Ancestry New Features for June 2023

[@lizsmith7816]

I thought of an idea last night. When I first saw the tasks button, I thought it was perhaps a ToDo list kind of thing. I would find that extremely useful. My idea would be each profile could have a place (separate from Notes) to list and print out research that you need to do, especially apart from Ancestry: i.e. Go to or contact the courthouse in the county your parents were married to get a copy of their marriage record, that is not online; locate a Family History Center where you can look at parish records that are digitized, but not online; find time to locate your ancestor on county tax lists; look up deeds, etc. Then have a place where all the ToDo's could be compiled into a master list that could be printed off as well.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes. I thought the same thing. Family Tree Maker has a to do list that I love. Within an ancestors profile I can add a "to do" item and the set the location. I use it for any thing I need to do outside of my computer. So if I need to look something up at the archives I can tag it that way. Then the next time I'm going to the archives I can print a list specific for that research trip with all the details for that location.

[@redf7209]

@@GenealogyTV yes Family Tree Makers tool is very useful to store the little tasks that you cant deal with right now and it might be easy to just remember that you need to check the record of john x but later on you might be thinking what john x or what date was i going to search or why did i need to do this. Cant recommend FTM enough. It synchs and links so well with Ancestry

[@IowaKim]

@@GenealogyTV Yes! I was hoping it was a tasks like FTM. Unfortunately FTM hasn't been syncing properly for several months, and as Ancestry adds more features, the more I am contemplating not using FTM at all. I hate to do that but the anxiety when syncing fails is getting too much.

[@SCORPIO88848]

I'm not good with tech can I pay u

[@SCORPIO88848]

I have almost everything including my DNA

[@sharontabor7718]

Years ago an owner of a tree posted information about my family that was incorrect - showing my parents and aunt lived in a state other than where they ever lived. This person knew me but didn't reach out to determine if the info was accurate. I posted a comment that the info was incorrect and she blocked me. Some people take offense when corrected - they don't like being wrong.

[@saraschneider6781]

I've had the same thing happen.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes. We can't control what other people do. Focus on making your tree the best it can be and don't worry about what other people do. I good genealogist looking at all the data, should come to a smart conclusion.

[@sr2291]

My adopted father had another male living near him with his first and last name. He used to receive his mail. They were born in different states, and they are a year different in age. I swear an Ancestry user has combined their info in their tree as if they are one person. It is totally not fixable.

[@jtidema]

@@sr2291 Why would it not be fixable? I've done that before and fixed it... ;-) And as Christa is mentioning, leaving a comment with the correct info is great so that other people viewing it will know it's not correct.

[@dbridge276]

I don’t like the ability to block people adding comments to one’s tree. This just leads to more errors it trees that go I corrected and more importantly can’t be seen by others with a good work process. In the last Q4 hours I added a few comments to someone’s tree with my rationale and this morning had a thank you reply from them. Naturally they are going to check my comments for validity, it if they are they will correct the incorrect family additions. Hence blocking comments is nota good idea as some people with block everyone and everything has they are not receptive to constructive comments. I am sure most family genealogists do not want this to occur.

[@katieparsons8751]

I saw this video yesterday. I went into Ancestry to check out some of the new features this morning. I already have the Activity and love it. When I looked this morning, not only was the tasks feature added, but one that Christa did not mention: Viewers. This feature shows who has looked at your tree in the last seven days. You can even send them a message from this feature.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yay!

[@dbridge276]

Some useful features there for June. However Ancestry are still missing the greatest benefit to genealogical DNA researchers, that is “providing the DNA segment data related to one’s identified shared matches”. Please would Ancestry provide this feature soon, you lead the market with respect to numbers of DNA tests in your database, but the tools to establish how one matches a given shared match are sadly lacking when compared to other providers. you may have had good reason’s for not providing this before, but it is a key feature to DNA researchers that ANCESTRY are failing to provide.

[@PureFoley]

This needs more traction. The fact that we can’t view segment information or even export to something like DNA Painter is so frustrating!!!

[@JoshuaRieth]

​@@PureFoley Yes please!

[@cababyboomerq6012]

Ancestry, please give us what we really want the most! A chromosome browser! I can’t understand why they don’t get that message and get it done. Very frustrating…….8-(

[@jessikamoore5033]

They think we are too dumb to use a chromosome.browser sadly.

[@Rainydaylily]

@@cababyboomerq6012 I'm just getting started with DNA stuff. Why do we need a chromosome browser? Thanks.

[@DNAConsultingDetectives]

Being able to send a message from the profile in a tree is brilliant. I have built LOTS of trees and when someone contacts me they invariably don't tell me which tree they are referring to. I've learned today to take advantage of the feedback for new features. Thanks!

[@kathleenkelley1299]

Love the new features! Always enjoy your interviews with Crista

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks Kathleen

[@allenwaters3945]

It would be really helpful if Ancestry provided a utility to show tree errors such as Myheritage does.

[@joanhudson7317]

I wish HERITAGE wouldn't be able to show my family after my subscription expired. Now their trying to sell certain info back to me and not letting me have access to my tree.😢

[@jtidema]

Right, or like Family Tree Maker. I use it for fixing Places, dates, etc. But for trees that are owned by others, which I work on, I don't have those tools.

