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I want to import a GEDCOM file and clean up the result

713 words·4 mins
Table of Contents

Use this when you’re migrating a tree from another tool — Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Ancestry, Heredis, Reunion, MyHeritage — or when a relative hands you a .ged file. The goal isn’t just to import. It’s to land in a clean state, with place-name variants normalized, data-quality issues triaged, and any duplicates resolved against your existing tree.

What you’ll need
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  • A .ged file.
  • Charted Roots installed and enabled.
  • (Recommended) A Staging folder configured under Settings → Charted Roots → Folders → System folders, with Staging isolation enabled under Advanced → Folder filtering. Staging lets you review imported data before merging it into your main tree. Skip if this is your first import and the vault is empty.

Steps
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1. Open the Import Wizard
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Three paths:

  • Control Center → Tools → Import/Export
  • Dashboard → Import tile
  • Command palette → Charted Roots: Open Import/Export Hub

Click the Import card.

2. Choose the format and file
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Step 1 of the wizard — pick GEDCOM 5.5.1 for a standard .ged file. Step 2 — drag-and-drop your file or click to browse.

3. Configure import options
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Step 3 has four toggles:

  • Entity types. People, Events, Sources, Places. Defaults are usually correct for a first import.
  • Target folder. Either your main folder or your Staging folder if you set one up.
  • Conflict handling. Skip / Overwrite / Merge. Merge is the safe default for re-imports.
  • Dynamic blocks. Enable for richer note content. Recommended.

4. Work the Data Quality Preview
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Step 4 is the highest-leverage moment in the wizard. Before any files are created, Charted Roots scans the GEDCOM and flags issues organized by category:

  • Dates: death before birth, future dates, events before birth or after death.
  • Relationships: gender/role mismatches, parent younger than child.
  • References: orphan references to non-existent records.
  • Data: missing names, unknown sex, no dates recorded.

A second pane shows place-name variants. Choose canonical forms — “USA” vs “United States of America”, “CA” vs “California” — and your choice applies to both filenames and frontmatter property values. Doing this now prevents weeks of cleanup later.

Data Quality Preview showing detected issues and a place-name variants pane

5. Run the import
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Step 5 — click Import. A progress modal shows the current phase, a progress bar, and running counts (places, sources, people, events created). On large files this takes a few minutes.

6. (Optional) Apply reference numbering
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Step 6 offers Ahnentafel, d’Aboville, Henry, or Generation numbering. Skip if you don’t use a numbered ancestor reference scheme.

7. (If you imported to staging) Promote clean data
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Open the Staging Manager — Dashboard button (appears when staging has data) or Charted Roots: Manage staging area. Each batch shows entity counts and a file list. For each batch:

  • Click Check duplicates to find matches against your main tree. Confidence scoring uses 60% name similarity + 30% date proximity + 5% gender bonus.
  • For each match: Same person opens the Merge Wizard. Different people dismisses.
  • Click Promote to move clean data into the main tree.

8. Run duplicate detection across the main tree
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Even if you didn’t use staging, run Charted Roots: Find duplicate people after import. Confidence scoring (high / medium / low) lets you triage. The Merge Wizard handles per-field conflict resolution side-by-side, with a preview before you commit.

Variations
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  • Gramps user with media. Choose Gramps XML in step 1 and use a .gpkg file. Embedded media is extracted automatically into your media folder.
  • CSV instead of GEDCOM. Same wizard, format CSV. Auto-detected column mapping for common headers (name, born, died, father, mother, spouse, gender). Adjust mapping if your headers differ.
  • Re-importing the same GEDCOM. Existing cr_id values are preserved; relationships update without duplicating; new individuals are added; conflicts are flagged. Safe to re-run.
  • Privacy for living people on later export. Configure under Settings → GEDCOM. Two modes: Exclude (omit entirely) or Anonymize (keep structure, replace details with [Living]). Threshold is configurable by birth year.

Related guides#

  • I want to find and merge duplicate persons (coming soon)
  • I want to set up a staging workflow for messy imports (coming soon)
  • I want to migrate from Family Tree Maker (coming soon)

Reference
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