How to export your family tree from Ancestry as a GEDCOM

2 min readUpdated 19 October 2026

Short answerTo export a family tree from Ancestry, open the tree, go to Tree Settings, and under Manage your tree choose Export tree. When the file is ready, click Download your GEDCOM file. It arrives as a .zip; unzip it to get the .ged file. Only the tree's owner can export it, and photos and DNA results are not included.

  1. Open the tree

    Sign in to Ancestry, open the Trees menu and choose the tree you want to export.

  2. Go to Tree Settings

    Open the tree's menu (the tree name or the More menu, depending on your layout) and choose Tree Settings.

  3. Export the tree

    Under Manage your tree, click Export tree. Ancestry builds the file, which can take a few minutes for a large tree.

  4. Download the GEDCOM

    Click Download your GEDCOM file and save it.

  5. Unzip it

    The download is a .zip. Double-click it on a Mac, or right-click and choose Extract All on Windows, to get the .ged file inside.

What comes with the file, and what stays on Ancestry

  • Included: people, names, birth, marriage and death dates and places, other facts, notes, parent and child links, and source citations as text.
  • Not included: the photos and documents you attached, DNA matches and ethnicity results, and record hints. Recent Ancestry exports can contain links to where media sits on Ancestry, but not the pictures themselves.
  • Owner only: you can export a tree you own. For a tree someone shared with you, ask the owner to export it.

Ancestry has changed these menu names over the years, so if a label differs, look for Tree Settings on the tree's own menu.

Bringing it into Family Trees

Go to Import in the Family Trees web app, choose the unzipped .ged file and check the preview: it shows how many people and couples the file holds and the years it covers. GEDCOM import is part of Plus and Lifetime, and the 7-day trial includes it. Afterwards, add photos to each person; tagging one group photo puts it on everyone's page. The full walk-through is in importing a GEDCOM into Family Trees.

Questions

Is exporting a GEDCOM from Ancestry free?

Ancestry lets the owner of a tree export it as a GEDCOM; it does not sell the export separately. You keep your Ancestry tree after exporting, since the export is a copy.

Why won't my Ancestry GEDCOM upload anywhere?

The download is a .zip archive. Most programs want the .ged file inside it, so unzip the download first and choose the file that ends in .ged.

Will my Ancestry photos transfer in the GEDCOM?

No. GEDCOM files hold text, not pictures. Save the photos you care about from Ancestry separately, then add them in Family Trees, where each person has a portrait and a photo gallery.

Does deleting my Ancestry tree delete the GEDCOM?

No. The GEDCOM is your own copy once downloaded. Keep it somewhere safe before making big changes on Ancestry.

Sources

Links go to other sites. Checked 19 October 2026.

Questions? Email support@familytreesapp.com and a person will reply.