[@MissSilencedogood]

@@joanhudson7317 I agree with you on that one. I think Myheritage should rethink their business model. Accessing your own tree and in fact posting all the information on your tree you want is prohibited unless you join their sub and pay. I think they should do what Ancestry does and allows people to add ALL their tree and not make them pay to see their own tree. In fact that would generate MORE money becuase people would want to see what is in there otherwise people just won't bother to post a tree! That is what make Myhertiage virtually unusable for me is that people I think are being discourage from uploading their entire tree or adding a tree unless you pay out. I think the Ancestry model in that case is pretty good though I can see pretty far up the tree IF they post them in Myheritage whereas in Ancestry I can't unless I join back up.

[@lynnebaker7787]

Yes, this is really frustrating. One thing I find is several trees have ppl born in the same year but different months. I am like this is physically impossible. 😒

[@margaretford1011]

MyHeritage’s tree errors utility is a pain the butt. It keeps telling me that I have an error because I have a burial date listed after a death date. According to them, one can’t have anything after a person dies. And it does not pay attention to date prefixes like “before”. So if you correctly say as a placeholder that a mother was born before some year that is calculated to be 12 years before her first child was born, the system thinks you are saying that the mother gave birth at age 12, because it is ignoring the “before”. Their utility just makes more work for me now. I wish it was better.

[@kpaukeaho6180]

Thank you for this video! I’m still hoping for the ability to sort DNA matches by longest shared segment size. It’s a simple addition but it would help immensely for those dealing with endogamy.

[@nailahdawkins]

I'd *love* if the new ethnicity estimate was finally updated. When is it releasing? Also, 23&Me has a whole section of their results that let you know what century (on a scale) your relative is from the DNA you have. Example: Scotland descendants from your DNA are from 15th century (provides the years range.)

[@kristiansnelling9576]

Connie, I love the channel, and you constantly provide great tips. Please, please, can you ask the Ancestry team to provide an Export to CSV button at the top of the DNA match list. Some of us use Excel for various things but getting data from your match list easily and simply, with it constantly being updated it would really help - particulalry for those of us who manage many DNA tests on behalf of others. Thanks

[@debbeb4499]

Every once in a while a feature that is being tested, presumably, pops up on Ancestry, then disappears. Most recently, when single-clicking on a person from the tree view, a side bar appeared on the right where the quick edit information showed up, and it was possible to keep that open, adding children/siblings, etc. Also, the relationship of that person to the home person (2C3R, for example) was given. There might have been a couple of other things as well. It came and went very quickly, unfortunately. Another fleeting feature was when viewing a tree in pedigree layout, single-clicking on a person brought up birth and death dates and locations in a box to the right. This was very helpful because ordinarily that larger pop-up box of information appears directly over the person’s name, obscuring the names of others nearby. The off-to-the-side box made it possible to jump directly from person to person without first clicking off one, then clicking on the next. It was a nice feature. Wherever Ancestry can reduce clicking, the better. All that said, Ancestry’s site seems to be more intuitive and easier to navigate than other sites. Thanks for all you folks do there at Ancestry! Edited: Oh, that's funny! After typing this, I opened my tree on Ancestry, and a single click showed the right-side box mentioned in my first paragraph here. Hmm, it did at first, now it's back to the old style. ??

[@GenealogyTV]

Might be they were working on it when you were and features were changing as you refreshed your screen.

[@margaretford1011]

Request to Ancestry: Give us a way to keep individual deceased people private in a public tree. I want my tree above my grandparents to be public, but my grandparents on down to be private. The only way Ancestry lets me do that is to keep the dead people living, which means I am constantly annoyed by “hints” to their death information. This is a privacy issue for me. Thank you for reading.

[@MissSilencedogood]

Haa I do the same thing. Privacy is super important to me too.

[@GenealogyTV]

Good idea.

[@redf7209]

And still no news on making people dead by default if they are born over 100 years ago Or even if their kids are born over 100 years ago?

[@starventure]

For trees that have potentially controversial data in them, this would be an invaluable tool. It will still not stop the inquisitive who know what they are doing from determining the structure of your tree and copying it.

[@johnmcelwee9712]

Mark your grandparents living. They will show private. But I think it's a moot point. With your great grandparent's information, I can probably find your grandparents. And your parents. And you.

[@debbybrady1246]

The new comment addition is great. I have been very frustrated by people not ever responding to my messages.

[@tracyebrandt3235]

I have several relatives that have a "direct double relationship to me". I wish that underneath the relationship field, it would list both relationships. Example- I have a relative that is my 5thggf AND is also my 4thggf.

[@nomi4560]

Very informative. Also, thanks for improvements esp the African American communities.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes!

[@curtis1415]

I agree. AncestryDNA very much stepped up wrt the Black American DNA communities. I've been able to have all 4 of my grandparent branches wrt my DNA communities.

[@cherio01]

I love all the new changes with the exception of adding a son or daughter, the 'Child' selection is more tedious, cannot tab thru sex selection, must go back and click with mouse. Thanks for sharing the changes. Learned more about the new updates

[@edfred]

Yea, I leave comments on my own tree also. Usually to clarify something in my research or add links to research sources not available on the site.

[@UnclGee]

The "relationship to me" field in a profile still does not correctly label half relationships; an example is my half brother is labeled "brother". Is anyone else experiencing this? I mentioned it to Christa Cowen last year. She was surprised and said she would look into it. (I have also called their help desk, but the analyst did not understand the question.) Thanks!

[@margaretford1011]

I have experienced the opposite error in Thrulines. Full cousins are listed by them as half-cousins for me much of the time. I did figure out why Ancestry had listed a full first cousin as a half cousin. This was a cousin whose tree I also managed! Ancestry was assuming that our listed grandmothers were two different people, when insofar as I could see, they were listed exactly the same. But the computer saw one tiny difference in our listings of her, like a comma after a space or something like that in one and concluded they were different women. Changing it did not work, so I wound up removing her tree, including her data in my tree, downloading my tree and then uploading it to her account, and then identifying her in that tree as the DNA tester. Only then did Ancestry determine we were first cousins.

