You can show and hide groups individually by clicking on the square next to the group name in the key

Reorder groups by dragging and dropping them using the grabber icon to the right of the name in the key

View segments in a particular group by clicking the group name in the key.

Click 'All segment data' to see a table of all your segments, which you can download and filter by keyword

Click on any chromosome number to expand that chromosome in place and see all the segments stacked

Everything is editable. Click on a segment to see more info, edit it, or view/edit the match or group

To reposition the key, click 'edit key' and drag it; extend its width by clicking and dragging on the right edge

Paddy Waldron (all matches)Male~ Maternal: ~ Paternal: ~ painted

You have been invited to view this chromosome map. If you would like to add notes or make edits, you can copy this into a new map of your own.
Copy to a new map

The process of painting a match involves some copying and pasting of data. While you can do this on a touch device, you might prefer to use a desktop browser!

Save match

We found X segment in your match data (excluding segments under 7cM).

PLEASE NOTE: you might already have painted one or more of these segments

Describe your connection to this match:

I know how I'm connected to this match I don't yet know how I'm connected to this match.

Enter the name of your DNA match
Optional – This is just so you can identify the source of this segment in future. You could also enter their DNA kit number or username.

This match does not overlap with any previously painted segments.

Segment / Match Notes Optional - add notes to describe this match Adjust the certainty level for these segments

If you know how you are connected, you can label these segments with the name of the ancestor you got them from.

All segments will be assigned to the group you choose below but you can assign segments individually later by clicking on them and choosing 'Edit segment'

For example, say your match is a 3rd cousin
You're both descended from your 2nd-great-grandparents Charles and Mary.
The furthest back individual you can assign these segments to is their son John Smith, your great-grandfather.
Or you could use to use the name of the ancestral couple, Charles and Mary.
If you know only the approximate relationship (e.g. if the location implies this person is related via a particular grandparent), you can enter the name of the furthest back individual (e.g. that grandparent's name).

Enter your ancestor's name (or the name of the couple)
If you have multiple ancestors with the same name, you might like to include their birth year.

Or link these segments to an ancestor I've added before

If you don't yet know the connection, you can save the segments anyway - either on their own or in a group with other common matches

Enter a name for this group

Or choose existing group

Is this match on your mother's side or your father's?
Each pair has one chromosome from your father and one from your mother.
Do these segments look like they're from the maternal or paternal side?
(if you're not sure, you can just select "Not sure")

Existing groups

Colour Notes for this group
Optional - add notes to describe this ancestor or group

Please ensure you've selected a group.

Paint a match

Paste in segment data here (e.g. from Gedmatch/ftDNA/23andme/MyHeritage) for a single match. Multiple rows is fine! Exclude segments under cM

Import 'bucket' info from FamilyTree DNA

This tool will attempt to sort your FamilyTree DNA matches into maternal and paternal groups based on the information in your Family Finder matches file.

In order to use the tool, you will need a) to have imported your segments file from ftDNA and b) to have either a parent or one or more close relatives tested at ftDNA and identified in your ftDNA tree.

This chromosome map does not appear to have a group of segments imported from FamilytreeDNA.
Before using this tool, please first upload your ftDNA segments file!

The file is available via the button 'Download All Segments' in the ftDNA chromosome browser. The button is at the top right of the page above the list of matches.

Once you have imported this segments file into this map, you will be able to use this tool.

Download your Family Finder matches file by going to your FTDNA matches page and clicking 'Export CSV' and then 'All Matches' at the top right. The filename will be in the form [kitnumber]_Family_Finder_Matches_[date].csv
Browse for the file below and click the IMPORT FTDNA MATCH INFO button.

To proceed with the import, browse for the file from your computer below and click 'Import ftDNA Match info'.

After you click 'Import ftDNA match info,' the site will sort your family finder matches into maternal and paternal groups. It will only move matches who are in the ftDNA imported group, or in a group with a name that begins 'ftDNA'

This is a beta tool and I highly recommend backing up and/or duplicating your map before using it.

Paint 23andme Ancestry Composition segments (Experimental!)

Paste in ancestry composition segment data here from 23andme. A separate group will be created for each population. To download the data from 23andme, click 'Download raw data' on this page (please note: this is not you raw DNA!)

Save all segments as 'shared or both' Provisionally assign 'copy 1' segments as paternal and 'copy 2' as maternal Provisionally assign 'copy 2' segments as paternal and 'copy 1' as maternal

Delete existing ancestry composition segments

Please confirm you want to delete all ethnicity segments and groups.
Please note - if you've moved other matches into the imported groups, these will also be deleted!

