FamilyTreeDNA improved matching [Archive] - Genealogists' Forum

kiterunner

01-07-21, 22:21

FamilyTreeDNA have just updated their DNA matching process. My total number of matches has increased from 2,175 to 8,975. It says it could take up to 24 hours to mark them as paternal or maternal (my Dad's DNA has also been uploaded to the site). I can see some new names near the top of the list, some which I recognise from other sites.

So if you have uploaded your DNA data to FTDNA, it will be worth having another look at your matches. Though apparently some people's totals have gone down, not up!

Mary from Italy

02-07-21, 21:10

Thanks, Kite.

I would say the layout's improved a bit; no idea what my old total was, so I don't know if I have more matches.

It's no longer letting me add new notes or edit my previous ones; is anyone else having the same problem?

kiterunner

02-07-21, 21:55

Yes, I was trying to add a note earlier on with no luck.

Mary from Italy

03-07-21, 21:34

OK, I've sent them a bug report.

Mary from Italy

03-07-21, 21:37

I must say I find the Ancestry DNA system much easier to use than either FtDNA or MyHeritage: does everyone else find the same?

I'm finding that the ability to sort matches into groups on Ancestry is extremely helpful.

Mary from Italy

03-07-21, 21:48

Another thing I only noticed recently with FtDNA (but before the latest changes) is that when you open the matches page, they aren't listed in descending order of shared DNA; you have to select that yourself from the dropdown list. They're listed by default in order of "relationship range".

marquette

03-07-21, 22:57

I dont use FtDNA much, as there are only a dozen matches or so that I can identify. Which has not really increased in the last few years (I think we did the tests in 2017)

I do like the new layout though. I wish I knew how to mark matches Paternal or Maternal, at least that would be a start to try and sort them out.

Apart from my 10 closest matches who mostly belong to my mothers side, and are here in Australia, I cannot really identify anyone else. I recognise some of them as also being Ancestry matches, but they either have no family tree gedcom, no ancestral names, or only ancestral names born in the USA none of which match my ancestral names (and the same on Ancestry).

I generally know who in the family migrated to the US or Australia in the 19th century, and I am fairly certain that very few did so before 1800, so I stumped at how to find the links. Especially those who are supposedly in the 2-4th cousin range.

Mary from Italy

07-07-21, 20:11

Just had an email from them with the following update:

"We recently announced exciting updates to the platform and our services, including improvements to our autosomal (Family Finder) matching algorithm. As we continue to refine the recent update to Family Finder matches , some customers may experience fluctuations in their match list as we synchronize matches. We expect to have this sync completed by July 23rd."

Mary from Italy

07-07-21, 20:14

marquette

07-07-21, 22:33

This sounds potentially interesting:

"New Feature Coming Soon — Chromosome Painter
Later in July, we’ll be releasing the new Chromosome Painter feature for Family Finder! The Chromosome Painter is another way to explore your myOrigins results. It paints segments of your genome with colors that represent the populations in your results. The Chromosome Painter goes beyond telling you your percentages by revealing from where each DNA segment in your ancestry originates."

This sounds interesting - do you think that it means you can work out where your DNA matches someone else and then where the DNA is likely to originate from?

It might mean a couple of steps - comparing the chromosome matches with another person, then going back to the Chromosome Painter to see what the results tell you?

Maybe that would be helpful as you could potentially work out which family might be the common one - at least for me as my ancestors came to Australia from lots of different places.

I guess it depends how specific it will be.

Di

Mary from Italy

08-07-21, 22:05

This sounds interesting - do you think that it means you can work out where your DNA matches someone else and then where the DNA is likely to originate from?

That's what it sounds like to me, but I'm no expert.

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:04

I reported the Notes problem to FtDNA, and this was the reply:

We recommend using Microsoft desktop and Google Chrome as they are more compatible with our features. You may experience incompatibility
issues using different browsers, Apple products, and cell phones.

I politely suggested they might like to tweak the code to make it compatible at least with all the major browsers.

kiterunner

17-07-21, 22:09

I wonder what Microsoft Desktop is? I suppose I will try using Google Chrome next time I look at my matches, but I thought I would wait till July 23rd when they are supposed to settle down.

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:15

There's a preview here of what the chromosome painter should look like:

https://dna-explained.com/2020/02/28/sneak-preview-familytreednas-myorigins-version-3-0/

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:17

I wonder what Microsoft Desktop is? I suppose I will try using Google Chrome next time I look at my matches, but I thought I would wait till July 23rd when they are supposed to settle down.

I think they just mean a desktop computer running Windows.

I only have Chrome on my Android phone, and although it lets me write notes, I can't save them, and I don't really want to use Chrome on the desktop.

