Use MyTreeTags™, New on Ancestry | The Barefoot Genealogist | Ancestry

Ancestry recently introduced MyTreeTags™. Join Crista Cowan for a look at how to access them, what each tag means, and some tips for creating custom tags. She will also share best practices for using them to organize information in your family tree and make new discoveries.
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Use MyTreeTags™, New on Ancestry | The Barefoot Genealogist | Ancestry
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[@michelledickens8073]

We have an inherited eye disease in my family, I’m going to tag everyone who has/had it to help map the inheritance pattern. Another vote for syncing the tags with FTM-I want to store all my info locally on my computer but want to take advantage of this great tool!

[@DoloresJRush]

I have pigmentary glaucoma and I may be a spontaneous because of I know of nobody else in my family who has had it.

[@tomzito2585]

I think a huge benefit to this will be to superimpose small icons "badges" to the ancestor's profile image- just a small icon(s) that line up perhaps along the bottom edge or in the corners. Offer some universal ones (like country flags) and allow the user to upload to their icon or badge gallery (coats of arms). Perhaps limit it to the first or most recent 4 or 5 depending on if it can be done in in a way that is visually appealing. The reason people use the profile image is so they can find these attributes in all of the various screens and views: trees, relatives on a profile, in ThruLines, etc.

[@1SassyCrafter]

Tom Zito DITTO! Big DITTO! I was thinking the same thing 😁

[@AncestryUS]

Thank you for the feedback, Tom. I will be sure to pass it along.

[@veegeebrew3695]

agree, I use different profile images in my tree so I can see at a glance what the person is about immediately, not click into a dozen people to see a 'tag'. If it generates a hint, sorry, but my tree, I pay $45 a month for it, and I want to be able to read the tree part at a glance. I can see IMMEDIATELY who maybe was a Pilgrim, a king, a Knight, in the military, and what war etc by the profile image. Maybe Ancestry needs to stop using profile images as hints.

[@hassanbeydoun2460]

I saw that on her family tree she had an ancestor with a black heart🖤 or blue heart💙 next to their name. Maybe they can put a flag next to their name too🇺🇸

[@tracyfrederick1255]

I would love to be able to color code the “direct ancestor” tag to reflect the different branches of my husband and my joint tree.

[@TheGinnymae]

how to print the list of those in the tag????? like all buried in the same listed cemetery so when I go to the cemetery I have the list of all buried there. ETC ETC

[@harveyandfloyd]

I have lots of sets of twins in my tree (including me!) so have created a twin tag. Also have a tag for people who left a will. I really like the idea of tags and I'm finding them very useful.

[@barbarabrann6217]

Great idea. I am going to add that.

[@MrDannyDetail]

I have done this too, but I would suggest something like 'Multiple Birth' rather than 'Twin' so that the rare instances of triplets and above (I for one have at least one set of triplets somewhere in my tree) still sort with twins, rather than triplets, quads etc getting their own tags, and then getting missed from any twin-based stats you may wish to compile.

[@gilllisa]

Great idea. We have many twins in our family as well. My Dad is one.

[@moumou3811]

i have twin bother sister in my family as well as nieces and great nephews as twins

[@saru308]

I LOVE this function. Thanks for bringing it to fruition! Great video explaining the new tagging experience!

[@kekoa1843]

Your presentations are SO lucid & smooth flowing - EXCELLENT! Thank you very much!

[@dranet47]

Being able to search by direct ancestor is a feature I've wanted for a very long time! I've even exported my tree from FTM using just direct ancestors just so I could do that. Thank you Ancestry for adding this feature.

[@lost3153]

Thank you Crista! That was SO helpful. I started using the tags & now I have some great ideas going forward

[@marygreene9645]

This is such a great idea! I'm going to create custom tags for : German born, Italian born etc. Also a few of my ancestors were musicians, others seamstresses. So there's two more. Fun!

[@LindaSchreiber]

The new tags are Marvelous!!! I can also see tags re 'actively researching' and specific repositories as a to-do list for trips. I'm using ThruLines Target and ThruLines complete as I work [with great caution] through DNA matches.

