Newest Features on Ancestry: June 2024

[@Red__Penguin]

Your content is great! Just curious, what records do you think are best for finding out about my ancestors lives and facts about them?

[@GenealogyTV]

If you’re new to genealogy, you always want to work backwards. Starting with yourself and your parents and then grandparents. Census records are usually really good foundation from which to build on . Thanks for the super thanks.

[@myronkent3701]

Thre is A reaserch Book in My Hometown Library That Lists the Kent Family Geneology

[@myronkent3701]

well I am Dislexic and I have to repeat A lot of stuff so i get overwhelmed and just quit what I am doing that is why I need Pro. Help.

[@davidculp6266]

I like the error score that is assigned to a tree by the checker. I hope Ancestry starts using this when deciding which trees can be safely ignored when building ThruLines.

[@scotbotvideos]

That emoji trick is well neat. Means that if a surname comes up on both maternal and paternal sides, you can differentiate them by using a female and male emoji on labels with the same surname.

[@gsteele83]

One of my favourite features is the daily picks in the discover feed. What I'd love them to do with that now is to email me a task once a day like "tag the people in this photo" or "are you sure this person died at 135?". If we did nothing else with our trees, by the end of the year we'd still have cleaned it up 365 times.

[@kristinenorth9983]

Oh, my gosh, the Member Search option finding people searching the same surnames is AMAZING!

[@stlmama7643]

I find it somewhat aggravating that in addition to a hefty subscription that I have been paying for years, I now need to pay more for the Pro Tools, some of which seems like fundamental stuff, like the family group sheet tools. We pay for data, and now we pay for software upgrades also. Cha-ching.

[@TomCooper]

Software that doesn't work, no less.

[@MrHLVW]

DNA matches are free to peek you want shared matches that were free not now we have DNA plus for folks like you who actually want to do something with your data.

[@tsehscm]

I agree this is terrible to charge more when they are already over a 1 billion a year company, also some of these DNA matches features are available for free with 23andMe.

[@dwoodygura]

I just want Family Tree Maker software for my computer again. I pay for Ancestry, but it's pretty expensive. I'm already finding photos I posted on findagrave accessible in the public domain.

[@tgoldutah1]

{Referring to the first 2 minutes of video}... Since my feed looks the same as it always has {and NOT like what she's showing}.. what she is talking about with the color-coded little box is ONLY available in Pro Tools???? She should clarify that she is using PRO TOOLS before launching off on how her list looks. New features are nice, but not all of us can afford spending even more money on an already pricy addition.

[@DonnaRutherford]

Great Video Connie, and thanks for the shout-out. Would love to see more genealogists on KZbin and get a community of us going! Of course now we’ve both published our videos, Ancestry have changed the colour palette back to look more like the older dot colours. 😅

[@GenealogyTV]

Some of the comments here say they don’t have the new updates yet. We’ll see what happens.

[@patriciaandjeffbryantandcr8260]

In case someone hasn't mentioned this, the Tree Checker, " only tree documentation" means someone in your tree whose only source is a "Ancestry Family Tree". I guess a reminder to add other sources to that person in your tree?

[@fyreflye100]

As of 10 minutes ago on the morning of June 14th, I still have the dots. No additional colors. Everything on my DNA matches page looks exactly the same as it has for years. :( What I really want is matches-of-matches. Ancestry has been promising it would come in the first half of 2024... well they've got two weeks left! And yes, I do have the Pro Tools.

[@darlenesye1609]

Hey fyreflye100, I had the same issue & will Really Need to watch again while I play. Then I figgered it out. AFTER you click "Add New Groups", then click "Create New Group".

[@carokat1111]

Me too, and I usually get the Beta testing features.

[@firejack007]

Same here and it's 18 hours since the video upload.

[@BonnieDragonKat]

Still don't have the new stuff.

[@jessikamoore5033]

Same thing happened to me. It seems it was a glitch. I called snd got a refund as the only reason I subscribed was for the matches of matches.

[@jessehardy2427]

I love all of the new features Ancestry has except one. I don't like that in DNA matches it is capped at 4th cousin. It used to give you more choices. If they are going to cap it like that then they need to add a conditional tag that says distant cousin like they used to have

[@TravelingBibliophile]

I agree if it can tell you that in your tree that Bob is your 5th cousin you should be able to label Bob, if he is a match, with his actual relationship to you.