[@UnclGee]

@@margaretford1011 Hi Margaret, I've noticed your problem in Thrulines too, but that is because, understandably, Thrulines is looking for exact matches. But in the tree view, why are half-relationships described as full relationships?

[@margaretford1011]

@@UnclGee I would guess that somewhere in the profiles of the individuals involved, there is a mistake in how the parents are attached to children. Like sometimes a second wife is attached to the children a man had with his first wife, and that happens because later censuses make Ancestry assume that the second wife is the mother of the children still in the home. And Ancestry often will give a child two mothers if the first one was listed previously but died. They will also list two fathers. You have to check each profile and manually correct the relationships for the computer to show the right relationship. So check that first. See if you can find an error in the parent-child relationship connections in your tree.

[@UnclGee]

@@margaretford1011 Yes, I have confirmed that the relationships are defined correctly. On the Facts tab in my profile in the Family column it correctly lists my "Parents", "Siblings" and "Half Siblings" However when I click on my half sibling, under her name, birth data and death date in the word "sister" when it should say "half sister". I see this problem on my tree and all of the other trees that I have access to. The problem persists on both the browser and the Ancestry app. Do you have any half relationships on your tree where you can check if the label is correct? Thanks.

[@theotherside8258]

setting labels doesnt appear to stick or save for me, i have to keep doing it again

[@larkm.dalinrobart3316]

I am so happy to report that one of my Mom's Irish communities has been narrowed down to a location between two small market towns just 8 miles apart (one in County Cavan and the other in County Monaghan). And it just so happens that her grandfather was born almost exactly in the middle of those two market towns! And what seems equally amazing to me is that my kids (that man's 2x great grandchildren) have that same community in their DNA results! In our situation, we were lucky enough to have known that information all along . . . but just think of the possibilities for someone who might not have any idea where to start searching for their Irish ancestor. DNA is amazing! Thanks, Ancestry!!

[@GenealogyTV]

Yay!

[@ashleymoore3388]

I really like the new Comments feature. I have wondered how to get others engaged when a tree owner doesn't respond or if there's information that needs to be shared publicly.

[@AncestryAimee]

Terrific video! Way to go Connie! Love to see all the great user changes at Ancestry!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks Aimee.

[@amyadams4579]

Rhis is absolutely womderful! Can't wait to explore this.

[@samuelchambers5]

WOW!!! This is awesome content and news! After viewing this vlog, I went onto my tree and page to find out if I had received the new features. And, wow, they are there and working!! I even messaged two individuals who, as I learned, had visited my tree within the last seven days. It will be interesting to note whether they will respond and be willing to begin a dialogue with me. This has opened up all kinds of new "beginnings" as far as understanding who I am and from whence did I come. Thanks so much, ancestry.

[@carlaporath7076]

Just went to see these Activity tools!!!! Awesome...... Thank you Ancestry and Connie for hosting Crista!!!!!!

[@tamouchy]

This was a great video. I always learn so much when you and Christa do these updates. I'm usually so dialed in on hints and searches that I don't even see the new tabs, buttons or features. Thanks again!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jessie9384]

Just watched last night hope I am back at correct video . re the reminder use message boards I just went and actually not surprised it is not used enough I found it very confusing there need to be more steps =once your in there. Really glad you mentioned ( maybe in the Crista video) about the side buttons and notes on the side of members who NEVER message back .. I am so over that .

[@THENUCODE]

Thanks for this video, and I look forward to the new additions. Thank you for your efforts and those of Ancestry to help us all in our genealogy quests.

[@GenealogyTV]

So nice of you, thanks.

[@philipwray9734]

My experience when contacting other users is that many don't respond (for whatever reason), and even more are not really interested to the extent of investigating and changing their family trees. I suspect that the reasons in most cases is either that they don't really understand the ramifications of DNA research or they were bought the DNA kit as a gift. As a consequence, I am less than bowled over over by these innovations. (But I might be convinced that they will be useful)

[@zeeqq105]

I truly don’t understand why people take the test in the first place. You contact them and they act like you’re asking them for a kidney. All you want is to confirm something or learn some new information. I had to beg someone and then promise I wouldn’t contact them again after they gave me the info. They finally responded after a year. Smdh

[@theotherside8258]

Some people see their tree is already' done' elsewhere and then don't want to spend anymore time on it or simply don't have time to do a tree. I have relatives who didn't want me to do a tree. It would be useful if people could flag whether queries are welcome or not and whether they are normally able to respond straight away, sometimes i cant spend time on this stuff for a few month or put my time into it in winter and sometimes sorting out a query takes me away from focus on somewhere else but glad to help eventually. Perhaps the welcome queries flag could time out if the account is not accessed for a while in case the person dies or is just no doing it anymore.

[@cvanspro]

What I really wish is that we could ultimately have is the actual segment data like we have access to in My Heritage and Living DNA. There are a few matches from Ancestry that I really wish I could put on my DNA painter. As well, I really am hoping Ancestry implements what Krista mentioned they were working on rolling out eventually - sideview technology extended to grandparent level. Truly, If My Heritage and Ancestry both had all of each others features, they would be unbeatable since My Heritage really has some amazing features too like the Auto Clusters. If My Heritage had Sideview technology and didn't have those crazy tree limits that you have to pay for, then it would be so much better. And of course, I would wish that all genealogy platforms would have it so you could universally be able to see people names and place names in your preferred character set like Latin to Cyrillic and back as well as other character sets. This doesn't come as much into play with Ancestry as it does with My Heritage and FTDNA.

