New Features @ Ancestry but it'll COST YOU (Dec. 2023) 

Thanks for adding your thoughts.

Exactly. And someone always says what a great deal Ancestry is. However, there's stuff on other sites that should be on Ancestry, but isn't.

I looked into Ancestry’s charges and asked them about them. Check out this new video Why Does Ancestry.com Cost So Much? (How to Save $$) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-697IqWqfpIU.html

I downloaded all my bookmarks to a spreadsheet to click and go. Many archival sites are free and provide rich information not found on Ancestry.

I think I agree about a full access account. And you are right about some of the features being available on other sites. It will be interesting to see how MyHeritage replies in the industry.

Aimee I have worked so long without the tools don't think I will pay for it. Reporting should have been apart of the program at the start. And I am one of those that use different genealogy programs to get what I want. Some reports are better than others. Roots, Family Tree Maker and Legacy are some that I use.

Thanks for sharing what works for you!

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I agree too expensive on top of full access account. Like you suggested a month or two might allow you to up date your tree.

I think you are not alone on the chromosome browser.

I agree. in these hard times with lots of inflation, I don’t perceive. It’s a good business move to roll out a program that is gonna cost more money. As a former Ancestry member, I have found that the prices have been going up, up and up. Looks to me like the new pro application has been copied from family search, and American Ancestors. However, the drawback to family search is that you are helping to create a global Family Tree and it’s not your personal Family Tree. Therefore, other people have access to change data on people some of them may be in your family tree.

@cherylramsey3409 yes. That’s true about the FamilySearch tree.

I strongly agree! These features I mostly already have on FTM software. Myheritage has a consistency checker for no extra money.

@bevleeming6703 do you like that consistence checker on MyHeritage?

Haha! You are not alone in your Christmas wish!

😂 that’s a funny one! Thanks for adding your parable and opinion!

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Thanks Barbara.

Barb - have your husband buy the gift every Black Friday time as it’s 50% of the normal cost.

Great comments Marilyn! Thanks. FYI right now Pro Tools are only available in the USA

I agree Marilyn. It's time-consuming to check for duplicates on Ancestry, but it's easy and doesn't cost more than we're already forking out. And that function that tells you that Uncle Smitty (or whoever) was living in Tahiti 28 years after he died? Stuff like that stands out like a sore thumb on our trees already. I have a feeling at their meeting in about 3 months, they're going to announce _Pro was a No Go_ 😆

I'm curious to see how it all plays out. thanks for being a channel member!

You are so welcome!

That would be helpful. They say they don’t want to do that for privacy reasons. That if a disease, for instance, was associated with a particular location, it would reveal that information.

I don’t know in all honesty. They did that with DNA. I’m glad they didn’t sent the Pro Tools out and then put it behind the subscription.

Yep! I do too Melissa. And whoever submitted the idea is going to call in sick when they do the 3-month review on how Pro turned out.. 📉 😆 _Where's Earl?" 📊 _Uh.. he called in sick_

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I understand your frustration. Just so you know, even without a paid subscription you can still see your tree. You might not be able to see the images of the records like census records but your tree will remain.

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Thank you for commenting with your opinion.

I’m hearing about pricing all over the board. Give it a few days and let’s see where the dust settles b

Thank you. And thanks for putting your two cents in!

I don’t know who they set up their beta testers or handle their open tickets. Good question

Thanks!

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I agree that that is an awesome new feature of these ProTools. But I’m hearing a lot of people frustrated with the cost.

Ancestry has always had a relationship chart since launching the family tree platform back in 2004. Go to your cousins profile page in your tree and click on where it shows their relationship to you and the chart pops up. You can print it to PDF or screen shot it and share it with your cousin.

Ancestry has always had a relationship chart since launching the family tree platform back in 2004. Go to your cousins profile page in your tree and click on where it shows their relationship to you and the chart pops up. You can print it to PDF or screen shot it and share it with your cousin.

Thanks for adding that Crista!

@@CristaCowan Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I never happened upon that information before!!

Thanks so much!

And thanks for subscribing. 😀

Thanks for sharing your opinions. 😃

So glad to hear that!

Thanks for adding your thoughts. I appreciate it

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I’ve been researching almost as long as you. I agree about Ancestry’s benefits. They also pour TONS of money into record acquisition. I don’t know if folks are aware of that.

