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Quick Tip – Working With Match Notifications from Family Tree DNA

Roberta Estes

Have you ever wondered WHY you received yet another match notification e-mail from Family Tree DNA?  Do you have trouble finding the new match they are referring to?

When you receive a match notification from Family Tree DNA that you have new matches, it’s exciting, ESPECIALLY if you have a high resolution match.

However, sometimes match notifications can be confusing, so here are 4 quick tips for you to get the most out of those match notifications.

Of course, the first thing you want to do is to click on the blue “VIEW MY MATCHES” link to see who’s new in the genetic neighborhood.

However, you may not see a new match when you first view your page. Here are some reasons why and the resolution is super easy.

Tip 1 – Your Match May Show at Different Levels

Both mitochondrial and Y DNA matching occurs at different levels depending on two things:

This means that in the case of the notification above, I’m only going to find my match at the HVR1 or entry level results of my mitochondrial DNA.

However, when you click to sign in to your account through the e-mail message link, you AUTOMATICALLY see your highest level tested first.

This match is for my HVR1 level, but the first match screen I see upon signing in is full sequence results, so I won’t see my new match at this level.

Many people don’t think about the fact that they’re looking at their highest testing level, and the match may be at a lower testing level.

If your match matches you at the highest level, they are likely, but not guaranteed to match you at the lower levels too.

Whether you do or don’t match at lower levels depends on where the various mutations fall in the tested portion of your genome.

In other words, you could match at the full mitochondrial sequence level, but NOT at the HVR1 or HVR2 levels – and vice versa of course.

This is true for both mitochondrial and Y DNA which both test at various levels.

Tip 2 – Select Dropdowns to See Other Levels

You’ll notice the dropdown box, below.

Be sure to view your matches at the level that the e-mail indicates.  In my case, I need to switch to the HVR1 level.

Look, there’s my new match!  I can tell that the first person only tested at the HVR1 and HVR2 levels, and not at the full sequence level, so there is no possibility that I’ll match them at that level.

That is, unless they upgrade.

I’m going to contact my match and ask about their earliest known ancestor.  They didn’t provide that information, nor do they have a tree, so I’m going to suggest both.  If we find some commonality at that level, maybe they’ll become inspired to upgrade to the full mitochondrial level test and we can see if we continue to match there as well.

Men’s Y DNA results have different drop down match level options of course, but in essence the concept of matching at different levels is the same.

Tip 3 – Match Thresholds

Both Y and mitochondrial DNA have different matching criteria at various testing levels.

The mitochondrial DNA match threshold is shown below:

This explains why a match might show at a higher testing level, but not at a lower level. If you have one mutation and the mismatching piece of DNA occurs in the HVR1 mitochondrial region where one mismatch means you won’t be considered a match, you’ll match at the full sequence level but not at either the HVR1 or HVR2 levels.

Mismatches are shown as genetic distance on your matches page. In other words a genetic distance of 1 means you mismatch at 1 location at that testing level.  You can read about genetic distance here.

Y DNA match thresholds are shown in the table below:

For Y DNA, if your one mutation occurs in the first 12 markers, you won’t be shown as a match at that level (unless you are both in a common DNA project,) but you will be shown at higher match levels as a match.

Tip 4 – Changing Match Notifications

What, you don’t want so many match notifications?

You do have the ability to disable match notifications at any level, but be aware that DISABLING MATCH NOTIFICATIONS ALSO DISABLES MATCHING at that level. Therefore, I don’t recommend disabling match notifications beyond the HVR1 or 12 marker tests, and I personally don’t have any disabled. I do not want to miss that fateful match under any circumstances!

To change your notifications, click on the orange “Manage Personal Information” link below your profile picture on your personal page.

Then, click on “Match and E-Mail Settings” where you’ll see the following:

If you make changes, be sure to click the orange “Save” button, or it won’t.

Summary

When you receive a new match notification from Family Tree DNA, don’t forget to check each level for matching. Sorting by match date will show you which matches are the most recent.

Look for common ancestors, surnames (Y DNA) and locations.  Reach out to your matches and most of all, enjoy!

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