I am aware of what the slider bars do, and if you have to manually enter the number to expand the slider bars, this defeats their purpose hence they are pretty much useless. Much the same as the decimal places.
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Add the Relationship Calculator tool to the Person’s DNA page and prefill the Relationship Calculator with the Person 2 RM name. Sometimes my match shares more than one MRCA and the Relationship Calculator helps identify the other MRCA.
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I echo all the comments about adding a column for the MRCA couple. The information must already be available since the new DNA table identifies the tree relationship – second cousin, third cousin once removed, etc. That can’t be done without knowing the MCRA. The main advantage of the MRCA is knowing which branch the DNA match is in. For instance, a third cousin could be from any of eight great-great grandparent lines.
Question for dcslatter: Where do you find the DNA symbol you use in your prefixes and suffixes? I have looked for one in RM’s Character Map (thousands of choices), but can’t find one anywhere. So I identify matches with a heart symbol (
) for lack of a better choice. Thanks.
You can copy it from that post above or it can be found by browser search for the phrase:
Unicode DNA Double Helix
Thanks. I tried to copy the symbol from dcslatter’s post but, apparently, it does not copy as the unicode symbol itself but shows as 
But the Unicode search yielded what I needed. I thought, surely, with the enormous number of characters available in RM’s Character Map, it would be there somewhere. Anyway, this solves the problem. I identify all the people in my RM database with their Ahnentafel number in the Fact “REFN” and add if they are a proven DNA match.
Yes, the forum software recognizes that icon and converts it to a shorthand token different from the Unicode character. Sorry I didn’t check before recommending that.
No Problem! You got me on to the right Unicode, and I am implementing it. Can’[t tell you how long I looked for it, and it is NOT in RM’s Character Set.
Continuing the discussion from RM10 - DNA Capabilities:
Addition of the DNA match to RM10 is a valuable feature, The Kinship DNA report has key elements needed to identify, track, and organize DNA matches but MRCA (single or multiple) missing. I have a large list of matches but no way to sort them by generation or Connon Ancestors. A good report that could be link DNA matches and groups of cousins would be helpful. On another topic I see most matches agree with the Predicted DNA Relationship. But some add a long list of possible relationships that do not reflect my understanding of the connection. Where does the data come from in the long description?
I’m betting the answer is yes. I would definitely like to be able to open the person edit window for a match by clicking on it…I’ve clicked a dozen time hoping it will magically start working 
Yes, definitely, a column for MCRA is on my wish list.
Jim Bartlett described a spreadsheet that is useful in tracking and sorting DNA matches See his blog Segmentology Common Ancestor Spreadsheet The new features in RM10 are a big step in that direction. I have added custom facts to use this sheet with god results. Is there a path that will integrate RM DNA matches with this approach? Some key facts needed are:
• Test taker
• Company
• Match Name
• cM
• Segment
• Ahnentafel
• Cousin relationship
• Ancestor couple (MRCA)
• …
In the Person DNA Screen - It would greatly help to be able to change the colors. And to see what the colors mean by clicking on the color (like on the other screens)
I would like to take one color group and use it to tag those who share DNA.
It would also be nice to have a tool or button to set the color of my shared match at one time.
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I’d like to echo all the compliments for adding DNA capabilities to RM 10!
And of course, add my requests
This should be easy - add GEDMatch to the list of providers or make a way to define your own new provider.
More difficult - add a more appropriate fact for Y DNA testing and mitochondrial testing. Almost all of my current work is with Y DNA testing, and I need to add both STRs and SNPs to the fact. Also need Haplogroups! I know it is complicated because it keeps changing, but at the least we should be able to enter both a top level haplogroup and a “most specific” haplogroup.
Confirming requests have been reported to development.
I’ve got some requests and bugs too!
- If you enter a label for a person (because you can’t see their name) and then you share the match, the label should be copied. E.g. I have a shared match with J.D., I share it with my mom. Then go to mom’s record, and she only sees Unknown, Unknown with no label. Because I have I have her CMs too, I can’t figure out which one of the Unknown, Unknown it is. I have to go back to my record, find the ID then go back to moms and use the ID to locate.
- Same as above, but the DNA provider doesn’t go either. Mine all marked Ancestry, share matches with mom, but her’s are Unknown. I have to set them all back to Ancestry.
- Change the sort order on matches, edit a match, go back to list - sort order lost. Have to resort.
- No way to search the match list to jump to a person - should search by First, Name, Label.
- No way to filter the match list to people within a range of CMs.
- No way to indicate a match is maternal or paternal or unassigned (should be a radio button or check box).
- No way to colour code people. Ancestry allows colours. It would be nice to multi select and add a colour code that matches Ancestry (with a colour picker).
