Connect Your Family Tree to 23andMe

Diahan Southard

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23andMe users: Connect your family tree to your DNA test results to get the most out of your 23andMe experience. This works for your online trees at Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage, and more!

If you want to figure out more easily how you’re related to your DNA matches at 23andMe, attach your family tree to your profile.

23andMe Link Your Family Tree IO.pngYou have several options for connecting your online tree to your 23andMe account. You just need to provide URLs for your trees on other websites. The trick is that your matches who may want to see your tree will need to have access to whatever site you send them to.

How to add your family tree to 23andMe

Here’s how to connect a tree to 23andMe. Click on your username > Settings and scroll down to the Enhanced Profile section. Click where it invites you to edit your enhanced profile. On the screen that appears, open the section that says Share a link to your online family tree. You’ll see something like this (but without the reference to managing your FamilySearch tree, since that function is no longer available):

23andMe link your family tree.png

Enter a direct URL to your tree from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, Genealogieonline.nl, Geni.com, WikiTree.com or RootsWeb. (Get the direct URL to your trees on Ancestry, Findmypast or MyHeritage by logging in on the site and selecting the appropriate tree. Once you’ve opened the tree, copy the direct link in your browser.)

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<a href="https://www.yourdnaguide.com/author/guideyourdnaguide-com" target="_self">Diahan Southard</a>

Diahan Southard

As founder and CEO of Your DNA Guide, Diahan Southard has been teaching people how to find family history answers in their DNA for several years, and she's been in the genetic genealogy field since its infancy. Diahan teaches internationally, writes for popular magazines, consults with leading testing companies, is author of Your DNA Guide–The Book, and producer of Your DNA Guide–the Academy, an online learning experience.

20 Comments

  1. Joanna

    So once I’ve entered the link to my family tree at Ancestry.com, where do I go to see it on 23andMe? How does the site integrate it? I’m not seeing anything different in my ancestry on 23andMe, and definitely no access for others to see my tree.

    Reply
    • Diahan Southard

      Hi Joanna, We heard this back from 23andMe: "While you have the option to attach the URL to your profile on your account, self-reported information like this is only visible from within your 23andMe account and can also be shared to your list of relatives only. However, this does not impact your results in any way."

      Reply
  2. Diahan Southard

    Joanna, That’s a good question. We’ve reached out to 23andMe to see if they can help with this one. We’ll post any answer we receive here.

    Reply
  3. Crystal

    Joanna, if you click on one of your DNA relatives that you are connected to, if you scroll down you will see that they have access to the information you keyed in and also to your family tree url.

    Reply
    • Diahan Southard

      Thank you, Crystal!

      Reply
  4. Chris O

    After signing up for Beta testing, I do not see a link to FamilySearch on my DNA relatives page. I can only add an URL in my profile. How do I upload the family tree data from FamilySearch? Did 23andme remove this functionality?

    Reply
  5. Diahan Southard

    Please see the update above that the FamilySearch Tree beta add-on at 23andMe is being discontinued. Sorry, everyone!

    Reply
  6. Julie E

    my aunt has a lot of our family tree info already filled out. I’m trying to avoid duplicative work. HOw do I just import hers on 23andme onto my page?

    Reply
    • Diahan Southard

      As mentioned in the top of this article, the only way is to provide a link to a tree that your aunt has online. There isn’t a way to upload or view a family tree in 23andMe at this time. Perhaps what you are thinking of is the genetic Family Tree that 23andMe has. And perhaps your aunt has edited hers to show the family relationships she knows of. Unfortunately there isn’t any way to get the information she has updated into your account. That tree view is only for you, it is not something that anyone else can see. Hopefully that makes sense.

      Reply
  7. Gina

    As long as 23andme doesn’t work with Gedcom, my tree will never exist on that site. It’s too much work. I have over 20,000 in my tree at Ancestry and in Family Tree Maker. Such a shame. I have 1500 genetic matches and have no idea where they fit (save for a handful of them). As a result, I rarely visit the site or make any use of it.

    Reply
    • Lisa Armstrong

      Yes I agree. I would like to know how I’m related with all the names that are appearing with matching DNA.

      Reply
  8. Mark A Chang

    I have blank parents and a lot of relatives (3rd & 4th cousins branching out from one parent. None of these relatives share surnames, including mine. How do I know which parent is my Father and which is my mother so I can identify the connection to all these unconnected relatives? The circle for father should be Blue and mother Pink or something else identifiable.

    Reply
    • Diahan

      Ah, so Mark you are talking about the genetic family tree that 23andMe draws for you. There really isn’t a way to tell which side is which by just looking at the chart unless you recognize the names. You really just have to contact the matches to determine more about how your family is connected.
      You can try this blog article for more information about this feature. https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/2019/10/8/23andme-new-tree-feature?rq=23andMe

      Reply
  9. Ashley Pearce

    i have an account with Ancestry and i bought a DNA kit from them. i am currently waiting for my results. alot of my family has bought the 23 and me DNA kit. is there a way to merge Ancestry and 23 and me? so it shows the DNA results and possibly matches both accounts

    Reply
  10. Jeffrey Bailey

    Hello,

    Do you offer a guide on how to download DNA info from 23amdme and then upload it to Ancestry? I am trying to download my niece’s data from her 23andme account and add it to her record in my Ancestry account.

    Reply
    • Danielle Francis

      Hi Jeffrey, Unfortunately Ancestry does not allow DNA test results from other companies to be uploaded to their website, the only way to have DNA test results show up at Ancestry is by testing with them directly. You can download DNA raw data from 23andMe, and transfer those results to other companies, like Living DNA, MyHeritage, and Family Tree DNA, you can see those instructions here: https://www.yourdnaguide.com/download-23andme.

      Reply
  11. Barb

    Does 23andMe allow us to upload a family tree from a gedcom into their family tree section? Way too hard to upload manually when you already have a large tree.

    Reply
    • Diahan Southard

      23andMe only gives you the option to upload a family tree via a URL link to a tree from another website (like Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, Genealogieonline.nl, Geni.com, WikiTree.com or RootsWeb). If you have a family tree on a GEDCOM, I would recommend uploading the GEDCOM info to one of those other websites, and then using that tree as the link you use at 23andMe.

      Reply
  12. David Welsh

    I believe links to Ancestry family trees do NOT work for more than one person. But a link to my tree on MyHeritage works fine for others.

    Reply

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