Cyber Solutions: Pushing Limits

Q. Besides the “privatize” function in my genealogy software, is there another way I can limit the information I submit to Internet family trees? I’d like to share only such basics as name, place, birth, death and marriage.

A. When you create a GEDCOM file to submit information to a pedigree database, such as Roots Web’s WorldConnect <worldconnect.rootsweb.com>, your ability to control what data is included depends on your program.

• Family Tree Maker lets you include all data on living people or just their names, but you can’t limit the information included on deceased people. It’s all or nothing.

• Personal Ancestral File (PAF) can optionally exclude notes, sources, multimedia links, contact information, events marked as confidential and notes with ~ as the first character of the paragraph. You can include full information on living people, or just their names.

• RootsMagic lets you exclude notes, sources, multimedia links and addresses. Omit specific facts by checking the Private box and specific notes by surrounding them with curly brackets {}. If you privatize living people, you can include their names or replace them with “Living.”

Though it takes some work, Roots-Magic can create a GEDCOM file that excludes certain facts. Select Fact Type List from the Lists menu. Then edit each fact type you want to exclude and uncheck the box for exporting GEDCOM files (recheck the boxes to include them later).

From the November 2007 issue of Family Tree Magazine.