Exporting Notes to GEDCOM

Development Bug triage
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Cross-posting from Gramps for Genealogists Facebook group, Roger Frøysaa asks what determines whether Notes are exported as embedded or standalone structures. He mentions that the Ancestry import only recognizes the embedded NOTE_STRUCTURE, not the cross-referenced standalone NOTE_RECORD.

Hi, a little question. It seems to me that when exporting a tree from Gramps to gedcom, entities exclusively use xref-based notes. i.e., notes are not defined where they are used, but typically at the end of the file, and are referenced using a “NOTE @0001@” syntax.

When I import a gedcom file from Gramps into Ancestry, it does not include the xref notes on sources/citations. However, if I manually add an inline note to e.g. a source, the note is picked up.

Have you noticed this?

Perplexity AI summarizes Note data structures in GEDCOM:

As an expert in the GEDCOM genealogical data file format, I can confirm that notes can be attached to various structures within GEDCOM. The NOTE structure can be used in two primary ways:

  1. As a standalone NOTE_RECORD with a cross-reference identifier[1].
  2. As an embedded NOTE_STRUCTURE within other records and substructures[1].

The following GEDCOM structures commonly include the ability to attach a Note:

  1. Individual (INDI) records[2][4]
  2. Family (FAM) records[2][4]
  3. Event records (such as BIRT, DEAT, MARR)[4]
  4. Source (SOUR) records[4]
  5. Repository (REPO) records[4]
  6. Multimedia Object (OBJE) records[2][4]

Additionally, notes can be attached to other structures like places, facts, and even specific attributes within records[5]. The flexibility of GEDCOM allows for notes to be associated with various elements to provide additional information, analysis, or context to genealogical data.

It’s important to note that when embedding notes, they can be either a reference to a standalone NOTE record using its cross-reference identifier (e.g., “1 NOTE @N12@”) or directly included as text within the structure (e.g., “1 NOTE This is the text of the note”)[4].

Citations:

[1] GEDCOM NOTE_RECORD vs. embedded note - Genealogy & Family History Stack Exchange
[2] GEDCOM - Wikipedia
[3] https://gedcom.io/specifications/FamilySearchGEDCOMv7.pdf
[4] https://tng.lythgoes.net/wiki/index.php?title=GEDCOM&setlang=es&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop
[5] Gedcom data structure - PGVWiki
[6] NOTE formatting - webtrees
[7] INTRODUCTION TO GEDCOM
[8] https://gedcom.io/specifications/gedcom7-rc.pdf