[@karenfarmilo3067]

The new Tree Tag feature is fabulous. As I work through more levels I can call up who was in WW1 or WW2 just at my fingertips. Thanks!

[@LauriPlaysOfficial]

I've only just started using the tags, and they are really so very helpful! All of your videos provide amazing information and advice, and I appreciate you so much!

[@happyneek4699]

Yes that was a great overview. Loving all the new features. The tags are awesome.

[@pamelafurnace7030]

Wow! These tags will be SO useful.. I can delete all my "this not verified" images now. I think I will make custom tags for county and state so I can see how my people are grouped geographically and how they moved around. Families tend to cluster and move together, but finding them isn't always. I may also create a tag for the oldest ancestor in a line where the line has "daughtered out"--I seem to have several of those and it will keep me from confusing some lines. This is a very useful addition to Ancestry!

[@dianaslater5076]

Thank you Ancestry! Great presentation Crista.

[@Goman1244]

Wonderful new tools. I have started to use them and I learned a lot more with this training module.

[@WilliamHenryRoll]

Thank you for this, Crista.

[@kkaye76]

Awesome addition! I saw the Beta Tag opportunity last week but didn't have time to dig into it to see what it entails. Your videos take the cluelessness out of the equation so thank you so much for all you do.. I can't wait to get started. A tag I want to use is horoscope signs. As a VERY amateur astrologer, I'm always interested in signs and behaviors.

[@happyneek4699]

Nice update on the updates. The tags now auto save. 👍🏼

[@larrymorin]

Great video, Christa. I needed that information.

[@BunkyC36]

Yes, tracking ancestors with genetic diseases in a tag would be helpful., cause of death, etc

[@LHSwish]

Right, or if, for instance, on several censuses they were noted as “insane” or blind, deaf, etc

[@melonyrogers9841]

I found one that said lunatic. I was shocked to say the least.

[@Genthorn]

Great video and very clear Crista! One of my custom tags will be for those that belonged to the Freemasons fraternal organization as I do. This allows me to track generations that belonged over the history of the organization and in what areas.

[@Judiith1956]

Great explanation. I was a bit confused about the DNA tags but now I’m going to start adding in the Common DNA ancestor and the DNA connection tags. I agree with others that it would be great if we could print out our tagged lists.

[@jewell92]

Thank you, Crista! I'll be reviewing this video.

[@AncestryUS]

We're happy to hear that it's helping your research, @K8 B. We hope you'll find new details for your tree and continue to use this tool to support your research.

[@nvaroga]

The tags are awesome. I created a duplicate set of DNA tags with my husband's initials for my husband's branch of our tree. Then I can filter, for example, for his DNA matches separately from mine. I also have one big combined tree. I second all the suggestions to make the tags visible without clicking on each person when the tree is in family or pedigree view. Also, please add some kind of color coding for the DNA connection path tag when the tree is in pedigree or family view. And yes, I have submitted these suggestions in the feedback boxes on the website.

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks for the suggestions, Nan. And, thanks for submitting them through the feedback link. That is the best way to get them viewed by the product manager.

[@JohnnyNorway]

I love that there's a new filter option in Tree Search. I do most everything through software (FTM) instead of the website, but this is still very helpful

[@LisaVanGemert]

I just love you so much. We've spent hundreds of hours together but never met. Thanks so much for sharing all of your knowledge (and congrats on your great looking site!).

[@lindaeaton7781]

I feel the same way! Such an ease of presenting ideas and information! Thanks!

[@CristaCowan]

Ah! Thanks, Lisa. Maybe one day we can meet a genealogy conference or event. I've got a list of the ones I'm headed to this year on my website here: cristacowan.com/my-calendar/

[@1SassyCrafter]

Crista Cowan I wanted to attend your recent Indian River Webinar, but I had to work! I was able to listen afterwards! I am a new member of IRGS because of you. I couldn’t stop echoing your words of advice I have been learning. Two questions I would have loved to ask- am I missing new videos your posting here? I’m only seeing older ones. Also, I know you transcribe addresses etc in notes, do you also put them in the address field in the life story? TFS ~Linda :)

[@PunchPrincess]

Please come to Des Moines!! I've noticed lots and lots of intra-USA immigration to Iowa in the 19th century. We have the best farmland here and that was told to me by an Indiana farmer!!

