If you’ve spent years building a family tree on Ancestry.com, your research is one of your most valuable personal assets. The good news: you own it, and you can take it with you.

Whether you’re paying $25–50 a month and wondering if there’s a better option, or you simply want a private copy of your data that doesn’t live on a US corporation’s servers — exporting your Ancestry tree is straightforward, and importing it into Rootleaves takes under two minutes.

This guide walks you through the complete process, step by step.

Why export your Ancestry tree?

People export their Ancestry tree for different reasons. All of them are valid.

You want a private backup. Ancestry holds your family’s history. If they change their pricing, close your account, or simply go down for a day, your research is inaccessible. A local GEDCOM file is a permanent, vendor-neutral copy you control.

The subscription cost adds up. Ancestry’s paid plans run $25–50/month depending on the tier. For a hobby used occasionally, that’s $300–600 per year. Many genealogists want a free alternative for day-to-day tree building and browsing, keeping Ancestry for record searches only.

You want European data privacy. Ancestry is a US company subject to US law. If you live in Europe, or your family history involves sensitive information, hosting your tree in Europe under GDPR gives you clearer legal protections. Rootleaves stores all data on servers in Helsinki, Finland.

You want AI-powered research. Ancestry’s tools are powerful, but you can’t have a conversation with your tree. Rootleaves includes a built-in AI assistant you can ask questions in plain English: “How many generations do I have?”, “Who is the oldest person in my tree?”, “Are there any people missing birth dates?” — and get real answers.

You want to use both. Many genealogists keep Ancestry for its record-matching database and DNA features while using a separate tool as their primary tree builder. That’s completely reasonable — this guide works for that scenario too.

Before you start: what transfers and what doesn’t

Being honest about this upfront saves frustration later.

What transfers perfectly:

  • All people (names, birth dates, death dates, places, gender, notes)
  • Family relationships (parent-child, marriages, multiple marriages)
  • Approximate dates and date ranges (e.g. “about 1890”, “between 1920 and 1925”)
  • Biography notes attached to people

What doesn’t transfer:

  • Photos — Ancestry stores photos on their servers. GEDCOM exports contain references to photos, not the photos themselves. You’ll need to re-upload photos manually in Rootleaves after import.
  • Ancestry Hints and record matches — these are Ancestry-proprietary links to their record database and don’t exist outside Ancestry.
  • DNA data — DNA results are stored separately on Ancestry and are not part of a tree export.
  • Sources and citations — GEDCOM exports from Ancestry include source data in varying formats. Rootleaves imports the person and relationship data; source records are preserved in the GEDCOM but not displayed as separate source cards in the current version.
  • Stories and memories — the long-form “Stories” feature in Ancestry uses a custom format not included in GEDCOM exports.

If you have important photos or stories attached to people in Ancestry, save those separately before migrating.

Step 1 — Export your tree from Ancestry

You can export any tree you own (not trees you’ve been invited to view).

  1. Log in to Ancestry.com and navigate to your family tree. If you have multiple trees, open the one you want to export.

  2. Open Tree Settings. In the tree view, look for the tree name at the top of the page. Click the down arrow next to your tree name, then select Tree Settings from the dropdown.

  3. Find the Export option. On the Tree Settings page, scroll to the bottom. You’ll see an Export Tree section.

  4. Click “Export to GEDCOM”. Ancestry will prepare your file. For small trees (under 500 people) this is instant. For larger trees it may take a minute. You’ll see a download prompt or receive an email with the download link.

  5. Save the .ged file somewhere you can find it — your Desktop or Downloads folder works fine.

Tip: If your tree is very large (thousands of people), Ancestry may take a few minutes to generate the file. Don’t close the browser tab — wait for the download to start.

That’s your GEDCOM file. It’s a plain text file containing your entire tree. You can open it in any text editor if you’re curious — it’s human-readable, though quite verbose.

Step 2 — Import your tree into Rootleaves

Rootleaves parses your GEDCOM file entirely in your browser. Your raw file never leaves your device until you explicitly confirm the import — at which point only the structured data (names, dates, relationships) is sent to the server, not the original file.

Importing into a new tree

This is the most common scenario — you want to create a fresh tree in Rootleaves populated with your Ancestry data.

