Access Your 'Personal Page" at FTDNA

Your Personal Page at FTDNA is a key part of the process.

When you are tested at Family Tree DNA, you are given access to your Personal Page in two stages, which we call Access Your Personal Page and Update Your Personal Page.

Stage 1 (Access Your Personal Page) is the period after your test kit is returned, but before your test results are ready.  During this time you will receive the password to the page, and you will have limited access to the page, primarily for the purpose of adding your information and tracking your test while it is in the lab.

Stage 2 (Update Your Personal Page) comes after you are notified that your test results are ready.  Now you have many more options to choose about how your matches are displayed, uploading your GEDCOM, uploading your results to Y-search, and you can view lots of information about your test results.

(To see an example of a Personal Page at FTDNA, click here.)

 Stage 1--Access  Your Personal Page

• My Project Groups -- This will show the project through which you ordered the test, as ordering through a project automatically makes you a member of the project.
• Contact Information
  • You can update or add an email address.
  • You can provide the country of origin for your earliest known paternal and maternal ancestors.
• User Preferences
• how you are notified about your matches and results.
• choose who is notified about your test results and matches
• choose whether your matches are compared against just the surname project or the entire database.
• choose how many markers to use in displaying your matches:  12, 25, 37, or 67.
• "Displaying the Most Distant Known Ancestor" - post your most distant known relative and your city or country of origin, which is very important piece of information which will be displayed with your test results and will be helpful to those you match.
• Order Tests & Upgrades (Standard and Advanced options)
  • Order Standard Tests includes Y-DNA 12, 25, 37, 67. and upgrades between them, as well as mtDNA mtDNA Plus, and mtDNA Full Sequence, and their upgrades. (You will find most of the tests you want in the standard orders selection.)
  • Order Factoids - Mostly for curiosity, test for certain "traits"
  • Order Advanced Tests includes individual markers and panels, X Chromosome, and Autosomal DNA.
  • To order an upgrade:  Click on "Standard Orders".
    •  
      • Click on the down arrow to see the range of test and upgrade choices and their prices for you.
      • Follow the directions to order.
      • FTDNA can run all the tests you order from your initial sample.  They commit to retain your sample for 25 years.
    • Order Additional Certificates  To see samples of the certificates from FTDNA, click here.
• Special Offers - Sales and special offers (time limited)
• Pending Lab Results --will tell you can expect to receive results from your test kit. Keep in mind that the target results date is an estimate. If your result is more than a week late, typically FTDNA is rerunning the test in order to be certain of your result.
• My Maps - Plot Ancestral Locations--
  • Enter the information about your Most Distant Known Paternal Ancestor and Location
  • Enter the information about your Most Distant Known Maternal Ancestor and Location (Note:  this is NOT the wife of your Most Distant Known Paternal Ancestor; this is the most distant female you know in your MATERNAL line.)
  • Please enter whatever you know here, as this will be information used in your Surname Project. 
• Refer Friends and Family--a tool for sending an email to your fellow researchers and family members to get them to take a look and possibly get involved.
• Interpreting Results - Explanation of your results and how to interpret them. 
• GEDCOM - Family Tree --An easy way to upload your GEDCOM to the FTDNA website
• Genographic Project -- An easy way to join the National Geographic Genographic Project, which is attempting to map the migratory history of all mankind.  For a fee of $15 you can join your result to the National Geographic Genographic Project, a fascinating project that will give you insight into your deep ancestral origins. (This option will not show on your personal page if you do not have a haplogroup estimate.)
  

However, you do not have access to most parts of the FTDNA structure until your results are in.  You cannot join additional projects or make comparisons outside the project at this stage.

Click here for Stage 2 (Update Your Personal Page), which becomes accessible after you are notified that your test results are ready.