- No way to filter from main screen on people with DNA test.
- No way to separate the random 2nd tree from all the DNA unknown unknowns. Now the multi tree identifying feature is useless because loads of people are in their own tree.
- DNA relationship list. Everyone or a group. Ideally I’d like to create a group of people with DNA matches with my mom. DNA matches doesn’t seem to be an option in creating a group? Then instead of selecting everyone, I can select anyone with a DNA match to my mom, ideally also like to exclude those with known relationships in tree. So now I have a list of people to identify.
- LEEDs report. Should have option to print the parameters selected e.g. 90-300 CMs or whatever. Should have option to add other fields - e.g. note and the maternal/paternal/unassigned field. Would help identify the cluster as being maternal paternal, or if note is used to store a couple or surname.
- Duplicates aren’t obvious. DNA match uses married name of Jane Doe in Ancestry. But her record is Jane Smith (maiden name) and she is married to John Doe. Shouldn’t it suggest Jane Doe might be Jane Smith because she should have two names (Jane Doe and Jane Smith)? It doesn’t suggest this on match add. I had a lot of duplicates to clean up as a result.
- Main search should search label field. If I’m looking for label J.D. I should be able to find it without needing to know which person the match is attached to (mom, dad, me).
- LEEDS report. Label does not print. Lots of Unknown Unknown - 12345.
Several of these were fixed in update 10.0.1 - if it was created previously with an unknown or saved with only a label you will need to fix it.
9. Not sure I follow this one.
All other items reported. Here are some additional notes.
7. Color code will show on the DNA Match list. Make sure you have the correct Color Code Set displayed.
10. The DNA Kinship List can be filtered to a group. As you add DNA Matches create a group. The Edit Person screen can be left open as you move to the main program screen to add them to a group. I actually created my group first before adding the DNA Matches.
11. The Leeds report title can be edited to include this information
12. That’s outside of RM scope. You will need to determine if they are the same individuals across different test providers. If they have tested in more than one place then add multiple tests for them. Each showing a different test provider. Add their shared matches with that test provider.
#9. Run Count Trees. I used to have 1, now I’ve got a 100 all with 1 person in them.
#12. It is in RM scope. I add a DNA match - I get 2 options - add new or add existing. When I add new, it checks if the person exists, and offers to let me use that person. The only problem is in Ancestry (and probably other providers) user names are often married names not maiden names. I would think Rootsmagic would store both a woman’s married and maiden, and if you enter the married suggest it could be the same person.
And thanks for your help with this! I have high hopes of figuring out my 1 missing GGG GF with this feature.
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As excepted if you are adding unlinked people to the database. I normally don’t put identifiers in the Prefix or Suffix fields but with DNA I have started to. I add (DNA) to the suffix so under count trees I know why that 1 person tree is in there. It can also work for Associations (FAN).
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You can add a married name as an alternate name fact in RM. Then display the alternate names when selecting an existing person. Another way of checking is to use “,given name” then check on the Spouse tab for that surname. Otherwise, the married name search is on the Search, Person Search tab.
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Back to 9. I know this is somewhat expected and I can’t really think of a way to avoid it. DNA in the suffix is a bit of a workaround.
Ideally RM should add a DNA test event to these people automatically when you enter a test or shared match. And also offer to remove it if you remove the match. If it did, I could create a rule based group for DNA test = Yes, and DNA test = No.
The reason for my wanting an automatic group for DNA=No, is that when I’m doing the Treeshare for Ancestry - I now have to upload all the match people as there’s no easy way to exclude them (yes your DNA idea works because I could see it in the name) but given there are groups, I could select DNA = No as a group and work my way through those people.
Additionally, you could then have an option in the Count Trees to exclude trees of 1 person where DNA Test = Yes (called Exclude DNA match trees).
Just a few thoughts on trying to use these features…
I could really benefit from further RM videos on how the DNA feature is designed to be used and in what order the steps should be followed. Or has all this been documented in a new manual?
I think this is the order?
- Add matches (this has to come before shared matches, or the matches won’t exist to share)
- Add shared matches - is this the next step?
- Add trees for matches where common ancestor is known?
- LEED report and clustering? - what should exist before you try clustering matches (obviously 1 and 2 - what about 3?). How can I store information about the cluster the match is in? There is nowhere to put it. So right now I’m scribbling on the very top of the printed cluster report (it would be nice if there were some empty boxes to “name your clusters”).
- Put clustered people in their own group?
- DNA relationship list (to identify the blanks) - this is the DO GENEALOGY step (per Diane Southard). Filter by cluster to work on a specific line?
When should I update ancestry? Note, this might add more generations if the match isn’t doing genealogy or maintaining their tree.
Thoughts?