Monday, June 30, 2014

Monday Mailbox: Downloading Your Ancestry.com Member Tree

The Ancestry Insider's Monday MailboxDear Ancestry Insider,

How do I retrieve my Ancestry.com family trees? I have many. If possible, how do I get them added to a GEDCOM file? Can you help at all?

Signed,
june marie carter mrs milner

Dear June,

There are two ways I know of.

1. Click Tree Pages. > Tree Settings > Export Tree. This gives you a GEDCOM. Unfortunately, the GEDCOM standard does not support the transfer of document images or photos, so you won’t receive any of the documents and photos you attached or uploaded to your tree. Don’t blame Ancestry.com for that. FamilySearch is the author of the GEDCOM standard and seems unwilling to update the GEDCOM file format with the ability to do so.

2. Buy Family Tree Maker. This gives you an FTM file, which can be exported as a GEDCOM file. It also gives you copies of all your photos. And it gives you copies of all Ancestry.com's document images that you have attached to your tree. This is a tremendous value if you think at some time you will not renew a subscription to Ancestry.com.

Remember, I don’t work for Ancestry.com. I don’t benefit in any way if you buy Family Tree Maker.

Signed,
The Ancestry Insider

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