During the most recent RootsTech this past February-March 2019, Ancestry introduced several new features to use with our family trees and DNA matches. I for one am very glad to see these new additions that help organize what we do on their site. I am all for finding ways to make things easier to work with and track while we research and collect information.
To access these new Tools you must first turn on Beta. Go to the AncestryDNA pull down menu and click on ‘ExtrasTab’ then —> AncestryLabs —> Beta.
MyTreeTags:
This allows you to tag information that you have in your tree, to find things easier and asses any patterns.
To add a tag to a person, go to a their Profile page, then below their name click on the small blue tag. A Workspace pop up opens on a Side Panel to the right.
Here is where you can make notes about this person or the research. This part has not changed.
•The Notes are still Private On all trees regardless as to whether your tree is public or private.
•The Comments: are still Public.
You will notice a new section called Tags.
These are the Tag categories you can use for labeling.
•DNA: matches, connections, common ancestor.
•Reference Tags: Immigrants, Military Service, Royalty—Nobility.
•Research: Hypothesis, Actively researching, brick wall, verified, unverified, complete.
•Relationships: Direct Ancestor, Died Young, Never married, Had no kids, orphan.
The other new feature they have provided is the ability to Create Groups out of your DNA Matches. And you can now Label & Color Code these DNA Groups any way you like.
As a visual person, I am excited about these new additions, not only will it help to better identify at a glance what is going on with an entry but it will also help organize the matches where you can understand how they fit into our family trees.
ThruLines
Ancestry also introduced, ThruLines™, which I am still learning how to use. As far as I can see, the more people you have in your family trees and others make their family trees available for viewing, the better the results. From what I understand, it does search out private and public trees alike, however, the private trees are not visible and you must message the person who owns the tree to compare with their tree.
I think that for AncestryDNA users with a Member Tree this may help determine how their DNA Matches relate to them and hopefully pinpoint their Common Ancestor.
I think all of these new additions at Ancestry will prove to be valuable tools. I know one thing for sure.. it will be fun testing them out... now all we need is a little extra time.