[@morgankelly9725]

AMEN.

[@robynjohnson5750]

Thank you ladies! Enjoyed learning from this video. Now, I must admit that I did laugh out loud here at the computer when you made the comment about "my parents have full editor access...now my siblings..."! :)

[@GenealogyTV]

Me too.

[@martast.john-anders6448]

Great episode! I am looking forward to using these new features.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@Sunjoy1]

Off to "play " on Ancestry right now... thanks so much 😁

[@ConcettaPhillipps]

Ive been posting comments for a long time hoping they would get a refresh! I tend to leave comments when there are a lot of people to message - i.e. hiw many have messed up parents of my Graves family members which have all already bedn disproven. Its so much easier to comment than message each time - although this update should help that process too!

[@janicemoerschel4428]

I'd love it if more "story scout" features could include history in other countries.

[@desertpatient]

Thanks bunches

[@Holy_Moley]

Fantastic news. Thank you.

[@cheriebolender8765]

This is truly awesome!

[@grantfahlman1815]

Super, big fan of providing feedback; both positive or negative (being as both are/can be valuable). From my own work experience as well I know that any good company that values it's customers will use that to find a way to make the product better. Just remember, if you like (or dislike) something, how many others are there that choose to say nothing?!

[@mattpotter8725]

Some very useful features here, especially the collaboration ones, I've been in contact with a distant DNA match to my 103 year old grandpa who has a mystery and brick wall and there are a number of others that I've tried to message but haven't responded and you always wonder why. It's also great to know how to feedback and access forums, I've stumbled over some of these probably more from Google searches rather than the platform itself, so thank you for this. The contact I have has given me access to the match lists for the people whose DNA she manages but it is like pulling teeth trying to match them up and cluster so we can narrow down the most interesting matches we have in common to focus on so I would still ask for a way to export matches and shared matches for people whose match lists we have access to, and (and I think this is very important as well) a way to be able to match a match from one list to another who is the same person in another (especially where the match's name is anonomised). I would also like to ask if it is possible to lower the threshold for setting shared matches a little. I know this would put strain on the Ancestry backend, and I don't want it, of expect it, down to 8cM, that would be ridiculous, but for 3rd-4th cousins research maybe down to 15cM. I've looked at some matches from my list and the lists of my contacts and there are no shared matches listed for one kit (mine or my new collaborator's), but having access to both the lists there can be 5 or 6 (which are often close matches to them). This would be enormously helpful. Love the explanation for the communities (I've often wondered why certain communities appear in the Ethnicity Estimate sub sections under the countries/regions whilst others don't), and also love you can now contact through a person in another user's tree. Looking forward to more new features, keep them coming!!!

[@theotherside8258]

Sometimes people contact me when I simply have no time available and other priorities or need to collect more information myself to understand the context. Its difficult to react straight away, because you get drawn in against your will.

[@mattpotter8725]

@@theotherside8258 That's fine, but it takes no time to do a quick message back acknowledging you read the message and are just a bit busy and will try to get back to the person is it? I've been guilty of forgetting about a message for even a month or two, it can be easily done, but this isn't what you're saying, you're saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, you want to collect more information before even replying and that you are too busy to do this because of higher priorities, which is fine, but that means it is unlikely you'll ever get to responding? I usually take quickly to a message, maybe I miss a message later on, but I won't on purpose ignore one, that to me is just rude, but I guess that's just how many people are these days.

[@davidbeetham8481]

Hi, I have had this idea for a while - But I did not know who to ask until now 😃 As we are all getting older and slowly losing our eyesight I was wondering is there going to be a ( + and - ) zoom feature - To use it on the "whole" screen of - MacKiev Ancestry 2019 PC software.... Please....

[@theotherside8258]

try going to windows 'settings', then choose 'ease of access' then select the 'magnifier' choice that will give you options that i think will let you do what you want.

[@sherimc4869]

Member Connect sounds fantastic! 🏆

[@bahaven1896]

awesome - thanks

[@79klkw]

I'm so disappointed that on family search, they closed the cousin finder from RootsTech...a little off topic, but I am so sad that they removed the feature, I loved it! Fantastic video, btw! You are the only KZbinr who deals with genealogy, that I watch👍

[@GenealogyTV]

Thank you.

[@ConcettaPhillipps]

they'll add it back in next Rootstech! I keep a record of matches each time. It just keeps getting better and better.

[@hermelindaromero2485]

In what form do you keep those RootsTech records matches?

[@hermelindaromero2485]

​@@ConcettaPhillipps In what form do you keep those RootsTech records matches? This last time I printed the 1-4 cousin matches. That was a lot of paper! So how do you do that record keeping?

[@ConcettaPhillipps]

@@hermelindaromero2485 PDF! I print to PDF file and organize by ancestor. Some of the smaller ones just screenshots. I then tag each one in my following list so I know they are a Rootstech match.

[@suereed4454]

So has the view list of people who have viewed my tree been removed? I really liked that. I could then look at their tree to find out what their interest was, see if they are a DNA match, etc.

[@bluekimchiandrea4476]

I agree

[@xythiria4385]

Under Activity I have a third option called Viewers that shows Viewers from the last 7 days. I haven't found a way to see more than the past 7 days though.

[@saraschneider6781]

I hope not.

