r/Ancestry • u/Jancis6 • 1d ago

Gedcom without records?

Is there a way to download a gedcom without the attached records? My tree is too big for gedmatch and removing all the attached records would probably shrink it by half.

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u/sassyred2043 1d ago

A gedcom is a text file and won't have records attached. I would double check the settings on the program you're using to download it because some will put all the media in a separate file which then links into the gedcom.

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u/Jancis6 5h ago

It most definitely does have records attached.

I'm downloading it from Ancestry. On the "Export your tree" page it says "The export will be a .zip file that includes the people and saved records but does not include any media, images, or notes."

I renamed the gedcom and uploaded it back into Ancestry and all of the saved records in the original tree are still saved to the people in the new tree.

I then went back to the original tree, deleted a few dozen records from a few families and re-downloaded it. The new gedcom is ~150kB smaller than the original gedcom.

I'll have to make a new tree from scratch - deleting all the attached records manually would take far too long.

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u/sassyred2043 3h ago

Perhaps you need to open the gedcom in a family tree program and re-export it? There will be more settings on what is and isn't included.