This page provides FamilySearch GEDCOM specifications.
These specifications are provided for purposes of review or programming of genealogical software.
Most FamilySearch GEDCOM specifications are copyrighted, but do allow copying.
The GEDCOM 5.3, GEDCOM 5.4, GEDCOM 5.5, and GEDCOM 5.6 specifications contain the sentence This document may be copied for
purposes of review or programming of genealogical software, provided this notice is included.
.
The GEDCOM 5.5.1 specification, the GEDCOM Specification Future Direction and the GEDCOM XML specifications include slightly different sentences, which explicitly allow copying for purposes of review
(not programming).
The GEDCOM 3.0 and 4.0 specifications contain a copyright notice without any distribution relaxation and are not hosted on this site.
They are hosted by third parties and direct download links are provided.
The GEDCOM 5.0 specification was distributed without either a copyright claim or a distribution restriction.
The GEDCOM 5.5 errata do not contain a copyright claim. Most publishers like errata to be distributed, regardless of their copyright claims on the corrected work,
but even if the errata are subject to the same copyright conditions as the GEDCOM 5.5 specification it corrects, distribution is allowed.
Some, but not all, of these specifications have been available from the FamilySearch web site in the past;
one was privately circulated and only became public more than a decade after its creation.
Mid 2014, the GEDCOM 5.5 and 5.5.1 specifications were removed from the FamilySearch site,
and only reinstated after publication of the FamilySearch removes GEDCOM specifications article.
FamilySearch does not offer any GEDCOM other specifications anymore.
The printed GEDCOM 3.0 specification were scanned and turned into a PDF by Brian C. Madsen, codeveloper, together with D. Blaine Wasden of Genealogical Information Manager (GIM), a shareware genealogy application for MS-DOS.
The GEDCOM 3.0 specification's preface contains the sentence About six hundred GEDCOM tags have been identified to date..
,
yet GEDCOM 3.0 does not define 600 tags.
On the contrary, the introduction states GEDCOM does not define tags, what they mean, or how they are used
,
but the GEDCOM Tags does list the GEDCOM 3.0 tags.
There is a brief example for every tag.
The example for CHAR specifies EBCDIC as the character set,
although the section on character sets allows only ASCII and ANSEL.
GEDCOM 3.0 allows the use of a plus sign (+) instead of the CONT tag.
Appendix A shows samples of GEDCOM records, using a mix of short and long GEDCOM tags.
The appendix GEDCOM Tags Definitions - Department Use (all definitions)
lists more tags than those defined within the GEDCOM 3.0 specifciation proper.
The printed GEDCOM 4.0 specification were scanned and turned into a PDF by Gisbert Berwe, creator of Gen_Plus. The PDF includes the 1988 Jun 23 Personal Ancestral File Release 2.1 Family Records Data Structure Description and the 1990 Jan 25 Personal Ancestral File GEDCOM Specifications, documenting the PAF 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 implementations of GEDCOM.
The draft GEDCOM 5.0 specification (1991) was contributed by Peter Glassenbury.
This draft specification is dated 1991 Sep 25.
There may be another draft dated 1991 Dec 31.
Although officially a draft, the GEDCOM 5.0 specification was used by several products,
including Oedipus II, Family Origins 2 and Family Treasures 2.
The files are offered as is, unaltered in any way, but a few notes are in order.
The GEDCOM 5.3 specifications were provided in both WordPerfect 5.1 and plain text format.
The GEDCOM 5.4 specifications were provided in both these formats as well, but no one - not even FamilySearch - seems to have these anymore.
Andy Scriven used Wp2Html Version 2.1b to convert the GEDCOM 5.4 specification from WordPerfect into HTML, and
the resulting gedcom54.htm file survived.
FamilySearch has provided the GEDCOM 5.5 and later specifications in Adobe PDF format,
but has never provided the GEDCOM 5.3 or GEDCOM 5.4 specification in that format.
The GEDCOM 5.3 and GEDCOM 5.4 PDF files were created by Andrew Hoyle,
author of Chronoplex My Family Tree and the Chronoplex GEDCOM Validator,
from the GEDCOM 5.3 WordPerfect and GEDCOM 5.4 HTML files.