Cancel

Edit Match

Match Name

is currently mapped to chromosomes.
You can change this by moving them to a different group. Move () to another group?

New group name Side New group colour

Set a confidence level for all segments Optional: indicate how certain you are that you've identified the segments correctly for this match.

The level shown above is a placeholder and does not reflect the current certainty of all segments for this match. If you tick this box, the level you choose will overwrite any individual segment settings.

Add/edit notes for all segments

Please note: anything typed here will overwrite any individual segment notes you may have entered for this match!

Please confirm you want to delete for

Cancel

Edit group

Group Name Known ancestor(s)? This is a group of ancestry composition segments Side Colour

Set a confidence level for the group Optional: indicate how certain you are that you've identified these segments correctly for the entire group.

The level shown above is a placeholder and does not reflect the current certainty of segments in this group. If you tick this box, the level you choose will overwrite any individual match settings. Add a dividing line below this group in the key

Notes Text only please! Links starting with http:// and https:// will be converted to hyperlinks when this text is displayed.

Please confirm you want to delete this group and all the segments within it.

Cancel

Edit segment

Please ensure the start and end are numeric, and that the value for the start of the segment is less than the end!
Chromosome number should be 1-22 or X.

Please choose a group or enter a name for a new group!

Match name Group/ancestor

New group name New group colour New group side

Chromosome Start End cM optional SNPs optional

Confidence level

General notes for this group

Notes for this segment

Edit the group "" Edit the match View all segments for match

Please confirm you want to delete this segment Cancel

This will duplicate this segment, allowing you to 'split' it and assign different sections to different groups if you need to. Clicking 'Confirm Copy' below will take you to the edit page for the new duplicated segment. Cancel

Create a new chromosome map

A new chromosome map is a set of blank chromosomes that represent an individual who has taken an autosomal DNA test.

When you have a DNA match, you will match on particular segments. The aim of this site is to provide a platform that lets you take this match segment data and use it to 'paint' your chromosomes (or those of the person who took the DNA test!), adding as much information as possible so that you can use this info to help trace future matches.

You can choose whichever colours you like. For known connections, it can be a good idea to assign a distinct colour to each of the four grandparents, and then use variations of these. For more information on how to set up a chromosome map, click the Settings cog at the top left and then click on 'Tour of this page'.

Who is this map for?
Please enter a name for this chromosome map - the test-taker whose chromosomes you'd like to paint
What is this person's sex?

Y and mitochondrial DNA

This map has the sex of the test taker set to 'Unspecified'. If you would like to restrict display of the Y-chromosome according to sex, please set this as male or female by clicking on unspecified to the right of the name at the top left of the page.

All fields are optional Blog post about this feature

Y-DNA haplogroup

This haplogroup does not appear to be in the correct format and so links will not be generated

Please use same format as FTDNA
(e.g. R-M269 as opposed to R1b1a1b) Y-DNA kit number at MitoYDNA.org Normally in the form T12345 Y-DNA Ancestor

New group name Side New group colour

Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup

This haplogroup does not appear to be in the correct format and so links will not be generated

Please use same format as FTDNA
(e.g. a string beginning with a letter) mtDNA kit number at MitoYDNA.org Normally in the form T12345 Mitochondrial DNA ancestor

New group name Side New group colour

Saved

Deleted

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Help with this page

Welcome. Here's an overview of some of the features of the chromosome map page.

Advanced features

Mass edit mode If you expand a chromosome or go into the group or match view, you can turn this on. It will then let you draw a box or click on segments to select them (hold down CTRL/CMD to select multiple segments) and choose a group/create a new group to move them to.
Improved bulk imports Bulk imports from 23andme now take account of the Maternal/Paternal buckets, and there is an enhanced interface for the ftDNA maternal/paternal bucket tool allowing you to sort your matches
More detailed match list The 'All matches' report under 'reports' now lists the total cM, number of segments, and average cM shared.
Improved navigation The match overlay now includes a navigation link to get back to where you were (for example, if you click on a match name in the All matches report, the match overlay will contain a link back to All matches.

Controls

At the top left of your profile, just above the first chromosome pair, you'll see three buttons.

When you hover over a button, a tooltip appears explaining what it does. Click a button to expand/contract the chromosomes, view settings, or perform a search.

Expand/contract all

The '+' icon expands all your chromosomes at once.
After you click this button, it will transform into a '-' that you can click in order to minimize them again. You can still expand and contract chromosomes individually.
After you expand all chromosomes, match names will show automatically. You can toggle this using the checkbox that appears above each expanded chromosome.

Search by match name

Your chromosome map has an auto-complete search.

