How to trace your family tree with Findmypast

At Findmypast, we want to help make your family tree building as easy as possible. Our free online family tree builder has lots of useful features that will make your experience worthwhile, and a whole lot of fun. Before getting started on your family tree, perhaps you're wondering why it's worth doing genealogy research in the first place? Thes beginner guides have the answers and should leave you feeling inspired to make some amazing discoveries.

Like any new activity or hobby, learning how to research your family tree may take some time at first, but the rewards are more than worth the effort. Below are the basics you need to know to begin building your family tree.

First up, watch the quick introductory video above. Then follow the step-by-step guides with helpful animations, showing exactly how to trace your family tree on Findmypast.

How to build a family tree on Findmypast

Go to our family tree page and follow these simple on-screen steps to get started.

Already have a family tree? Upload your GEDCOM

A GEDCOM is an acronym for Genealogical Data Communication and it is a way of formatting your family tree data into a text file. They can be quite hard to read so, to make it easier for you, you can upload this file to our family tree builder for free and your family tree will grow right before your eyes. If you have more than one GEDCOM file, don't worry, you can upload as many as you want. Just be sure to save them under different names. Follow the steps below to upload your GEDCOM file now or read a more detailed guide on how to do it.

Grow your family tree

Family trees are constantly growing. Thankfully, adding people to your tree is an easy process. Simply follow the steps below.

Findmypast family tree views

Why not get a fresh perspective of your family history by using the different viewing options on Findmypast's family tree? You can access five different views - family view, pedigree, family group, profile and people. Multiple perspectives will allow you to search and sort your family tree so it's nice and organised. Organisation is key when researching your family history, after all.

Hints do the hard work for you

Findmypast's clever record hints are, by far, the quickest and easiest way to trace your family tree. They prompt you to look at potential matches in our records for people on your family tree. The more people you add to your tree, the more hints you'll get. It's like having your own professional genealogist constantly at work in the background. Be sure to regularly review your hints. You never know what they might find for you. As you continue to build your family tree, using hints, this easy-to-follow guide will help you make the most of them.