Creating a Complete Book From Genealogy Data

Using GEDitCOM II, you can prepare a beautiful and robust book from your genealogy data in a GEDitCOM II file. The book will be organized into chapters by generations, have a table of contents, an index, a bibliography of all cited sources, and include portraits of individuals. Click here to see a sample book created in GEDitCOM II.

Starting with GEDitCOM II, version 1.7, the book creation process has been incorporated into GEDitCOM II to make it easier. In brief, you create new Book Style records, fill in the fields, select style options, and then click a button to create the entire book in one step. Note that start in more recent MacOS's, the operating system steps in to block the file step of the book creation process. The book script still works, but you have to disable the "Auto Typeset" option and complete the file step in typesetting software.

All the instructions that were in this tutorial have been incorporated in the GEDitCOM II documentation. To see them (in GEDitCOM II, version 2.0 or newer), use the "Documentation..." menu command in the "Extensions" menu and select the "Create Generations Book" extension from the pop-up menu in the documentation window. This documentation also covers typesetting without using the "Auto Typeset" feature that does not work in newer MacOS's.