Here is a good example of how FTM2012 and Ancestry.com files drop or corrupt data when transferring to GEDCOM:
FTM2012 and Ancestry.com both have Date, Place, and Description fields for events. The description field does not appear to be GEDCOM friendly. When exporting to GEDCOM and then importing to other software, the description field is either merged with place field or dropped altogether. This will create a resolving place location nightmare (discovered this one the hard way - thank heavens for backup files!)
I am now in the process of moving all my "description field" data to "notes". I am sorry to lose the ability to use the description field on Ancestry, but the inability to move this data correctly in the GEDCOM makes it a big no-no for smooth transition. (As noted in earlier post, creating a GEDCOM file for town 150 year celebration and it must be compatible with multiple types of genealogy software.)
FTM2012 and Ancestry.com both have Date, Place, and Description fields for events. The description field does not appear to be GEDCOM friendly. When exporting to GEDCOM and then importing to other software, the description field is either merged with place field or dropped altogether. This will create a resolving place location nightmare (discovered this one the hard way - thank heavens for backup files!)
I am now in the process of moving all my "description field" data to "notes". I am sorry to lose the ability to use the description field on Ancestry, but the inability to move this data correctly in the GEDCOM makes it a big no-no for smooth transition. (As noted in earlier post, creating a GEDCOM file for town 150 year celebration and it must be compatible with multiple types of genealogy software.)