My Tree Tags - Trying Out Ancestry.com's New Feature

Two weekends ago I tried using My Tree Tags on Ancestry.com and I think you'll like this new feature.  For years, I've wished that there was a way to flag my ancestors so I could create various lists of my folks.  This feature will do that and more.

To try it for yourself, click on Extras on the ribbon (it's the last entry).  Then, click on My Tree Tags.  Notice it's in Beta so it's still being improved.  I had no problems with the feature so the IT Department must have worked the bugs out long before they made the Beta available to the general public.

I know, you're thinking, "Why should I waste my time Beta testing when it isn't a finished program?"  Simply because you still have time to provide your insights to make the program even better!  You have the option to give feedback using a short survey.

Once you click Enable you are good to go.  The first change you'll notice is that the former search button for individuals is now called Tree Search.  When you click it, the Tree Search looks different then it did:

This threw me for a minute but it works the same  - just type in the individual you are trying to located in the search box and they'll display as a drop down as they did before.

To use My Tree Tags, click Filters and it will display the tag choices:

Each Filter contains more items to explore.  I personally like the Custom filter as I created one I titled "Lineage" which allows me to identify the people I selected to join various lineage societies.  In the Custom feature, you can even write a description of what the title means to you so others, if your tree is public, can better understand your definition.  I'm thinking of identifying careers as I'd like to analyze those that followed a particular career path, such as teacher, minister, or farmer.

Once you've selected tags, they will display on the Facts page under your ancestor's identifying information in white letters in a blue box:

Only 3 tags will show.  If more were selected a + and a number appears on the right; click to display the other tags that were selected:

Now here's the awesome part - say you want to find all of your military people.  When you click on Military it will display all others in your tree that you've identified with the same tag:

For the life of me, I can't figure out how the list is ordered; it's not by alpha of last name or by dates.  It doesn't seem to be by how I identified people, either.  

If you goof, it's simple to correct an error.  The edit button is the pencil in the circle at the end of the tag.  Click it and change - add or delete - whatever you'd like.

IMHO, the best part is that you can identify if you are working on a line and making a hypothesis.  I became so frustrated with brick wall (another tag you can select) ancestors that I was then researching (currently researching is also a tag) that I stopped adding to my tree as I did the research because someone would copy the information and before I knew it, it had spread like a wildfire.  I'm hopeful that tagging will alert someone that the information is not verified yet.  

If you decide you don't want to use the feature, go back to Extras on the ribbon and disable it.  You're back to where you were.