Journals
Bring your family tree.
You've spent years putting names to the branches. Bring the tree you already have — from Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch or the program on your computer — and it stands in the library as a real tree, with a frame for everyone on it.
Then the part a tree can't hold on its own: each person can have a hallway of their own, with the photographs, the stories and the voices of the people who knew them. Every frame is somebody to ask.
What you'll need
Your tree as a family tree file. It's called a GEDCOM file and ends in .ged, and every family tree site and program can make one. Here's where to find it.
›Ancestry
- Open Trees at the top of the page and choose your tree.
- Open the tree's menu and choose Tree Settings.
- Under Manage your tree, choose Export tree, then Export.
- When it's ready, choose Download your GEDCOM file.
Only the tree's owner can export it. A large tree takes a few minutes; it is safe to leave the page and come back.
›MyHeritage
- Point to Family tree at the top of the page and choose Manage trees.
- Beside your tree, choose Export to GEDCOM.
- Choose Begin the export. It downloads, or MyHeritage emails you a link when it's ready.
In Family Tree Builder on your computer: File, then Export GEDCOM.
›FamilySearch
- Sign in, then go to familysearch.org/innovate/export.
- Download your tree. It brings up to eight generations, starting with you.
›Findmypast
- Open My Family Tree at the top of the page and view all your trees.
- Choose the Export icon beside the tree.
›Geni
- Open the Family tab and choose Share Your Tree.
- Choose Export. Geni emails you a link to the file.
›WikiTree
- Open the Help page called Exporting a GEDCOM, on WikiTree, and follow its link to make the file.
›Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy, Gramps and other programs
- File, then Export, then choose GEDCOM.
What comes across, and what stays yours
- Names, dates, places and who is related to whom. Dates stay in your words: “about 1923” stays about 1923.
- Photographs usually don't travel in these files. The tree arrives with names, and you add the pictures — any photograph from a hallway, or one of your own.
- Living relatives are private. Their names and dates are seen by you and nobody else, and never appear in anything shared.
- Everything can be changed afterwards. And when you bring a newer file, anything you corrected here is kept.
- The tree is free on every plan, however many people are on it.