Ancestry Enhances Collaboration and Roles on DNA Results

Ancestry put together a blog post regarding the way people can view, collaborate on, or manage the results of their own (or their relative’s) AncestryDNA test. The changes described in the blog post will go into effect as of July 18, 2017.

The new terminology to know is: Owner, Manager, Collaborator, and Viewer. Ancestry explains “Owner” this way: “Every adult who takes a DNA test is the Owner of that test. The Owner is in the driver’s seat and can assign people to specific roles. The Owner can choose to allow a family member or a trusted friend to manage the test results, to be a collaborator, or just to view the results.”

This means that you are the Owner of your own AncestryDNA test. You can choose someone else to be the Manager of your AncestryDNA test (or you can manage it yourself). You can choose who you want to allow to Collaborate on your AncestryDNA test (if anyone). You can also choose to let some people be Viewers of your AncestryDNA test. Ancestry says “If you manage your own test, you will see your role on the test change from Manager to Owner within the next several days.”

Viewers can: View DNA matches, View Ethnicity Estimate, View Genetic Communities, View notes about a DNA Match, View DNA Circles, and View removed DNA matches. Collaborators can do all of that, plus: Link test results to Family Trees, Edit DNA Matches, Add and Edit DNA Match notes, Edit test participate details, and Change ethnicity display preferences.

Managers can do all of the above, plus: Permanently delete DNA test results, Download raw DNA data, Send and respond to messages from the test owner’s account, Invite others to access results, and Assign and change account roles. Owners can do all of those things, plus: Remove a Manager at any time.

As of July 18, 2017, Ancestry is going to limit one AncestryDNA test to one Ancestry account. The one exception to this rule is for parents who will continue to be able to activate tests for minor children. Ancestry stated: “If you are a customer who currently manages multiple DNA kits in your account, you’ll continue to have access to those DNA results and there’s no action for you to take.”

Genealogists who want to manage the DNA results of their relatives may have a problem. If your relatives have their own Ancestry account, they can log in and assign you to be the Manager of their DNA test. If you have activated multiple DNA tests on your account, Ancestry recommends “providing the person who took the test with access and control over their results.” The problem arises if your relatives don’t have their own Ancestry account – and do not want to get one.

Ancestry says that no one has to pay for another account in order to have a family/friend activate a DNA test. Their blog post says: “The person taking the DNA test must create their own free account to activate their test and will be prompted to do so during the activation.”

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Ancestry Clarifies What They Do With Your DNA

* AncestryDNA Surpasses 3 Million Customers

* RootsMagic and Ancestry are Working Together Now

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