[@GenealogyTV]

I'm seeing it in my main tree view under the Activity tab.

[@suereed4454]

I no longer have it.

[@mayberrywj]

Great video, thanks...:)

[@maryostlund-wood984]

I've been asking for a way to search my tree by keyword...for instance, I want to know everyone who lived in a certain town at the same time. Or find who all were blacksmiths. Etc

[@GenealogyTV]

Great idea

[@debbiegambrell3204]

Request: I have messages that I don't want to keep active or archive, but we have no delete option. So I now have years of messages and I'd like to clean that up. A delete option would be very useful! Thanks for any consideration.

[@sherimc4869]

Thank you❣️❣️❣️

[@helenhunter4540]

I've had this experience with a couple of people in my tree: hints appear in one person's record that are another person's hints! How can I get that info to someone at Ancestry who can fix it?

[@love98joy]

Good information. I have been going through the list of names I have in my family tree, checking for doubles. I noticed that I was not farmiliar with some of the last names. I had to go back to the tree and to find out which side of the family they came from. I am thinking, I may have to tag them like I did the floating trees. Thank u, Shelley

[@kayannaottaway3381]

It’d also be nice to know their trades and see what that pie looks like .

[@Wmccmc]

Very helpful. Thank you. But I don't understand what you were talking about when you said DNA Scout. I tried to find it but couldn't. If you could help I would appreciate it.

[@coloradoridgerunner791]

Amazing how a big service like Ancestry doesn't have a help function on their app!

[@karajames6345]

Is there any other place that shows you have a comment from some one looking at your tree besides the ancestors profile? If that is the case, you wouldn't know you have a comment until you are in that profile. There are some profiles I have not touched in a long time. Thank you for all you do Connie. I have learned so much from you.

[@GenealogyTV]

In the tree view go to the Activity tab and look at Tasks. If you have them the would be there too (I think). I haven't gotten any yet.

[@jjbud3124]

I have the activity button already. It is really cool to see who has been looking at the tree. I will certain explore the new features.

[@dbridge276]

When I try the activity then changes option it gives me the error “We're having trouble showing your tree's edit history. Please try again.” Maybe the feature can’t handle the 21220 people in my tree.

[@irenelowe5248]

It would be really good if in Ancestry Messaging, we were able to attach other pictures and other files to messages. At the moment, you can only attach what is on your tree, you cannot attach anything other than that. I usually ask for people's email addresses so I can attach other things but most of the time, no one replies.

[@GenealogyTV]

Agreed

[@darlebalfoort8705]

I was stunned by some of these features. I finally found information about my 6th great grandfather. I had found more information about his wife than not him. Odd in patrilineal society. However, some one had him in their tree with background.

[@michellejeffhaywood8040]

Really enjoyed this session. Would it be all right if I shared it with the genealogy group at my library?

[@GenealogyTV]

Go for it. Please tell them I said Hi

[@michellejeffhaywood8040]

@@GenealogyTV Yay! Thanks!!

[@duanemantick657]

Does look good that Ancestry is increasing its feature set. I think I saw a video lately that tells me that I'm not the only one that would like to see a really powerful search tool for use in the tree...... more than just hunting names. I've been using the "custom tag" feature and creating tags like "Revolutionary War" for those patriot ancestors, "Mayflower Descendant", etc. Then I can search on those tags and have a list but it's only as good as those that I have manually tagged. And now, a question: does Ancestry (or something like Family Tree Maker which I just put on this computer recently) have a means to create a *Family* timeline as opposed to just timelines for individuals? My thought is to start with it would be worked either from myself and *backwards* in time through a specific line and default to the xth grandparents only. Then, you could add in cousins of various levels and/or aunts/uncles of various levels as desired/needed. I've found that working the dates has gotten me a LOT of stuff !!! But doing it manually is a dreadful chore when your Ancestry Tree (for example) is over 10,000 and I can't even begin to image what it would be like for the real monster trees out there........... --Duane

[@GenealogyTV]

Duane. Ancestry has their timeline and you can turn on family events but it is only for immediate family. This is something I do in my Research Notes... keeping them in chronological order... adding sources, etc. It kills a lot of birds with one stone.

[@barbarah5756]

Great info. I do have a question. Is there a reason whay I do not have Member Connect on my profile pages? I have been unable to find it on any of my profile pages. Thanks. Barbara

[@GenealogyTV]

Go to the Tools menu in the profile view and click on Show Research Tools.

[@barbarah5756]

@@GenealogyTV thank you so much!

[@Dark_Nemesis4300]

I would love for there to be a merging tool that will search my database for potential duplicates.

[@dansnyder6626]

I have always wondered in Ancestry with their Sources, why there is not a way to tie a relationship like a parent or child to a particular Source in their list of Sources. When you click on a Fact, it shows lines to the connected Sources that support it. Wouldn't it be good if when you add a relative to your tree if the document you used to support that could be tied to the "relationship" in the same way. So if you single click on say the Father, it would highlight the Father block and show lines to the Sources that support the relationship (like the Facts do now). Double click could just take you to that relatives view like a single click does today. OR is there another way to attach a Source to a Relationship I am missing?

[@GenealogyTV]

Great idea. Love it.

[@Natureknight]

Since the day I found out I was adopted, I've had a deep desire to find out who I am. Not just parentage but ancestors as well. I crave tradition, history, and a sense of belonging. I have given up my search because people from both sides (mother and father) are somehow related. I know my parents are first cousins (LONG story). Sisters from one side married brothers from the other, a few generations ago. Ancestry will tell you from which side a new relative is and when I get an email, I get excited. That excitement turns to frustration when I see the new relative is related to both sides. I cannot afford to continue to go around in circles. I have always been drawn to England and British history. Turns out I'm 97% British. I will never know if I'm related to British royalty lol

[@mordechaistein]

If your parents are first cousins, it is more likely than not that you are related to the royal family.