[@darlenesye1609]

Great Ancestry Update Connie! 🌳 SO Again, I'm watching on TV while I do other stuff. Right about the time you said "We don't have a Clear Filter" link, I was clearing my filters. I have a Lot of Ancestry to catch up on bcuz I haven't been logging on as much lately. It's bad timing for me to have a new paid login since Legacy Family Tree has upgraded to 10 recently & I still have that to deal with. ONE more thing only cuz I was on FamilySearch til early this morning & I hadn't heard you mention it about the Descendant View is having up to 5 filters for 'First Ancestor (the oldest dads in each of your lines)'. And kind of like you were saying today, you do have to have yourself as the 'focus person'. Yeah, you May have mentioned that but I missed it and it's been there for over six months.

[@ladydunraven]

Thank you for all the tips Connie. You have given me some ideas on just having pro tools for a month just to clean up my tree and do some fancy reports when I have a few sorted out and do it in one big batches at a time.

[@sandyr1789]

Connie- Thank you for this review/ update. I wish you had spent less time on the pay-extra feature of pro-tools. Ancestry keeps adding more unnecessary features instead of fine-tuning their DNA database. I have requested multiple times for my raw DNA results and never received them. I have a puzzle related to true-lines that no one has an answer for. I have decided to use Ancestry as a research database and have shrugged in frustration over many disappointing failures that Ancestry could improve but Ancestry just keeps adding for unnecessary new "features" instead.

[@nanfrostsfashionfocusstyle6250]

NEw features that often don't work correctly.

[@MandaGreen-x1w]

Do you mean you can't download directly from your Ancestry results? Under the DNA tab go to the results summary. In the upper right corner there's a settings tab to click. At the bottom of the settings page is a link to download your results. It only takes a short time to download and save them to your computer.

[@TomCooper]

Yup, they want new junk to compliment the old junk. Make the developers USE the site, and deal with the constant "Sorry, that page is not available right now" messages. WHAT? I thought I was PAYING for it. Why do I have to REFRESH over and over?

[@stlmama7643]

So true. They recently asked me to answer a survey on the “stories” feature which gave me an opportunity to respond to multiple questions by saying the feature is worthless. I just want genealogy data on my ancestors, not a history lesson on their time on this earth. Actually some of the pro tools would be helpful, but I just refuse to add another $120 a year to my cost for software upgrades that should be included in what I’m already paying.

[@tsehscm]

Ancestry should not charge for some of these features 23andMe provide similar for free, and has no monthly charge.

[@ProgRockKeys]

Still no cM ratings for shared matches, like My Heritage has.

[@shamusosullivan5650]

We need more custom tags!! I use mine for counties and townships especially the old 18th locations too. Please pass it along to your contacts

[@AuthorSydneyLandon-vw6mr]

I agree!

[@MKB0720]

I still have the dots. On a Mac to access the drop down emoji's menu, press the "control" key plus a "mouse click". Be sure you have the blinking I-Beam in the place you want the emoji inserted.

[@kathrynludrick4821]

Awesome. Btw, my Origins updated on Ancestry yesterday.

[@Scdudley725]

Great video. I had to keep stopping and backing up to catch all the new information. I will have to watch this video again to review all the new features. Thanks.

[@949sherry9]

Great info Connie, as always. I love the "insights" because if there is a huge glaring problem in your tree, it sure brings it to your attention. :-)

[@GramGram6]

I number my dna color dots 1-4 is paternal great grandparents and 5-8 is my maternal great grandparents then add surnames after the number, and it kept my colors. 1- Baldwin/Sollars 2 Davis/Woodburn and so on. So when these boxes rolled out I know if the box says 1-4, I know which side and didn’t mess with the colors.

[@patriciaandjeffbryantandcr8260]

I think a great addition to the icon menu would be to have a special icon for the DNA connection associated with the tree tag, DNA Connection. I try to track my matches by using the DNA connection tag , but it doesn't show on the profile page of the children on the ancestor. From you clip you can see the ancestor with the green checked box, but at a glance it would be helpful to see which the the children have a DNA connection to you.

[@GenealogyTV]

You can copy a DNA helix at emojipedia.com and paste it into the suffix field on the ancestors name.

