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Getting Started with DNAGedcom Client

Welcome to the DNAGedcom Client. This guide will walk you through what the application does, how to set it up for the first time, and how to begin gathering and analyzing your DNA data.

What is DNAGedcom?

DNAGedcom Client is a desktop application for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chromebook that gathers and analyzes DNA data from the major testing services: A*, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), MyHeritage, and GEDmatch. It downloads your matches, shared segments, In-Common-With (ICW) relationships, and family tree data into a local SQLite database, giving you a permanent, portable copy of your DNA data that you fully control.

Once your data is gathered, DNAGedcom provides powerful clustering and analysis tools to help you organize matches into meaningful groups, identify common ancestors, and visualize relationships across your DNA connections.

The Main Menu

The Client's main menu is a row of buttons across the top center of the window, just below the DNAGedcom logo. The four sections you'll move between are:

  • Home — The landing page after login (described below).
  • Gather — Collect data from DNA testing services. This is where you log in to A*, 23andMe, FTDNA, MyHeritage, or GEDmatch and download your matches, ICW relationships, chromosome segments, and family trees. See Gathering Data.
  • Autosomal — Clustering and analysis tools. Use Warthen Interactive Cluster, Collins-Leeds Method, Chromosome Matrix App, Shared Clustering, or Matches to organize your matches and explore patterns. See Autosomal Tools.
  • People — Search and tree comparison tools. Common Ancestors, My Trees, and the Kits view live here. See People & Search.

Three smaller controls live in the top-right corner of every page:

  • DB badge (the colored pill on the left of the trio) — the database status indicator. Green is the normal state. See Database Status Indicator for what each color means.
  • Gear icon — opens the Settings page (database location, credentials, preferences, and diagnostics). See Settings.
  • Door / arrow icon — logs you out of the Client. (You'll be prompted to log back in next launch.)

The Home Page

After logging in, the Home page is the first thing you see. It displays announcements (when available), update notifications when a newer version is released, and a change log for the current version.

The Home page provides three quick-action buttons:

  • Change Settings — Shortcut to the Settings page (same destination as the gear icon in the top-right). Configure your database, update preferences, and diagnostics there.
  • Manage Subscription — Opens a page that shows your current subscription level and renewal date. Despite the name, actually changing your subscription — switching tiers, billing intervals, payment methods, or cancelling — is done on dnagedcom.com, not inside the Client. The button on the Home page is read-only.
  • Open Folder — Opens your database folder in the system file explorer so you can find your database, CSV exports, and log files.

Basic Workflow

For the best results, follow this general workflow when working with a new kit:

  1. Get matches into the database. Matches are the foundation for every other data type. You can either run a matches-only gather first, or turn matches and the linked data types (ICW, trees, chromosomes) on together in a single gather — the Client gathers matches first internally and then continues. Both approaches are fine; see Tips & Tactics for the trade-off.
  2. Add ICW, trees, and chromosome data. If you didn't include them in step 1, run a follow-up gather with In-Common-With relationships, family tree data, and chromosome segment information turned on. These additional data types power the analysis tools.
  3. Run clustering tools to analyze. With match and ICW data in hand, use the Autosomal tools to cluster your matches into groups. Clusters typically correspond to ancestral lines.
  4. Use People tools to search across kits. If you manage multiple kits, the People section lets you search for surnames, ancestors, and individuals across all of your gathered data.

Work down in cM stages, don't try to grab everything at once. For a new kit, start your first gather at 30+ cM. That captures your closest, most reliable matches and finishes quickly — often in minutes instead of hours. Once that pass completes and you've had a chance to look at the results, lower the threshold (for example to 20 cM, then 12 cM, then whatever floor your service exposes) and run additional gathers to bring in more distant matches. Each subsequent pass only fetches what hasn't been gathered before, so the incremental cost stays small. Going in stages also lets you stop at the cM range that's most useful for your research goals without sitting through a multi-day gather of low-confidence small matches. See the FAQ entry “What cM range should I use?” for more on choosing thresholds.

First-Time Setup

Now that you know what each part of the Client is, here are the steps to get from a fresh install to your first gather. Each step links to the more detailed reference page if you want to dig in.

  1. Download and install the Client for your platform. Pick the right installer from Downloads and follow the matching guide: Windows (SmartScreen approval), macOS (Gatekeeper / App Management approval), Linux, or Chromebook (enables Linux development environment).
  2. Launch the application and log in with your DNAGedcom account credentials (the same username and password you use on dnagedcom.com). If you don't have an account, click the link on the login screen, or register on the website at dnagedcom.com.
  3. Open Settings by clicking the gear icon in the top-right of the window (or the “Change Settings” button on the Home page).
  4. Choose a database folder and name. This is where every kit's data, exports, and logs will live. Pick a location you can easily back up.
    Important: on Windows, the Client's default location is a hidden folder under AppData\Local\DNAGedcom. Hidden folders don't appear in File Explorer unless you've enabled “Show hidden items,” which makes your database hard to find later for backup, restore, or moving to a new computer. We strongly recommend changing this on first launch to a visible folder you'll remember — Documents\DNAGedcom works well for most people. See Database for more on naming conventions and where the file actually lives on disk.
  5. Click Save to apply your settings.
  6. Start gathering. Click Gather in the top menu, pick a DNA service, sign in to that service through the embedded browser (or with credentials, for FTDNA), and start your first gather. For a new kit we recommend a 30+ cM matches-first gather — see Tips & Tactics for the rationale and Gathering Data for the per-service details.

Next Steps

Once you've got a kit gathered, these guides will help you get more out of the data:

  • Gather Overview — per-service gather pages, configurable options, and what each data type is used for.
  • Autosomal Tools — compare the clustering and analysis tools and choose the right one for your research goals.
  • People & Search — Common Ancestors, My Trees, and the cross-kit Kits view.
  • Tips & Tactics — cM range strategy, sequential vs. combined gathers, and one-DB-vs-many guidance.
  • FAQ — the shortest answers to the most common questions.