[@CristaCowan]

@@1SassyCrafter - You probably aren't missing any new videos. This past year my video production has taken a back set to some other responsibilities. But, I am ramping it back up again. As long as you subscribe to the channel or check the "Desktop Education" playlist, you shouldn't miss anything. I do not typically create an ADDRESS fact in my timeline.

[@mloustalot1]

I think I have had Ancestry for close to 20 years (can that be right?) and I've never clicked the Tools drop down menu. .mind blown. .

[@CristaCowan]

😲 I'm so glad I mentioned it.

[@lindaguth3129]

Love all the changes, wow so much new stuff at once, not sure what to do first. I will be building tags for my four paths. I like this when reviewing DNA, and which line I connect with. Will be a great quick reference, thought about noting maternal/paternal but I think going with my grandparents may be a little more detail.

[@coolcatsyd]

This was a really informative video! I'm excited and looking forward to utilizing the My Tree Tags and seeing the patterns that emerge. I'm going to create a "Manner of Death" custom tag, which I think would be extremely useful for tracking my extended family's health history, which in turn can keep me informed on possible health issues that run in my family.

[@troymcdougal9010]

What a wonderful video, I love the tags! I have gone through my entire tree and added the tag of Common DNA Ancestor to all my straight-line ancestors. That way, as I process the DNA matches I receive, I can follow the line up until I hit one of the Common DNA Ancestor people then I know I can stop. 2. It would be nice to choose a color for each Tag like you have on

[@bstobbs]

Thanks for a great video! I plan to add custom tags for where ancestors lived, e.g., all ancestors who lived in Athens, NY or vicinity (multiple lines came from this area). Also, numerous ancestors were founders of New Haven Colony and I’ll tag them, as well. Love the idea of tagging the first immigrants.

[@dianewalter722]

I am planning to add a tag for someone connects to both my father's and mother's line. Very excited about the new helps.

[@pattiwhite9575]

I think I would like to use it to note physiological traits. We have some in family with crooked pinkies. This would be great to track which lines within the family tree take those traits came from.

[@soozieevans7222]

Wow..I really like the tree tags, very helpful

[@willishalliii2350]

This was a great video tutorial. You explained the DNA connection tag better than the question mark icon.

[@kennabartz3830]

I’m enjoying the tutorials, love the tags idea

[@erinflory5411]

Great video! Thank you.

[@kimmchale3066]

Excellent explanation! Thanks!

[@kjw79]

I’m going to tag my major family lines ie Calverly descendant, Dickson descenant. To remind me quickly which branch I’m looking at without having to generate a full tree. I love seeing resemblance and traits across the people , this will help with understanding how distant branches fit in. Just looking at someone’s profile doesn’t necessarily capture their previous 4 generations. This will help ! And for living people I know what docs and pics they’re interested in.

[@DanHPage]

Thanks for the great video, Crista! In regard to Military tags, I think military service and service during a specific conflict deserve separate tags. Thanks!

[@karenroberton3290]

Yep always creating custom facts for medals, wounded etc.

[@douglasvilledarling2935]

Agreed, revolution war, civil war, war of 1812, etc

[@karenroberton3290]

Remember it is not only Americans using Ancestry. I am a Brit. Different wars although some,are the same obviously

[@Zellada]

@@karenroberton3290 Agreed! That's why I thought they need customized categories where we create tags custom to their country. Example a custom category for surnames (where we add the names), another one for the military (where we add the military conflicts pertaining to their specific country). These could even be specific subcategories in the Custom category area.

[@amandalouisegoodner6230]

I agree!!

[@fedos]

I have two custom tags so far: Fille a Marier and Fille du Roi. These are women who came to New France to marry male colonists and grow the colony.

