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Bring your tree

Your tree, from wherever it lives to 1199.

Without typing anyone in again. Every genealogy program saves the tree as a GEDCOM file (it ends in .ged): you get it out of wherever it is and upload it here. Bringing it over is free.

  1. Get it out From the website or program where you keep it, as a GEDCOM file.
  2. Upload it to 1199 In your tree, under Export → “Bring in a GEDCOM from another program”.
  3. Check it Before adding anything, we tell you what it contains. You decide.

Where is your tree now?

Pick yours and we’ll walk you through it, button by button.

On a website

In a program on your computer

Yours isn’t here? I already have the file →

Website

How to get your tree out of MyHeritage

  1. Sign in to your MyHeritage account.
  2. Hover over Family tree, in the top menu, and click Manage trees.
  3. In your tree’s row, in the Actions column, click Export to GEDCOM.
  4. If it asks whether you want to include photos, it doesn’t matter what you choose (we explain why below). Start the export.
  5. You’ll get an email with a link to download the file. It may take a while.

Good to know

  • Photos don’t travel: “include photos” only puts a link to each photo in the file, not the photo itself.

← Pick another one

Website

How to get your tree out of Ancestry

Before you start. Only the tree’s owner can export it.

  1. Sign in to Ancestry and open your tree from the Trees tab.
  2. Click the tree’s name, at the top left, and choose Tree Settings.
  3. Under Manage your tree, click Export tree.
  4. Wait: it can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. When it’s done, click Download your GEDCOM file.

Good to know

  • The file comes inside a .zip. You don’t need to open it: 1199 accepts the .zip as is.
  • It doesn’t include photos or DNA data. Photos are downloaded separately, from Ancestry’s gallery.

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Website

How to get your tree out of FamilySearch

Before you start. FamilySearch doesn’t let you download its tree as GEDCOM: there’s a single tree, shared by everyone. A trial export that used to exist no longer works, even though many guides still describe it. The way out FamilySearch suggests is to go through a program that connects to it. The simplest free one is Ancestral Quest Basics (Windows and Mac).

  1. Download and install Ancestral Quest Basics, which is free, from ancquest.com.
  2. Create a new file and connect it to your FamilySearch account.
  3. Use Import Family Lines to bring your ancestors from FamilySearch into the program.
  4. Export it as GEDCOM following the steps for Ancestral Quest, below.

Good to know

  • No photos come along, and depending on the program, not all the sources either.

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Website

How to get your tree out of Geni

Before you start. Geni only lets you export starting from yourself or from profiles you added, and up to a maximum number of people (5,000 on the free account and 50,000 on Pro).

  1. Sign in to Geni.
  2. Go to Family → Share Your Tree → Export GEDCOM.
  3. Choose who to take: blood relatives, ancestors, descendants or everyone (“forest”).
  4. For the format, choose GEDCOM 5.5 (sometimes “Family Tree Builder” is preselected: change it).
  5. Click Export GEDCOM File and save the file.

Good to know

  • To start from someone else: open their profile and choose Actions → Export GEDCOM.

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Website

How to get your tree out of Geneanet

  1. Sign in to Geneanet and open the Family Tree menu (at the top of the page).
  2. Look for the option to import and export GEDCOM.
  3. In the left-hand bar, choose Export (to GEDCOM).
  4. If it asks for the encoding, choose UTF-8: that way accents and special letters come through correctly.
  5. Download the file.

Good to know

  • It comes inside a .zip. 1199 accepts it as is.
  • It also lets you export a single branch, by choosing a person and how many generations.

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Website

How to get your tree out of Findmypast

  1. Sign in to Findmypast.
  2. In the Family tree menu, click View all trees.
  3. To the right of your tree, click the export icon (hovering over it shows Export tree).
  4. When the file is ready, click Download tree.

Good to know

  • It doesn’t include photos.

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Program

How to get your tree out of Gramps

  1. Open your tree and go to the Family Trees menu → Export…
  2. Click Next and, under “Choose the output format”, select GEDCOM.
  3. In the options, leave the “Person Filter” at Entire Database. In the “Living Filter” you can choose Include all selected people: on 1199, living people come in as private anyway.
  4. Choose the file’s name and folder.
  5. On the final confirmation, click Apply.

Good to know

  • Photos don’t go inside: only where they are on your computer.

