Ancestry Lab introduces My Tree Tags and New and Improved DNA Matches!

OMG. Thank you, thank you, thank you Ancestry!

Two new updates to opt into, in beta format, are available today and being announced at RootsTech. One concerns labeling people in your tree, called My Tree Tags, and the other is called New and Improved DNA Matches. When you log in to your Ancestry account, you'll find these options under the "Extras" tab across the top of the page. Go down to "Ancestry Lab" and click to see the new options.

My Tree Tags allows you to tag an ancestor in several ways. Some are already populated for you to choose, but you can add custom tags, too. For example, the following tags are populated in the "Research" category: Actively Researching, Brick Wall, Complete, Hypothesis, Unverified, and Verified. These tags can help you narrow down your research, but can also alert others viewing your tree that this person is Solid or needs some work still. Other categories relate to DNA, relationships, and references.

The New and Improved DNA Matches update can't be used with Chrome extensions. I hesitated because I'm using the medbetter extension because it enabled me to see my notes from the main match page. I decided to give it a go anyway and see what new things were included. I deleted the extension and enabled the Ancestry update. SO glad I did. Now there is so much more information on the match page. 

You can still see your notes, the number of cM shared, and, in addition to the "star" option, you can assign custom colors to categories to sort your matches. 
You can attach multiple categories to a match. 
So, for example, I have a match that I know is on my maternal grandmother's side of the family (because of shared matches) but I don't know how we connect...I use the "star" feature to tag all those unknown connections and now I can add the "maternal grandmother" category, too. 
From the top of the page, you can sort your matches by category - once you get them all tagged. Homework has been assigned!

When you leave your main match page to take a closer look at a match, then go back to match page - it takes you where you left off - not back to the top of the page like it did before. This is a really big deal.

If you have a shared ancestor with a match whose tree is locked, no worries. Ancestry shows you the common ancestor if you click the "shared ancestor leaf". No more messaging people to have them look for the shared ancestor and get back to you. Another really big deal. 

Also, when you click on your #cM match, you now see a list of relationship probabilities ranked by percentages - similar to using the DNApainter tool. It's a one-stop shop now!

Seriously, folks, it's like Christmas morning. I will be busy playing with this for the next several days (weeks, months)... :)