Your Ancestry tree may hold years of work, but it lives on someone else's servers, behind someone else's subscription. Downloading a copy takes a few minutes, costs nothing, and means your research is safe whatever happens to your account. This guide shows exactly how to do it, what the download does and does not include, and how to keep the parts it leaves behind.
Quick answer
To download your family tree from Ancestry, open the tree on a computer, click its name, choose Tree Settings, then Export tree. When the file is ready, click Download your GEDCOM file. You get a .ged file containing your people, relationships, facts, notes and source citations. Your photos and documents are not included, so save those separately.
In this guide
Before you start
- Use a web browser on a computer. The Ancestry mobile app does not offer tree export.
- You must own the tree. If someone shared their tree with you, even as an editor, only the owner can export it. Ask them to send you the file.
- You do not need a paid subscription. A free Ancestry account can export trees it owns.
- Exporting changes nothing. Your online tree stays exactly as it was.
How to download your Ancestry tree, step by step
- Sign in to Ancestry and open the tree you want to download from the Trees menu.
- Click the tree's name at the top left of the tree view and choose Tree Settings.
- On the Tree Info page, click Export tree on the right-hand side.
- Wait while Ancestry builds the file. A few hundred people takes seconds; tens of thousands can take several minutes. You can leave the page and come back.
- Click Download your GEDCOM file. It saves to your Downloads folder with the tree's name and a .ged extension.
- Rename the file with today's date, such as harris-family-2026-10.ged, and keep a copy somewhere other than your computer, such as cloud storage or a USB stick.
Repeat for each tree you own. Ancestry exports one tree at a time.
What the download includes
The GEDCOM file is a complete copy of your research data:
- Every person in the tree, with names, sex and life events such as birth, marriage, death and burial
- Dates and places, as you entered them
- Relationships between parents, partners and children
- Notes and stories you typed into the tree
- Source citations, including links back to the Ancestry records you attached
If you are new to the format, what is a GEDCOM file? explains what is inside one and how to open it.
What the download leaves behind
| Not included | Why it matters | How to keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Photos, scans and documents you uploaded | Often irreplaceable family material | Download each item from the person's Gallery, or use desktop software that syncs with Ancestry |
| The record images you attached, such as census pages | You may lose access if your subscription ends | Save the images you rely on while you still have access |
| DNA matches and ethnicity results | These are not part of your tree | Download your raw DNA data separately from the DNA settings page |
| Hints, comments and collaborators | These are Ancestry features, not data | Note anything important in the person's notes before exporting |
The photo gap is the one that catches people out. Ancestry's own help pages confirm that when a tree is copied via GEDCOM, pictures and other media have to be added manually.
Keeping your photos and documents
There are two practical routes:
- By hand. Open each person's Gallery and download the images you uploaded. Slow for a big tree, but free.
- With desktop software. Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic can connect to Ancestry and download a tree with its media to your computer. This is the quickest way to get everything, and from there you can export a GEDCOM file of your own.
Checking your download worked
Before you rely on the file, check it:
- Note roughly how many people your Ancestry tree has; it is shown on the tree overview.
- Import the GEDCOM file into a free program such as Gramps or RootsMagic Essentials, into a new, empty tree.
- Compare the number of people, then spot-check three or four families, including someone with several marriages and someone with a lot of sources.
If names with accents look garbled, the file was opened in the wrong character set. Import it again and choose UTF-8 if the program asks.
Where to take your file next
- Back it up. A dated GEDCOM file in two places is the simplest insurance for your research.
- Move to desktop software. Programs such as RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Family Historian and Gramps all import GEDCOM.
- Share it with a relative who uses a different service. Remove living people first; see below.
- Publish it on your own website. You can import the file into WordPress and turn it into charts and person pages that you control.
AP Family Trees imports the file free and draws an interactive family tree chart. AP Family Archive builds a page for every person, family, source and surname from the same data. Both hide living people from visitors automatically, which matters because an Ancestry export includes everyone in your tree, living or not. One reviewer who moved their tree across wrote that the GEDCOM import "worked like a charm".
Living people in your download
Ancestry hides living people from other members of its site: in a public tree they appear as "Private". The export does not do this. Your GEDCOM file contains their names, dates and places in full. Before you send the file to anyone or publish it, use your software's privacy options to exclude or mask living relatives.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free to download my tree from Ancestry?
Yes. Exporting a tree you own is free, with or without a subscription.
Can I download a tree someone shared with me?
No. Only the owner can export a tree. Ask them to export it and send you the GEDCOM file.
Can I download my Ancestry tree on my phone?
Not through the Ancestry app. Use a web browser on a computer.
Why are my photos missing?
GEDCOM files hold text, not images. Save your photos from each person's Gallery, or use Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic to download the tree with its media.
Will my Ancestry tree be deleted when I export it?
No. Exporting makes a copy. Your online tree is unchanged.
Can I upload the file back to Ancestry later?
Yes. Ancestry can create a new tree from a GEDCOM file, although photos and attached records will need to be added again.
Put your tree somewhere you control
Import your Ancestry GEDCOM file into WordPress and have a chart and person pages on your own site in minutes. Both plugins are free on WordPress.org.
Disclosure: AncestorPress makes AP Family Trees and AP Family Archive, which import GEDCOM files and are mentioned near the end. The rest of this guide applies whatever you do with your file. Ancestry's menus were last checked in September 2026.