Download Current Version The current version of Ancestral Quest is 16. If you already have a registration key for this version, and wish to download the installer file again, the links you will need are found below. A version 16 registration key is required to activate all the features of Ancestral Quest 16. Download Ancestral Quest Basics Ancestral Quest Basics is completely free, has the essential elements of the full Ancestral Quest program, and is the easiest way to start researching and recording your family tree. If you would like to compare it to the full Ancestral Quest program, click here.
Ancestral Quest partners with FamilySearch and provides one way to export a copy of your free FamilySearch Family Tree.
If you have a family tree at FamilySearch you can’t download a GEDCOM file of your tree directly from FamilySearch but you have three options for creating a GEDCOM file so you’ll have full control of your tree and which ancestors & descendants you want to have included.
This blog gives instructions for your first option,
How to Import Your Free FamilySearch Family Tree at Ancestral Quest and How to Create a GEDCOM file at Ancestral Quest.
I wanted a GEDCOM file with ancestors through my 5th great-grandparents and all their descendants. My GEDCOM file has roughly 34,000 names and took me 12 hours to import & create. I did my imports in batches because I was afraid thousands of names all in one fell swoop would crash the program. Adjust these instructions as needed for your tree and personal circumstances.
How to Import a Free FamilySearch Family Tree at Ancestral Quest
- Select Ancestral Quest Basics (version 15) – Windows or Mac – this is always FREE
- Download either AQ 15 Basics for Windows Setup or AQ 15 Basics for Mac Setup
- You will be downloading this file, C:Program Files (x86)Incline SoftwareAncestral Quest 15same installer
- Run the .exe file
- You’ll see a pop-up window, “Ancestral Quest 15 Setup” Select the default language of your choice & hit Next
- You’ll see a pop-up window, “Internet Research Options” Select your preferences & hit Next
- You’ll see a pop-up window for more “Internet Research Options” Select your preferences & hit Next
- You’ll see a pop-up window for more “Internet Research Options” Select your preferences & hit Next
- Ancestral Quest now launches* and you’ll have multiple options (listed below), Select Import from FamilySearch ORselect FamilySearch from the top menu and Import Family Lines
- New – Create a new .aq database, etc
- Open – Open an existing file
- Import GEDCOM
- Import from FamilySearch
- Search
- Restore
- Collaborate
- You’ll be prompted to create a destination path for this FamilySearch Import, Type in a file name/folder on your computer where you would like Ancestral Quest to save the imported tree, Select OK
- You’ll be prompted to sign in to FamilySearch and have AQ remember this id and password and automatically sign you in when needed, Enter your FamilySearch login & password and select your preferences (there is also an advanced option-you won’t need this)
- You’ll now be prompted to Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch with some default options. I’ll share my default options but choose your own and then hit Import
- I opted to import Download my (Alyson Tayler) ancestors, selected 8 generations, & included families
- Later, with the family tree (pedigree chart) open, I highlighted each 3rd great-grandparent and selected FamilySearch from the top menu bar, and Import Family Lines…
- This brought me back to the prompt Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch and the new default option was to Add Descendants to person and it named the 3rd great-grandparent I had highlighted. I then told it import 5 generations of descendants, as Standardized by FamilySearch (it didn’t import duplicates already in my tree)
- Later, with with the family tree (pedigree chart) open, I highlighted each 5th great grandparent and selected FamilySearch from the top menu bar, and Import Family Lines…
- This brought me back to the prompt Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch and the new default option was to Add Descendants to person and it named the 5th great grandparent I had highlighted. I then told it import 4 generations of descendants, as Standardized by FamilySearch (I did this for both husbands and wives in case they had had children with another spouse-it didn’t import duplicates already in my tree
NOTE 1: Each time you import more names into a family tree, Ancestral Quest will ask if you want to backup the information currently in your tree. It’s a good idea to say yes. It will ask you if you want to replace the existing AQ file with an updated one and you should say yes. The more names you import, the larger your tree grows, and you should always allow AQ to quickly backup your work. The backup takes 1-2 seconds and doesn’t slow down your project.
