· GEDCOM export guide

Export your tree from RootsMagic

RootsMagic is a desktop program. GEDCOM export works both in RootsMagic 11 and in the free RootsMagic Essentials.

Desktop program

Checked against RootsMagic's own help pages on September 21, 2026. Open RootsMagic's help page (opens in a new tab)

Step by step

  1. With your database open, go to the "Files" page and choose "Export Data" → "GEDCOM File".
  2. Choose where to save it — "Default Folder", "Recent Folders" or "Browse for Destination" — and type a file name.
  3. In the "GEDCOM Export" window, choose the people to export: the whole database, "Select from list", or a group.
  4. Under "Data to export", tick notes and sources — and multimedia links, if you want them.
  5. Set the privacy options, such as "Privatize living people", and click "OK".

Labels in quotes are copied from RootsMagic's help pages; if a screen looks different, those pages are the reference.

What the file carries

  • The people you chose, with their facts and relationships.
  • Notes and sources, when their boxes are ticked.
  • Links to your media files, if you tick multimedia links — not the files themselves.

What it leaves out

  • The picture files: the export records where each picture is on your computer, not the picture. When you import the file, 7gens tells you how many photos stayed on your computer, and you can add them to the album in one go.

7gens is not affiliated with or endorsed by RootsMagic. RootsMagic is a trademark of its owner; the name is used here only to describe how to export your own data.

· Begin

Your tree,
written as a book.

Bring the file to 7gens and read the whole first draft free.

Import your GEDCOM
Export a GEDCOM file from the "Files" page with "Export Data" — 7gens