New features this week in Genealogy Assistant!
Our latest update brings new tools to autosomal tests on FamilyTreeDNA, and a look at the ways you can control how Genealogy Assistant works for you.
Genealogy Assistant is updated multiple times weekly, and our latest update includes new features you might find useful in your family history research! Do you have a feature idea? Let us know via our suggestion form.
FamilyTreeDNA Groups and Shared cM Tool
Following our recent addition of groups for 23andMe, we have extended this functionality to FamilyTreeDNA as well.
Click the “Add/Manage Groups” button at the top of the DNA match list to open the groups sidebar, then select matches using the built-in “select all” functionality or choose them individually via their corresponding checkboxes. Use the + and - icons to add them to your chosen group.
Groups on both platforms are now linked to individual tests, similar to other platforms, which helps keep things organized and context appropriate. From the dropdown menu at the top of the groups sidebar you can view and add to groups from all tests.
Colour coded match indicators will appear across all tests by default, which is especially useful when working with tests from cousins, allowing a single group to span multiple tests. You can control the main test a group is connected to by selecting “Reassign groups to tests…” from the test selector dropdown at the top of the groups sidebar.
Direct links to DNA Painter’s Shared cM Tool have also been added to the cM count column of the FamilyTreeDNA match list. Clicking one will open their powerful tool in a new tab, pre-populated with the amount of shared centimorgans.
Advanced Settings in Genealogy Assistant
Genealogy Assistant is customizable to your own unique preferences, and things like downloads can be optimized to work with your system and setup.
Click the “Edit advanced settings” button at the bottom of the Genealogy Assistant popup panel to configure the extension. Settings include:
DNA Match Highlighting
Set the minimum cM threshold for highlighting your DNA matches. Matches above this value are highlighted in red so you can quickly spot significant connections. Settings are available for:
Ancestry DNA Matches
Ancestry Shared Matches
Ancestry Matches of Matches
MyHeritage DNA Matches
MyHeritage Mutual Matches
23andMe DNA Matches
23andMe Shared Matches
Download Options
Customize how Genealogy Assistant saves files if you experience inconsistent downloads or other platform issues.
Download method: Choose how files are saved to your computer: Streaming (best for large files), Standard (most compatible), or File System (modern file system API).
Download Speed: Control the delay between pages during multi-page downloads. Slower speeds help avoid being rate-limited on large exports. Options: Standard, Walk, Crawl, or Custom.
Custom page delay: Set your own delay (in seconds) between each page when using Custom speed.
Enable batch downloads: Break large downloads into smaller batches to avoid timeouts or errors.
Batch size: Set how many pages are included in each batch.
Surname Comparison Tool
Configure how the Surname Comparison Tool searches trees on your behalf.
Also check unlinked trees: Include public unlinked trees when running surname comparisons, not just trees linked to DNA matches.
Maximum unlinked tree size: Skip unlinked trees larger than this number of people to keep searches fast and manageable.
Advanced Research Tools
Choose how the Advanced Research Tools appear on Ancestry profiles.
Link size: Choose between Standard or Larger text for the research tools menu on Ancestry profile pages.
Individual tool toggles: Show or hide specific links in the research tools menu: View in tree, List of people, View notes, View comments, Merge duplicate, Save to tree, Member connect, Upload photo, Quick edit, Edit relationships, View changes, Print, Charts & reports, Check for errors.
Quick Search
Customize how Quick Search opens and add your family trees so you can pull up anyone’s profile in seconds from any page.
Keyboard shortcut: Set a custom keyboard shortcut to open Quick Search from any page.
Add GEDCOM to Quick Search: Upload a GEDCOM file (.ged or .zip) to index a family tree for searching. Files are processed locally and never leave your computer. Up to 10 trees supported.
Your Trees: View, manage, and delete your indexed trees.
FamilySearch Wiki Links
The FamilySearch Wiki is a powerful tool to help you understand the records available in the different locales you research.
Only search state/province and country: Limit automatic FamilySearch Wiki links to broader geographic levels. Useful when detailed local wiki pages don’t exist for your area.
Set Ancestry Domain
You can manually set the region for Genealogy Assistant, which is used for urls within the extension. This is automatically detected by default.
Domain: Select which regional Ancestry site you use (US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, or Mexico). Auto-detected on first visit but can be changed manually.
Backup & Restore
Since Genealogy Assistant runs entirely on your computer, you may want to back up your settings and data. You can also use this to transfer everything to another computer or browser.
Export Settings & Data: Save all your settings and indexed trees to a backup file.
Restore Settings & Data: Restore from a previous backup. This will overwrite all current settings and data.
Learn more about Genealogy Assistant
Discover all features of the extension on our website at genea.ca and use the Genealogy Assistant menus at the top of the page to explore in detail.
If we can assist in any way please don’t hesitate to email us at hello@genea.ca.