[@barbarabrann6217]

Me too. It was the first custom tags that I created.

[@kjw79]

I love how specific the custom tags can be!

[@Ratchet4647]

What's the difference between the 2?

[@sarahkelly2268]

Love this and all you do.

[@CristaCowan]

Thanks so much, Sarah!

[@LAGleason]

Yes, would love autosave on tags. Thank you for a great feature!

[@Zellada]

They did change these to autosave on Monday 3/25/19.

[@LAGleason]

@@Zellada Yay! thank you for the info.

[@MelanieElaineH]

Very nice. I like this new feature.

[@jenniferday1967]

Thank you! very useful info

[@eviee422]

Great feature. I will start using today!

[@AncestryUS]

We're so glad to hear you've enjoyed it, Erin! We hope it helps you with your own research!

[@jacolo1963]

Great video with some really helpful information. One of the ways I'm using custom tags is to identify a geographic area. For example, my parents' ancestors intersect in one or more places in the 1700s. I'm particularly suspicious that Sudbury, Massachusetts may be one of those places as that town keeps popping up in different ancestors' lives. I created a custom tag for Sudbury in hopes of determining if this is one of the towns where my lines intersected.

[@bethb2610]

Before Ancestry created My Tree Tags, I was using colored background with white letters depicting what I might need to know instantly when looking at my tree making them the "Profile" picture. Many times I would not be paying attention and all of a sudden found out I had added 30 people to my tree that really were not related to me at all because they were the siblings or other relatives of a Spouse of a Relative on my down-line, so no blood line to me. So I created Spouse of Relative and Non-Related Spouse or Child. I also had made Caution! Unverified Person with a red background which you have a tag for so that's great.

[@windycindy11]

Thanks to your video, I started using MyTreeTags yesterday. Here are some of the ones that I added so far: Colonizer, Criminal, Early Settler (Qualifying ancestor for the Oregon Genealogical Society "Early Settler Certificate."), Emancipated Person, Enslaved Person, Government, Higher Education, Law Enforcement, Medicine, Nazi, Oregon Pioneer (Qualifying ancestor for the Oregon Genealogical Society "Oregon Pioneer Certificate."), Religious Leader, and Slaveholder. After reading through people's comments, I'm interested in also adding Twin, Endogamy, and Consanguinity tags.

[@tphipps7665]

My dad's side of the family were very tall, red-headed, freckled, with bright blue eyes. My mom's side of the family were very tiny and short with varied skintone, hair color, and eye color. I think traits like "redhead" or "many-freckled" can be fun and interesting, or anything that shows a pattern, esp patterns affected by migrations. I really like the idea of the religion and occupation tags, also early pioneers. Other ideas or someone who had many children, more than 10 children, for example; anyone who served time in prison for a crime (not war crime), served in the government, in the Native American Rolls. My dad's obit listed him as a pioneer of Nascar -- something interesting as he started out running moonshine in the NC mountains. So, specific things like moonshiner & related, would be interesting too. Also, talents -- athlete, artist, musician. I was surprised to discover how many of my relatives and ancestors have musical abilities (not me, unfortunately). Artistic and musical talents seem to run in families and this was interesting to discover, especially relative to the fiddle and banjo. Not in tag, but in the regular profile, I wish there was a field for "nickname".

[@marysedivec3691]

Very helpful suggestions

[@AncestryUS]

We're glad you enjoyed the video!

[@petronella3173]

Can you do a playlist with your videos? I dont want to see the other stuff on the channel. These informational videos are great! :)

[@AncestryUS]

We're happy to help, Judy. There are various ways to organize your family trees. It comes down to preference and where you are with your research. Some prefer to keep all family together while others will have a separate tree for themself and one for their partner. We have included some details about splitting a tree, if you decide to do this with your current tree. support.ancestry.com/s/article/Splitting-an-Ancestry-Family-Tree

[@lindashine573]

Great video as always Crista. I like the new tags a lot. Since I work primarily in Family Tree Maker and sync from there, I hope that they will soon be able to incorporate them so they can sync.