[@sandypayne126]

Highly recommend blue light glasses!

[@lindab9608]

Why is it that when I search for family trees, they now show there are under 15 people in the tree when there could be 50,000 people in the tree?

[@nikkinone-ya]

I love the tree rating, super helpful for my need to organize the tree with less errors. Which I got a ton of errors from "tree only" .. its the peole added by tree info only, usually with no documentation with them. Before this tool I was constantly deleting my entire tree and starting over out of frustration! Lol, I didnt know all the other features that come with the pro tools im so excited, thank you!!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LAYERSOFLIFE24]

I'm in Canada and these updates are not here yet.

[@vagal2312]

I wonder if the "only tree documentation" in the tree checker feature is for those people who don't have documentation, but rather have other member ancestry trees as the only source. This could be some of those individuals in the quick-and-dirty trees, also.

[@charlesshoup4702]

As I work on cleaning up my tree errors, it appears to me that you're correct. The "only tree documentation" errors are people that I've imported from other Ancestry trees without any other documentation.

[@pmholli54]

Yes, and/ or other family trees besides Ancestry like the World Tree (I think that’s the name).

[@rebeccacorson]

Does anyone know how long it will take for Ancestry to role out these new features to everyone. I still only have 24 colors and the old dotting system. I do have custom labels for maternal and paternal and have had those for awhile. Just curious

[@tomask1436]

Don't hurry. I have several accounts for my DNA kits and the update appeared on one of them only. And it is totally buggy. It randomly crashes into weird errors, sometimes it does not load DNA matches list for all day etc.

[@KarenL8426]

The emoji key on a Mac is the Globe/fn key in the lower left of the keyboard.

[@saraschneider6781]

Still waiting for the Grandparent SideView.

[@tomask1436]

Waiting for impossible while we can already do it on MyHeritage/FTDNA using the chromosome browser for ages.

[@josephbohme7917]

yeah. Connie you are understood, never knew you were here

[@CS-zp3to]

I'm totally confused, as I've never had pages on my match lists. As I scroll down, it just adds more and more people.

[@hoovercj53]

Same with me.

[@darlenesye1609]

Methinks it May be one of those issues as Connie mentioned recently, "it's in Beta" & please be patient.

[@TheDanEdwards]

Pagination just showed up for me.

[@debbie122]

It's one of the new features rolling out. It used to be that way and they changed it, so now they are changing it back.

[@robblack5248]

Loved this! Thank you. I suspect that "only tree documentation" means that there are no documents you yourself have checked that back up this addition, just someone else's assertion on their tree.

[@sie4431]

I thought you might mention the changes to the match list that were due to come out in the first half of 2024. Apparently some people are getting it or will be getting it next week, the last week of June which is just at the end of the first half.

[@GenealogyTV]

I'll keep my eyes open.

[@maggiem4817]

If there was a sidewalk of famed genealogists, you would be one the top stars. Thank you for great explanations (Maggie from WikiTree)

[@GenealogyTV]

Wow, thank you!

[@debbie122]

Great information. Ancestry has added so many new features it's difficult to remember where they are all located. I still use the old Mary Hill color coding system in my tree because my filing system is set up that way.

[@patnoble466]

When will Ancestry DNA let us identify relationships up to 7th Cousin?

[@cruznk9]

I can see you now have more colours, but can you still use each colour only once, or can the same colour be used with all letters? BTW I use an emoji of a Swedish flag for the matches on my Swedish line.

[@EagleThree]

Your Screen Is Different From Mine. Are you using an additional fee for what you are trying to explain to us how to use?

[@GenealogyTV]

I do have pro tools, but not everything in this video was pro tools. Also, they are till rolling out some of the DNA features.

[@lmena5696]

The way they do the regions in Africa, which has historically had huge migration patterns, making the regions more pinpointed is actually reducing the African descent of many people, especially those of mixed race. I should be about 6 or 7 % based on my aunt and second cousins I have found. But I am not because all of those countries split up that 6% into numbers with fractions smaller than 1/2 which equates to zero. This is a practice that will continually under-report African heritage among Americans.

[@ginachester]

Great update although I'm not seeing the new color group feature with the color and letter. Is this just for pro tool users?

[@GenealogyTV]

I think so. Many don’t have it yet.

