Import from Generations: Sources problem

AndyA · Post by **AndyA** » 03 Dec 2009 15:56

I'm a newcomer to FHUG but have enjoyed reading many of the previous queries/replies and have learned a great deal in the process. I'm currently evaluating FH in order to migrate from Generations and am most impressed, but am having problems importing sources/citations correctly. I've used Jane's utility which certainly improves matters but, briefly, citations for fields like DoB import correctly but citations embedded in the main 'Notes' field do not. We have used Notes in the past to hold many different pieces of information - census info, wills etc - so that a single Note may comprise several hundred words or more and perhaps up to a dozen different citations. Clearly this adds to the complexity of the gedcom file, which contains info on around 10,000 people, but having to re-enter so many citations is a daunting thought. Any suggestions about how I might tackle this will be most welcome.

ID:4194

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 03 Dec 2009 16:18

If you have citations in notes, they should transfer over as notes. If they are all local notes you might be able do work out some fairly simple search and replace tricks to get the citations out of the notes.

Can you post a short bit of one of your notes with the in-line citation from the gedcom file and I will take a look see if I can think of a way to sort them.

AndyA · Post by **AndyA** » 04 Dec 2009 08:38

I will extract some typical information and forward it to you over the weekend. Many thanks.

AndyA · Post by **AndyA** » 19 Dec 2009 16:34

Jane kindly examined some gedcoms that we exchanged via email and her input has assisted me to make some useful changes to our Generations files prior to creating the necessary export files. However the basic problem that Generations is separating citations from the specific pieces of text in notes files to which they refer is not easily fixable. In short, once Generations has separated a citation from its position even the cleverest programme cannot 'guess' where it came from!! I think I am resolved/resigned to the fact that whatever family history programme we choose to migrate to will have the same problem, and that we will have to 'reconnect' all our notes-embedded citations manually.... I remain impressed with FH and will use some clear time over Christmas get to know it better and make a final decision. I am most grateful for the supportive responses to my question. Thank you.

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