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Program

How to get your tree out of RootsMagic

  1. Open your tree and go to the Files page.
  2. Choose Export Data → GEDCOM File.
  3. Choose the folder (Browse for Destination) and name the file.
  4. In the export window, under People to export, choose everyone.
  5. Click OK.

Good to know

  • If you check Privatize living people, living people come out as “Living”, with no name. There’s no need: on 1199, living people come in as private anyway.

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Program

How to get your tree out of Family Tree Maker

  1. Open your tree and go to the File menu → Export. If it offers to password-protect the file, say no.
  2. Under Output format, choose GEDCOM 5.5, and select Entire file.
  3. Click OK, choose where to save it and, if it asks, the character set.
  4. Name it and click Save.

Good to know

  • If you check Privatize living people, living people come out as “Living” plus their surname. There’s no need.
  • Photos don’t go inside, even if you check Include media files: upload them to the gallery afterward.

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Program

How to get your tree out of Legacy Family Tree

  1. Go to the File menu → Export to → GEDCOM File.
  2. Under “Produce file for”, choose GEDCOM 5.5 (Standard).
  3. Click Select File Name and START EXPORT, choose the folder and the name, and save.

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Program

How to get your tree out of Heredis

  1. Go to the File menu → Export → GEDCOM (a .ged file).
  2. Choose to export the whole file (Entire file on Windows, All branches on Mac).
  3. For the character set, choose UTF-8.
  4. Click Export and save the file.

Good to know

  • If the person the tree starts from is marked as confidential, the file comes out empty. If that happens to you, remove that mark before exporting.
  • The option to create a photo folder copies them next to the file, but on 1199 they’re uploaded separately.

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Program

How to get your tree out of MacFamilyTree

  1. Look for the GEDCOM export (a .ged file) in the File menu → Export.
  2. Choose to export the whole tree.
  3. For the encoding, choose UTF-8.
  4. Start the export and save the file.

Good to know

  • If it asks for the GEDCOM version, choose 5.5.1.
  • It can create a folder with the photos next to the file: on 1199, photos are uploaded separately.

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Program

How to get your tree out of Ancestral Quest

Before you start. It’s also the way to get your tree out of FamilySearch, and the Basics version is free.

  1. Go to the File menu → Export (or click the Export button on the toolbar).
  2. Choose All, to take everyone.
  3. Check Full Info on Living. Otherwise, living people come out as “Living”, with no name. On 1199 they come in as private anyway.
  4. Click OK, name the file and click Export.

Good to know

  • Don’t check “Encode Scrapbook Items”: it puts the photos inside the file and makes it huge. Photos are better kept separate.

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Any other

Yours isn’t here?

  1. Look in the menus for Export, Download or Save as (sometimes Export to, Download tree or Save as GEDCOM). It’s almost always in the File menu or in the tree’s settings.
  2. Choose GEDCOM (sometimes it appears as .ged). If it asks for the version, 5.5.1; if it asks for the encoding, UTF-8.
  3. If it lets you choose which people, choose the whole tree.
  4. Save the file somewhere you’ll find it later, for example on the desktop.

← Pick another one

And now, on 1199

I have the file. Now what?

  1. Create your account on 1199, or sign in if you already have one.
  2. Go to Export, in your tree’s menu, and scroll down to Bring in a GEDCOM from another program.
  3. Choose the .ged file. A .zip with the .ged inside also works, which is how some websites hand it over. Up to 8 MB.
  4. Before adding anything, 1199 tells you how many people, couples and events it contains. If it adds up, click Import.
What 1199 shows when you upload the file: 15 people, 5 couples, some of the names, and the buttons Import 15 people and Cancel
This is what you see when you upload it: what the file contains, before anything is touched. If it doesn’t add up, “Cancel” and nothing has happened.

Good to know

  • Best in an empty tree. What you bring in arrives as new people: if someone was already in your 1199 tree, they’d show up twice.
  • The living aren’t made public on their own. Even if your tree is public, anyone who may be alive comes in as private. Then it’s up to you.
  • Photos, separately. Upload them to the gallery and tag who’s in each one: that way they also show up on their profile.

Start my tree

The steps for each website and program were checked in 10/2026. They’re other people’s menus and they sometimes change: if one is no longer where we say, let us know and we’ll fix it.