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NOTE 2: A nice feature at Ancestral Quest is they give you a prompt explaining what’s happening when the import gets bogged down. It says, “Family Search is Busy…retrying.” It took about 1 hour to import 10 generations of descendants from a 9th great grandfather.
How to Import a FamilySearch Family Tree for a Different Individual
- Open the AncestralQuest program, now downloaded onto your computer
- You’ll be prompted to select a version, select the free version Use Ancestral Quest Basics
- You may get a popup box with Tip of the Day lessons, you can read through these, selecting Next Tip to progress through each window, or select Close to be done
- It will pull up the family tree/pedigree already associated you’ve most recently imported; you don’t want to use this tree. From the top menu bar select File, then New
- It will give you a popup box and you will need to create a file name and storage place for the new tree you are going to import. Type in the file name of your choosing then select Create
- You’ll see a blank pedigree chart. On the top menu bar, select Family Search, then Import Family Lines
- You’ll see a pop up box requesting you sign in to FamilySearch.org; Type in your FamilySearch User Name and Password, and check any boxes you want, then select Sign In
- You’ll see a pop up box Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch, select the import actions you want to perform (if you don’t want this family tree to start with the person whose FamilySearch Login and Password you used, you’ll need to go to a FamilySearch tree, find the name of the person you want the tree to start with, write down their FamilySearch Person ID number (FS PID) and then find the go back to Ancestral Quest and on this Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch, find the FS PID box and type in the number of the person who will be the home person on your new tree
- When you’ve made all your selections on the Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch, select Import
- If you want to import more information for this tree, such as Descendants of ancestors (distant cousins, etc., who fall outside of your imported line of direct ancestors), you’ll have a few more steps to take.
- On a PC or Mac, you can highlight an ancestor in your newly imported pedigree chart, then select FamilySearch from the top menu bar, and Import Family Lines… this will make the ancestor you highlighted the new default person used as a basis for you next import
- This brings you back to the prompt Import Ancestors/Descendants from FamilySearch
- On a PC or Mac, select Add Descendants to person and it names the ancestor you highlighted. In the Additional Options part of this pop up box, type in the number of descendant generations you wish to import (I’ve discovered Ancestral Quest is able to handle large amounts of data so I typed in 10 generations of descendants – depending on how many generations back your ancestor is, you may request greater or fewer generations of descendants for this person
- Follow this process for each ancestor for whom you wish to import extra descendancy lines
NOTE 1: Each time you import more names into a family tree, Ancestral Quest will ask if you want to backup the information currently in your tree. It’s a good idea to say yes. It will ask you if you want to replace the existing AQ file with an updated one and you should say yes. The more names you import, the larger your tree grows, and you should always allow AQ to quickly backup your work. The backup takes 1-2 seconds and doesn’t slow down your project.
NOTE 2: A nice feature at Ancestral Quest is they give you a prompt explaining what’s happening when the import gets bogged down. It says, “Family Search is Busy…retrying.” It took about 1 hour to import 10 generations of descendants from a 9th great grandfather.
How to Create a GEDCOM of your FamilySearch Family Tree at Ancestral Quest
- On the top menu bar Select File, then Export
- A window will open entitled Export GEDCOM File
• Select Export for import info “Ancestral Quest 12 or later” or another option and then select everything you want to be included in the export and hit the Export button - A window will open entitled Export GEDCOM File As and you’ll need to do these three things:
• Save In (select a place on your computer where you want the GEDCOM file stored)
• File Name (type in the name you want for this GEDCOM file)
• Files of Type (select GEDCOM Files (*.ged)) - Ancestral Quest will create a GEDCOM file and save it to your computer. Now you can upload this FamilySearch Family Tree GEDCOM file to any other family tree site that accepts GEDCOM files.