The GEDCOM 5.5.1 specification states that It must not be used for programming of genealogical software while in draft
,
a prescription FamilySearch PAF broke themselves with FamilySearch PAF.
FamilySearch PAF 5.0 and later use GEDCOM 5.5.1,
and that's one reason that GEDCOM 5.5.1 has replaced GEDCOM 5.5 as the de facto standard.
Some more fundamental reasons are that GEDCOM 5.5.1 supports UTF-8
and several useful GEDCOM tags that GEDCOM 5.5 lacks.
Today, mid 2014, all leading genealogy software uses GEDCOM version 5.5.1 instead of 5.5. There is a GEDCOM 5.6 specification dated late 2000, but until the publication of the GEDCOM 5.6 article in 2011, almost no one even knew about GEDCOM 5.6's existence. GEDCOM 5.6 does not offer worthwhile advantages over GEDCOM 5.5.1, and has largely been ignored.
The GEDCOM 5.6 specification includes the specification of GEDXML, an XML-based variation of GEDCOM inspired by Michael Kay's GedML. GEDXML predates GEDCOM XML. Development of GEDCOM 5.6 and GEDXML was abandonded in favour of GEDCOM XML, and most developers only learned about GEDCOM 5.6 and thus GEDXML many years after FamilySearch had abandoned GEDCOM, GEDXML and GEDCOM XML already.
first standard definition of the lineage-linked form of GEDCOM, introduced in 3.0.
GEDCOM 5.5.2 with XML. Dated late 2000, its existence only became public more than a decade later. See GEDCOM 5.6 article.
Despite the name, the GEDCOM XML specifications are not GEDCOM specifications,
but because GEDCOM XML was misintroduced as GEDCOM 6.0
, they're provided here anyway.
There are two GEDCOM XML drafts and a Beta release, some time after the Beta release FamilySearch abandoned GEDCOM XML.
The first draft mentions the GEDCOM 5.6 specification as being available from the FamilySearch site,
but that is a mistake, as GEDCOM 5.6 was not publicly released. The GEDCOM XML draft should mention GEDCOM 5.5.1 instead.
The drafts contains the sentence This draft version should not be used for programming genealogical software.
,
and the Beta release does not, but that does not imply you should use GEDCOM XML in an actual product.
As far as I know, Dirk Bötcher's Ahnenblatt is the only product to support export to GEDCOM XML, with no product supporting import.
These specifications are of historical interest only.
GEDCOM 6.0.
The GEDCOM specifications contain an appendix for the ANSEL character set,
but the Adobe PDF file for GEDCOM 5.5.1 that FamilySearch created from their WordPerfect file looks less than perfect.
GEDCOM ANSEL Table explains the problem and provides a correct table.
actually improving on the FamilySearch table by showing the actual combining characters (e.g. not U+0060 Grave Accent, but U+0300 Combining Grave Accent).
Different GEDCOM specifications contain different tables for the ANSEL character set.
LDS ANSEL versus LDS ANSEL highlights these differences.
Added GEDCOM 5.4 PDF. Thanks, Louis Kessler.
FamilySearch seems to have removed all GEDCOM materials from their site.
FamilySearch used to offer a Java GEDCOM Parser at https://devnet.familysearch.org/code/sample-code/gedcom-parser,
before that was redirected to https://familysearch.org/developers/code/sample-code/gedcom-parser.
The Java GEDCOM Parser has been removed too.
FamilySearch has open source projects on github, but their Java GEDCOM Parser is not available there.
Added the GEDCOM XML draft from 2000. That makes two drafts and one Beta.
Added brief notes about ANSEL, with links to relevant articles.
Added several GEDCOM 5.3 and 5.4 formats, and a section on the origins of these files.
Added GEDCOM 4.0.
Added GEDCOM 5.5 Errata Sheet & GEDCOM 5.5 PDF including the errata as annotations.
Louis Kessler obtained the GEDCOM 5.0 specification through Peter Glassenbury.
Louis Kessler obtained the GEDCOM 3.0 specification through Brian Madsen.
The FamilySearch GEDCOM 5.5.1 Specification Annotated Edition (TFG551SAE) announced.
GEDCOM 5.5.5 is available from gedcom.org.
Copyright © Tamura Jones. All Rights reserved.