[@pmholli54]

I’ve noticed that View in Tree shows up in random profiles. I have yet to figure out what allows it in those profiles vs most profiles.

[@merryannebrown]

Has anyone had problems with the hints not working correctly? I've chatted with support (3 people) and they couldn't figure out what to do. I have to refresh the whole page every time I add/click a hint or quick edit. Sometimes the side bar has to be collapsed and other times not. Also when I click a hint to try and open it, the page jumps back up to the top of the list and I have to scroll back down to wherever I"m trying to see. Again having to refresh the page to open a hint. Happens on different machines. Chrome and Windows 11.

[@cheryljames1695]

My hints are not working correctly. If I have 6 hints, it only lets me put one on, then I have to go to another person and then go back to the person I was working on to add another hint. Doesn't let me stay and add all the hints on that one person. Not happy!

[@merryannebrown]

@@cheryljames1695 Yeah I know what you mean. I've clicked on a census for example and went to add the children but when it opens the side window only the parents are shown. So frustrating!

[@jodis6234]

As of 6/14 I still have the plain colored dots. Apparently the changes haven't been rolled out to everyone yet.

[@garylhaas2005]

a quick way to bounce back to the tree is to create a Bookmark to the tree in your Bookmark toolbar.

[@JosephDitta]

I think "Only Tree Documentation" means the only source you've linked to is another researcher's tree.

[@GenealogyTV]

You are likely correct. I hadn’t thought of that.

[@JosephDitta]

@@GenealogyTV I noticed it in checking my own "errors"!

[@betttrbeth]

I’m only on the app on my iPhone. It’s like a whole new world on computer.

[@matttolmanaz]

A great video as always. I would be interested to know what the different emojis in the surname field mean. I've used the tree check a couple of times but I find out I often get sidetracked from the research I'm doing. I need to take a closer look at the reports and include them in the stories of the family members I'm writing about.

[@GenealogyTV]

It’s a personal choice Matt. The emojis are whatever you want them to mean. Hopefully no one is using emojis in the surname field. It messes up the algorithm. Use the suffix field instead.

[@maryladisich420]

Only tree documentation means that the only sources you have attached to a person is another person's tree. It's a way of narrowing down 'no documentation'.

[@saraschneider6781]

The emojis are cool because if a MRCA is a 2x great grandmother, you can label those ancestors 👩👨👨👩👩 or even 👩👨👨👩(👨👩).

[@GenealogyTV]

Cute

[@CCCCCCCCCCCmany]

The search interest only has me lol

[@veegeebrew3695]

I won't pay for the extra stuff because my world membership is already eating me alive price wise, but do like that tree checker one, especially the 'dup records' part. I need that one to be standard for regular accounts. I also wish that emoji hack would work in the general tree, because I have to put an * by the name of my direct ancestor to see my family connection. When your line has 10-12 siblings, nice to be able to see at a glance who your ancestor is. An emoji would work great. And I am like Connie, I work one ancestor at a time as far as I can go and have thousands of hints sitting ignored lol.

[@Alan-lv9rw]

Question: I traced my family to 1730 and it was 100% English. But Ancestry came back 100% Irish. How? Is the DNA used from 1000, AD?

[@GenealogyTV]

I'm wondering if your English ancestors first started in Ireland?

[@TheDanEdwards]

The pagination of the matches is ok (just showed up for me), but the loss the scroll bar in the window is maddening. Just another sign that web developers are making their HTML pages for scrolling on touch screens, and not for pointing devices.

[@kmr84100]

Is everything you are showing with a green "Plus" flag limited to Pro Tools? (Still waiting on DNA results, so none of this is showing right now for me, but soon!).

[@pamelastrand3756]

Help!!! Seriously, I do not have Pro Tools. However, in this presentation, when you tell about "DNA Match" groups having new look and colors, I checked, I still have just the dots!!! Is this part of Pro Tools or is it still new and "rolling out"? Thanks!!!

[@carokat1111]

Good question.

[@GenealogyTV]

I believe it is still rolling out based on what others have said in the comments. I have not heard from Ancestry.

[@amandakirk9765]

How do you get to see the additional features that are in Beta?

