You’ve poured so much effort into your family tree… it would be such a shame to lose the results of all that hard work!
When you build a family tree on MyHeritage, any changes you make are saved and preserved on the website. But it’s always a good idea to have precious data backed up in more than one place.
Preserve your family tree on MyHeritage
Here are three ways to back up your MyHeritage family tree.
Backup service
MyHeritage offers a paid backup service that creates a downloadable backup file every month and emails you the link. The service is separate from the subscriptions, so it’s available to any MyHeritage user. To activate the service, hover your cursor over the “Family tree” tab in the navigation bar, select “More,” and then click “Backup” and follow the subsequent steps.
This is the best way to back up your MyHeritage tree because it preserves all the information you’ve entered, including the photos, and it does so on an automatic monthly basis, so you don’t need to remember to do it. Just click the download link emailed to you and save the file to your computer.
Export a GEDCOM
Another way to back up your tree is to export it as a GEDCOM. A GEDCOM is a plain-text file that contains genealogical information and can be used to recreate a family tree on MyHeritage and other genealogy platforms. It can’t preserve photographs, but when you export a GEDCOM from MyHeritage, it does preserve links to photographs.
To export a GEDCOM file of your tree, hover your cursor over the “Family tree” tab in the navigation bar and select “Manage trees.”
Then, locate the tree you’d like to back up, and click “Export to GEDCOM” in the Actions column.
Indicate whether you’d like to export photos and family photo albums, and then click “Begin the export.”
Print a hard copy
This method may be a little old-school, but some people feel more secure knowing that their data is on paper and not just floating somewhere in cyberspace.
There are two ways to print a hard copy of your family tree. One is to produce a family tree chart, which displays the names, connections, photos, and birth and death dates. The other is to print a family book, which contains all the information you’ve stored on your family tree about each of the individuals.
The family chart is easier on the eyes, while the family book is more thorough and might be a better option if what you’re looking to do is create a comprehensive backup for your tree. You can learn how to produce a family chart or book on MyHeritage by reading this article: How to Create a Family Tree Chart or Book on MyHeritage