Which character set should I choose when exporting from Legacy?

ANSI is Legacy's default and handles diacritics on a one-for-one basis, which is usually the simplest choice for a modern destination. ANSEL is available and required by some older genealogy programs, but represents accented characters as two-character combinations — a common source of garbled names if the receiving software doesn't decode it correctly.

Does Legacy have an export mode built specifically for Ancestry?

Yes — alongside its standard GEDCOM options, Legacy includes specialized export formats built for specific destinations, including one for Ancestry. If you're exporting specifically to upload to Ancestry, that's worth using over the generic export.

Legacy Family Tree: GEDCOM Export and Compatibility Notes

Legacy's native GEDCOM export uses extensions beyond GEDCOM 5.5. Here's when to use its 'GEDCOM 5.5 Only' option instead, and what each character set means.

GEDCOM Fix Editorial TeamUpdated August 26, 20262 min read

Legacy Family Tree has one of the more configurable GEDCOM export dialogs of any desktop genealogy program — which is useful once you know what each option does, and a common source of "why doesn't this import cleanly elsewhere" if you don't.

Legacy's default export isn't plain GEDCOM 5.5.1

Legacy's native export format conforms to the older GEDCOM 5.5 specification with Legacy-specific extensions — not GEDCOM 5.5.1, and not GEDCOM 7.0. This format captures everything Legacy itself can store: all field-level detail, notes, sources, events, LDS ordinance information, pictures, video, list ordering and tags, and preferred-relationship settings. That completeness is exactly why it doesn't travel well to other software — most other programs don't have anywhere to put fields that specific, and importing a full Legacy-format export into unrelated software can generate an error log for the fields it doesn't recognize.

For that reason, Legacy also offers a "GEDCOM 5.5 Only" export option that deliberately restricts output to the fields most other programs actually accept, trading some Legacy-specific detail for real compatibility. If you're exporting to upload to a platform or import into different software, this is generally the option to use — not the default. See GEDCOM 5.5.1 vs. 7.0: What Actually Changed for how these older 5.x versions differ from the current specification, since a Legacy export won't include any GEDCOM 7.0-specific structures either way.

Destination-specific export presets

Beyond the generic formats, Legacy includes several purpose-built export options: dedicated presets for Ancestry, MyTrees.com, and OneGreatFamily.com, plus generic "Basic" (vital statistics only) and "Generic" (vital stats, notes, sources, events, and baptism data) formats, and even PAF-version-specific exports for older PAF releases. If your destination matches one of the named presets, using it directly is more reliable than guessing at the right generic settings.

Character set: three real choices, not one default

Legacy's export dialog offers three character set options. ANSI is the default, mapping diacritics on a straightforward one-for-one basis — generally the simplest, most modern choice. ANSEL represents accented characters as two-character combinations instead, and is still required by some older genealogy programs that expect it specifically. UTF-8 is the third option, using its own multi-byte representation for non-ASCII characters. Choosing the wrong one for your destination software is a common, avoidable cause of garbled or missing accented characters after import.

Other settings worth knowing about

Legacy's export dialog also includes privacy suppression for living individuals, an "AutoSource" feature that can attach authorship information to the export, and options to convert Legacy-specific stories, hashtags, and ID numbers into standard GEDCOM events for programs that don't have a native place for them — along with shared-event conversion for software that doesn't support Legacy's shared-event model. Each of these trades some Legacy-specific richness for broader compatibility, similar in spirit to the "GEDCOM 5.5 Only" choice above.

Before you send it anywhere

Because Legacy's fuller export formats carry more structure than a typical destination expects, it's worth running the file through the Validator before uploading or importing it elsewhere — it flags dangling references, one-way links, and contradictory dates regardless of which export format or character set produced the file, entirely in your browser.

Sources: Legacy Family Tree — Exporting GEDCOM Files; Legacy Family Tree Help Center — GEDCOM: Export from other programs to Legacy.

Do it now

Check a Legacy export for structural issues before you send it anywhere

Keep reading

GEDCOM 5.5.1 vs. 7.0: What Actually Changed

Common questions

Should I use Legacy's default GEDCOM format or 'GEDCOM 5.5 Only'?: Use 'GEDCOM 5.5 Only' when you're exporting for a different program or a platform like FamilySearch or Ancestry. Legacy's default export format conforms to the older GEDCOM 5.5 specification with Legacy-specific extensions layered on top — fine for round-tripping back into Legacy, but other software won't recognize the extended fields.
Which character set should I choose when exporting from Legacy?: ANSI is Legacy's default and handles diacritics on a one-for-one basis, which is usually the simplest choice for a modern destination. ANSEL is available and required by some older genealogy programs, but represents accented characters as two-character combinations — a common source of garbled names if the receiving software doesn't decode it correctly.
Does Legacy have an export mode built specifically for Ancestry?: Yes — alongside its standard GEDCOM options, Legacy includes specialized export formats built for specific destinations, including one for Ancestry. If you're exporting specifically to upload to Ancestry, that's worth using over the generic export.