How to upload your Ancestry DNA Results to GEDmatch and why

WELCOME, hopefully you find these instructions helpful, please contact me on my email address if you have any problems, I am always happy to help.
Or, find me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sharonbunterhelp/

Firstly login to your Ancestry account and go to your DNA Results Summary.

 

On the right hand side of this page is a grey box with cog icon marked Settings.

 

Click this and then you can click on Download Raw DNA data

 

You will be sent an email with a link, click the link, and save the file somewhere you can find it. 

The file will be called dna-data-yyyy-mm-dd.zip (yyyy-mm-dd being the current date)

 

Now, go to the GEDmatch website and register for an account https://www.gedmatch.com/register.php

On the start page you will see Raw DNA file uploads

Click on the Generic Upload FAST option, and fill in the name of the tester, the sex, and click Yes for the data to be made public.

Click on browse to find you dna-data file and then upload. Then wait.

 

You will be given a kit number, take note of this, and let me know the number.

It will take some time for your matches to load (4hours-2days), but if you know any other person's kit number you will be able to run a one-to-one compare whilst you wait.

My kit numbers are A732547, A 129182, A523115, A511581

HOW UPLOADING TO GEDmatch WILL HELP:

1) It will identify the exact shared DNA segment(s) on the Chromosomes, from there we can see if anyone else shares that same segment(s), and therefore the same ancestor(s). This helps narrow down our connection, so hopefully it makes it easier to find.
Example:

2) You can also identify matches who share DNA on the X-chromosome, this limits which of your ancestors you may be connected on, and so helps to find the shared ancestor
3) GEDmatch accepts DNA data from many testing companies, so you will get matches from other companies as well, not just Ancestry.
4) GEDmatch also has several tools including Ethnicity estimating which you may find interesting.

Finally, any questions please ask.
Last but not least, if you have privacy concerns I recommen that you read this blog
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2014/09/the-worry-about-dna-privacy-and-gedmatch/

SHARING YOUR ANCESTY DNA RESULTS

It would also be helpful if you would share your Ancestry DNA results with me, that basically means that I can see your matches. This helps to see who we have in common, and therefore determine the common ancestor.

If so then here are the steps:
Go back to your DNA start page and Settings, and right down at the bottom of the page is something like this




 Click on Add a person
Then enter my username which is sharonbunter and click SEND INVITATION - I will see that you have sent the invite and will then reciprocate, thank you.