# Treeshare and Ancestry **URL:** \ **Category:** RootsMagic\ **Tags:** question, rootsmagic\ **Created:** [September 19, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249 "2026-09-19T09:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/1 "2026-09-19T09:26:52Z")
I have a tree on Ancestry and RM11. When I go into treeshare to download changes I get asked to start a new tree. I don’t want yet another tree I want the RM tree to be the same as Ancestry tree. Maybe I’m stupid but I cannot see how to do this. Do I have to delete my RM tree then download Ancestry again as if it is new? ---
**Author:** ![BobC](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/bobc/32/6195_2.png) [@BobC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/BobC)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 11:45am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/2 "2026-09-19T11:45:04Z")
You cannot attach an existing RM tree to an existing A\* tree or vice versa. The issue is that A\* does not permit it in their API. Only upload to a new A\* tree or download an A\* tree to a new RM tree. You should look at the RM “Help” entry for TreeShare, read the document referred to in the “Help” entry, or watch the RM TV video on TreeShare because the functionality has not changed much since TreeShare was introduced. To get both trees the same will require a lot of work and most people will say to decide which tree is going to be your master tree and either upload or download that tree and go from there. ---
**Author:** ![MadDog](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/maddog/32/313_2.png) [@MadDog](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/MadDog)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/3 "2026-09-19T12:35:07Z")
You statement indicates that they are NOT connected via TreeShare. IF they were ever connected the only way to reconnect them is to do a Restore of a backup. If you do that you will lose any recent changes. You can download from Ancestry and give the database a different name so you still have the old one. They will then be connected. ---
**Author:** ![thejerrybryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/thejerrybryan/32/404_2.png) [@thejerrybryan](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/thejerrybryan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/4 "2026-09-19T13:35:16Z")
> [@BobC](#): > > The issue is that A\* does not permit it in their API. I’m pretty sure the issue of not being able to connect an existing RM database with an existing Ancestry tree is not in the Ancestry API, and that rather the issue is on the TreeShare side of the house. By analogy, think about the way RM’s FamilySearch Central interacts with FamilySearch. Existing people in RM can be “matched” with existing people in FamilySearch. Typically, I do the matching manually, one person at a time. There also is an auto-match feature, but it can take hours and it does not sync any data. Also, the auto-match feature of necessity involves a certain amount of guesswork, and guesses can be wrong. Connecting an existing RM database with an existing Ancestry tree would require a similar matching capability. It seems to me that the RM developers simply chose not to implement such a matching feature in TreeShare. There does exist a kind of matching between RM and Ancestry when you use TreeShare because TreeShare does know which person in RM matches which person in Ancestry. But the matching is achieved at the time an Ancestry tree is copied to a new and empty RM database or vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![thejerrybryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/thejerrybryan/32/404_2.png) [@thejerrybryan](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/thejerrybryan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/5 "2026-09-19T13:40:06Z")
> [@CraigSouth](#): > > When I go into treeshare to download changes I get asked to start a new tree. There is something that doesn’t quite sound right about that scenario. After an initial TreeShare, whether from RM to Ancestry or from Ancestry to RM, your RM database and your Ancestry tree will be connected. You can then use TreeShare to download changes from Ancestry to RM or to upload changes from RM to Ancestry. Did you do the initial TreeShare to download everybody from Ancestry to a RM database or to upload from RM to a new Ancestry tree? If so, has anything happened that would cause the RM database and the Ancestry tree to become disconnected? ---
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/6 "2026-09-19T14:02:31Z")
This sounds right. I am new to using RM though I have had it for some years on computer. However I did leave Windows for Linux so couldn’t use RM. I downloaded another tree and that just connected. The first, main, tree did not do that. I think I shall download again with a different name as you suggested ---
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/7 "2026-09-19T14:03:03Z")
Help needs me to ask the correct questions which I did not know ---
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/8 "2026-09-19T14:03:37Z")
Thank you. I’ll try to “start again” lol ---
**Author:** ![nkess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@nkess](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/nkess)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/9 "2026-09-19T16:31:38Z")
Click on this link and it will show you the help for all on-line services-- click on Ancestry for tree share > **[Online Features](https://help.rootsmagic.com/RM11/online-features.html)** > > RootsMagic provides a number of ways to share your information online, or keep track of where information may reside online. and here is a link to Bruce’s video on tree share-- made many years ago BUT basically works the same except the long in > **[RootsMagic and tree share - Yahoo Search Results Yahoo Search Results](https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrEqfp2uK5qnAIAO8cPxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_009&type=dpp_vvldnu_00_00¶m1=1¶m2=pa%3Ddowncoll%26b%3DVivaldi&p=RootsMagic+and+tree+share&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_009&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoDOlq7EFIWA)** ---
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2026, 5:37am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/10 "2026-09-20T05:37:05Z")
Thank you. I will look at these too ---
**Author:** ![gallde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/edb3f5/32.png) [@gallde](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/gallde)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 3:40am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/11 "2026-09-26T03:40:49Z")
Be aware that if you replace your Ancestry tree with a new upload from RM, ALL your WebHints will be reset as if you had never accepted or rejected them. ---
**Author:** ![CraigSouth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/craigsouth/32/6676_2.png) [@CraigSouth](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/CraigSouth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 9:24am UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/treeshare-and-ancestry/16249/12 "2026-09-26T09:24:49Z")
Thank you for that. I didn’t know that. I was thinking of replacing the rm tree with my current Ancestry tree. I made a new tree for my adopted family and that one linked. The Bio family tree did not link but I was thinking deleting it from RM and then downloading it as if a new tree would work. I am also thinking to just use my Ancestry tree and backing ip up regularly. Haven’t made my mind up but I think the first option is ahead