In this dialog, the records of the open Gedcom file can be converted to FamilyTreeFactory records based on the Gedcom standard 5.5 from LDS (1). Details about the program's converter can be found in the Appendix in the section Gedcom Conversion Details. The display lists in this dialog should allow an experienced user of the Gedcom standard to evaluate the results of the conversion. Text that is cut off in the line of the display list due to a lack of space will be shown in an information window when the mouse cursor is placed over the line.

To set conversion options, you can open the dialog Gedcom Options directly by using the button Change Gedcom Options.... Click the button New Conversion to repeat the process using different Gedcom Options as many times as necessary. The conversion can be canceled at any time with the Cancel button or using the Esc key.

To better determine the effects of various Gedcom Options, you can easily navigate in the display lists. Double-click on record references or Gedcom references ('@XRef@') to show the corresponding lines in all display lists. In addition, you can search for specific words in the upper display lists.

Special lines in the lists with Gedcom data are given a color background: record headlines in light yellow, non-used Gedcom files in light gray, structural errors in red and gender errors in violet. The list with the FamilyTreeFactory records is similar: record headlines are light yellow in normal cases or red for structural or gender errors. If you position the mouse cursor over a colored row, the cause for the marking will be shown in an information window. These notifications correspond to the log entries.

This dialog uses a log list, in which all important results (not only errors) are documented during conversion. The log can be copied to the clipboard and saved as a text file. The log can also be displayed in an additional, scalable window with same navigation options for easy reading. In the Gedcom Options, Import Options tab, you can specify the log contents and level of detail. You can adjust the level of detail step-by-step to determine if the opened Gedcom file has errors that need to be addressed.

Click the OK button to close the window. After this, the records can be used just as if you had created a new family file and entered data. The window title will read Gedcom records from *.ged instead of New.

The Gedcom file should use the UNICODE, UTF-8, ANSI (Windows code page based on the installed locale), ASCII (DOS code page 437 or 850) or ANSEL character set. If the Gedcom file is not detected as UNICODE file automatically and if the CHAR tag of the Gedcom file does not include a character set or the character set is unknown, a dialog is opened to assist in selecting a character set. This dialog shows a list of up to 50 words from the Gedcom file to be opened that contain diacritic characters. This refers to characters that are coded differently in different character sets. By selecting different character sets, you can see how the words in the list are displayed. Select the character set that displays the text correctly.

In the following example, the words are not correctly displayed with the ASCII character set (DOS code page 850). The Gedcom file has clearly not been saved with this character set (because English does not contain diacritic characters, German words are displayed here).

In the following example, the words are correctly displayed with the ANSI character set. The Gedcom file has clearly been saved with this character set. Click OK to accept the settings and use them for reading the Gedcom file.

If a Gedcom file does not contain any words with diacritic characters, the word list will remain blank. Any character set can be used. Manual character set selection allows Gedcom files to be opened, even if the character set data in the CHAR tag of the Gedcom file is missing or unreadable.

In the Gedcom Options, Import Options tab, you can determine that the character set selection dialog is opened for non-UNICODE Gedcom files every time, regardless of the content of the CHAR tag. This option can be helpful if the CHAR tag contains a known character set, but the set is wrong for the file.

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(1) Publisher and copyright: Family History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (American abbreviation "LDS"), 50 East North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150, USA. Internet: www.familysearch.org.