[@CristaCowan]

Ancestry is working with the FTM software developers to see what we can do about getting these to sync.

[@lindashine573]

Wonderful! @@CristaCowan

[@Siansonea]

I've been using tree tags to denote cause of death. I find that it's helpful to see where cancer, heart disease, etc., are prevailing trends in various branches of the family. I think I would also have a 'centenarian' tag if I found someone who lived to be a hundred years old.

[@CristaCowan]

Centenarian - wow!

[@Cali369]

Oooh - great idea and one I can use already - my GGGGrandmother lived to 104! And we share a birthday - not sure if that's good news or not....

[@karenroberton3290]

There is a fact called cause of death

[@patl92]

Love the tags. I've made custom tags for which war my ancestors in.

[@michellebarlondsmith6243]

love this thank you for the education ... I have a lot of crazy ancestors

[@scottik1962]

Just wanted to say, I still had trouble with adding the coloured hearts, but thats ok. I also found a neat little software program that allows me to colour my boring mustard coloured folders into any colour I like. So I now colour all of the folders that hold relevant family details into the colour that you suggested we group our DNAs together. I wont include the link as I dont want to be seen as advertising, I just found it very helpful when looking as a stack of yellow folders, now mine are all colour coded to match the relatives :-) Thanks Crista for the idea.

[@gilllisa]

Thank you so much for this. It will be very helpful to use. I hate seeing all those image tags for MRCA, Direct Descendant, etc. These tags are so much better to use.

[@judybirch8636]

Great video, Crista! I have not used the tags yet, but I'm excited to put them to use. I had been looking for a way to track the military service in the family. Also, I'm going to tag all those for whom I'll be looking to use the 1950 Census with, as you suggested in your chat the other day. Thanks!

[@AncestryUS]

Great to hear it, Judy! We're glad you enjoyed it and will be using this new tool. Good luck with your research as you find new details from the census and other sources.

[@judybirch8636]

@@AncestryUS One more question, if you don't mind... My husband and I have just one combined tree on Ancestry. The account is in his name (it was a gift from me) so of course all of the relationships shown relate back to him. I've been tagging his direct ancestors, but when it comes to mine, should I create a custom tag that says "Judy's Direct Ancestors"? Or would we be better off separating our trees? Are there other considerations in having combined vs. separate trees? How would you handle this? Thanks in advance!

[@gendeb9666]

Love this!

[@Dgirl2]

Love the tags! I'm going to make some custom tags for the bigger Civil War battles (ex. Gettysburg). That way, I can discover if multiple ancestors fought in the same battle. I'll do the same for the Revolutionary War. I recently discovered that my Mom's ggreat Grandpa was the commanding officer of my Dad's gggrandpa. What fun!

[@a.bourne6386]

I created a naturalized custom tag for my grandfather. He's a big brick wall and major mystery, despite finding "relatives" in the states with the same surname. His male line were all naturalized since the 1800's. He was the last on the 1940 census to have that category before joining the military in WW2. At least with these tags I can better sort out any kind of mysteries. (fingers crossed)

[@joelmoore7081]

I got a kit for my birthday last year, and it's still cool.

[@CGeeThompkins]

Fabulous!!!💖😎

[@celliott7979]

I started making tags for my grandparents lines. So my grandpa Priest I’ve tagged anyone who is in his line. That way I can distinguish what line everyone belongs to!

[@swhopkinson]

Well in Australia "convict" was the first custom tag for many of us - but they did go to the USA (or whatever it was called prior to 1776) before that. I think 'immigrant' is a bit vague in country like Australia when it was settled in 1788 so all but Aboriginal people are fairly recent immigrants but the word tends to mean post-war immigrants who came here in large numbers. So 'white settlers' (or English or Irish Settlers) is probably the tag that I would use for 'immigrants' in colonial Australia. And for those of who are equivalent to 'Mayflower' descendants are 'First Fleeters' or 'Second Fleeters'

[@RocketRenee46]

I’m going to start tagging cemeteries! I’m excited about this. I can go to a cemetery and know who all is there!