[@viviansmith8769]

Here is a request for Ancestry. I love that they broke out the 1950 Census in the hints by tree. Can they add a filter for other types of records? Vital records? Also I would like to be able to search for hints by relationship, not just by first name, or last name or newest. Thanks! Vivian

[@davidculp6266]

I wish the half-relationships on ancestor profiles would be calculated correctly. It's weird that they show correctly in ThruLines but not on profiles.

[@barbarabrann6217]

Agreed! Don’t understand this one at all.

[@jenniferdaniels701]

I'd like to be able to turn hints off for people I'm not concerned about. I'm fine with getting hints for my mom's cousin's SO, but I don't need their parents, siblings, etc. I am in charge of the tree for our family reunions.

[@cathybeverage]

I use Family Tree Maker for my main Tree building and research. My question is Where do I load photos to that will be saved to Ancestry and Family tree maker? When I sync to Ancestry those photos I have added in Family tree maker are not added to my tree in Ancestry. Do I have to do both applications.

[@GenealogyTV]

FTM has been having sync issues for a long time. I'm now using Ancestry only... and rarely use FTM anymore. :(

[@theotherside8258]

@@GenealogyTV I've too much time invested in notes on people in the FTM version of the tree and it lets me build lines without them being public in ancestry until i do a synch. Perhaps ancestry are doing too many changes for FTM to keep up. It probably is time for FTM to do a new version that can also work dna too.

[@theotherside8258]

@@GenealogyTV Further to my earlier reply, FTM has just announced this week ( Sat 12 August 2023) that Ancestry upgrade work has completed and the orange weather warning has finished. They are doing a beta FTM update to allow better synching with new ancestry features. It sounds as if they will be rolling it out in tranches. Just before this, i tried synching my FTM devices with ancestry during the 'orange' weather and all seemed fine. I risked it because i read somewhere the main problem was with synching trees over 2000 names. and mine has less than that.

[@JustAGuitarPlayer]

Hi Connie, I know you don’t work for ancestry but in the hopes that Ancestry will read your subscriber comments, I’ve written my ancestry feature wish list here, my apologies if it’s still too long a comment, this will be the last time I’ll write these suggestions here. And first let me say that I’m a big fan of your channel, I think it’s the absolute best and most helpful genealogy site on KZbin. Anyway, here, more briefly are features I’d like to see ancestry incorporate. Ancestry, could you please increase the amount of custom groups we’re able to create to 124? Some of us label these groups as “grandparent couple” groups to organize our dna matches into a group based on which grandparent couple we share (MRCA, most recent common ancestor couple/couples we share). In my case I have 8-2nd great grandparent couple groups and 16-3rd great grandparent couple groups and so the total of those already consumes the limit of 24 groups that I or any ancestry user is able to create. So I have to put the more distant cousins who I actually share a 4th or 5th great grandparent couple with into a 2nd or 3rd great grandparent group that they don’t really belong in. If Ancestry could increase the amount of groups to 124 groups then I could create groups for my 4-1st, 8-2nd, 16-3rd, 32-4th, and 64-5th great grandparent couple groups. It could just be circles that have a number 1 2 3 4 5 in them to designate which level great grandparent they are, and then we could label those circled numbers with the last names of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th great grandparent couple and be able to filter our searches by which group of dna matches trees we want to study. It wouldn’t need to be 124 different colors, more important would be the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 within the circle. That, in my opinion, would be a very helpful feature. And also think it would be more helpful if they could show our dna matches the way my heritage does where they show you how your shared DNA matches are related to both of you, by showing how many centimorgans you and a DNA match share with each of your other shared matches. And I wish ancestry would revert to showing us our shared matches even if they only share only 8cm instead of putting the threshold where I think it currently is at 20cm. I’m a collaborator on 6 family members trees/dna test results on ancestry and I have to switch between the dna results of all those family members and I often find that those 6 family members shared dna matches are much higher than ancestry currently reveals with their 20cm threshold. And lastly, add a chromosome browser so we can study shared segments of dna like MyHeritage and Gedmatch have. Those all would be helpful features in my opinion.

[@GenealogyTV]

Couple of things. Please keep your comments brief. It is hard to read all comments, let alone long ones. While I don't work for or have any control over what Ancestry does or why they do what they do, Ancestry is fully aware the request for more DNA groups. I suspect they are waiting for the next update. I do know they hope to divide the DNA cousins again to the grandparent level as they did with the Paternal and Maternal sides. When they do that, I can only hope that they retool the number of groups. Thanks for watching!

[@JustAGuitarPlayer]

@@GenealogyTV hi Connie, sorry for my overly lengthy comment, I edited my comment down quite a bit, you may prefer even more brief than what I’ve reduced mine to but I wanted one last time to write my wish list here for ancestry to hopefully see as while I know you don’t work for ancestry, I feel that they recognize your channel as one of the main genealogy channels on KZbin that it’s customers make use of. So I’m hoping they will read our comments and implement what I feel are truly more useful features that would help us as we try to build our trees more accurately. Thank you always for the wonderful videos you create, they are definitely in my opinion the most helpful on KZbin.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks @JustAGuitarPlayer.

