Settings & Preferences

Accessing Settings

Click the gear icon in the application header to open the Settings page. You can also click “Change Settings” on the Home page.

Database

Database File

The database file field shows the path to your current SQLite database. Use the buttons next to it to manage your database:

• “...” Button — Browse to select an existing database file or change the database location
• “+” Button — Create a new, empty database file
• Open Folder — Opens your database folder in the file explorer so you can find your database, CSV exports, and log files

Fix Database

Click Fix Database to repair database integrity issues. Use this if you experience errors loading kits or running tools. The repair process checks and fixes common SQLite issues without losing data.

Rebuild Kit Summary

Click Rebuild Kit Summary to rebuild the kit list cache. This recalculates kit statistics (match counts, data availability) for faster loading. Use this if kit counts appear incorrect or if kits are missing from dropdowns.

Update Settings

Beta Updates

Toggle between production and beta update channels:

• Production Updates Only (default) — Only receive stable, tested releases
• Beta Updates Enabled — Receive pre-release versions with the latest features. Beta versions may contain bugs or incomplete features.

Build Notifications

Get notified by email when a new version of DNAGedcom is available.

• Notifications Enabled/Disabled — Toggle email notifications on or off
• Email Address — Enter the email address where you want to receive notifications
• Notification Channel:
  • Stable releases only (default) — Only notified for production releases
  • Include beta releases — Also notified for beta/pre-release versions

Click Save Notification Settings to register your preferences.

Diagnostics

Toggle “Help us improve our services by automatically sending anonymous diagnostic and usage data.” This sends anonymous usage telemetry to help the development team identify issues and improve the application. No personal data or DNA information is included.

Privacy

Anonymize Names

Available to Gold and Angel subscription levels. When enabled, match names are anonymized in the display. This can be useful when sharing screenshots or presenting data publicly.

Angel is a complimentary tier granted to volunteers who have been especially helpful to DNAGedcom or to the Unknown Birth Family community.

Support

Send Logs to Support

Click Send Logs to Support to copy the current day’s log file to your Desktop and open an email to support@dnagedcom.com.

The Client rotates log files once per calendar day, so “the current day’s log” means the log written since midnight local time, regardless of how long the application or any gather session has been running. If your issue happened on a previous day, attach that day’s log from your database folder manually rather than relying on the button.

When reporting issues, include:

• Your DNAGedcom username
• Client version number (shown on the login screen)
• The log file (automatically copied to Desktop)
• A description of what you were doing when the issue occurred

Home Page Information

The Home page (shown after login) displays:

• Welcome message with your username
• Current database location
• Database status (initializing, ready, or error). The same state is also shown as a colored “DB” badge in the top-right corner of every page — see Database Status Indicator for what each color means and what to do.
• Announcements (when available, shown in an orange banner)
• Update notifications when a newer version is available
• Change log for the current version
• Quick action buttons: Change Settings, Manage Subscription, Open Folder

The status colors used next to gather services and analysis tools throughout the Client (green / yellow / red / grey) are documented separately in Service Status & Weather Indicators. They use a similar palette to the DB badge but mean something different — the DB badge is about your database file; the weather indicators are about whether a feature is currently working.