Start typing a match name, and matching names will appear in a dropdown
Click a name in the dropdown
All segments will be paled out and the matching segments will be highlighted. The first matching segment will have hover state expanded.
Click 'clear' or the 'X' icon on the search panel to clear the search and restore the segments to their normal state.

Settings

Here you'll find actions:

Share, Duplicate, Download a picture of this profile, Take a tour of this page, Import ancestry composition from 23andme, All segment data

In addition, the following features are available:

Actions: Import data (for subscribers only; see below), import 23andme ancestry composition data, reset key position
Options: Show match names in the group overlay, Show centromeres on chromosomes, Show keylines on expanded chromosomes, Hide unknown groups, Hide ancestry composition groups
Reports: All matches, All segment data

Any options you select will be saved in your browser's local storage and will persist until you reset your browser or empty its cache.

Import Function

As well as adding individual matches, you can bulk import your match segments from a comma-separated-values (CSV) file.

The CSV file can be directly from your testing company (e.g. the CSV file of segment data provided by MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA or 23andme) or custom file (a template is provided in the import overlay).

This opens up a number of possibilities:

Bulk import of all matches from a testing company in order to view patterns and chromosome coverage
Adjust the thresholds for minimum and maximum cM values in order to import specific ranges
Assemble profiles offline and import directly into DNA Painter
Restore exported DNA Painter profiles

Please note: to use the import functionality, you need to subscriber.

Match detail

You can reach the match overlay view by clicking on any segment and clicking 'view match', by hovering over the match name in the 'All segment data' overlay, or by clicking on the match name in the group overlay and clicking 'view or edit match'.

Here you can:

Click a button to copy all segments for this match to the clipboard
A list of all matches who appear to share DNA with this match based the data you've entered
A switch allowing you to view all overlapping segments within the match overlay
The switch and list of matches will only appear if there are overlapping segments

New functionality

Multiple segment deletion. In the 'all segment data' view, you can click 'mark for deletion', and a column will appear with checkboxes. There's also a checkbox in the table header to select all visible segments. You can use this to filter the table for the things you want to delete and then select them all. Once you click 'Delete segments', the site will say how many segments you are deleting and remind you that this action can't be undone. If you confirm the deletion, the segments will be deleted and the 'all segment data' window will reload.
Search the key - if you have a lot of groups it can be hard to find the one you're looking for. If you have more than 30 groups, a search box appears so that you can filter them to find the one you want more quickly.

Subscription

The site is free, but a subscription is required for serious users who would like to use the new bulk import functionality and/or have multiple profiles.

More info about subscribing

Match Detail:

across

See segments in the group

Add more segments for this match

Based on the data you've entered, appears to share DNA with the following people:

Some of these people are in a group that is not specifically maternal or paternal, and may therefore not be related on the same chromosome. Since your match includes segments that you haven't placed on a specific maternal or paternal chromosome, these people may not be related on the same chromosome. If possible, compare these people directly (e.g. via a one-to-one comparison on Gedmatch, or in MyHeritage's chromosome browser) to clarify whether or not they actually match each other.

Common matches are in the following groups:

Show overlapping segments below?

Click CTRL-C to copy!

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Group Detail

Drop this match into a new group to move it

New Group for match

New group name New group side New group colour

Show match names on segments? Edit Group

Saved

Deleted

Matches To move a match to another group, click and drag on its handle.

Delete Empty Group

14cM shared View or edit this match

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Show match names on segments? Merge into another group

To merge into another group, select the group and click 'Merge'

Merge

Please note: if you are merging large groups this may take a while

Edit Group

x CSV file

All Matches

Name	Side	Total cM shared	Number of segments	Largest	Average segment length	Segs ≥20cM

x CSV file Data backup file

Data Report

	Chr	Start	End	cM	SNPs	Match	Confidence	Group	Side	Notes	Colour	Ancestor

Inline segment editor

Click on any cell to edit its contents

Your edits will be saved when you close this overlay. You can revert any changes by refreshing the page.

segment will be deleted. This action can not be undone.
Please confirm you'd like to go ahead.

Transform Groups

Click the button below to make every group in this map

This action cannot be undone, so if you're in any doubt, please duplicate or back up this map before proceeding.

Duplicate segments

Here is the data for the duplicate segments that were removed.

Remove duplicate segments

This tool will identify groups of segments where the chromosome, match name and start position are identical. It will then choose one to retain:

If a segment is in a group that has been identified as maternal or paternal and other duplicate copies have not, it will retain the identified segment
If one copy is in a custom named group and others are in imported 'Matches' groups, the segment in the custom named group will be retained

All notes will be compiled in the retained segment.

