Family Historian User Group

My iPad is getting long in the tooth, so for about a third of the price of a new one (and with the help of a special offer) I've just bought a Fire tablet. Can anyone recommend an app for viewing GEDCOM data on this, please?

The Fire app store has 4 suggestions for apps for viewing GEDCOM files:

• Genealogy: GEDCOM viewer
• Family Tree Made Simple
• GEDExplorer
• GedFamilies

Does anyone have any comments on these?

None of these 4 is specifically mentioned in the Help file for the Export GEDCOM plugin, but I see that GEDExplorer and GedFamilies get a mention in the FH Knowledge Base: GEDExplorer is said to work well with a straight copy of the FH project file, but GedFamilies needs a companion program to convert it. Does anyone know about the other two - but from the look of them, I suspect I'm more likely to go for one of the others.

(Incidentally, it took me a while to find info on these apps in the Knowledge Base. I eventually did a search for "android", but it would have helped if there was a section or subheading on the KB home page for GEDCOM tools or tablet apps or similar - none of the more likely-looking subheadings led to what I wanted.)

I don't use any app like this, but the KB section you were looking for is in Links > Gedcom Tools. It mentions GEDExplorer, GedFamilies, Heredis, and GedStar Pro.

ColeValleyGirl wrote: ↑

03 Jun 2022 11:04

I don't use any app like this, but the KB section you were looking for is in Links > Gedcom Tools. It mentions GEDExplorer, GedFamilies, Heredis, and GedStar Pro.

Thanks, Helen - I knew I'd seen a page like that once, but I was looking for it among the links in the main part of the KB home page.

You will need to check that any app you chose will work with Gedcom 5.5.1

H Arthurk:

The Amazon Fire is really just an android OS. I don't have any experience with specific programs for viewing Gedcom files on my fire, but what I thought I'd mention is you can run pretty much any app that will run on an android phone or that comes from Google Play on your Fire. I used an app called "Fire Toolbox" and it was very easy to install Google play onto the fire app so I can now run any of the apps I have paid for on my phone on my fire also. It is a free program: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/wind ... 1.3889604/ and there are directions on how to use it on the site (and some videos on youtube).

Matthew

I use GED explorer as it works well with FH data, including media.

Make sure you have FH set to save in UTF8 and you can simply copy the Project folder over.

MFriend wrote: ↑

03 Jun 2022 23:21

I used an app called "Fire Toolbox" and it was very easy to install Google play onto the fire app so I can now run any of the apps I have paid for on my phone on my fire also. It is a free program: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/wind ... 1.3889604/ and there are directions on how to use it on the site (and some videos on youtube).

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think it's for me. The (very long) forum thread you've linked to starts off with things that you need to do before buying and booting up your Fire, so I've missed the boat with that. The last page (I didn't read all the intervening ones ) seemed to be saying that the Toolbox might not work with the latest Fire OS, which mine has probably already updated to. And even if I could use it without undoing things, while I'm still getting used to the tablet it comes across as an added layer of complication that I'm quite happy to forgo.

Jane wrote: ↑

04 Jun 2022 06:53

I use GED explorer as it works well with FH data, including media.

Make sure you have FH set to save in UTF8 and you can simply copy the Project folder over.

Thanks, I do have mine set to UTF-8, but does this mean there's an error in the KB article at GedExplorer, which states that GEDExplorer "works very well with a straight copy of the Family Historian Project file, opening both pictures and Unicode 16 format without complaint".

GEDExplorer's own Help pages refer to it supporting UTF-8 and make no mention of UTF-16:
Android - https://www.sundin.nu/gedexplorer/help/
iOS - https://www.sundin.nu/gedexplorer/help/?ios

Or have I misunderstood and Unicode 16 isn't the same as UTF-16? (The GEDExplorer help says it can read Unicode.)

I have my FH Projects on Microsoft OneDrive, so that I can work seamlessly on PC or Laptop. I also have OneDrive on my Android tablet and am considering trying out GED Explorer.

Could I use GED Explorer to access my OneDrive FH project Gedcom files direct, or should I create dedicated GED Explorer Gedcom copies?

The GEDexplorer description says:

Please note that GEDexplorer can not (yet) edit genealogy data - it can only visualize genealogy information that you have already collected.

Since it can only read the data you could use the FH Project GEDCOM file directly.
If they later let it edit data then it depends on whether you would trust it to edit the FH GEDCOM directly or not.