*Every time you open/launch Ancestral Quest you will be asked which version you want to use. Select Ancestral Quest Basics.
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Sometimes you just need a simple answer to the question:
How many ancestors do I have?
There’s a mathematical formula for figuring out how many ancestors you have at each generation.
x=2n
x is the number of direct-line, biological ancestors you have;
n is the generation back from you.
So, one generation back, x=2¹ or x=2, you have 2 ancestors, your biological parents. You may also have adopted parents, step-parents, etc, but for the purpose of DNA matches, we’re concerned with biological ancestors you may have inherited DNA from. As a general rule, this formula shows the largest number of ancestors you could have.
Ancestral Quest Update
At some point, you’ll have pedigree collapse and this formula no longer applies, but it works well for the limited number of generations we examine in most of our family history work.
If you want to know how many ancestors you have, just add up the number from each generation, so parents (2) + grandparents (4) + great-grandparents (8) = 14 ancestors within 3 generations, etc. Again, at some point, cousins married cousins and you’ll have some level of great-grandparent (the same person) who shows up in your tree (as an ancestor) multiple times, so this formula isn’t perfect, but it’s great for most purposes.
Why do you care how many ancestors you have?
You may care for several reasons.
First, you may be building a free family tree but be limited by the site to 100 names. You need an estimate of how many generations you’re going to be able to add to your tree. To go back 6 generations, you need a tree with 126 names in addition to your name. (21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 = 126 or 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 = 126.) If you’re using a site that only allows 100 names, you need to be aware you can only completely include 5 generations back or 62 names plus yours.
Second, and this is me, today, you may be building a descendancy tree and you’re trying to figure a realistic goal for which generation, n, you’ll start with. I’m using Ancestral Quest Basics (free) to download someone’s descendancy tree from FamilySearch (free). At first, I was ambitious and thought, ‘Oh, I’ll go back 10 generations.’ But in order to have the program build the descendancy tree, I have to select each person in that 10th generation and wait for the program to download the data (and it takes the program a long time if there are a lot of descendants). Using the formula, x = 210, I realized I was dealing with 1,024 ancestors in just the 10th generation. Even if I only downloaded info for the husband (and risked missing other relationships from the wife), I’d be at 512 individuals. Not gonna happen! After doing the math, I lowered my goal considerably.
Third I'll go love and basketball. , you may want to know how big a DNA puzzle is before you try to solve it. When you see a DNA match, with an estimated relationship, you want a general idea of how many ancestors you need to examine to find your match. If the estimated relationship is 1st cousins, that’s pretty simple, your common ancestor is most likely one or more grandparents and you have 4 possibilities. The number grows exponentially the more distant your relationship.
- Below is a MyHeritage DNA estimated relationship chart for a match they think is a 3rd to 5th cousin.* The chart shows our most recent common ancestor could be anywhere from a great-grandparent to a 4th great-grandparent. We don’t always guesstimate correctly when we’re trying to figure out how many people we’re talking about. When you do the math, you find there are 120 possible common ancestors.
MyHeritage chart showing the possible relationships that fall in 3rd-5th cousin range
At our closest, this person may be my 2nd cousin some generations removed. This would make our common ancestor a great-grandparent. Using the formula above, this would be x=2³, and I have at most 8 possibilities for this most recent common ancestor. At our most distant, we may share a 4th great-grandparent, or x=26, and I have 64 possibilities. Now I have to add up the possibilities at each generation, so 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 = 120 total possible common ancestors. That’s a lot of people to consider. It helps to know the size of the problem before you set out to solve it.
Ancestral Quest Basics Download
Anyway, it’s a bit technical, but sometimes I quickly do the math to assess the work required to solve a problem and this is a great go-to formula to assess the number of ancestors we’re dealing with. Best with your research!
*And sometimes the real relationship falls outside the bounds of the estimated relationship. The estimated relationship is just a hint for where you should start looking.