I know it costs ancestry heaps to acquire records, but funds on a pension are limited, and after 40 years of research, much of the new info I can find is well beyond ‘6 degrees of separation’. So I already do what you suggest, subscribe at a reasonably high level for a couple of months and binge family history when I have time or friends need help, then unsubscribe during times like now when it’s Christmas and I have other priorities.

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Thanks for commenting!

Also when I called customer service last night to find out the information on these new tools because I couldn't find anything that verified why the extra price or if the extra price was even legitimate, the customer service agent I talked to gave me totally false information. It was an employee of ancestry that told me the information was incorrect. It was a good thing I saved the transcript I gave it to Ancestry and they are now going to make sure that their customer service representatives are actually giving the correct information and not misleading the customers.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts about these various options.

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Thank you!

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Great suggestion!

Certainly an option.

Thank you for that info Aimee!! I have had no luck downloading my tree to my laptop, any advice on a program for the computer that is easy to transfer my Ancestry tree to my computer?

@artist6135 I really like Family Tree Maker. It works well with Ancestry. You can sync your Ancestry tree. Rootsmagic can too but it’s not as seamless. But there is a free version of Rootsmagic you can try out.

@@AncestryAimee I think it was Rootsmagic I was trying to work with. Thank you for your response!! Very much appreciate your help! Merry Christmas to you and yours.

@artist6135 and to you as well!!

I have Legacy's family tree software and it's pretty sophisticated. It runs a load of charts and reports. It also does mapping.

Thanks for commenting Bob

excellent point! I haven't used FTM for a while, but I think I'll go ahead an sync Ancestry with FTM and then do my reports from FTM

Or you can get genealogy software.

Thanks for adding your thoughts.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it. Let me know what you think after trying those features.

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You might look into personal genealogy programs for your computer and FamilySearch has many many records and they are free. You can also use Ancestry for free at many public libraries.

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You can definitely use it in other trees that you own but I’m not sure about DNA match trees. I’ll have to check that out! Great question!

You can do some of that with Family Tree Maker. But thanks for adding that to the wish list.

I actually don’t know about billing discounts such as that. May be a good thought though.

Thanks for your thoughts! I appreciate it!

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Thanks for adding your thoughts. I add exact locations in the description box of the fact if that helps. I understand the difficulty with townships v counties. Family Tree Maker has the same issue though.

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I see that frequently in that area of the U.S. It’s tough! Good luck! Thanks for taking the time to comment.

You bet. Glad the video was helpful for you.

You’re welcome. Thanks for commenting.

Absolutely........ I use FTM along with Ancestry but double check dubious matches through Scotland's People so not really interested in Pro at the extra charge. The number of hints I get for our Scottish family tree which suddenly inherit American ancestry is mind blowing, even showing siblings for my wife's parents who were both only children. No uncles or aunties for her. My father is French and all of his family live in France but I still get matched up with American families claiming to have their birth, marriage and death details. Thank goodness my grandmother provided us with their family tree!

True

Not on Ancestry but if you have Family Tree Maker and sync your Ancestry tree you can do that.

Thanks for the heart. I do have an older version of FTM, but if I have to do a GEDCOM conversion to be able to make a fix to my file, then convert it again back into ancestry, why do I want to use ancestry as my base? Every conversion you will lose things - picture links for example. Family Tree Analyzer, for example, does all the error checking and then some that we have to pay dearly for in Ancestry. My old FTM did all the report features 10 years ago! Image how satisfied the users would be if they paid $1 or $2 in their 6 month subscription to have the pro features and from a business perspective, Ancestry would have the revenue they needed.

You don’t need to use Ancestry. You do need to find a place to get your records though. 😃👍

Aimee, you’re right. But at the top of each tree, 6 plus months of Ancestry has not added to the top. Added to many branches underneath, which is helpful, but little value added. This is what happens when you’ve been into it for 30 plus years and have spent family vacations walking around graveyards in Europe. Maybe I should go back to FTM in my PC

Yeah. I’ve been at it for 40 years. 😃 It sounds like that might be the best option for you then.

You’re welcome. Thanks for sharing your perspective!

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How do you like Brother’s Keeper? I’m actually not familiar with that one.

