I'd like to copy ALL of my data on Geni to another website, but the limit on the size of the Gedcom only gets me through a few generations. I'd love to tell Geni to start a new Gedcom where it left off with the previous one, but that's not possible.
As things stand, I'll have to enter thousands of names by hand. Doesn't seem right. Suggestions?
Sharon, Geni limits your export to 4x the number of profiles you've added, likely to prevent just what you describe. We don't want people copying the work of other Geni users over to competing site, particularly if it is horizontal in nature. GEDCOMS are meant as a backup. If you are unhappy with Geni, is there something that I can assist you with or address?
Hi Jeff -.
Thanks for your quick response!
Your explanation made sense; I wish it were clearly explained on the website.
My reason for wanting/needing to transfer my data does not have to do with leaving Geni, but with having a duplicate and slightly different repository for my family tree. I am completing a book about some parts of my family, with short bios and the usual dates. My intention is to tell the readers that they can look at a more complete family tree by accessing it on line, with my permission. (In other words, a private tree.) Geni doesn't offer me a private tree, and in addition I find that merges keep changing my tree in confusing ways.
Until I started working on Geni, my genealogical data consisted of voluminous handwritten notes. I had no personal gen program nor gedcoms. (I was late to the parade, obviously!) I entered my Geni data from these notes, and found many many of my ancestors were already listed there. This was evidently a mixed blessing: it saved me time and in some cases added to the family in great ways; but now it also seems that the "pre-existing" ancestors, whom I did not have to enter, are figuring in a formula to keep me from exporting my data. I also now have a lapop Gedcom program (My Heritage) and would like to export the data to that.
That's the situation. If you have any solution in mind, please let me know! Sharon
Here is the FAQ on it. http://help.geni.com/entries/466639-How-can-I-export-my-GEDCOM-
I guess the way might be to focus your tree to direct ancestors or to break your GEDCOM export up into pieces and somehow combine them with desktop software.
You might want to try importing it to MyHeritage, which should allow you to import data from Geni (though that probably requires a data subscription or premiere account).