Transfer AncestryDNA Ownership

I had a friend ask “Do you know how to allow someone to be an Administrator of your DNA results? I searched the Help and found an article from March 29, 2017 that only shows Guest and Editor. Surely, they didn’t take Administrator away?”

My answer, Yes and No and don’t call me Shirley!

Joking aside, Ancestry has tightened it rules when it comes to activating a new DNA Test. They are just making sure that each person who test has agreed to it or is legally authorized to give permission for the tester.

I found the following blog post on The DNA Geek as follows: http://thednageek.com/upcoming-changes-to-kit-registration-at-ancestrydna-keep-calm-and-carry-on/. It explains why AncestryDNA is doing this and what it means for you. The DNA Geek even explains that it might be an inconvenience to have to log into each account separately, but it is not the end of the world.

I agree that it is not the end of the world, I currently have to login into separate accounts for the test that I administer through FTDNA. However, I am glad that I can easily change between the tests that I administer via AncestryDNA by using the “View Another Test” drop down located in the upper right hand of the screen when go to view “Your DNA Results Summary” from the top Menu bar in Ancestry, under the DNA option. 23andMe has a similar option for viewing multiple tests that you administer.

After my friend asks me this question, I decided to take a look around and see if there was a way to change the administrator.  

Lo and behold, I found on Ancestry Support “Transferring DNA Results between Accounts”. YES! You can view the help article that was created on Mar 29, 2017 here https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/ka215000000U0DYAA0/Transferring-DNA-Results-Between-Accounts?t=1486223673341.

The article states you can move DNA results from one account to another by transferring the administrator rights of the DNA test.  Basically the soon to be old administrator grants the future administrator editor rights to their test. Once the future administrator accepts the invitation, the soon to be old administrator goes into their DNA settings and scrolls down to Sharing DNA results section and clicks the transfer your administrator rights. A few more clicks and the test administrator ownership is transferred.  Ancestry Support has easy to follow instructions with screen shots.

My friend was able to do this and now she administers her newly found half-brother’s test results. He isn’t that much into genealogy and his DNA results were matching many more of their shared Father’s relatives.