How Not to Sync RootsMagic with Ancestry and FamilySearch - Civil War Quest Pt 7

Laptop with family tree trying to sync with Ancestry and FamilySearch

So you've got a genealogy spreadsheet loaded with research, a shiny new GEDCOM file, and high hopes of syncing it all seamlessly to your Ancestry and FamilySearch trees. That was me, filled with optimism, as I imported my Ohio 133rd Volunteer Infantry, data into RootsMagic. Spoiler alert: it didn't go quite as planned.

But let's walk through what I did do—because while this approach wasn't perfect, it was a learning experience worth sharing. And hey, if family history isn't fun (even when it's messy), you're doing it wrong, right?

The First Attempt: Importing GEDCOM Files to RootsMagic

I started by importing my GEDCOM files from both Gramps and Excel2GED into RootsMagic.

The goal? To have a robust database with all my research—from births and marriages to military and pension details—that I could then sync to Ancestry and FamilySearch.

The Import Hiccups

With Gramps, I quickly realized something went sideways. Gustavus Innis had two marriage events, but only one linked to his wife, Sarah Morrill. Yep, operator error. I knew the mistake stemmed from how I formatted my spreadsheet-to-CSV conversion, but instead of fixing it, I pressed on.

Then came Excel2GED. After a few attempts (and maybe a little hair-pulling), I figured out how to import military, residence, and pension details. Success! Well, sort of. The source citations weren't linking properly to military events, but I could live with that—for now.

Getting RootsMagic Ready

Once the imports were complete, I spent a lot of time ensuring RootsMagic reflected the spreadsheet data. Here's what I did:

Linked Roster Citations to military events manually (and muttered a few things when RootsMagic released a "copy fact" feature after I finished).
Created Generational Links with "dummy persons" to show family relationships.
Organized Profiles into Groups by Company for easier processing.
Standardized Pension Event Types to keep things consistent.

At this point, my desktop software was ready. It was time to tackle syncing with Ancestry and FamilySearch.

The Plan: Syncing RootsMagic to Ancestry and FamilySearch

I uploaded my RootsMagic files to Ancestry as a new tree. My initial plan involved uploading the RootsMagic database that matched the spreadsheet, which should, in theory, save me time.

I believed that all the men and women uploaded at once to form a new tree on Ancestry would trigger hints to quickly find all the source links that appear in my spreadsheet. Then, I could save those sources to Ancestry for each profile. I could remove the citations from the 'extra' source list that follows the Ancestry platform-linked collections.

Additionally, Ancestry might find something that I had missed in the rapid, two-week research process earlier in the year. I could save that information to the profile and then update RootsMagic and the spreadsheet.

At the end, I would have all the spreadsheet sources linked to the Ancestry tree and then additional sources (not available on Ancestry) at the end of the list. Once Ancestry was ready, I could move on to updating FamilySearch similarly.

Putting The Concept Into Action

Based on the initial concept, starting Company A, I reviewed each person individually. My step-by-step process looked like this:

Sync RootsMagic with Ancestry:
- Reviewed Ancestry hints
- Linked sources that match previously discovered records and deleted redundant citations from the initial upload.
- Review new hints that pertain to the research objective and link relevant sources to the profile. Ignore sources that don't relate to the research objective.
- For new source discoveries, I added new citations to RootsMagic and my spreadsheet.
Sync with FamilySearch:
- Using RootsMagic, manually update FamilySearch profiles with facts and sources event by event.
- Checked FamilySearch profiles for any new stories or sources related to the Civil War research project.
- Save new sources to the FamilySearch profile and add them to Ancestry, RootsMagic, and the spreadsheet.

While syncing the online tree, I highlighted sources in my spreadsheet as I went, trying to ensure everything matched up. It was tedious, but I thought, "This is fine. Everything's in sync."

Oh, how wrong I was.

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The Reality: A Hot Mess of Duplicate Citations

Despite my best efforts, my genealogy software, spreadsheet, and online trees became cluttered.

The first challenge was that RootsMagic and Ancestry couldn't agree that the Ancestry-linked sources were the same as the RootsMagic corrected citations. If I tried to share source citations between the two platforms, I soon had duplicate citations in both RootsMagic and Ancestry. Had RootsMagic allowed me to pick and choose which citations to accept, that might have resolved the problem.

In addition to the clutter, I soon realized this one-by-one approach was too time-consuming. There had to be a better way.

What Should I Have Done Differently?

Honestly, I believe in learning from mistakes. And let's be real—genealogists, no matter their experience level, make errors that they have to correct. You're not an experienced genealogist because you don't make mistakes. You claim you're an experienced genealogist when you can admit to them and explain what went wrong.

With that said, I want to know, "What would you have done differently?"

Please leave your suggestions in the comments. I'll share my revised, more efficient plan in the next blog post and video. Trust me, it's a game-changer.

Watch the full video to see how my syncing saga unfolded—and learn what not to do.

And remember, we're all in this together. Keep those comments constructive, and #BlessNotCancel. Because even with over 90K subscribers, I'm still learning right along with you.

Want to know the better plan I landed on? Keep an eye out for the next post in the Civil War Research Over My Shoulder Series!