Edit a GEDCOM file without a genealogy program

Drop the .ged, find the person, press “Edit” on their card and change what is wrong — or add a father, mother, spouse or child. Save the tree when you are done.

What you can change

Given names and surname, sex, occupation, the date and place of birth, death and burial, the date and place of each marriage, the person’s notes and photo. New relatives are linked into the right family: a new mother joins the family of the existing father, a new child joins the person’s first marriage. If you press “Add” by mistake, “Cancel” takes the new person away again.

Nothing else is lost

Changes are made in the file’s own structure, so events, sources, photos and the extra details each program writes stay as they were. “Undo” takes back the last change, and up to 30 changes before it.

Questions

How do I write a date?

As you would say it: “3 March 1890”, “12.03.1890”, “abt 1890”, “before 1900” — month names in English or in your own language, like “5 червня 1970” or “3. März 1890”. Under the field you see how it was understood, so “05/06/1970” is never taken the wrong way round; it is stored in the standard GEDCOM form.

Other fixes