That’s true. Thanks for adding it. FamilySearch has a very cool map but it doesn’t show migration I don’t believe.

Well said. I hope to see tools to help create more accurate trees too. Thanks!

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Thanks for sharing your opinion.

Thanks for adding your thoughts.

I don't believe it has moved. The searching for duplicates is a ProTool and that associated merge, but you should still be able to merge as you did in the past.

You're so welcome!

We need to chat!! Message me through my website!!

Thanks. And true about places. They don’t have them all. I would add though that the standardized places also helps the AI in searches and hints.

Ha another New Englander! New England is littered with my ancestors. I have some of the same issues you have tracking people across the border into Canada and back to Ulster. So many records were lost during the fires in Ireland. ( I think they were back on the 20s.) Ancestry unbecoming? No it’s a for profit search engine. But then, so is American ancestry and access to records at the NEHGS. And have you looked into my heritage? That’s expensive. Many companies have professional, genealogist and can help you track your Ancestry Have professional geology to help you research your ancestors. Talk about expenses!

Ancestry's great reputation as a genealogist's ideal research hub has always been balanced by its dear price. Those of us paying that high price for all-access have been watching warily as the company first limited access to the ethnicity rings and now these supposed pro tools. While we didn't lose access to the rings while others did, it was a clear sign that pay walls were coming. It's unbecoming to offer an all access package and then grow the app to the exclusion of premium members. I can't help but wonder if the company is in financial distress.

That is so true. It’s always been something I’ve been passionate about. Trying to help people discover their ancestors not too expensively. But it takes time to do responsible genealogy for someone. Thus the channel and the coaching.

Maybe it is. I actually don’t think so. I think they are looking for ways to make more money by only selling features to those that would want them rather than raise the rate for the standard plans.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I don’t believe they will from what I understand but may be wrong.

They wouldn't be able to. Public Ancestry access just gives you access to record search, not your own tree.

Good point. That’s true. I didn’t think of that. ProTools are oriented to the person’s tree.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that Matt.

Yes, I totally agree. The place names that come up on their drop down have often been added by other people and are not only incorrect, they are totally absurd. In Australia we don’t have census so have to use electoral rolls and people can move between state and federal elections in the same year. Can’t add two locations without the exact date of the election, which isn’t in the source.

@marilyncarey7957 I want to find out more about that. Thanks for sharing.

@@AncestryAimee I'll see if I can find out where that happened, but I did correct it as it was just a bit too ridiculous. I know I get less extreme occurrences where I enter a place in say County Armagh in the north and it changes it to say Galway. I think I've or the main problems is that some townland name aren't even unique within the same county (because they are often Anglicisations of Irish words that actually describe physical features, like I believe Derry is from the Irish for oak grove) and I'm guessing Ancestry true to match the location you entered to a geographical location and might not have the townland name for that county in its list but does in another county so assume it is there. I don't know if you have any Irish Ancestry but also I've noticed on the DNA match page map 99% of the time you get common Irish ancestors located in what I can only assume are the coordinates for the centre of Ireland and not in the area, even the county you (or the match) has set that person's location, which is very frustrating. I don't even know how they filter which people are added here because I have a lot of Irish people in my tree and often it only picks 2. I know I'm being a bit negative here. I do love the site and the features they have on the whole, and some things you just have to accept, so I hope it's they are reading this they aren't taking it the wrong way. It's meant as constructive criticism, and I'm sure they know about these issues already and that it's not something easy to fix, plus if most people aren't impacted by this then I don't just expect them to fix these things for me.

I’m going to look into it. Thanks!

Great idea!! Love that!

Glad it was helpful!

That is a good point. I never did get information on how they’re planning on billing. You’re not the only one who has made that comment. We shall see.

I just logged in to check the fine print and it looks like you pay by the month and it automatically renews. I am pleasantly surprised.

@ed2850 thank you Ed!!! That’s good to know.

Thanks for commenting.

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Thanks for your thoughts. How often do you do a short term subscription?

I wasn’t aware of that change. Thanks for adding it. I don’t use the app nearly as often as I do the website.

Thanks for commenting.

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I think they are available now to those in U.S. I haven’t heard about expanding it yet.

@@AncestryAimee Hi Aimee I don’t live in the US so I don’t have them yet but thank you for the reply!

