Ancestry® uses GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communications) files to download and upload family trees. Only the owner of a family tree can export and download the tree. You don't need a membership to upload or download your tree.
GEDCOM files are a universally-accepted file format for family tree files. A GEDCOM file is a text-only file that contains all of the facts and information for a tree; photos, media, and similar items are not included. However, GEDCOM files created on Ancestry after November 2022 do hold information about where your media files are saved on Ancestry. If you re-upload the GEDCOM file to Ancestry later, we'll relink the media files to your family tree (if they're still available).
Downloading your tree from Ancestry®
- From any page on Ancestry, click the Trees tab and select a tree.
- In the toolbar on the left, click More (three dots) and select Tree Settings.
- On the right side of the Tree Settings page, under Manage your tree, click Export tree. If you see Download your GEDCOM file, skip to step 5.
- Click Export. The button will begin spinning and say Generating a GEDCOM file.
- When it stops spinning, click Download Your GEDCOM File. The file will be saved to your device. To open the GEDCOM file, you'll need an app or program that reads GEDCOM files.
Uploading a tree to Ancestry®
To upload a GEDCOM file of your tree to Ancestry, it must be less than 500MB.
Upload a family tree
- Click Choose File or Browse.
- Select the GEDCOM file you want to upload and click Open.
- Enter a name for your tree in the Name your family tree field.
- To make your tree private, uncheck Make my family tree public. By default, all trees are listed as public. In public family trees, all information is viewable and searchable except for information about living people.
- Enter a description (optional). If the tree is public, the description will be public.
- Check the box accepting the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement and click Upload.
- The new tree will now appear in your Trees tab.
Merging family trees
It's not currently possible to merge trees on Ancestry®, but these tips may help.
Troubleshooting
GEDCOM file stuck at generating
If you click the Download your tree button and the tree has been "generating" for more than ten minutes, refresh the page and click the button again. If the same thing happens again, clear your cache and cookies and start over.
Link or button doesn't work
If a link or button doesn't work after a few seconds, clear your cache and cookies.
Receiving a "This site can't be reached" error
If you’re getting a “This site can’t be reached” error message, change the name of your tree to remove any special characters and then try again.
