FTDNA Tool Help 5: “In Common With”… and “Not In Common With”

On your Match page of Family Finder you can click on anyone you wish. Then, click on “ ICW” link at the top of the page.

The database will give you all persons who match you AND the match on who’s name you clicked.

BUT….the database is just saying you and your match have matches in common with the people whose name came up in the search. It does not mean you and your match are related to the people from the search in the same way. Meaning, do the people matching you and your match relate to one another?

To discover if these people match one another, you would need to go to the Advanced Matching page and click on the Matrix.

By clicking on the names of anyone in your match database it will create a matrix showing who is and who is NOT related to one another even those they might have shown up as an” In Common With “ match to you and one of your matches discussed above.

Conversely, one can use the “Not In Common with” link which is just the opposite of the ICW tool. Let’s say, you have a match who you have identified as a paternal match and you wish to find another person in your match list on your maternal side. You click on your paternal cousin and then click on the “not in common with” tool to see who does not match the paternal cousin.

For more information go to the FTDNA FAQ’s page regarding

https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/family-finder-myftdna/matches-page/

Here is a list of some of my most recent blogs designed to help you get more and better research results from your FTDNA matches:

FTDNA Tool Help 1: How to upload a GEDCOM

FTDNA Tool Help 2: How to add Ancestral Surnames and Locations

FTDNA Tool Help 3: Joining Projects

FTDNA Tool Help 4: Advanced Matching Tool

FTDNA Tool Help 5: “In Common With”… and “Not In Common With”

FTDNA Tool Help 6: Family Matching Tool

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