How to print your Ancestry family tree as a PDF or poster

Ancestry prints a few generations at a time, so a large tree comes out on several sheets. To print your Ancestry family tree as one PDF or poster, export it as a GEDCOM file, draw it in Draw My Tree, and download a vector PDF that prints at any size, from a letter-sized page to a wall chart. It takes about ten minutes, and you can export again whenever the research changes.

A four-generation family tree in the Old fashioned look, ready to print — A four-generation tree in the Old fashioned look. The Castillo family is an invented example.

What Ancestry's own printing does

Ancestry can print what is on the screen, a few generations at a time, in the layout the tree view happens to use. For more than a few generations it means several sheets, small type, and no say in how the result looks.

Ancestry's partner MyCanvas sells printed posters and books, shipped to you. You get a physical print with a fixed design, and you buy it again when the tree changes. Export a GEDCOM and print it as a file you control, and export again whenever the research changes.

Step 1: export a GEDCOM from Ancestry

Open your tree on Ancestry.
Go to Trees → Tree settings.
Under Manage your tree, click Export tree, then download the file when it is ready.

You get a .zip with a .ged file inside. Import the .zip as it downloaded; there is no need to unzip it. The GEDCOM carries names, dates, places, relationships, and notes. It does not carry the photographs attached to people in Ancestry; those stay behind and can be added again later. What carries over, measured on real Ancestry exports, is in Import a GEDCOM from Ancestry, MyHeritage or another app.

Step 2: import it and choose a layout

Create a free account and create a tree.
Click Import on the rail and drop the .zip in.
The preview appears as soon as the file is read, with how many people, relationships, person details, events and media the import will add or update, plus any warnings for tags Ancestry wrote that have no home here.
Click Apply import.

The tree is drawn straight away with the generations lined up and the couples side by side. Now decide what the print should show:

The whole tree is the default, and a vector PDF handles a big one.
One line reads better on a wall: focus on a single person's ancestors or descendants, or pick two people and show only the line between them. The export draws whatever the tree shows, so the focus carries into the print. (What's on screen under Content crops the print to the part of the canvas you have zoomed to.)
A look. Card shape, typeface, colors, whether photos show, whether dates show. The export can use any preset without touching the tree on screen, so you can print a formal chart and a warmer one from the same data.

Step 3: pick a size

Draw My Tree exports the tree as a vector PDF, which means it has no fixed size. The same file prints sharp at any dimension, so you choose the size when you print.

Letter or A4, at home. Print the PDF with "fit to page". A tree of two or three generations reads well; beyond that the cards get small, so use a focus filter to print one branch per page instead.
Tabloid or A3. Twice the area, still a home or office printer. Four generations fit comfortably.
Poster and wall chart. Take the PDF to a print shop or an online poster printer and ask for the width you want; 24, 36 or 48 inches wide are common. The cards stay crisp because the file is vector. SVG works for the same purpose if a printer prefers it.

If you want the largest tree on the smallest sheet, see the section on one page below.

Printing at home vs a print shop vs a wall-chart service

At home works for a branch or a small family. Print the PDF a Keepsake gives you with "fit to page", or on Letter or A4 sheets you tape together.
A print shop (a local copy shop, or an online poster printer) is the right choice for a full tree. Send the PDF, choose the width, choose paper. When the research changes, export again and print again for the price of one poster.
A wall-chart service draws the chart from your data and ships a print. The design is theirs, and an update means ordering again.

Getting a big tree onto one page

A few hundred people will not read on one letter-sized sheet. Options:

Print one branch per page. Focus on one ancestor's descendants, export, then focus on the next ancestor and repeat. A set of pages, one per branch, reads better than one crowded sheet.
Print a larger sheet. The same PDF at 36 inches wide is legible where it was not at 8.5.
Hide what is not needed. Turn off photos and dates on the cards and the cards shrink, so more fit at a readable size.
Let distant branches fold. Collapse the branches you are not printing and export what remains.

Frequently asked questions

Are photos included? Not from the GEDCOM; Ancestry does not put them in the file. Add portraits to people in Draw My Tree afterwards and they print on the cards. Every account gets one portrait per person, free; photo albums and documents come with the Family Plan.

Are living relatives hidden? Not unless you choose to. Public share links hide living people automatically; a print shows everyone the tree draws. Turn on Leave out living people in the print's people step, or in the Export panel, to leave them off, and review the print before handing it out.

Can I reprint after the research changes? Yes. Import the new GEDCOM with Fill in missing information to keep saved details, or Use information from file to replace them. Review how records match and check the preview, since different IDs can add a second copy of the same person. You can also edit in place, then export again.

What does it cost? Importing and drawing the tree is free. A free account sees the print and downloads a watermarked picture of it at screen size. Printing at any paper or poster size, the print-ready PDF, SVG and full-resolution PNG come with a one-time Keepsake for that tree, or with the Family Plan for every tree; prices are on the pricing page. A guest tree exports a watermarked PNG for free if you only want to try the layout.

Start with your Ancestry export.