  1. Go to your Rootleaves dashboard at rootleaves.com. If you don’t have an account yet, creating one is free and takes under a minute.

  2. Click “Import GEDCOM” on the dashboard. (You can also click + New Tree and then choose the import option.)

  3. Select your .ged file. A file picker opens — navigate to where you saved the file in Step 1 and select it.

  4. Review the preview. Rootleaves parses the file immediately and shows you:

    • Number of people found
    • Number of family units (marriages and parent-child connections)
    • Any warnings (unsupported date formats, missing required fields, etc.)

    Take a moment to check the numbers match what you expect from your Ancestry tree. If something looks off, you can cancel and check your export file before trying again.

  5. Name your tree and confirm. Give the new tree a name (e.g. “Shah Family — from Ancestry”) and click Import. Rootleaves creates the tree and all people and relationships atomically — either everything imports or nothing does.

  6. Open your tree. You’ll land directly in the tree view with your full family structure visible.

Importing into an existing Rootleaves tree

If you’ve already started a tree in Rootleaves and want to merge your Ancestry data into it:

  1. Open the existing tree
  2. Click the Import button in the tree toolbar (top right)
  3. Follow the same steps 3–5 above

What your tree looks like after import

Rootleaves uses a generational layout — your ancestors are placed above you, descendants below, and spouses side by side. After a large GEDCOM import you may want to:

  • Search for yourself using the search bar and click your card to centre the view on your branch
  • Use the minimap (bottom right corner) to navigate a large tree
  • Collapse branches you’re not currently working on — click the collapse arrow on any person card

For trees with hundreds or thousands of people, the focus mode lets you view one branch at a time without losing the full tree structure.

What you gain in Rootleaves that Ancestry doesn’t offer

Once your tree is imported, a few things work differently from what you’re used to in Ancestry.

The AI assistant. Open the chat panel (bottom right) and ask anything about your tree in plain English. “Show me everyone born before 1900.” “Who are the people with missing birth dates?” “What’s the connection between Maria and Josef?” The assistant has access to your actual tree data and answers with real results, not generic advice.

No subscription to explore your own data. Your imported tree is fully accessible for free. You can browse, edit, add people, and share with family members without a monthly payment.

Privacy by default. Your tree is private to you and anyone you explicitly invite. There are no “public tree” defaults, no hints system that shows your data to strangers, no DNA matching that shares your family connections with others.

Data you can take back. Rootleaves lets you export your tree as GEDCOM at any time from the tree settings. You’re never locked in.

Common questions

How long does a large import take?
For most trees — even those with several thousand people — the import completes in under 30 seconds. The browser-side parsing is the only delay; once you confirm, the server import is fast.

Can I import more than one GEDCOM into the same tree?
Yes. If you have separate GEDCOM files for different branches (e.g. maternal and paternal sides exported separately), you can import each one into the same Rootleaves tree. Rootleaves checks for duplicate people before importing and warns you before creating potential duplicates.

What if my GEDCOM was exported years ago from a different app?
Rootleaves supports GEDCOM 5.5 and 5.5.1, including older date formats and non-standard encodings. Files exported from MacFamilyTree, Gramps, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and legacy apps like Family Tree Maker are all supported.

Do I need to cancel Ancestry to use Rootleaves?
Not at all. Many people use Rootleaves as their primary tree builder and keep an Ancestry subscription specifically for record searching and DNA matching. The two tools complement each other well — Ancestry for finding records, Rootleaves for building and navigating your tree.

Will Ancestry delete my tree if I export it?
No. Exporting creates a copy. Your Ancestry tree remains exactly as it is.

Your data belongs to you

One thing worth saying plainly: your family research represents years of your time and care. A GEDCOM export is not just a technical backup — it’s an assertion that your family’s history belongs to you, not to any platform.

However you choose to use it — keeping it as a local backup, moving to Rootleaves, or using both — exporting your data regularly is simply good practice.

Ready to import? Create your free Rootleaves account →

Already have an account? Go straight to your Dashboard → and click Import GEDCOM.

Ready to build your family tree?

Rootleaves is free, private, and works with GEDCOM files from any genealogy app.

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