[@AncestryUS]

What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing this with us. We wish you all the best in your research moving forward! 😊

[@trishgannon4253]

Concur on cause of death tags. Tags for double cousin or half relationship. Tags would be very powerful if they were visible from more than just the tagged person's profile view. For instance, you mentioned being able to 'look down and see' how many children of a person were tagged as a DNA connection. But you can't look down and see - you have to open each child's profile page to see the tags. So making tags available in every view would be great.

[@AncestryUS]

Great suggestions, Trish.

[@LindaSchreiber]

I did make a suggestion in the feedback survey, but I had one more. I'm hoping in the future that we would be able to potentially add a custom tag to the categories. Or have options to use or not use further options in the category. For instance, I desperately need a 'Multiple MRCCs' tag, and will create one. And I am not alone.... ;) But it would be so useful to have that as an option in the DNA category instead of the Custom category! In the survey, I had suggested that, when tagging, the open categories you are using remain open for furthering tagging, rather than reverting back to the Research Tags category being open. If the categories could be toggled open or closed and stay that way as you work, that would be great! Would save time and clicks. And particularly with the mass tagging going on to set the system up for use, it would be a marvelous thing!

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks for the excellent feedback, Linda. I will be sure to pass it along.

[@LMotola]

Consanguineous marriage is a tag I have, my tree has so many cousin and avuncular marriages - thanks for the great videos

[@traceygomes809]

you are such a good teacher ❤

[@AncestryUS]

Hi Tracey. We're thrilled to see that you enjoyed learning all about this popular tagging feature from the ever knowledgeable Crista! We hope you makes lots of progress in your research in the months to come and please feel free to join us over at our dedicated support center should you ever need a helping hand : support.ancestry.com/s/?language=en_US . In the meantime. you can learn more about using MyTreeTags to customize your tree here : support.ancestry.com/s/article/MyTreeTags?language=en_US . Best of luck in achieving your research goals! 🌳

[@kathrynwilliams669]

The witch society you can join Crista sounds brilliant. What a nice idea to acknowledge a lady falsely accused of witchcraft

[@frankhooper7871]

A lady...or a man! - my 10th great-uncle, Thomas Farrar, was accused of witchcraft at the Salem Witch Trials.

[@Ratchet4647]

Ryan Kameg Genealogy It must be amazing to own a book that was written about an ancestor.

[@NiamhCreates]

LOVE the Tree Tags and the DNA colour coding! Both are features that I've long been wanting! Thanks guys!

[@irenelofstrom1270]

What is DNA color coding?

[@NiamhCreates]

@@irenelofstrom1270 It's another new feature they added in the DNA matches section. You can now colour code your matches into categories (ie, maternal, paternal, descendant of X ancestor, etc)

[@irenelofstrom1270]

@@NiamhCreates Thank you! Got it.

[@OneCatholicSpeaks]

Tag suggestion: Historically Significant There is a family legend which says that an ancestor of mine marched with Napoleon (as a high ranking officer and friend) on the campaign in Egypt. This person is documented to have existed (Joseph Sulkowski), however, my being a descendent of his is not verified.

[@MandSMall]

Aha! I was trying to find a way to organize my tree to display all the veterans, and I think this might just be it!

[@SassyBashir]

Thats good thank you

[@tafkaprincess]

Great idea!

[@aoshi2021]

I created custom tags for Slaveowner and Enslaved

[@nordypeggy]

aoshi2021 Great idea 👍🏻

[@windycindy11]

I'm going to start doing this too, since I'm a Beyond Kin Project researcher and am using Slaveholder and Enslaved Person tags.

[@quincypinola839]

So how do you find out if you ancestors were enslaved or were slave ? I can go back so far a far as 1858 and mabey 1827, so far.

[@windycindy11]

@Quincy Pinola I found out that my ancestors were slaveholders (enslavers) through the enslaved people who they named in their wills and other legal documents. Then I looked at the corresponding 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules and the tick marks under the Slave columns on census records going back to 1790 and tried to match up the tick marks with the names in the other documents to identify the enslaved people. I'm following The Beyond Kin Project method, which you can learn more about at beyondkin.org.

