Want to know how to download your DNA match list? You can’t do it directly from your DNA testing companies anymore. Here are strategies some people use for AncestryDNA and Living DNA.
NOTE: As of 2024, for security reasons, some of the DNA testing companies now don’t allow you to directly download your DNA match list from your testing company website. Most people don’t need to do this, but sometimes you may need a full list of your DNA matches, such as when you have endogamy on your family tree. Some people also want to export their DNA match lists when they are organizing their DNA matches and want to make a master list of their matches from across multiple testing companies.
Below, we share workaround strategies for exporting your DNA matches from AncestryDNA and Living DNA.
TERMS OF SERVICE DISCLAIMER: We are providing these strategies by way of information. This post does not constitute any legal advice as to whether these strategies are compliant with the Terms of Service at your testing company, which may change frequently. We advise you to consider the Terms of Service for each company and decide for yourself whether the tool is compliant with those standards.
Download your DNA matches from AncestryDNA
The following hack for exporting your AncestryDNA matches was shared by Greg Clarke of Ontario, Canada, when he was a student in our DNA Skills Workshop. (Greg’s tool is just one available tool you may come across that can help you download your DNA matches.)
UPDATE: In June 2024, Greg sent us the following note:
“[I’ve updated my spreadsheet with] newly adjusted formulas that will work with the revised AncestryDNA matches page after the recent updates that have been slowly rolling out (and finally made it to Canada! Hurray!). There’s a character in each square ‘dot.’ The COPY & PASTE routine captures that character, so I’m able to not only add a column showing all the Groups that your matches belong to, I can extrapolate that so that each group (or at least each unique character) gets its own column, and the matches get populated appropriately in them.” He also clarified that the spreadsheet “was created by me for personal use. I’m sharing it with others at no cost, and it is NOT to be used as a tool for scraping. That was never my intention, and I’m trusting people will use it wisely.”
Greg created this video tutorial to help you use the spreadsheet, which is linked below.
Download your DNA matches from Living DNA
The Living DNA website doesn’t offer an option for downloading your matches, either. Greg to the rescue again! Using the same idea as shown in his tutorial video, you can go to Greg’s Living DNA spreadsheet, linked below.
Can You Download your DNA matches from 23andMe?
No, 23andMe has disabled this feature.
Can You Download your DNA matches from MyHeritage?
No, MyHeritage has disabled this feature.
Can You Download your DNA matches from FamilyTreeDNA?
Yes, here’s a video about how to download your DNA match list from FTDNA
What to Do with All Your Matches?
Not sure how to take that next step of reaching out to your matches? We’ve got you covered! Get our free guide to Contacting your DNA Matches.
Love the idea of Greg Clarke’s spreadsheet for Ancestry match download.
OK so using Chrome, I downloaded a copy (no option to copy was offered).
Then tried to open the file. Nothing. Went into Properties and found a block (placed by Windows10?) so removed that by checking a tickbox.
Still nothing. The file will not open.
Summary – download appears OK, but does not open.
Any suggestions, please? (I have computer basics but am no whizz.)
Hi there Chris,
To take full advantage of the formulas inside the Ancestry match spreadsheet, you still have to be working inside the Google Spreadsheet app in your browser.
If you open up the Spreadsheet – click on the FILE menu, and then choose the MAKE A COPY option. That will make a copy just for you, that no one else can mess with. From there, you should be able to follow the rest of the directions. If you don’t already have a free Google account, you will be asked to create one.
Downloading the sheet and opening it up in another program won’t work in this case because the formulas in it that do the "magic" are specifically Google Spreadsheet formulas.
Hope this helps!
– Greg
🙂
Hi! I watched the video on YouTube, trying to follow the spreadsheet for Ancestry. When I pasted at A6, nothing went into columns G through R. My paste started at column S.
Aha! Yes – you are very correct, for now at least. As the spreadsheet evolves (through each iteration of the DNA Matches page), I have had to adjust the formulas to sort out the information properly.
