To activate your gift membership, go to Ancestry and enter the access code from your email.
Activating your membership
- Open your gift membership email from Ancestry.
- In the email, click Access your gift or Access your membership.
- Sign in to your Ancestry account or create a free account and click Continue.
- On the Welcome to Ancestry page, click Continue.
Using your membership
Start your tree with what you know, then use your membership to learn what you don't.
With a membership, you can:
- View records you find through searching; different memberships provide access to different records.
- View records attached to hints in your tree.
The date of activation
The date the purchaser designated as the start date of the membership is the start date of the membership, even if the membership is activated on a later date. If, for example, the purchaser set the start date of a six-month membership as January 1st, but you don’t enter the access code until January 10th, the membership will still end on June 30th (six months after the designated start date). The date of activation is the date the recipient receives the notification email.
If you don’t have the access code
If you didn’t receive the gift membership email, or if you no longer have it, you can contact the purchaser of the gift membership for the code; the purchaser and the recipient both receive emails with the access code. The purchaser may also contact us for the access code.
If you have a membership already
If you receive a gift membership that’s set to begin before your current membership ends, you can a) cancel your current membership immediately (if it’s near the end of the membership and it makes sense to do so); b) set your current membership to end rather than renew, and activate your gift membership once it ends; or c) inform the purchaser, who may be able to receive a refund. If you choose option b), note that the gift membership will end six months or a year after the start date designated by the purchaser, not six months or a year after the date it’s activated. If you'd like to cancel your current membership immediately, please contact us.
To purchase a gift membership, see Purchasing a Gift Membership. To purchase a DNA https://internalancestrysupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/53933269700243-/hc/en-us/articles/53933269959827-/hc/en-us/articles/53933318476179-/hc/en-us/articles/53933340474387-test as a gift, see Gifting a DNA Kit.