[@jcfh19981]

I created slaveowner tags too. I was looking for a way to document all of the involvement my ancestors had as slave owners/overseers. Prior to the tags I came across the Beyond Kin Project and began converting the information from probate records, slave schedules, newspaper advertisements, etc., that confirmed my ancestors’ participation. I hope that it will help people who hit brick walls when trying to identify enslaved ancestors. I am going to start using tags where I can to document cause of death trends.

[@NiamhCreates]

Oh, and so far, I created two custom tags: "NPE", and "Slave Holder". There were a couple NPEs in our tree (that were revealed through DNA), and it was important to me to label slave holders in my tree (for many reasons).

[@1SassyCrafter]

Niamh-Creates what does “NPE” stand for?

[@CristaCowan]

@@1SassyCrafter NPE = Non-Parental Event (meaning the person you thought was the parent is not the parent).

[@NiamhCreates]

@@1SassyCrafter "Non Parental Event", "Non Paternal Event" or "Not the Parent Expected"... meaning someone who was raised by a parent or parents that are not their biological parents (usually not finding out until adulthood). For example, someone finding out their father isn't their biological father after they've done an Ancestry DNA test.

[@jamesgowdy3388]

I will definitely use this feature. SUGGESTION: It would be helpful for me to be able to apply these filters while viewing the "List of all people". Can that be done?

[@catherinedaneliak7315]

Another fantastic video. Thanks so much! Will TreeTags be available on Family Tree Maker?

[@CristaCowan]

Ancestry is working with the FTM software developers to see what we can do about getting these to sync.

[@lindleyroff1096]

Hi Crista, Great video. I would dearly love it if they would enable us to sync down My Tree Tags from Ancestry tree to FTM. At the moment I have "DNA VERIFIED" icons in FTM which sync up to Ancestry; however, it creates all kinds of un neccesary hints to other folks' trees. As one of the reasons for the My Tree Tags was to reduce un neccesary hints, seems a good idea for Ancestry/FTM to allow syncing the My Tree Tags from one to the other. Adding a DNA Marker fact to FTM and a My Tree Tag to Ancestry does not quite accomplish the same goal and it doubles the work/keystrokes. Just my thoughts.

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks for the feedback, Lindley.

[@martinst-amour331]

Some of the custom tags I’ve created are “paternal lineage” and “maternal lineage” it goes well with the colour coding feature since my parents have not taken a DNA test. I also created a tag for “X-DNA” inheritance, even if a tool is not yet available, I can see through the search which common DNA ancestors is part of the specific line of DNA inheritance

[@tomzito2585]

Yes! Great idea. Some advanced DNA tags- including "inferred" Y and mt haplogroups.

[@LiverpoolHarmonica]

Thank you - Custom tags could be Medical problems e.g. Eg Cystic Fibrosis Deafness Blind Breast Cancer and so on

[@myleftshoe9]

Would love to be able to change the color of the tag so that it is more visually different from other tags. Also one idea: "Double Ancestor" tag for those dna ancestors that I get can get to through two different lines (yes... I have a few of those).

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks for the suggestions, Mike. I will pass them along.

[@hustledude]

I made location tags one for each state/country and I assign all the states and/or countries each person lived in so I can easily track the migration looking down the line

[@tphipps7665]

Great idea.

[@utubetubular]

@@tphipps7665 Brilliant!

[@vanshrider5561]

Thank you for this... Please include ThruLines in the next video ???? and maybe at some point in another video mention the hazards of using findagrave info without other sources. Especially when common names like John Shaw or Smith are involved. I’ve found several that were incorrect. I guess the same could also be the case when looking at trees of others with limited sources.

[@sbacheler]

I have had the same problem. Findagrave connected a woman, not in our tree. I've had to straighten out some folks' mistakes because of it.

[@peteandrepeat9147]

I like the Custom Tag Idea for relationships. I will be using them in my tree to identify “Best Friends” when known.

