Sharing an Ancestry Record

You can share Ancestry records via Ancestry message, email, Facebook, WhatsApp, and X or by link or download. When you share a record, other people don't need a membership to see it.

For help printing a record or saving it to your computer, see Viewing, Downloading, and Printing Record Images.

 

Sharing records

  1. Find a record on Ancestry you’d like to share.
  2. Select  Share Icon  Share, then choose a sharing option.
    • Family Groups > choose a family group > add a message (optional) > Share. 
    • Ancestry Message > choose or enter a recipient > add or edit the message > Send.
    • Email > if prompted, select your email program > choose or enter a recipient > add a message > send email.
    • Facebook > if prompted, log in to your Facebook account > add a message > Post to Facebook.
    • WhatsApp > choose or enter the contacts/chats you want to share the record with > select the button to forward the record to those chats.
    • X > if prompted, log in to your X account > add a message > Post.
    • Copy Link > selecting this will copy the link to your clipboard. Paste this link anywhere you want to share the record.
    • Download > the record will be downloaded to your computer. If you can’t find it, check your Downloads folder.

 

Viewing records shared with you

  1. Select the record link.
  2. If prompted, sign in to your Ancestry account or create one for free.
  3. View the shared record’s details.

    Example image of a record sharing page
     
    1. Record image.
    2. Record likes. Select the heart to like the record.
    3. Record overview.
    4. View full record. A membership may be required (depending on the record type). Different memberships give you access to different records. See our membership options page for current pricing or to start a membership.
    5. Public comments. Sign in to leave a comment. If you don't have an account, create one for free.
    6. Comment options.
      • Edit or delete comments left by you.
      • Flag or hide comments left by others.  
    7. Share.

 

Troubleshooting

Download error
If you receive a download error message when trying to download a record, clear your cache and cookies and make sure you have enough memory available on your device for the downloaded file.

 


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