Uploading Files to the Internet

Uploading Files to the Internet

Genealogical Society of Okeechobee


Uploading files is a little more difficult than downloading.

If you are sending information to someone else for their webpage, the best way is to e-mail the information. Again, you can send the information as an attachment or as a text portion of the e-mail message.

An attachment is a file created by (for example) a word processor or genealogical software. Let's say you want to send a distant cousin your entire genealogical record. Go into your genealogical software (like FamilyTreemaker) and click on File, Export and then click on GED. (GEDCOM – Genealogical Data Communication – is a standardized format for exchanging genealogical data). You will be asked to name the file. This will create a file with the extension .GED. Such a file can be used by ANY genealogical software. In your e-mail software, click on Attach File, Browse, find the GED file and click on it. Send the message and your cousin will get all your information. (This could be a quite large file, by the way.)

Some e-mail servers (like Juno) will not allow attachments, however.

To create a text portion of your e-mail (without typing the entire thing in by hand!), you can use the Block, Copy, Paste method on a word processor. From your genealogical software, you can use the command Copy File.

For example, you wish to send your Genealogical Report from FTM to a cousin. Go into FTM's Family Page and click on your name (or the person you want a Report for). Click on View (on Task Bar at top of screen) and Genealogy Report. When the report appears on the screen, click on Edit and then Copy Genealogy Report. This will copy your entire report into the Clipboard of your computer. Go to your e-mail service, address the message to your cousin. When you are in the text portion of the e-mail, click on Edit, Paste. The entire report will be copied onto your e-mail. (Again, this can be quite long.)

Uploading to Your Own Webpage

When you get your own webpage (from your service provider or from one of the many free page providers on the web, such as GeoCities or FortuneCity), you'll want to get your information on the web for use by your cousins around the world.

Most servers have an Upload Facility to help you do just this.

Faster, however, is to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol). I use a program called WS-FTP which automatically sends the proper codes. To upload my entire genealogical files to the web, I must send more than 1000 separate files! WS-FTP is free from the web.

To get my GED files in a format so that others can access them on the web, I must convert them into html format. A simple way to do this is to use a program such as GED2HTML, which creates all the files for you. This is a shareware program and a small fee should be mailed to the inventor (honor system).


To add information to this website, contact:  Eve Olson

Return HOME