[@charlesbiles4441]

Thank you for this update. I also liked the suggestions below. In the hopes that somebody is listening to them, here's my longed-for wish. I have 30000+ AncestryDNA matches. Of course, I am not going to process 30000+ matches. I want the gems to enhance my family tree. To that end, I apply filters and obtain a sublist relevant to my research project. How many matches are in that filtered list? PLEASE, in any DNA match list, put the number of people in the list, say at the top right of the list. Of course, if the number is small, then I can count. If the number is larger, then I need to apply more filters to obtain a more manageable list. Knowing the number of matches in any displayed list helps me to manage that list. Thank you for listening.

[@GenealogyTV]

I hear you. If you have that many matches then you should have plenty to work with filtered down to the closer cousins, so I'm not sure why how many matches you have is relevant to your research. Just thinking out loud here.

[@ConcettaPhillipps]

Since you seem to have a line to Ancestry, can I ask - have you heard any thoughts about on the "evaluate" tool on Thrulines to be able to mark them incorrect, or wrong generation, or something? I was just looking at another one with my Walker family and it appears as if a set of people have accidentally moved a child up two generations, making the Thruline incorrect (as the Thruline says its a daughter, when its really a granddaughter). At this point its not so much "evaluate" as it is to approve or leave it, and that's a real bummer!

[@GenealogyTV]

From what I’ve been told, to be able to reject or ignore some parts of ThruLines for individuals is a very complex proposition.

[@barbarabrann6217]

I have “evaluated” situations like this. Can’t remember for sure, but when I added the generations into my tree I believe that corrected the suggestion.

[@northwoods1000]

After watching the video, I became aware of Notes in Ancestry. I know they are private, but as a suggestion, I would like to see them public. Then if needed a separate tab for private notes. When I read the notes I have on my grandfather, they would be helpful to others. I also would like to print out the notes. Mine come from Family Tree Maker as I have not added any on Ancestry. Any way to do this? Good video as usual. Thanks Mary Lou

[@GenealogyTV]

If I recall, there is a setting in FTM that will sync your notes. Keep in mind on Ancestry, Notes are private, Comments are public.

[@susanngobar3550]

I've had two complete trees copied right down to the names I was using to identify them ,not a word from the person who did it

[@ViolentRainbow]

They REALLY need to start giving us a better way to find shared DNA matches, not just people who share over 20cm. I have gone through my entire DNA match list of tens of thousands of people checking each of them for shared matches to indicate how they might be related, it's taken YEARS! There should be an easier way to do this! It would help with research an insane amount!

[@lwood432]

I'm curious if there is a feature that can tell us which side of our matches we're related on, their mom or dad?

[@LumenTrails]

When Christa was talking about the DNA, her dropdown had an option for Y-DNA and mtDNA Tests at the bottom. Does anybody know what that is?

[@GenealogyTV]

Several noticed that. I don't know.

[@Rainydaylily]

I just checked my Ancestry version. My Activity button includes a third tab entitled Views (in addition to the Tasks and Changes tabs.) !!

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes... that Viewers part rolled out right after I recorded that video.

[@saraschneider6781]

One more idea I though of. It would be great if World Access or even a highr tier included subscriptions to Geni, Geneanet, and GenealogyBank. We needed a way to streamline more of our subscriptions.

[@shelleymonson8750]

Ancestry already includes info from Geneanet.

[@jtraebowman3772]

Did anyone else notice at 15:03 on the video when Crista pulled down her DNA tab, she had a Y-DNA and mtDNA test option in her account? Did Ancestry ever offer a Y-DNA and mtDNA test?

[@sinner2434]

I think it’s from connecting their account to genomelink

[@DNAConsultingDetectives]

At one point they did. I had my dad take the Y-DNA test. Once atDNA took off as the go to DNA for researching relationships, Ancestry had a period where you could save the Y-DNA file. I wish I had saved my father's. 😕 I've since had my brother tested.

[@tomask1436]

Yes, they did. It is one of many features that Ancestry offered in the past, many users paid for it and Ancestry then dropped it.

[@whyaskwhybuddry]

@Genealogy TV, Ask Christa if Ancesty can take the Migration Timeline and allow Users to export it as an MP4 file to share with Family or even as a Video Short? Right now, you have to manually click each time period to see how your ancestors moved around.

[@GenealogyTV]

No you can't export it as a video file... but you could do a screen record of you moving through the software. Google how to do screen captures in video.

[@ninaherzog3546]

I confirmed with Ancestry chat yesterday abou the Quesion Mark feature added to the person profile. It is my understanding one must have a paying subscription in order to use this feature and the person on the other end must have a paying subscription also. I have seen comments here about people not replying to messages, this could be why there is no response. One must have a paying subscription to use the messaging feature.

[@dawndoehne6510]

How come we are not able to gets dates, vitals, birth, marriage information?

[@robertshade8631]

How to get through lines for ancestors 9,11 and 13 on my Ancestor chart?

[@barbarabrann6217]

I would like a way to favorite record collections that one uses frequently so as to access them quickly. Right now it is on the home page as quick links but it says that this feature is going away. I hope that they plan on a different way of doing this.

[@GenealogyTV]

Create a hyperlink in Chrome maybe?

[@tomask1436]

Maybe you could do interview with Crista about the chromosome browser, triangulation and 20cM threshold on shared matches and try to convice her that these features are really needed and that her arguments against them are totally wrong (at least what I read from her).

[@JL1MB]

I wish we could actually upload old family videos. It would be a great way to share with extended family members.

[@GenealogyTV]

Here's a work around. Upload those videos to KZbin and then copy the link. Then on Ancestry add a weblink in the profile page of the ancestor. Great idea for another video.

