How do I export my family tree from MyHeritage?
On the website, hover over Family tree and click Manage Trees. Next to the tree you want, click Export to GEDCOM. On the following page choose whether to include photos, then click Begin the export. Family Tree Builder on the desktop is a separate route with more control.
- Sign in to your family site.
- Hover over Family tree in the top navigation and click Manage Trees.
- In the row for your tree, on the right, click Export to GEDCOM.
- Choose whether to include photos, then click Begin the export.
Those are the steps in MyHeritage's own help article for exporting from a family site. The article stops at Begin the export and does not say what happens next, so expect either a direct download or an email with a link, and do not be alarmed by whichever you get. Other sites state the email version confidently; MyHeritage does not.
What does the photo option in the MyHeritage export actually do?
Less than the wording suggests. MyHeritage's own note says a GEDCOM is a text file that does not contain the actual photos and may only carry links to where they live. So the toggle governs photo links, not the images themselves. Ticking it does not put your pictures in the file.
Those links are still worth keeping, with one caveat: they point back at MyHeritage, so they reconnect if you re-import the file to MyHeritage and mean little anywhere else. If what you actually want is your photographs on your own disk, the website export is the wrong tool. Family Tree Builder or the Backup service is the answer, and both are covered below.
How do I export a GEDCOM from Family Tree Builder?
Open your project, then File and Export GEDCOM. Name the file, choose where to save it, and step through the wizard. Two things the website cannot do appear here: it writes your photo files into a sub-folder next to the GEDCOM, and it can export selected branches instead of everyone.
- Open the tree in Family Tree Builder.
- Click File in the top menu and choose Export GEDCOM.
- Click Save as to name the file. The project's current name is filled in already.
- If photos are attached, the program offers to create a sub-folder and export the photos into it.
- Pick the location and name, click Save, then Next.
- Optionally add author information and click Next. If the project holds more than one language, choose the export language here.
- Leave the next screen alone to export everyone, or choose Include only selected people to export specific branches.
- Click Open Folder to see the file, or Finish.
This is the route to take if you are leaving MyHeritage and want your media as well as your facts, per MyHeritage's Family Tree Builder export article. Neither route documents which GEDCOM version it writes, so check the file itself if the receiving program is fussy.
Which MyHeritage export should I use?
Use the website export for a quick portable copy of the facts. Use Family Tree Builder when you want the photo files too, or only part of the tree. Use the paid Backup service when what you actually mean is a monthly safety net rather than a file to take elsewhere.
| Route | Gives you | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Website, Export to GEDCOM | A .ged of the tree, with photo links at most | You want a portable copy or are moving to another program |
| Family Tree Builder, File then Export GEDCOM | A .ged plus your photo files in a sub-folder, whole tree or selected branches | You want the media, or only one branch |
| Backup service (paid) | Monthly backup including photos, videos and documents | You want protection against losing the tree, not a file to import elsewhere |
Is the MyHeritage Backup service the same as a GEDCOM export?
No, and the difference matters. Backup is a paid service, separate from a Premium family site subscription. It runs monthly, emails you a download link, keeps past months so you can restore from six months ago, and password-protects the archive. Unlike the website GEDCOM, it includes your actual media.
It does not include everything, though: other users' comments, Inbox messages, Smart Matches, and Charts and Reports are all left out, per MyHeritage's description of the online backup service. You will find it on the site under Family Tree, then More, then Backup. A backup is not a migration path, so if the goal is to move platforms, take the GEDCOM as well.
What is not documented about the MyHeritage export?
Three things people ask about and MyHeritage's own pages do not answer: whether source citations and note text come across, how living relatives are handled, and whether a free account can export at all. We would rather flag the gaps than invent answers for them.
The 250-person limit you will see quoted is a limit on free tree size, not a limit on exporting, so do not read it as an export cap. No wait time or file-size limit is published for either route either. As with any export, the fastest way to settle what your file actually contains is to look: the GEDCOM validator counts sources and notes and flags broken references, and the GEDCOM converter gives you a spreadsheet with a citation count per person.
What do I do with the .ged file once I have it?
Open it, check it, or convert it, all of which take seconds in a browser and none of which need an account. After that, the file imports into any serious tree program, including the other big platforms, so nothing about holding the export narrows your options.
- See it as a chart in the GEDCOM viewer, which confirms in one glance that the export is complete.
- Score its health in the GEDCOM validator.
- Turn it into a spreadsheet or a single branch with the GEDCOM converter, or read GEDCOM to Excel first.
Bringing it into AncestorIQ is the option where the export becomes a live project again rather than a file in a folder: Deep Research goes looking for the records behind your dead ends. Never opened a .ged before? Start with how to open a GEDCOM file. Moving a tree off Ancestry as well? The Ancestry export guide covers that path, and FamilySearch is a stranger case worth reading before you try it.
