# Custom GEDCOM records reported as errors \[Provide a better message\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Ideas\ **Tags:** gedcom, data-import\ **Created:** [September 20, 2026, 7:03pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/custom-gedcom-records-reported-as-errors-provide-a-better-message/10022 "2026-09-20T19:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mcneill\_dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@mcneill\_dave](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/mcneill_dave)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2026, 7:03pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/custom-gedcom-records-reported-as-errors-provide-a-better-message/10022/1 "2026-09-20T19:03:59Z")
Simple fix to improve new user experience My suggestion is simple. Add something (ANYTHING!) to indicate that a .ged import has succeeded. In my case, I got a massive list of errors and nothing else, so I kept trying, with different versions of the file. Same result every time, aside from varying numbers of errors. No sign that any data had been imported. But it was. There was simply no indication that it had succeeded. It was very frustrating, and a waste of a lot of time. - [0011146: Custom GEDCOM records reported as errors [Provide a better message] - Gramps - Bugtracker – Free Genealogy Software](https://gramps-project.org/bugs/view.php?id=11146) ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/custom-gedcom-records-reported-as-errors-provide-a-better-message/10022/2 "2026-09-20T19:17:58Z")
Welcome! There is another dialog _ **AFTER** _ the one with alerts about problems. Even though Gramps warns about ugly records in imports, it normally has enough to create an object. And the ugly bits it does not recognize are stored in a problem Note for the object. (So you can do post-processing or discard if unimportant.) The last dialog will tell you how many items were imported (including those with errors and those without) ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/f/f35a2b8d4e4696b3f5850717720dd17334edd6ff.png) ---
**Author:** ![mcneill\_dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@mcneill\_dave](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/mcneill_dave)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/custom-gedcom-records-reported-as-errors-provide-a-better-message/10022/3 "2026-10-01T17:48:55Z")
Thanks emyoulation, In my case, that dialog did not pop up. It MAY have populated the window docked at the bottom of the screen, which was so minimized that nothing was visible in it. I really can’t remember. In the meantime, I’m looking at the vast emptiness of the Dashboard window staring back at me, unmoved by my efforts. ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/custom-gedcom-records-reported-as-errors-provide-a-better-message/10022/4 "2026-10-01T18:45:29Z")
> [@mcneill\_dave](#): > > In the meantime, I’m looking at the vast emptiness of the Dashboard window staring back at me, unmoved by my efforts. The lower right corner of the Person view has the “statusbar” with a count of the filtered/total Persons. There is one critical step after the initial import. Select the row of a person and from the **Edit** menu choose to “ **Set Home Person** ”. The Home person is the reference point for the Tree and (selected) Active Person establishes the relationship that interests you. (You can change either at any time.) When a tree with data is loaded, an Active Person selected, and a Home Person set; most of the Categories should start showing data. The assortment of Gramplets displayed by default in the Dashboard could be better for new users. You could add the [**Statistics**](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Gramps_6.0_Wiki_Manual_-_Gramplets#Statistics) to your Dashboard if you want an overview of what objects actually made it though the import. Right-click in a empty area of the Dashboard and the context popup menu will appear. Select `Statistics` from the submenu of the `Add a gramplet` menu. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/0/0c2c30479842d36680f0b8b0bc0eb2dde08f94e7.png) A gramplet similar to the following will be “docked” in the Dashboard. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/7/7aea0be607765e5048ad032f544c1d66cd1b6ed8.png) ### Notes: Again, the **Notes** category will be filled with descriptive Notes attached to every object that had an unrecognized item… like an ID used only by Ancestry… during the import. A note for each of those ‘ugly bits’.)