You may have recently read about or heard of a number of changes to projects and privacy settings of all FTDNA Testers.  (This is a new law - GDPR - which took affect on 25 May 2018).  You can read more about it here  https://dna-explained.com/

The most important thing you can right now, is to log into your FTDNA personal home page and hover your cursor over your name on the top right hand side and click on <Privacy andSharing> and work through the privacy options. (See item #7 in the FAQ dated 5/30/2018 below)

When complete, click on the tab right next to the <Privacy and Sharing> called <Project Preferences>

Please click on “EDIT” then grant me ‘Full Access’.

If you do not do this, I will not be able to help you, or see who you match, or anything else.  

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5/30/2018

HelpfulTips for dealing with the many items that need your attention on your personalFTDNA Homepage (often called myFTDNA)

Please take some time to review and update the information in your kit at FamilyTree DNA.
Go to https://www.familytreedna.com/ 

Click the LOGIN TAB onthe top of the screen and enter your kit number and password to open yourMyFTDNA page. 

Click the MANAGE PERSONAL INFORMATION link on the left of the page. Or, use thedrop-down menu at top right to open your profile. 

There is a lot you can configure. Please take some time to click around and setupyour profile. 

In particular, please check and consider the following.

1. ON THECONTACT INFORMATION TAB:
Input your current mailing address. This is used in case FTDNA needs to send youa new test kit to upgrade your kit. It is also useful if a DNA Project Administratorwants to contact you and your email is not working. 

Input multiple email addresses if you can. This is helpful if your email addressstops working for any reason. If you have a beneficiary or relative that youmight want to take over your kit someday, input their email address too. If youwant, input the email address of your DNA Project Administrators. Any emailthat you input would facilitate taking over managing the DNA if you are nolonger able to.

If the contact personis not the person who gave the DNA sample, then please input the name of theDNA donor and put the contact person as c/o (Care Of) in the address line. Forexample, John James Smith, c/o Donna Smith Jones.

2. ON THEACCOUNT SETTINGS TAB:
Change the Personal Information default from Private to Basic or Full. This allows others with FTDNA login accessto view the information you share in your profile. This is useful for peoplewho match you and for others in any DNA project groups you join. 

If you have a web site or family tree online, you can show the link in the ABOUTME box. If the DNA donor has passed, or is no longer able to donate additionalDNA, then you might want to include a note explaining this in the ABOUT MEbox. 

3. ON THEGENEALOGY TAB - FAMILY TREE: 
Even if you have not yet created a family tree on FTDNA, please change the defaultFamily Tree privacy settings. Hopefully, someday you will create or upload atree. Or, a project admin might do it for you. So, it will help if thesesettings are configured. In order to use DNA for genealogy, you want people tocheck your tree. I set my tree to Public for deceased people, but individuallyselect those I wish to retain as Private (because they are living). If you havea gedcom file of your family tree, please upload it by clicking on the FAMILYTREE button on your kit's main page.

If you don't have a gedcom file, and can't make one, then you can manually createa tree by clicking on FAMILY TREE then clicking the profile icon. If you have atree on Ancestry.com or elsewhere then you can get a gedcom. 

Or, if someone else has you in their tree, they might be able to give you a gedcom.If you need help creating a gedcom or extracting your tree from Ancestry, go to  http://www.nixternal.com/export-gedcom-file-from-ancestry-com/ 

4. ON THE GENEALOGY TAB - MOST DISTANT ANCESTORS: 
Input your Most Distant Ancestors. These should be the most distant known ancestorsyou have in your direct paternal and direct maternal lines. Only input namesthat you know with high confidence. It helps if you include date sand locationinfo with the name, although you may have to abbreviate words. 

If the date is approximate, use the letter "c" as abbreviation for circain front of the date. Circa is the standard term meaning around or about. 

For example, John Henry Smith b.c1822 d.1901 SC.

5. ON THEGENEALOGY TAB - SURNAMES: 
Input all the surnames of your known ancestors on all branches of your lineage.This is very useful because the matching tools allow people to search matches forsurnames. If you have a surname with variations in spelling, it can help to inputeach variation. That way you will show up whichever variation some uses tosearch their matches. 

6. ON THEBENEFICIARY INFORMATION TAB: 
Input the name and contact information of someone you want to take over thekits should you pass away or become unable to manage it. If you don't haveanyone to make your beneficiary, then ask one of your DNA Project Administratorsfor their contact information to make them your kit beneficiary. It is very sadthat many people pass away without designating a kit beneficiary. That makes theirDNA kit of limited use for future researchers. 

7. ON THEPRIVACY & SHARING TAB: 
Change most of the default settings here. FTDNA has made the defaults extremelylimiting. That makes it harder to use the DNA results for genealogy. 

Change "Who can view my Most Distant Ancestor" so that project memberscan see it. Otherwise, it is hidden. 

Change "Who can see me in project member lists" so that others can seeyou. It helps if people can see you and contact you to share their research. 

Change "Who can view my ethnic breakdown" to allow matches to view it. 

Change "Who can view my mtDNA Coding Region" to allow project admins toview them if you want their help in researching your direct femalelineage.