[@hasanicarter5543]

I don’t have the boxes yet

[@DakotaCelt1]

none for me yet either

[@sie4431]

@@DakotaCelt1 For some reason Ancestry regionalises it's site so some countries get things earlier

[@stingrayofcincinnati]

Mine has not switched over to the boxes yet. As far as the match list goes and changing the number of people per page and changing what page number. Back in the day, Ancestry did not tell you how many people matched you. So a friend of mine figured out how to figure your number out. We are both Jewish so his number was like 120k and I was like 96k matches. This was before they (Ancestry) changed the results.

[@judyg9889]

Oh, I'm very visual; I'll have fun with the emojis and extra colors! :)

[@jodis6234]

I have a question. Does Ancestry have a feature where you can search for a female ancestor based off their married surname? If they do, I haven't found it. There have been many times where I wanted to pull up someone & I don't know what her maiden name was. The only way I can find her is if I remember which person in the tree she was married to. Sometimes in these bigger families I don't always remember which brother, cousin, etc., they married. I just remember the line they married into, if that makes sense.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes. Go to Search Records or Search Card Catalog. I prefer the CC and filter to the state and pick the type of record. Then search by name.

[@debwilliams611]

Hi Connie: love the triangulation with protools a cousin who was adopted, we were able to decipher how he was related to another match, found his grandparents and found his mum, mystery solved for him, but we still don't know how we're related, but we now know for sure one of my ggg or gggg grandfather's on paper was not my grandfather, DNA don't lie, I am a "Baxter". do you have any helpful hints from a DNA point of view to decipher how we intersect to the right one when it's so far back, I'm also not sure which branch because my grandmothers line is dysfunctional, nothing matches the papertrail. Deb Williams

[@2rancher]

My ancestry matches still have round dots? Is there an on/off menu link?

[@GenealogyTV]

Not that I’m aware of. I’m wondering if it just for ProTools users now.

[@Sue-vb1nc]

I've been on Ancestry for years, lately it seems there are many freezes on the downloading the screen I click on. Lots more waiting time or it never comes up at all. Any idea what's up with this?

[@GenealogyTV]

Happens to me too sometimes when I think they are working on the site or has lots of traffic. Just refresh the browser.

[@deniswalker77]

I just did mine and got it yesterday and I see not boxes like this

[@PaulKeckonen]

My newest ancestry features? CONSTANT error messages and malfunctioning links. Clearing cache and cookies DOES NOT do a thing

[@katherineheinecke5230]

i do not have the boxes how come?

[@StokesCheri]

I don't want the new color squares!! 🤬 🙏🏻Please tell me that's a PRO only feature!!🙏🏻 Also, if you used the Windows button + period key and the emoji screen pops up then you can click on the smiley face, girl, balloon, pizza, car or heart and access more emojis like those on your phone. Alternatively you can type in a word like "curse" or "pray" and get the emojis you're looking for.😉

[@KeatingChick]

I still have the dots.

[@patnoble466]

My wife's first cousin shared her tree and DNA test with me a week ago. I have a paid subscription; she does not. I don't get to use tags, dots, notes, or links with her DNA matches. It is very frustrating. Jf Ancestry wants us to collaborate, they should let paid users use their paid tools when working on any tree. If not any tree, perhaps the tree of a shared match.

[@MsBadd0g]

You need to have collaborator or manager level access to use those tools on anyone else's match list

[@xythiria4385]

I would have her double check the roles she gave you. For Tree it is Editor and for DNA Test Sharing it is Manager.

[@patnoble466]

@@MsBadd0g Will collaborator suffice?

[@patnoble466]

@@xythiria4385 I don't want to take over the account. Will collaborator be enough to tag and link etc?

[@MsBadd0g]

@@patnoble466 For DNA match list, yes, collaborator will aow you to do those things. You need to be aware that whatever you each do is applied to the match not just your view of ir.

[@muscleman56]

What sucks is I have to pay just to find a potential match with a common ancestor?? 🤦🏾‍♂️ 😢

[@richardoneal1055]

Still no chromosome browser. I'm beginning to think that Ancestry doesn't know how to create a chromosome browser with the ability to determine triangulation.

[@carokat1111]

The company was against it many years ago on privacy grounds. Not sure if things have changed.

[@tomask1436]

They don't know what it is for. Crista Cowan has been asking very often what it's for because she only randomly connects her DNA matches without any genetic verification.

