Download Your Ancestry Family Tree in 4 Easy Steps!
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Ancestry family trees are a great resource for collecting hints and collaborating with cousins.
But it is never a good idea to leave your precious genealogy research in the hands of a third-party website. You just never know when that website will go offline, lose access to a particular database, or be sold to another company.
If you have been keeping all of your family history research online at Ancestry, you need to download a copy to your computer now for safekeeping.
Luckily, this is super easy to do – scroll down to find out how!
Download Your Ancestry Family Tree
Find out how to download your Ancestry family tree in 4 easy steps!
Materials
- Your Ancestry Family Tree
Tools
- Your Ancestry Family Tree
Instructions
Step 1: Select "Create & Manage Trees" from the TREES menu.
- This option is found at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Depending on how many trees you have, you may need to scroll down a bit.
Step 2: Locate the tree you wish to download and click "Manage Tree."
- This can be found under the "Tools" heading on the far right. If you don't see this option, check to make sure you are on the "My Trees" tab instead of "Trees Shared with Me," as you cannot download a tree created by another user.
Step 3: Click the “Export Tree” button.
- On the "Tree Info" tab, click the green "Export tree" button to compile your tree into a downloadable GEDCOM. Be patient, as this may take a few minutes, especially if you have a very large tree.
Step 4: Click the “Download Your GEDCOM File” button.
- When your GEDCOM is finished compiling, click the green "Download Your GEDCOM File" button. This will open a window allowing you to select a place for the downloaded file.
Notes
- If your downloads automatically go to your Downloads folder, be sure to look there for your downloaded .ged file.
- Documents, photos, and other attachments are not included in the GEDCOM file. You will need to download those separately or import your file into genealogy database software with tree-syncing capabilities such as Family Tree Maker (version 2017 and newer) and RootsMagic (version 7 and newer).
- If you have any problems downloading the file, click the "download tips" link for assistance.
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Adding this one to our WikiTree Gedcom resources, Elizabeth. Thanks (-:
Thanks, Magda! I’m glad you found the post useful. 🙂
The timing of your post couldn’t be better, as I was looking this up this topic yesterday. Very useful – thank you.
Thank you, Sue! I’m glad you found the post to be useful. 🙂
Hi Elizabeth, I always advise all of my beginner genea-addicts to start with software and then upload a tree. That way, they will never be caught unawares! It’s great that you are reminding those who began with an online website to download and save their work.
That’s good advice, Linda! I keep very little on my online trees. You just never know when they will become unusable or vanish completely. Better secure than sorry!
I moderate a genealogy group on Facebook. Many of the members have their trees on Ancestrydotcom. I’ve shared this with them as I’m not sure many of them thought of the need for a backup. Thanks for these great instructions!
I hope your group members find it to be helpful, Melody. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
This doesn’t work on Tablets for downloading.
No, it sure doesn’t, Ally. You definitely can’t download your tree from within the Ancestry app (at least, I couldn’t find a way), but if you log into the regular site using your device’s browser, you can get as far as the DOWNLOAD YOUR GEDCOM FILE button. Unfortunately, when you click on the button, it opens the GEDCOM and displays it as text. I tried to do this on a Kindle Fire HD, an iPad mini, and an iPhone 6S Plus, but I could not download the data and convert it into a format that my RootsMagic software would open.
To be honest, I’m not really sure why you would want to download your file from a tablet or mobile device anyway. Most of the popular genealogy software programs are desktop-based. Even those that have a companion mobile app would still need to be set up and managed from the desktop.
If anyone out there knows how to do this, I’d love to hear from you! 🙂
This is really the easiest way that I’ve met to do just four simple steps to create a tree.
Does it also download the pictures, attached files please???
No. You need to download those separately and they aren’t attached as they are in the Ancestry tree. It’s always a good idea to keep copies of anything you find. I’ve had webpages/pictures disappear and unless I had a copy before it happened, they’re usually gone for good. Ancestry has been known to remove things from their website from time to time also. If you want it, save it.
As far as I’m aware it doesn’t download the documents, only the tree. I always download documents to a folder which I name Ancestry on my computer at the same time as I add them on my tree, that way they’re easier to print, save to a key or email to myself. I don’t know of any app which downloads documents as well as the tree together. I would love to hear of one if anyone knows of one.
Helen
After the tree is downloaded, how does it update when you make additions/changes?
Hi Lisa, You really can’t make changes to the downloaded file unless you upload it somewhere else and work with it there. Downloading your Ancestry tree is just a way of preserving your research at the time of download, so if you make changes to your tree on Ancestry, you would need to download it again to get a current copy of your tree. That said, if you’re using software on your computer that links directly to your tree, such as Family Tree Maker, then the copy on your computer should be updated each time you open it and let it connect with your Ancestry tree. I don’t use FTM, and I’m not an expert on it, so be sure to check it out for yourself.
Thanks, very useful, I will try it.
You’re very welcome, Suzanne!
Does this cost money for the family tree
A timely reminder. Its on my “Today” list. Thanks
You’re welcome, Vicki! Good luck! 🙂
How do you download pictures from Ancestry.com?
copy and paste
you might to copy and paste.
I use Opera browser which has a camera icon on it which enables you to either take a picture of the page you are looking at and download to your computer, or save the page as a PDF .
Helen
Something I’ve discovered while reading GEDCOM files (I make family trees from the data) is that INFORMATION NEEDS TO BE COMPLETE. I’m not yelling, I just like all caps. Really, it is important. GEDCOM files are fickle files. Another important item is to sort by surname. If your software allows the creation of a GEDCOM by family then you should use that option. For example, make separate trees for your fathers or for your mothers family and not one giant tree containing both. At some point it needs to divide for the sake of organization. I’ve used my maternal and paternal names and my wife’s maternal and paternal names – all separately. [email protected]
Great instructional post. Very clear and easy to follow.
I have been using Ancestry for 10 years. I was so excited to get all the information and pictures into the program. My grandmother had done it for 78 years and I took it over from her. BIG PROBLEM. All of a sudden the program changed and in the parents box cousins names came it and it was all messed up. I had to quit using it and go back to pen and paper! I wrote Ancestry for help at least one dozen times and NO ANSWER OR HELP! ALSO if you change to Apple you have to repurchase the program and start over putting all you information and pictures into the program. SORRY to my family I encouraged to get the program!
Hi LaVon! I’m not sure I understand your question. Ancestry is a website, not a software program, so switching from Windows to Mac wouldn’t cause anything to change. Could you possibly have logged in with the wrong account? Or maybe imported someone else’s information into your tree? I’ve done that before and created such a mess that I had to start over. I hope you get it figured out!
How can I share this post? It is extremely relevant.
Hi John – I’d love to have the post shared! There are social share buttons to the left of your screen and at the very bottom of the post. 🙂
Great article.
Thank you, Alan!
Hello! I followed your steps but when I try to open it to see the tree, it is all listed top to bottom like a program would be. Can you help?
Pamela – You don’t download your GEDCOM file to view the contents! You do so to keep as a backup and/or you have decided to move to another ancestry site where you can simply import your GEDCON file – which saves a lot of work. You can also help a relative who wants to start their own family tree by sending them your GEDCOM file where after importing they can edit as needed – remove/add people. Note: GECCOM files do not include media galleries.