Thanks for adding your perspective

Thanks for sharing your plan.

I’m not sure about pricing, but will look into it as that’s different than what I was told. Thanks!

Good question David. I actually am uploading a video right now with a price comparison and an interview with Crista Cowan of Ancestry asking that very question. It will be available tomorrow 12/21.

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Thanks for adding your thoughts!

Thanks Linda for adding your thoughts.

Me too. Thanks for commenting.

That’s a great question! I had to go on to look. I did not see ProTools on the app so I would say no.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

It was fun then. But I do think with all the records we have more accurate trees overall.

I heard that just today - it's behind a paywall now. Wow....

True. I have a video releasing today that talks about one feature related to searching I wasn’t aware of. The video is about ancestry’s pricing but it includes that too. Check it out later this morning.

After the announcement of the new paywall on DNA recently I agree. It will discourage people from adding any tree to their DNA as you say. I’m disappointed too.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Yes!! It is a philosophy one way or another other. I began by doing that but for travel and the desire to quickly organize facts by place I changed. However sometimes I wish I hadn’t.

Well you could do that now with these tools!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

You are not alone. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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My question also.

You know I looked for it as well but they gave me access because I was in the beta test and thought that was why I couldn’t find it. Ancestry, if you’re listening, where is it??

@@AncestryAimee It was weird because a couple of days ago, while in my tree, it had Check Facts and Charts and Reports in the toolbar and I was able to do a couple of fact checks but then both options disappeared. I guess it's not quite ready to roll out to the rest of us. In any case, I'm not sure I can justify the expense but might try it for a month or two.

@KeatingChick I was told they were rolling it out on Tuesday but I do know they often roll things out for batches of customers to help with bugs and things. That is strange though.

@@AncestryAimee I was in my tree a few minutes ago and saw the error ! with the white dot at the top of the page, I clicked on it and it gave me the link to sign up.

I do love using Ancestry too!

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I’m not sure why they named them ProTools. They actually aren’t something that I would use for a client really. At least not as they stand right now. I have a video coming out tomorrow about Ancestry and I had the chance to interview Crista Cowan from Ancestry about pricing in general. I guess the tools are the most requested things from users.

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Good thoughts on addresses. Thanks!

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You aren’t alone. Thanks for sharing.

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I like that tool too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Good point about accessing records you paid for originally. I guess it supports the thought to download your tree into another program.

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Thanks for adding your thoughts.

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Thanks for adding this!

@@AncestryAimee you’re welcome. I think I had quite a few ancestors that were around 15 (all before 1900) that had married and had children early (my 5x great grandmother, I think, was about 15 when she had her first child and MyHeritage keeps coming back that this is an error). I’m hoping that fact checker would learn that, no, this isn’t an error.

Are you talking about the work for the Who do you think you are series?

@@AncestryAimee Yes

That’s a great marketing tool for them and encourages people to discover their ancestors though.

@AncestryAimee I question if it is getting old and people are getting tired of it. Their posts on RU-vid get very few likes compared to the number of subscribers. Views should be more to make them cost effective. Why not prove that normal people have great stories? Ancestry will ask people to submit stories but what do they do with them? Nothing.

I haven't seen much from ordinary folks - but I think they may use some of them in advertisements - not sure on that one.

Great idea!!!

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Yes! I actually talked about that naming possibility but edited it out. Thanks for adding it. I disagree though about the error. If I say it’s not a duplicate, I would like Ancestry to take it off the list. Otherwise I have the option, you could just cancel the merge.

@@AncestryAimee I see your point, I suppose many users would take it that way as well.

I will ask Ancestry

Could you please tell me the name of the software program that you use?

Alexandra, just about every family tree software does these things. The most popular ones are Family Tree Maker, Roots Magic, Legacy Family Tree, Reunion for Mac users. There are others as well but they are the main ones. Each probably has a User Group on Facebook where other users help with questions and general user problems.

They do have some records there only but you are right about many of the records. I do think Ancestry is the easiest user interface. People seem to understand it and become comfortable quickly there.

FYI most of those programs will be discounted at Rootstech the end of February so if you are looking, sign up for the virtual conference so you can have access to the expo hall (or attend in person).

@@alexandracruz5243 Family Tree Maker 2019

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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Thanks for sharing your perspective