How do I get a .ged file from Ancestry?

On Ancestry: Trees → Tree settings → Export tree, then download the file when it is ready. MyHeritage has Export to GEDCOM under Family tree → Manage trees; FamilySearch exports eight generations of ancestors from familysearch.org/innovate/export.

Yes, if they come with the tree: open a GEDZIP (.gdz), a zip export with a photos folder, or drop the .ged together with its photos. A plain .ged only names the photo files.

Is the file uploaded?

No. It is read by this page on your own computer and is not sent anywhere.

plainfolder → Family trees → GED

Open a GED file — read a family tree without a genealogy program

Drop the .ged here and the whole tree opens: a list of everyone, a card for each person with dates, places, sources and notes, and links from parents to children. On Windows, Mac, Chromebook or a phone.

No server processing No account No daily limits

What a .ged file is

A .ged file is a family tree in GEDCOM, the format every genealogy program and website uses to hand trees to one another: people, families, events, sources and notes written as lines of text with levels and codes. Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Geni, Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy, Gramps and the rest all export it.

Opening it usually means installing a genealogy program or uploading the tree to a website — and many people only want to look, print or pass it on. Here the file is read in the page: old files in the ANSEL character set, files from every program with their own quirks, and GEDCOM 7 with its photos. From there it prints as charts or a family history book, and saves as Excel, CSV, a web page or GEDCOM again.

What you can do here

Old files tooTrees saved in the old ANSEL character set, by PAF or early Family Tree Maker, open with every accent in its place: Łukasiewicz stays Łukasiewicz.

Any programEach genealogy program writes GEDCOM its own way. The quirks of Ancestry, MyHeritage, Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy and others are read and kept when the tree is saved again.

Messy dates“abt 1890”, “12.03.1890”, Julian dates with a double year, Hebrew and French Republican calendars — read as dates, sorted in the right order, and rewritten in the standard form if you want.

Convert GED to something else

GEDCOM→PDF GEDCOM→WORD GEDCOM→EXCEL GEDCOM→CSV GEDCOM→HTML GEDCOM→TXT GEDCOM→JSON GEDCOM→PNG GEDCOM→SVG GEDCOM→JPG GEDCOM→XML

Questions

How do I get a .ged file from Ancestry?: On Ancestry: Trees → Tree settings → Export tree, then download the file when it is ready. MyHeritage has Export to GEDCOM under Family tree → Manage trees; FamilySearch exports eight generations of ancestors from familysearch.org/innovate/export.
Does it show photos?: Yes, if they come with the tree: open a GEDZIP (.gdz), a zip export with a photos folder, or drop the .ged together with its photos. A plain .ged only names the photo files.
Is the file uploaded?: No. It is read by this page on your own computer and is not sent anywhere.