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:20

This FtDNA forum post explains a bit about the chromosome painter. It sounds awfully complicated...

https://forums.familytreedna.com/forum/universal-lineage-testing-autosomal-dna/myorigins-basics/330982-ftdna-chromosome-painter-preview

kiterunner

17-07-21, 22:34

Okay, I had a quick try using Google Chrome on my Windows laptop and it wouldn't let me add notes. I can't imagine there is any difference between a desktop and a laptop in that respect.

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:46

No, there shouldn't be. How odd!

Mary from Italy

17-07-21, 22:48

I saw on my phone that there's an edit button at the bottom right of the Notes page. Unless you click on that, you can't write notes. Did you find it?

kiterunner

17-07-21, 22:57

No, I don't see it. Maybe it will show up on the desktop and prove me wrong!The desktop's screen is bigger. I'll have a look tomorrow.

kiterunner

18-07-21, 09:17

Oh, except I just realised I can't use Google Chrome on this desktop computer! But I tried a browser which is based on Chrome, and yes, I get the EDIT button on this computer and can type in a note and save it. Thank you! I guess I would have to zoom out in my browser on the laptop to be able to do the same.

Mary from Italy

18-07-21, 20:45

I could have sworn I'd tried zooming out with no luck, but I've just had a go, and it works for me too, on Firefox! It still doesn't work on Opera, which I generally use (I can edit but not save), but I can live with that.

It still needs tweaking, though, because as you found, the Edit button's initially invisible, so nobody's going to think of zooming out.

kiterunner

24-07-21, 09:10

I was hoping that after the 23rd of July, the "generating matches - please wait" message wouldn't appear any more, but it still does. I am interested to see that I now have a match which is classed as maternal, although my mother hasn't taken a DNA test. It can't just be that they class all which are not paternal as maternal, or I would have more than one! I wonder why that particular match? We only share 12 cM's. I have clicked to see matches in common with them but I have to wait for "generating matches" all over again. It's taking a long time - will it have to do this every time I want to look at matches in common with anyone?!

kiterunner

24-07-21, 09:22

Having looked at the "help" section, I think it has classed this person as a maternal match because their family tree links with mine on that side? I had a quick look at their tree to try to see where it linked but then I got an error message before I could see anything that I recognised.

However, to get to their tree I had to open my match list in another tab, and I can say for sure that the match list "fluctuation" which was supposed to be over by 23rd July is still going on, since in one tab I have 4403 paternal matches out of 9359, and in the other 5569 out of 9359.

Mary from Italy

01-09-21, 22:54

The new chromosome painter has now gone live.

I'm still trying to work out how to do anything useful with it.

kiterunner

15-09-21, 18:12

Yesterday I had a total of 9457 matches, 5619 paternal, and now I have 9458 matches, 5624 paternal. So have I got 5 new matches, all paternal, and 4 old maternal matches have deleted their accounts? Or are they still not sure which matches are paternal and which aren't, even though my Dad's DNA is also on there?

kiterunner

21-09-21, 17:23

I'm trying to work through my list of matches, but it is very slow progress, because every time I click to view the "in common with" for a match, there is no way of getting back to the position in the list that I was up to, and I have to start paging through from the beginning of the list all over again. (It is not like Ancestry, where you can avoid that problem by right-clicking each time and opening in a new tab - there is no option to do that on FTDNA.) I would really like to be able to see how many matches in common each entry has before clicking, so I could not bother with the many which have thousands, and just concentrate on those with a manageable number of matches in common.

Mary from Italy

22-09-21, 16:32

Yes, that's really irritating.

Mary from Italy

22-09-21, 16:35

This sounds interesting - do you think that it means you can work out where your DNA matches someone else and then where the DNA is likely to originate from?

That's what I was hoping, but the chromosome painter seems to be fairly useless, except for people who have unusual ethnicities, because it only paints on the basis of ethnic origin.

There is a website that paints on the basis of your matches, but I haven't tried it yet:

https://dnapainter.com/blog/why-map-your-chromosomes/

kiterunner

22-09-21, 16:51

I have tried out DNA Painter and it was easier than I thought it would be. You can copy and paste the info from FTDNA, GEDmatch, etc into DNA Painter.

Mary from Italy

22-09-21, 23:25

Did you find it useful?

kiterunner

23-09-21, 09:16

Up to a point - it confirmed which segments were Ashkenazi Jewish. I am planning to go back to it some time and get more done.

Mary from Italy

23-09-21, 16:09

I might try it with some of my lines, although none of them have unusual ethnicities.

kiterunner

23-09-21, 16:51

Maybe I should explain what I mean - DNA Painter didn't tell me the ethnicity of any segments but it was easy to see which ones came from my Jewish great-grandparent because each time I added a new match it would tell me which previous matches it overlapped with, and which ancestor I had labelled those matches as.

Mary from Italy

23-09-21, 18:13

OK, thanks. So it may come in useful for some of my lines, to see which side of the family they come from.

Pity Ancestry doesn't give chromosome details; I wonder if they will eventually?