[@utubetubular]

Do you put best friends on your tree who are not relatives?

[@peteandrepeat9147]

Thanks for asking, at this time, I have not added “best friends”, but I will be adding them i the future using the custom tag feature to identify to whom in my family tree they were closest to. An example of this might be listing my best friend and custom tagging her to me. we have been closer than my own family for over thirty years

[@peteandrepeat9147]

And we often joke that we know more about each other than even our spouses know about us. We have quirky photographs and tons of memories that even our own children have never seen nor heard. I think in Ancestry Research, best friends are a vital source of great information.

[@Allinadaze]

Would love to see cause of death tags

[@robinwallace426]

Like that idea because you could possibly discover family illnesses.

[@karenroberton3290]

There is a fact called cause of death.

[@lindalewis4380]

@@karenroberton3290 How can I enable the tree tags? I don't see any in the profiles.

[@1SassyCrafter]

Linda Lewis on the top where you would select “tree” “dna” etc, there is an icon labeled “Extras”. Click that and go down to “Ancestry Lab”. From there you’ll be able to turn on MyTreeTags, along with a couple of others.

[@cherylsingleton3357]

I have two grandparents that died on the same day. I often wonder what caused their death.

[@PunchPrincess]

My husband was the grandson of Jeanettie Shanahan, the great grandson of James Shanahan. I've signed up for the expanded DNA on Ancestry and was puzzled when I saw Lydia Ozenbaugh represented but not her husband Michael Shanahan. Then I looked Michael's profile up in your tree and saw that Michael is listed with two wives -- one Lydia and one unknown, and Lydia and Michael's children have two mothers. If you would look at the small folio I have linked to Michael's profile in the MullinsShanahanGodwinMeeks tree, you will see that while Michael married in New York City (family lore says this was to a young lady from Germany whom he met on the ship) she died shortly after. Michael had, as far as we know, only one wife.

[@pdun8822]

Hi Crista - Loved learning more about the tags. So thankful Ancestry added them. I noticed that the bar on your PRofile Page is completely different from mine. All the bar shows on mine is LifeStory, Facts, Gallery and Hints, whereas your bar shows View in Tree, View Notes, View Comments, Merge with Duplicate, Save to Tree, Print and Member Connect. How can someone change their view on the Profile Page? Thank you so much for everything you do.

[@CristaCowan]

Hello! When you are on the profile page of a person in your tree, click on TOOLS then scroll down and click Show Research Tools. That bar should now appear on any profile page in that tree.

[@christopherfairs9095]

For my direct ancestors, I have added an customised Ancestor Number (with the individual's number in each case). It was a bit difficult as I found some of them weren't always displayed in the side list.

[@StephenTinius]

I use a lot of Custom Tags (more than a hundred) and have reached some arbitrary limit. When I try to create an additional Custom Tag and click Create, it briefly flashes back to my list of Custom Tags, but doesn't add the new one. Elsewhere I read that it may be a problem with displaying many Custom Tags, but that seems solvable. So here's my request to allow a large number (>10,000) or an unlimited number of Custom Tags. Thank you. [An alternative would be to create one or more User Defined attributes of a person which the user can populate with arbitrary information, i.e. "tag" a person, which some are doing with the Suffix].

[@cecelliarogers7346]

I added a "twin" tag, a "DNA Circle" tag (so when circles eventually go away, I won't lose those connections), and tags for my DNA matches who have tested at other companies. This matters to me because I record the links to the DNA match page and the family tree page and need to know when NOT to search Ancestry for this info. I also am considering State tags so that when I'm planning a road trip, I can filter by state to find possible research subjects. This includes not only birth and death locations but all states in between. (I used to be able to accomplish this with Family Tree Maker, but I lost this function--well, all functionality--when FTM changed hands several years ago. It just won't download and sync my tree, and the problem was never resolved.)

[@joandoyle1776]

This is an awesome addition. I would like to have a way to color code the tags. Also will we be able to print the lists of people with these designations?

[@AncestryUS]

Great suggestions, Joan. I will pass them along.