Download Browser Styles

GFRMT IconBy selecting a "Browser Style" from the "Extensions" menu you can completely change the way you view and edit your genealogy data in GEDitCOM II or GEDitCOM. The following tables have browser styles that come with GEDitCOM II installation, extra styles written by geditcom.com, and styles contributed by users. Click the "show/hide details" to expand or contract a description of any interface.

In GEDitCOM II, you can download and install browser styles by choosing Utilities→Download Extension command in the Extensions menu. Select the browser style you want and click to install "To System Extensions" or "To User Extension" in GEDitCOM II application support files.

GEDitCOM only comes with the "Default Format" and installation of more brwoser styles must be done manually as follows (this manual installation process also works in GEDitCOM II):Browser styles can also be installed manually as follows:

  1. Click a link below to download a style
  2. Expand the downloaded .zip (if needed) to get a file with extension .gfrmt.
  3. Choose the "Install Extensions..." menu command and select that downloaded .gfrmt file to install it in your extensions menu. In GEDitCOM II, be Be sure to set "Install As" to either "User Extension" or "System Extension" before clicking "Open" to finish the install.

Besides the browser styles list in these tables, any GEDitCOM II user can write their own browser style using the GEDitCOM Editor as explained below.


Browser Styles in the Standard GEDitCOM II Installation

These browser styles are installed when you first install GEDitCOM II. GEDitCOM users can download and install them as explained above.

Browser Style Lang* Date
Default Format          (show/hide details)
The standard browser style that comes with GEDitCOM II. It has dynamic editing fields (most are added as needed) and the most robust editing options of all browser styles. It is available for use in either "light" and "dark" mode.
 E Fr Sp
P Fi Sw
Book Format             (show/hide details)
This style displays all the information for each record in a single window and makes very little use of graphics and borders around elements. It is ideal for printing information on records. It has many editing options too, but is meant more for printing. It is available for use in either "light" and "dark" mode.
 E Fr Sw
Wiki Genealogy   (show/hide details)
This style displays each record in a style similar to Wikipedia. It even tries to combine your data to produce natural language descriptions of your data rather then just a list of facts. Like Wikipedia, you can edit sections of each record by clicking the various "[edit]" buttons. Since records are formatted for nice display, it is an excellent choice for printing of records.
 E
Generations Book Preview   (show/hide details)
This style displays each record in a style similar to the way it is exported in that LaTeX book creation feature of GEDitCOM II. It also has options to edit all data that enters the book and hints on how to optimize the book output.
 E
Address Book   (show/hide details)
This style is designed for editing of residence events. It is laid out like an address book and has better control of editing parts of residences then other browser styles. In addition, you can edit multimedia objects and notes on individuals. It is a special-purpose style with very few other editing options. You can also compile address book reports, move all individuals with residence events to an album, and export vCards.
 E Fr
Chart Format   (show/hide details)
This style displays a pedigree chart for each individual that is designed for printing on a single page. It also has printable charts for family groups, notes, and research log summaries.
 E Fr
GEDCOM Tab View          (show/hide details)
This style displays the raw GEDCOM data and indents each level for clarity. You can edit the contents of each GEDCOM line, but cannot change GEDCOM tags or level numbers. It is a good style for browsing GEDCOM data when learning the GEDCOM format. It is available for use in either "light" and "dark" mode.
 E Fr Sp

* Supported languages: E=English, Fr=French, Sp=Spanish, P=Portuguese, Fi=Finnish, Sw=Swedish.

Optional Browser Styles Written by geditcom.com

Browser Style Lang* Date
Basic Format   (show/hide details)
This style is designed as a template for developing new styles. It takes care of most of the behind-the-sign tasks (i.e., dealing with links, displaying multimedia, handling family links, etc.) freeing you to concentrate on the display of the genealogy data. To start writing a browser style, download this style, edit in the GEDitCOM Editor, and consult the documentation in the style for how to proceed.
 E Fr Sw 29 Mar 2020
Empty Format   (show/hide details)
This style has no templates. It can be used to start from scratch when designing an entirely new browser style for GEDitCOM II. New styles, however, are usually developed quicker by starting with the Basic Format.
 E 29 Mar 2020

* Supported languages: E=English, Fr=French, Sp=Spanish, P=Portuguese, Fi=Finnish, Sw=Swedish.

Browser Styles Contributed by geditcom.com Users

Browser Style Lang* Date
Modified Default Format   (show/hide details)
This modified "Default Format" was customized by Simon Robbins for features he wanted (and perhaps other users would want them too). For list of changes from the standard "Default Format", open the documentation for this style and look at last topic in the contents. Note that a couple of features in this software rely on the Pashua application, which is free as easy to install (as explained in the format's documentation).
 E Fr Sp
P Fi Sw		 27 FEB 2021

* Supported languages: E=English, Fr=French, Sp=Spanish, P=Portuguese, Fi=Finnish, Sw=Swedish.

Submit a New Browser Style

All browser styles are customizable by the user. Thus you are not limited to the styles that come with GEDitCOM II or are available for download; you can customize your interface to suit your own needs. The customization process is done by using the GEDitCOM Editor application that comes with GEDitCOM II. A browser style consists of a set of templates with instructions on how to format each possible type of genealogical data. You write these templates using a built-in programming language. All the instructions you need are in the GEDitCOM Editor's help documentation. Customization of browser styles with the GEDitCOM Editor, therefore, is an advanced feature intended for users with programming experience and a willingness to learn the built-in template language as well as the GEDCOM standard for genealogy files.

One philosophy of GEDitCOM II is to allow it to be customized more than any other genealogy application. The theory is that no one interface is best for everyone; each person might have their own needs or preferences. Furthermore, the more options for browser styles the better. If you do take the time to write a new browser style and if you would like to share it with other users, you can submit it to geditcom.com for inclusion on this web page. The submittal process is:

  1. Control-click on your browser style file (extension .gfrmt) in the Finder and select the command to compress the file (e.g., "Compress 'MyStyle.gfrmt' ")
  2. Attach that file to an email to geditcom.com and describe the browser style in the body of the email.
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