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

Ancestry is where the research happens. It is not where a tree gets printed, and anyone who has tried to get a big family onto one sheet from the tree view already knows that. This guide gets your tree out of Ancestry as a GEDCOM file, draws it in Draw My Tree, and gives you a vector PDF that prints at any size, from a letter-sized page to a wall chart. It takes about ten minutes, and the file you end up with is yours to reprint whenever the research changes.

Why Ancestry's own print options fall short

Ancestry can print what is on the screen, a few generations at a time, in the layout the tree view happens to use. For a small family that is fine. For anything larger 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. That is a legitimate product and a different one: you are buying a physical print with a fixed design, and you buy it again when the tree changes. What most people want when they search for this is a file: something to send to a local print shop, frame for a parent, or hand out at a reunion, and reprint next year with the new cousin added. That is what this guide produces.

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 .ged file. It 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. More on what carries over in Import a GEDCOM from Ancestry, MyHeritage or FamilySearch.

Step 2: import it and choose a layout

Create a free account and create a tree.
Click Import on the rail, choose Replace entire tree if the tree is empty, and drop the .ged file in.
Click Preview. You'll see how many people, relationships, events and notes were found, 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 follows what you have on screen when you choose the viewport scope.
A look. Card shape, typeface, colours, whether photos show, whether dates show. The export can also be re-themed with 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 the size is chosen at print time rather than at export time.

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 costs nothing extra and works for a branch or a small family. Use the PDF and "fit to page".
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. This is the reprint-friendly route: when the research changes, export again and print again for the price of one poster.
A wall-chart service draws the chart for you from your data and ships a print. It suits a one-off gift when you want someone else to do the layout. The trade-off is the same as MyCanvas: the design is theirs, and an update means buying again.

Getting a big tree onto one page

Everyone asks this, so here is the honest version. A tree of a few hundred people cannot be legible on one letter-sized sheet; there is not enough paper. What works:

Print one branch per page. Focus on one ancestor's descendants, export the viewport, repeat for the next ancestor. 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. One portrait per person comes with a Keepsake Export; albums come with the Family Plan.

Are living relatives hidden? On a printed tree, you decide. The privacy protection that hides living people applies to public share links; a print is yours, so review it before handing it out, and hide dates if that is the concern.

Can I reprint after the research changes? Yes, and that is the point of having the file. Import the new GEDCOM with the Merge fields or Overwrite conflicts strategy, or edit in place, then export again.

What does it cost? Importing and drawing the tree is free. The print-ready PDF, SVG and full-resolution PNG come with a one-time Keepsake Export 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, or read Print your family tree for the formats and settings in detail.