[@GenealogyTV]

Don't count on it.

[@richardoneal1055]

@carokat1111 when all of their competitors have a chromosome browser, it's clear that privacy is an excuse for lack of ability. Ancestry up charges for silly minor UI charges. If they knew how to do a chromosome browser with triangulation, they would have already done it and would be charging extra for it. When 23andMe finally goes bankrupt because of their stupid business model, I hope Myheritage buys the assets.

[@mickiminner]

Thank you very much.

[@rwssinor]

The whole members search and collaboration isn’t that great. I send many messages to collaborate, yet about 85% of the folks do not respond. I’d love a feature that ancestry would default to not messaging thereby not wasting my time 🎉

[@GenealogyTV]

There are a lot of reasons why people don’t respond. They may have their notifications turned off or they may have passed away.

[@rwssinor]

Thank you ❤. I always look to see the last time they logged in, if a recent log in, is when I send a note. You can also see that they have read the note …. Love your channel

[@tomask1436]

@@GenealogyTV I would love to see a message notification dialog that appears everytime user opens the Ancestry website and it does not disappear until the user responds haha 🙂 or introduce some kind of rating - user gets +1 when responds to the message and -1 when doesn't respond to the message. Then it would display "Ignorant" badge on his/her profile 😀

[@Observeandlearn994]

This must be USA only?

[@GenealogyTV]

Might be they typically roll out in US first.

[@lindarader8963]

Yes you can search by location but the search only returns Ancestry “official” locations, e.g., I want to search by Indianapolis. Ancestry will return zero. If I search by Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana I will get results. I don’t always select the Ancestry location in a drop down. It is not a “smart” search function. Totally worthless.

[@ConcettaPhillipps]

Can you get pro tools without a subscription? That search by location is the only feature I'd really need. That search by location should be available to all 🤬 Another dark mode fan here ❤

[@GenealogyTV]

No I don't think so, but you could do research by location using the Card Catalog, but it does not search your tree, just the record sets.

[@rachelfrees1268]

This is such a scam. I can only find my parents on my original Ancestry. Before everyone showed up. Now they say I have to pay for additional information.

[@AllBrightColors]

Ancestry is greedy! They don’t have any features that I would pay them an additional monthly fee for on top of the ever increasing monthly costs of membership . They should have just included the features in the monthly membership

[@TomCooper]

Instead of glorifying all their new stuff, how about griping about the things that have ben broken for years? Like the fact that 1/4 to 1/3 of the pages I open on Ancestry come back with some version of "Sorry! That's not working right now!". I'm PAYING for this, why do we tolerate it NOT WORKING and have to refresh the page 5 or 6 times (waiting a few minutes between refreshes) until it loads? This is UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE for a company that keeps developing new stuff.

[@GenealogyTV]

Hey Tom. I can appreciate your comment. I have not had that experience but on rare occasion. This makes me wonder if there is a technical difference between your setup and mine. I don't have super high internet speeds, typically 100 down and about 15 up. I wonder if internet speed has something to do with it? Just thinking out loud. I know others have had some issues too. I'm not saying it's all you... it could be them. I just don't see it that often.

[@mindyhanson4124]

How bout be grateful to this woman for her helpful videos but who has nothing to do with Ancestry? Why are you complaining to her? Rude.

[@TomCooper]

@@mindyhanson4124, go read other people's comments. At least 10% are complaining abut broken stuff on Ancestry. I am grateful for much of what she does - I am CERTAIN by your reply that you haven't read comments I've left on her other videos. She's an influencer. She can call them to task for their shoddy features. Wonder why she doesn't?

[@ajmexico]

Good content! But I hate all that stuff sliding around at the bottom of the screen. Very distracting. It makes me want to stop watching ASAP. Things don't need to move.

[@AllBrightColors]

Ancestry is greedy! They don’t have any features that I would pay them an additional monthly fee for on top of the ever increasing monthly costs of membership

[@josephbohme7917]

July 22 2024 I stil have colored balls not squares with Alpha

[@deckiedeckie]

Ancestry is IGNORANT!!.....THe iberian oeninsula cover two nationalities....nost of the way u attach the procedence is wrong!! Just cause a person has iberian genesdoes not mean he/she is portuguese...specially w/puertorricans/cubans, etc