Ancestry.com
If you plan to upload a GEDCOM file to Ancestry.com, you may be interested in APID Identifiers which provide a way to link a citation to an entry in one of the many Ancestry.com databases.
Ancestry.com users submit GEDCOM files for both public and private use to the Ancestry.com family trees service.
If you want to upload a tree to Ancestry.com because you have DNA test results there, you can export your TMG data using TMG to GEDCOM and upload the GEDCOM file to Ancestry.com.
@ Characters
As of January, 2021, Ancestry.com's GEDCOM import does not handle @ characters properly. Per the GEDCOM 5.5.1 specification, @ characters in text should be doubled, i.e., the text "Two @ $1.05" should be written to the GEDCOM file as "Two @@ $1.05". Unfortunately, Ancestry.com will fail to load your GEDCOM file that follows the specification properly. For that reason, the GEDCOM Format.Double @ in Text property should be unchecked when creating a GEDCOM file for Ancestry.com.
More unfortunate is some evidence that Ancestry.com will fail to load a GEDCOM file if it contains a @ that is not part of an email address. This issue is still under investigation.
Templates
TMG to GEDCOM includes two templates for exporting from TMG to Ancestry.com:
- Ancestry (private) – Use for publishing to a private tree where you are comfortable including information about living people.
- Ancestry (public) – Use for publishing to a public tree or to any tree where you are not comfortable including information about living people.
Ancestry.com applies its own filters to the people and other data uploaded via GEDCOM. Before submitting data to them, however, you should consider which data you are willing to share with them and with their subscribers. Ancestry.com sees all the data you upload whether you mark the resulting Ancesty.com family tree private or not.
Template Notes
Janis Rodriguez created the original versions of these templates and tested with Ancestry.com in late summer and early fall of 2019.
Exhibits
The templates set Exhibits.Include Exhibits to unchecked. Ancestry.com does not support exhibit files referenced in a GEDCOM file.
Flags
TMG flag values are typically not useful in Ancestry.com trees, so the template sets Flags.Flags to "Do not export" and TMG flag values are not exported. If you want to include TMG flag values, set Flags.Flags to Export as EVEN/TYPE.
Tags
Ancestry.com has non-standard rules for processing NOTE records and text values. The templates attempt to minimize the negative effects of Ancestry.com's NOTE handling rules, but even so, long text values will appear in "Unsourced Citations", an inconvenient location.