With the more recent changes, that has involved adding extra columns for additional intermediate calculations – hence the shift from originally column G for the information you want to now column S! (Crazy, I know!). The good news, for you, is that with each revision, as Ancestry adds more info to their DNA Matches page, we can capture more in the table. So, for example, some of those new formula columns captured the “Which side?” data (maternal/paternal) if that info is filled out for a DNA match.
Hope that clears up the confusion.
– Greg
🙂
I’m having two issues using a Mac with the Chrome Browser:
After I create my personal file when I hit command A to select my Ancestry match list it is not copying the second column with all of the data. It’s only copying the other three columns.
When I try to paste that data into box A6 it is just copying the information straight down column A rather populating the other columns.
Hi there Mac with the Chrome Browser,
I’m not sure what you mean by “personal file”, but you might just be using different terminology for the same thing we’re talking about. The description of what you’re doing, and the results don’t seem to match, so I can understand your frustration here.
I would suggest we start fresh – and maybe a new window will help things work out properly.
(1) Start with a new window and make a copy of the most recent Ancestry DNA Match Table Maker – Google spreadsheet – just to be sure we’re starting fresh.
(2) In a new window, open up your Ancestry DNA Match list, and then do COMMAND + A. This should highlight all of the TEXT that’s on this page (it will NOT highlight or capture any of the images, so people’s profile pix and the grouping coloured dots – sadly – will not be copied). When I do this, I see that the Names / Relationships / Amt of cMs / %s / Tree info / Notes are all highlighted
-> THEN … while everything is still highlighted, do a COMMAND + C (to copy it all to your clipboard)
(3) go back to that newly created Google Spreadsheet, switch to the Raw Data tab, and single-click on the yellow cell A6, then do a COMMAND + V to paste all the info from your clipboard
(4) What you SHOULD see is the information formatted into a nice table, in columns T and beyond (the video might suggest a different column … I’ve updated it since I first created the spreadsheet, and added more columns – don’t let that distract you!)
If you DO NOT see that … then, it’s possible that there’s something else funky happening with your laptop / browser specifically – or – that Ancestry has changed its formatting (which I know it will…. eventually)
Let me know how you make out
– Greg
🙂
I am also on mac & having the same issues. I can email you a copy of a screenshot of the spreadsheet. I use Chrome for both the copy & opening the spreadsheet and pasting. I am using the new Pro Tools version of Ancestry DNA.
Starting fresh each time I try to work the process, it begins with the names in column A and relationship as another commenter. It has like cM’s in the relationship column etc. Every column’s data thus ends up in the wrong column because it’s not starting in the right one.
Which Browser is best to use with the data extraction? Foxfire does not work. And MS Edge gave me only the adjusted amount.
You may want to try Chrome.
Will Brave work since it’s basically a degoogled Chrome?
I have just updated the Ancestry spreadsheet – it now recognizes Both sides / Maternal / Paternal / Parent 1 / Parent 2 – whatever Ancestry or the user has pegged a match (if one has been pegged). You will have to re-download the spreadsheet – but – you’ve probably got some new matches in there by now anyways – right ? Enjoy!
I filtered according to cM and Maternal side and I’m getting some very funky results. I used both Brave and then Chrome, but the results were the same. In the far left column, I have labels such as “private linked tree” “Maternal”, “Do you Recognize Them”, etc. In addition, some matches are managed by other people and there are notes about that as well, with the result that only the first 5 of the matches are populated under category and name. All the rest are in the far left column. Columns from Relationship and out to the right are all populated, but without names. Once the list reached the first “managed by”, it stopped filling in the columns correctly
I’d be glad to send a screenshot if that would help.
I’ve recently created a new spreadsheet that will allow you to organizer your Matches of Matches on AncestryDNA if you have the Pro Tools subscription. It’s a bit more complex, so watch the How To video first on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjr4p8xeE80) and then you’ll find the link to the Spreadsheet in the description of the video (may have to click the “More” three dots to see that)