FamilySearch: GEDCOM Upload Troubleshooting

FamilySearch is the single most common upload destination genealogists run into GEDCOM trouble with — but two of the most misunderstood parts of the process aren't about upload failures at all. They're about what "export" and "upload" actually mean on FamilySearch, which work differently than most other platforms.

There's no "Export GEDCOM" button

If you're looking for a way to download your FamilySearch Family Tree data as a GEDCOM file directly from the website, it doesn't exist. FamilySearch's own help documentation states this directly: Family Tree has no built-in export feature. To get a GEDCOM file out of FamilySearch, you have to go through one of FamilySearch's certified partner programs — desktop or web software that connects to your FamilySearch account, pulls your tree data in, and generates the GEDCOM file itself. The certified options most commonly cited for this are RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest, and Legacy Family Tree, each of which offers a free tier sufficient for a basic export. Note that source citations and photos typically don't carry over cleanly through this route — you'll often need to reattach sources manually inside whichever program you use.

Uploading works differently than you'd expect, too

FamilySearch has moved to what it calls its "new GEDCOM upload experience," and it changes the mental model for what an upload actually does. Under the older system, an uploaded GEDCOM went into the Pedigree Resource File (PRF) — a static, searchable-but-read-only archive, separate from the collaborative Family Tree. Getting anything from it into the actual Family Tree required a second, manual step: comparing your uploaded file's individuals against Family Tree one by one and choosing what to add.

The newer flow works differently: your uploaded GEDCOM becomes its own dynamic, editable working tree — not the shared global Family Tree, and not a static archive either. You (and up to two co-owners you invite) can keep building and editing it over time, and it gets access to FamilySearch's record hints and search tools the same way Family Tree does. Other FamilySearch users can view deceased individuals in it, but only you and your co-owners can edit it, and it isn't merged into the single global Family Tree unless you deliberately combine specific people into it yourself.

This matters for troubleshooting because it changes what "my upload succeeded" should mean to you: a successful upload under the new flow means your file became a private tree you own, not that your GEDCOM's people are now part of everyone else's shared Family Tree. If you were expecting the latter, what looks like a problem may actually be the system working as designed.

The upload mechanics themselves

For the size and individual-count thresholds that actually cause an upload to fail, stall, or silently drop data, Why Does My GEDCOM Upload to FamilySearch Keep Failing? and FamilySearch GEDCOM Size and Individual Limits cover those in full, with sourced numbers — this guide won't repeat them. The short version: FamilySearch documents a hard 100 MB cap, and recommends files around 100 names for the compare-and-review process to stay manageable, though files with several thousand individuals have been successfully uploaded at the cost of a much longer manual review.

Before you upload

Since the compare-and-review process asks you to manually confirm matches one at a time, the most valuable thing you can do beforehand isn't fixing FamilySearch's process — it's making sure the file you're bringing to it is clean. Run it through the Validator first; a file with dangling references or contradictory dates makes an already manual review process slower and less trustworthy. Then check it against FamilySearch's specific size and count patterns with the Upload Readiness Checker, which hands off directly into the Tree Splitter if your file needs to be broken into a smaller piece first.

Sources: FamilySearch Help Center — Copy a GEDCOM file into Family Tree; FamilySearch Help Center — The new GEDCOM upload experience; FamilySearch Help Center — Results after uploading a GEDCOM file.