, and given names are often easy to recognize as male or female, when needed. Same for the page connectors that are often used such charts.

P.S. Chat GPT just told me that it is able to help me with generating GEDCOM files from reports, but I haven’t tested that yet.

22

And a quick test suggests that it’s quite good, with the narrative that I got from a cousin.

23

Hi Enno,
Do you know how to take comas out of numeric and words/punctuations from the excel files? If so, I may have found a way to convert this excel sheet into a gedcom file.

24

To remove the commas from the numeric cells. First check the format. When you cick a cell look at the top to see what is actually entered. Excel has numerous ways to fomat numbers and they may just show and not actually be there. If they are a simple Find and replace will work. Same goes for text. Just Find and replace. CTRL+H on Windows machine

1 Like
25

Hi Mary,

It’s been a very long time since I did anything with Excel, and I don’t even have it on my PC. I use LibreOffice on Linux and Windows, which is sort of compatible, but even with that, I never did anything more than some small calculations.

IMO, the whole Excel route is a waste of time, because the data isn’t structured enough to be converted, at least not with the tools that I found on the web. And since GEDCOM files are just text, and some programs can also import data from files with comma separated values, I think that it’s much easier to use plain text, and not Excel, or Word.

I just did another experiment with the conversion tools offered as extras via Google Drive, and found one that converted your whole PDF to a text document that strips all the boxes, and other lay-out, but keeps page numbers, chart connectors, and all names and vitals. An earlier experiment with Google’s own tools only worked for 80 pages of the 540 in your chart, but the one that I found today converted all, resulting in something like this for our common ancestor Karel de Grote, a.k.a. Charlemagne:

Carlos Magno

Cont. p. 481

b: 02 abril 742 in Aix-La-Chapelle, França
m: 771 in Aachen, Renânia, Alemanha
d: 28 janeiro 814 in Aix-La-Chapelle, França
aka: Charlemagne

Luis I o Pio Imperador Romano
b: agosto 778 in Casseuil-sur-Garonne, França
m: 798
d: 28 junho 840 in Ingelheim, Rhinehessen,
Hasse, Alemanha

Condessa da Suábia Hildegarde
b: 757 in Aachen, Renânia, Alemanha
d: 30 abril 783 in Thionville, França

Lothar I
m: 15 outubro 821 in Thionville

Ingeramne Duque de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 753 in Bélgica

Irmengarde Princesa de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 778 in Hesbaye, Bélgica
d: 03 outubro 818 in Angers, França

Lothar II
m: 15 outubro 862
d: 08 agosto 869 in Piacenza

Edite da Saxónia Duqueza de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 758

Ermengarde de Tours
Cont. p. 431

Cont. p. 482

As you can see, the whole chart lay-out is gone, but if you use this text next to the original PDF, you can easily see the connections, and because this is just text, it’s an ideal source for pasting in RootsMagic, or even a conversion to a text file with columns for names, birth dates and places, etc., which can then be read by Gramps, and then be exported to GEDCOM that can be imported into RootsMagic.

1 Like
26

OMG! YOU ARE AMAZING!!! How do I get it from you and I am willing to pay you for your hard work and time! I’m so excited I screamed like a little girl!!

Thank you,
Mary Areias~Romo

| ennoborg
September 30 |

  • | - |

Hi Mary,

It’s been a very long time since I did anything with Excel, and I don’t even have it on my PC. I use LibreOffice on Linux and Windows, which is sort of compatible, but even with that, I never did anything more than some small calculations.

IMO, the whole Excel route is a waste of time, because the data isn’t structured enough to be converted, at least not with the tools that I found on the web. And since GEDCOM files are just text, and some programs can also import data from files with comma separated values, I think that it’s much easier to use plain text, and not Excel, or Word.

