DNA Matching Enhanced with New Features

DNA Matching is one of the main features of the MyHeritage DNA kit. It is also still available for free for users who have tested with other DNA services.

We’ve just added several useful new features to DNA Matching, to make it easier for you to find and connect with relatives based on shared DNA. Here are the new features:

Extended information about shared ancestral surnames

In November 2016, we introduced a user-requested feature to DNA Matching, Ancestral Surnames, automatically identifying which ancestral surnames you and your DNA matches have in common. This is displayed in the list of matches, based on our inspection of the family trees. We’ve now added extended information, describing the relevance of each surname and its connection to you and to the other user who matched your DNA. This information can show you whether the common ancestral surname is found on the paternal or maternal side. You can also search all your DNA Matches by an ancestral surname.

On your DNA Matches page, you will see ancestral surnames for your matches, which can help determine who your shared ancestors are.

To view extended information about any of the common ancestral surnames, move the mouse over it. A tooltip will open with additional details. There you’ll see which side of the family (maternal or paternal) the shared ancestral surname can be found, both in your family tree and the tree of your DNA Match. You’ll also see the number of ancestors with the Ancestral Surname in your tree and in the other tree and the shortest ancestral relationship path to an ancestor with that surname.

Here are two examples:

Search by Ancestral Surnames

In the top right corner, we’ve added a Search option where, in addition to searching by name of DNA Match, and country, you can now search by shared ancestral surnames. This can be useful in case you want to focus on particular DNA Matches that you believe are connected to you through a specific branch of the family.

Use the drop down menu to select which field to search by; search by all (default), full name of the DNA Match, country, or ancestral surnames.

Search results look like this:

To clear a search, click “Clear” on the top left of your search results.

New Filtering Options

You can filter your DNA Matches to show only those matches that include a family tree on MyHeritage, only DNA Matches with Smart Matches™ between your trees, or only matches with which you have ancestral surnames in common.

Click the funnel icon on the top right of the DNA matches for the drop down menu with filtering options.

Add Notes to DNA Matches

You can now add notes to your DNA Matches to keep track of your research progress with each match and to organize them better. For example, if you have a match with a newfound third cousin, and you have been in contact with them about a shared ancestor, you can add notes about the communication and next steps. You can use this to differentiate between matches you’ve inspected and matches you haven’t reviewed yet.

To add or edit your notes for a particular match, click the notes icon at the top right of the match, as shown below:

A notes section will open up. Enter your notes, and click “Save notes” before closing the section.

After saving a note, the notes tab will be marked orange, so that you can quickly locate all of your matches that contain notes.

In the near future, we’ll add the option to filter matches to show only those that have added and to enable you to search your matches by the content of the notes.

We hope that these new enhancements will help make DNA Matching even more useful for you.

If you’ve been waiting to test your DNA or to order a kit for a relative, now is the time! Order a DNA kit today to open up new horizons in your family history research.