Until I saw a blog yesterday, I was unable to upload my v4 23andme kits, or my V2 AncestryDNA kits to familytree DNA, but that has all changed. FamilytreeDNA now not only accepts all those kits, it has lowered the upgrade fee from $39 to $19.
Why is this so great, I mean we have Gedmatch. Well because so many people don't use Gedmatch, the FTDNA database is arguably as large as the other two companies, and you have the ability to view the areas of your matches easily with the Chromosome Browser (only available if you upgrade).
I would encourage anyone who wants to see more matches to take advantage of this free transfer. With the free transfer you can see your top 20 matches, though you are not able to use their other tools, such as the Chromosome Browser, Ancient Origins or My Origins (their version of Admixture for ancestry).
So how do you do it?
If you are on AncestryDNA you download your raw data through the settings option under your results. On the right is the option to download. You click on that and it will send you an email with a link valid for 24 hours. When you use the email link you will be taken to a page where the download starts.
If you are on 23andme, the download raw data is an option you find from a link under browse your raw data in tools.
Always make sure you remember where you download your file. Don't unzip the file for upload to either Gedmatch or Familytreedna.
To upload to Familytreedna, you want to go to here. On the drop down menu, DNAtests, select Autosomal transfer. Enter your name, email and sex and click the join. This will take you to the upload screen where you select your file. I did have to repeat the upload on a few kits because it said they were unable to open it (I think server maybe was busy). When it completes it will bring up a congratulations screen. There is a link there to click for the permissions you have to sign.
You will get an email with the kit number and a password. I would go to settings and change the password before logging out. It can take up to 24 hours (after 6 I had mine) to get results for the DNA matches and admixture results.
To upgrade, click on the option for Chromosome browser and it will tell you you need to upgrade, the link on the upper right will take you to the cart with the 19 dollar fee.
You can upload or manually enter family tree's. It has changed, you can now click and drag a match to their name to place them in your tree. Which is convenient, but one of the things I don't like about FTDNA is that the tree function takes a while to load and seems a bit buggy to me.
I also noticed you get smaller matches that most genetic genealogist feel are unreliable in chromosome browser. You can change the size of what you browse in the browser, where you have up to 5 people you can compare at a time.
Another caveat, it is easy to download the names for the matches and the actual match files for FTDNA to use in Genomemate Pro. Of course this function is not much value if you don't upgrade.
While you are at it, why don't you head over to www.gedmatch.com and create a free account and upload your data there.
Oh, and have fun.
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