Caution: If you have used 'Copy Segment' to duplicate any segments, this tool will remove them if the match name hasn't changed. This functionality is still in beta phase and should be used with caution. Please duplicate this map before proceeding!

Attempt to remove "fuzzy" duplicates Fuzzy duplicates are those where the name and chromosome are the same, and the start position is within 2,500,000 base pairs Remove duplicate segments

Duplicate

To make a copy of this chromosome map, please click the button below.

You will then be taken to the new duplicated map.

Duplicate the groups only, not the segments Duplicate this chromosome map

The key (aka legend) in DNA Painter

The key lists all ancestors and groups of segments. You can make the following customisations: Please note: these functions may not all work on mobile/touch devices.

If you click and drag on the 'dotted' icon to the right of each item in the key, you can pick it up and drag it into a new position.

For example, you could move the group at the top to below the third group.
This will have the effect of altering the layer order - so if segments from this group overlap with other segments, those segments from the group that's higher in the key will show on top.

If you click on the coloured square to the left of an ancestor or group name, it will hide any segments in this group (or if you've already hidden them, it will show them).

You can add a dividing line into your key by editing the group you want the line to appear under:

Click on the group to bring up the overlay
Click 'edit group,' check the box Add a dividing line below this group in the key, and then click 'save group'

You can drag and drop the entire key by clicking on the dark area on the left of the key and dragging it into a new position.

A bright blue border will appear on the left while the key is being dragged.
Clicking 'Reset key position' in the settings panel will restore the key to its original position.

You can extend the width of the key by clicking and dragging on its right-hand edge.

A dark blue border will appear on the right while the key is being widened.

Clicking 'NONE' below the key will hide all groups. Clicking 'PATERNAL' will show just paternal groups and clicking 'MATERNAL' will show just maternal ones.

Import

You can now import a spreadsheet of match segments into DNA Painter!
Before importing anything, it would make sense to duplicate this map first so you have a copy to go back to.

The import process uses a signficant amount of memory, and a desktop or laptop device is therefore suggested. If you're on a mobile or touch device, you might find that this freezes the site.

This map already contains segments.

Depending on how fast your computer is, importing additional segments might make it extremely slow.
If you have a large file, please consider importing it into a new map.

Step 1: Get your file

You can import the file of segment data that is provided by your DNA Testing company, or a DNA painter CSV file, and the site will recognize the format.

Important: this is not your raw DNA file; it's a file containing the coordinates for each segment you share with your matches. Please read on for more info!

The instructions differ for each testing company. In all cases you will need to save the file to your computer as opposed to opening it.

Family Tree DNA
The file is available via the button 'Download All Segments' in the ftDNA chromosome browser. The button is at the top right of the page above the list of matches. Please note that if you transferred to ftDNA, you'll need to unlock their chromosome browser before you can download your data.
23andme
Segment data is currently unavailable from 23andMe Read more
MyHeritage
Bulk segment data is currently unavailable from MyHeritage This page will be updated once this feature is restored.
Gedmatch
Gedmatch now provides a downloadable file of all segments via their 'Segment Search' report (please note: this is available to Gedmatch Tier 1 subscribers only).

This CSV can be imported directly into DNA Painter.

Or alternatively you can copy and paste the table of segments provided into a CSV format. To do this:
- Log into Gedmatch and run the Tier 1 matching segment search on the relevant kit.
- Once the results have loaded, copy and paste the entire page (CTRL/⌘-A to select, CTRL/⌘-C to copy, CTRL/⌘-V to paste) into a spreadsheet (or Google sheet)
- Delete the top 20 or so lines of the file, leaving the line with 'Kit, Chr, Start Position, End Position, cM, SNPs, Name, Sex, Email' as the header row
- Save this as a comma-separated-values (CSV) file and DNA Painter will recognise the format.
- Please note: the content of the 'Kit', 'Sex' and 'Email' fields will be appended to the notes on imported segments
Tip: if you have a parent tested and uploaded to Gedmatch, you can run the 'Phasing' tool to create separate kits of your maternal and paternal DNA. And if you then run the segment search using these phased kit numbers, you'll be able to import your maternal and paternal DNA separately and assign the matches to the correct chromosomes by editing the imported groups!

Importing a DNA painter map To download a CSV file from a DNA Painter map, visit 'All segment data' (click the settings cog icon above chromosome 1 and you'll find it under 'Reports') and click the '.csv file' link at the top left.

Or if you prefer, you can import a custom file of segments that you create. Files for import need to be in CSV format.

