Hi, I am very interested in using Gramp, BUT there is one obstacle: no “Umlauts”, no ö, or ä or ü. Is there any possibility via settings to get over this?
Gramps supports Unicode (UTF-8) which support all written characters, can you mention what version of Gramps and the operating system you are using please?
How you type umlauts depends on what kind of computer you are using: macOS, PC with number pad, or PC laptop without number pad, a number of guides are available via Google.
Hi, I have just loaded the last version, Gramp AIO 5.2.4
I have a PC laptop with integrated number pad.
My problem is not only writing names, but loading existing trees via GEDCOM. Hundreds of names have only question marks instead of “umlauts”.
Which program generated the GEDCOM file?
Some programs write a file with strange “character encoding”. As an example, Legacy Family Tree 7 wrote “ANSI” and formatted the diacriticals (like umlauts) in a backslash hexadecimal format… which is not one of the encodings that is permitted in the GEDCOM standard.
(We have a wiki page about strangeness of the GEDCOM written by some programs… and some workarounds.)
Please open your GEDCOM file with a text editor. Then copy the first 20 lines (or the entire HEAD section) and paste it as a reply.
This sample.ged file (from the GEDCOM wikipedia article) has “ANSEL” character encoding:
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HI,
the Gedcom is created by my Family Tree Maker 2012. Correct, writing the umlauts is not the problem, but transfer via Gedcom is it. Here the copied about 20 first lines.
0 HEAD
1 SOUR FTM
2 VERS Family Tree Maker (21.0.0.723)
2 NAME Family Tree Maker for Windows
2 CORP Ancestry.com
3 ADDR 360 W 4800 N
4 CONT Provo, UT 84604
3 PHON (801) 705-7000
1 DEST GED55
1 DATE 27 OCT 2024
1 CHAR ASCII
1 FILE C:\Users\Hubertus\OneDrive\Tiedostot\Family Tree Maker\Hubertus H?rke Gedcom.ged
1 SUBM @SUBM@
1 GEDC
2 VERS 5.5
2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED
0 @SUBM@ SUBM
0 @I655@ INDI
1 NAME Barbara /Bauer/
1 SEX F
1 BIRT
2 DATE 31 OCT 1881
2 PLAC Schmolau
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Fact 13
2 PLAC Arbeiterin
Yes, you are right. The problem is in the GEDCOM.
Your “Family Tree Maker (21.0.0.723)” is writing ASCII character encoding. (ASCII does not support diacritical marks.) That even demoted the umlaut for your surname in the filepath to a ?
So the trick will be making Family Tree Maker write a good export with diacritical marks.
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Thanks. So how do I make this trick?? Please give me some advice.
(Had to do some research. I am not a user of that software.)
Looking at the MacKiev support site, step7 of “Exporting a GEDCOM file” is about selecting the the character encoding. You want UTF-8 (aka Unicode Transformation Format 8; or, 8-bit Unicode)
Hopefully, your older version of FTM will have the same option.
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Thousand thanks for your advice. I did the trick, and it works, even easierly as You wrote. The UTF-8 alternativ can be chosen in FTM before exporting.
Kindest regards,
Hubertus
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Glad it worked! (I will mark the ‘solution’ response.)
There is a learning curve to Gramps, so don’t be afraid to ask questions if you become frustrated.
You can save a LOT of the frustration by watching some of the tutorial videos posted by users to YouTube.
Thanks! The frustration started already!! I really appreciate your advices and will look at tutorial videos.
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@Laihia2024 take note of what @emyoulation says:
and be sure to act on his advice 
That approach has helped me a lot.
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