I just did another experiment with the conversion tools offered as extras via Google Drive, and found one that converted your whole PDF to a text document that strips all the boxes, and other lay-out, but keeps page numbers, chart connectors, and all names and vitals. An earlier experiment with Google’s own tools only worked for 80 pages of the 540 in your chart, but the one that I found today converted all, resulting in something like this for our common ancestor Karel de Grote, a.k.a. Charlemagne:

Carlos Magno

Cont. p. 481

b: 02 abril 742 in Aix-La-Chapelle, França
m: 771 in Aachen, Renânia, Alemanha
d: 28 janeiro 814 in Aix-La-Chapelle, França
aka: Charlemagne

Luis I o Pio Imperador Romano
b: agosto 778 in Casseuil-sur-Garonne, França
m: 798
d: 28 junho 840 in Ingelheim, Rhinehessen,
Hasse, Alemanha

Condessa da Suábia Hildegarde
b: 757 in Aachen, Renânia, Alemanha
d: 30 abril 783 in Thionville, França

Lothar I
m: 15 outubro 821 in Thionville

Ingeramne Duque de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 753 in Bélgica

Irmengarde Princesa de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 778 in Hesbaye, Bélgica
d: 03 outubro 818 in Angers, França

Lothar II
m: 15 outubro 862
d: 08 agosto 869 in Piacenza

Edite da Saxónia Duqueza de Hesbaye
b: Abt. 758

Ermengarde de Tours
Cont. p. 431

Cont. p. 482

As you can see, the whole chart lay-out is gone, but if you use this text next to the original PDF, you can easily see the connections, and because this is just text, it’s an ideal source for pasting in RootsMagic, or even a conversion to a text file with columns for names, birth dates and places, etc., which can then be read by Gramps, and then be exported to GEDCOM that can be imported into RootsMagic.

27

I will send it as an attachment to your email. Hope that it doesn’t arrive in the spam. :slight_smile:

1 Like
28

I will keep my eyes out for it! I’m super excited Enno!

29

Note that even in this format, you still need a Word or Excel wizard who can convert the texts into table rows that might be read by Gramps or other software. And that’s because there is no consumer software smart enough to see that a line starting with b: represents a birth, etc., or that the word in is the separator between a date and a place. Some good AI might do that, but even then you need very special AI to recognize the parts of a name.

For us, it’s easy to understand that Duque is a title, and Condessa too, but it is not so easy for a computer.

30

I did some further research, and found that most of the persons on the 1st page of your chart already exist on FamilySearch. The main person’s father is here:

And this is her paternal grandfather:

This suggests that you can download most of her ancestry using RootsMagic, and only use the chart for clues where FamilySearch doesn’t have those. You will need to add living persons to RootsMagic yourself, and for that, you can copy and paste most data from the text file that I emailed earlier.

Working with FamilySearch is free, but you need an account for that.

31

You are so kind Enno! I will pass all of this to my cousin who I know appreciates this so much. Thank you! We will give this a shot.

Thank you,
Mary Areias~Romo

| ennoborg
October 3 |

  • | - |

I did some further research, and found that most of the persons on the 1st page of your chart already exist on FamilySearch. The main person’s father is here:

familysearch.org

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

And this is her paternal grandfather:

familysearch.org

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

This suggests that you can download most of her ancestry using RootsMagic, and only use the chart for clues where FamilySearch doesn’t have those. You will need to add living persons to RootsMagic yourself, and for that, you can copy and paste most data from the text file that I emailed earlier.

Working with FamilySearch is free, but you need an account for that.

32

Nice. This is one of the strenghts of RootsMagic, especially when you’re a paying user, because in that case, you not only have automatic searches for hints on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Find-My-Past, and My Heritage, but you can also upload a tree to Ancestry, and let RootsMagic send all changes that you make on your PC to the site. The free version can’t do those updates.

And in the end, a short term subscription to Ancestry, or My Heritage, or even both, is cheaper than what you’ve paid for this chart. And I mention those, because with these, you can let the sites find cues in other trees, and real source records.

Which one works best depends on your region. Ancestry is best for North America and the UK, and My Heritage is better for the European continent. And now that Ancestry bought Geneanet, which is also quite big in Europe, you can also use hints from trees on Geneanet, even with a free account. And with a paid RootsMagic, which you have, any person that you add on-line on Ancestry, can be downloaded to your RootsMagic tree.

IMO, this is much better that working with unsourced charts and reports that you got from a person who may have used the same technology to get those medieval ancestors.

33

Thanks so much Enno!!

Thank you,
Mary Areias~Romo