[@JL1MB]

@@GenealogyTV Thank you. I never thought of that. That's a great idea.

[@dalecaldwell8382]

Still hoping for a descendant tree view; saw it mentioned on a previous interview with you two, but can’t view it a place; there are no “three icons on my desk top on portrait or landscape tree view icons

[@VickyFinizzaWeninger]

This is great for people born in America. It is difficult when all parents were born in Europe. I had to stop on a few of my Ancestral lines. Also, why can’t you partner with 23andMe DNA. When I had DNA done you didn’t have that option. I started back in 1998. Thank you.

[@silvialarrazabal1883]

Do you still have a genealogy Academy for people who need to deeper into the matter of genealogy

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes at GenealogyTV.org/academy

[@GenealogyTV]

Come join us. Use GTVA25% at checkout for 25% off.

[@bcfranklin9410]

Thank you both for the new features. I have already played with some of them and they have helped tremendously. I do have a question though about ThruLines. I have several ancestors with zero DNA Matches in ThruLines yet their parents or descendants do have matches. I have found that the first and last name are somewhat irrelevant in that I know some ancestors by first or last name or neither yet i get matches but the birth date seems very important. My question is: what is the tolerance (+ or - years) that will get me in the range. It seems to + or - 5 years but I'm not sure. Please advise. Thanks

[@GenealogyTV]

This sounds a little more complicated than a simple answer. I would suggest you get some professional coaching or take one of Diahan Southard's DNA classes. Here is my affiliate link if you want to give it a try. www.yourdnaguide.com/ref/6/ They are doing some free webinars right now too.

[@pdxcyclist]

I am helping a friend work on finding who her birth parents are. She has a dry mouth, and has tried three times to produce enough saliva for the ancestry dna test. She has tried all of the suggestions made with no results. Will ancestry ever have a test made from cheek swab? OR, allow other companies' test results (even with a nominal fee) on their platform?

[@GenealogyTV]

Good point.

[@carolcoopertaylor]

So if someone changes something is there a way to undo their changes if you dont remember what was there before the change

[@GenealogyTV]

No one is changing anything but you and those you invite to edit your tree.

[@carolcoopertaylor]

@@GenealogyTV but what if a trusted editor changes something and I can't remember what was there before to change it back?

[@staceycoates1418]

I also saw another new feature, that I think I am going to like. And if you are in the tree view, and you go to Activity, I have three options; Tasks, Changes and Viewers. And the viewers allow me to see people who have looked at my tree in the last 7 days. When I saw it I picked a random one who's name sounded vaguely familiar. And when I clicked on it I did find out that this person is a DNA match. Which I think will be so helpful in the future. My only problem is that I don't always get to work on my genealogy right now because my kids are out of school. So I would love if there was a toggle switch where I could look at the last seven days, the last month, and maybe the last 3 or 6 months. Could that be passed along? And of course we all want a chromosome browser, so that we have more options especially for members who have not been active for years, and are unlikely to respond to us. I don't expect to have another match like my great-uncle where I found out who he was six months after he died, when his wife responded.

[@johnjdumas]

I would like a way to see if someone is an ancestor of someone on both sides of my family. Somewhere on the Saint Lawrence 4th or more Grandparents were related.

[@GenealogyTV]

See this video called Find Repeating Ancestors in Your Family Tree: Using WikiTree Fan Chart kzbin.info/www/bejne/anWZeWian7iBhpo

[@dawnf-sktn7950]

I had an Ancestry match show up as 4th - 6th cousin on parent 2's side. We haven't figured out how we're related yet

[@theotherside8258]

What i would like is a way when i save documents from a search to my PC to be able to specify in settings where they save to other than 'downloads or as i might save to more than 1 device to have a chance to browse to a folder where i need them. Ability to book mark a search page within a session so if i divert to look at someone more closely form a search result list i can find my way back to the list where i left off, at the moment its too easy to lose your original place. I'd also like to exclude results from a search ie currently if i search and select English records i still get American results, same for other criteria. I was thinking about the need for some sort of comments box for people on my tree as the DNA results have contradicted some parts of the tree defined by documentation and also contradicted other dna results. I havn't got to the bottom of it yet but even when i do I don't think its wise to just disregard or delete the documented tree, there needs to be some sort of flag to signpost doubt or contradiction.

[@GenealogyTV]

You can now comment on another members tree.

[@theotherside8258]

@@GenealogyTV i got that, i was was meaning some sort of comment box to put on my own tree in ancestry, am i missing it

[@cursedinsanity6776]

"Relatives in common" sure would be great.

[@reneeshuk7240]

Hi! I'm adopted. Can you gals make a How to or understanding Ancestry for "Dummies" or newbies. 😊

[@GenealogyTV]

Will do.

[@2horns8myhalo]

Completely underwhelmed about the new features, especially when folks have been crying for a chromosome browser for years. I just don't understand why they insist on giving us everything but that. 🤔 Ancestry may have the largest database of users, but MyHeritage has completely eclipsed them when it comes to DNA tools. Every day that passes in which they do not provide these basic tools, they send their users to their competition.

[@davidk4869]

100% agree.

[@travisthompson5122]

My Heritage sucks. Not accurate at all.

[@jessikamoore5033]

Of course still no chromosome browsing which I need badly. I match people that share multiple lines and I cannot tell how we relate. I also wish I could get an explanation how my daughter matches my likely half 2nd cousin but I don't.

[@aliathompson866]

What about MyAncestry Feed? I heard about that new feature