FamilySearch doesn't offer GEDCOM download directly anymore — but their
officially recommended free tool,
RootsMagic, gets you a .ged file
with about three minutes of clicks (plus however long FamilySearch takes to
send your tree). Here's the whole path.
FamilySearch retired their in-browser GEDCOM download to keep tree data
consistent across users. Their own help center points you at
RootsMagic Essentials
— a free desktop app that signs into FamilySearch, pulls down a branch
of your tree, and exports it as a standard .ged file.
Famologist's importer reads that file directly.
We're also building one-click "Sign in with FamilySearch" via their official API — but FamilySearch's certification process takes time, so this is the path we recommend today.
Think of it as: get the app → get your tree into the app → get it back out as a file we can read. The middle phase is the long one — go grab a coffee while FamilySearch streams your data over.
Go to rootsmagic.com and download RootsMagic 11 for your operating system (Windows or Mac). It's the same download whether you end up using the free version or the paid one — you make that choice on first launch.
Run the installer with the default options. When the app first opens, you'll be asked to choose between RootsMagic Essentials (free) and the full paid version. Pick Essentials — no time limit, no ads, no upgrade nag. Everything we need here is in the free tier.
Don't worry about creating a RootsMagic file yet — exporting comes later. First, get your data in. In the menu, choose File → FamilySearch Central → Login. RootsMagic opens a browser window where you sign in with your normal FamilySearch credentials, approve the access prompt, and return to RootsMagic.
Once signed in, RootsMagic asks how much of your tree to download. You'll see two number fields — Ancestors and Descendants — measured in generations from yourself.
Click OK. RootsMagic will start streaming people from FamilySearch — you'll see counters climbing in a status bar at the bottom. It also displays a note: "This import can take a while if you have a large tree on FamilySearch." Believe it. A tree with a few hundred ancestors can take 10+ minutes; a few thousand can take an hour. The progress is real — let it run.
With the import finished, choose
File → Export Data → GEDCOM File.
RootsMagic asks where to save first — give it a name like
Family_Search_Export.ged and pick somewhere easy to find
(Desktop or Downloads is fine).
Then the GEDCOM Export Options dialog appears. The defaults are good — you don't need to change anything:
Click OK and you've got your
.ged file.
Back here in Famologist, head to
People → Import GEDCOM, drop the
.ged file in, and you'll see a preview of every person we
parsed plus their attributes. Pick which ones to import, hit
Import, and you're ready to play.
The website only labels it "RootsMagic 11" — the Essentials / Paid choice happens after you install, on the very first launch. Just download the main RootsMagic 11 installer and pick Essentials in the prompt when the app opens.
Almost certainly not. RootsMagic itself warns you that the import can take a while if your FamilySearch tree is large. The status bar at the bottom shows live "People" and "Families" counts; if those are climbing, it's working. A tree with a few hundred ancestors can take 10+ minutes. Leave it running and check back.
Both numbers are generations counted from yourself. 4 ancestors / 1 descendant is a safe starting point — it pulls a few hundred people on most trees. You can always re-import later with higher numbers if you want more.
Surprisingly common on Windows. Close it, reopen it, and the second launch usually works fine. On macOS, if you see "RootsMagic can't be opened because the developer cannot be verified," right-click the app and choose Open, then click Open in the security prompt.
You haven't pulled the tree yet — signing in is step 3, pulling is step 4. Go to File → FamilySearch Central → Tree Share, set yourself as the starting person, and click Get from FamilySearch.
.rmtree file
.rmtree is RootsMagic's own format — not what we need.
Use File → Export Data → GEDCOM File
specifically. That menu item is what produces the
.ged file Famologist can read.
Sometimes RootsMagic wraps the export in a .zip file. If
your download ends in .zip, double-click it to extract,
and upload the .ged file inside. The importer also requires
UTF-8 encoding — RootsMagic uses UTF-8 by default, so this only matters
if you exported from a different tool first.
That's expected. FamilySearch and most other tools mark presumed-living people as just "Living" without any biographical data, so they don't make useful match pairs. The preview screen tells you exactly how many were skipped; you can always add them by hand later.
.ged file. Now play with it.
Drop the file into Famologist's importer, pick who to bring in, and start a Memory Match game where the cards are the people you've spent a lifetime researching.
Coming soon: one-click Sign in with FamilySearch direct integration. We're working through FamilySearch's Compatible Solution Program certification now.