To create your own file, please use this template, with the header row intact.

Download template

The template is in comma-separated-values (CSV) format, and can be filled out in a spreadsheet programme (e.g. Excel or Google Docs), or in a text editor. For instructions on how to correctly open a CSV file in Microsoft Excel, please see this page. Please ensure the file you upload retains the CSV format. If you use a text editor, you will need to make sure you don't use commas in the data you enter in for each field.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are compulsory:

Chr * This field should contain the chromosome number (it can be preceded by 'chr')
Start * This field should contain the start position for the segment
End * This field should contain the end position for the segment
cM This field should contain the number of centimorgans shared
SNPs This field should contain the number of SNPs in the segment
Match This field should contain the name of the person with whom you share this segment (if not provided, this will appear as 'not specified').
Confidence This field should contain a number between 1 and 4 that measures how confident you are in your identification of this match (1 is the lowest and 4 is the highest. Segments with a lower certainty level display in a more transparent shade) (if not provided, this will appear as '3').
Group This field should contain the the name of the group into which you want this segment to be placed (if not provided, the segment will be put in a generic group named according to the filename).
SideThis field should contain 'maternal' if you want to paint the segment on your maternal chromosome or 'paternal' if you want to paint it on your paternal chromosome, or 'both' if you are uncertain (if not specified, the group will be 'unknown or both').
Notes This field should contain any notes you have on the segment.
ColourThis field should contain a colour for the group. This can be a hex code or a named colour (if not specified, a colour will be chosen at random).
AncestorThis is an optional column that you can add if you want to indicate if a group refers to a known ancestor as opposed to a general grouping of segments. Enter a value of 1 if the group is a known ancestor. (if not provided, the group will be set to 'not a known ancestor')
Note: 'Colour' is used only if you have specified a side or new group name for the first time. If you have multiple segments in a new group, the values for 'side', 'colour' and 'ancestor' from the first instance of that name will be used.

If you don't have data for a column/value, don't delete it - just leave it blank.

Step 2: Import the file into DNA Painter

Once you have your file, you can upload it below.

Matches imported from an ftDNA/MyHeritage export will not be sorted into maternal or paternal (hence will not count towards the % completed). If you have access to the tests of known maternal or paternal relatives, you could use Bucketing tool to make separate files before importing.
This process is likely to add a significant number of segments to your map - from the low hundreds to several thousand, depending on the number of matches you have. This is likely to slow your map down.
By default, the site will exclude close matches with more than 1,800cM shared (raise this limit to include these). It will also exclude any matches you've uploaded before from this testing company, provided you leave the original name intact.

Bulk import of matches is a premium feature. To enable this feature in your account, please subscribe:

Subscribe to DNA Painter

Mass edit mode

Click or draw with your mouse around segments to select them. Hold down CTRL (PC) or cmd (Mac) to select multiple segments at once.

segments selected

0 segments moved to

Please select the group to which you want to move the segments first!

Move undone...

Move to group

New group name Side New group colour

Saved

Deleted

Copied

Imported

new match segments are overlaid below
You might have to scroll down to see them all.

Save these segments to your map Clear

PLEASE NOTE: You might already have painted one or more of these segments

duplicate segments removed
See the data for segments removed

Unless you click 'undo', the segment removal will be saved when you next make a change to your map.

Import complete!

No new segments found above your threshold of

new segments over (or with no cM value set) imported for ~ matches.

Note: If you retain the threshold and match names as imported, DNA Painter will automatically skip these matches when you next import the data. To force the importing of duplicates, uncheck the 'Skip matches that seem to have been imported already' option.

View and edit matches

Family Finder import complete!

All groups with names beginning 'ftDNA' were checked, but no matching match names were found.

Some ftDNA matches have been moved to Maternal and/or Paternal ftDNA groups according to the information in the Family Finder matches file you uploaded. You'll see these groups at the bottom of the key on the right.

Ancestry composition import complete

segments imported in groups.

Read about 23andme's reference populations

Your match has been painted

View match

Watch video 'Your first chromosome map'

Paddy Waldron (all matches)Male~ Maternal: ~ Paternal: ~ painted

Settings

Mass edit mode

Actions

Options

Reports

DNA Painter now includes an option to view a selection of traits mapped to their positions on the chromosomes:

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Paddy Waldron (all matches)Male~ Maternal: ~ Paternal: ~ painted

Save match

Paint a match

Import 'bucket' info from FamilyTree DNA

Paint 23andme Ancestry Composition segments (Experimental!)

Edit Match

Edit group

Edit segment

Create a new chromosome map

Y and mitochondrial DNA

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Help with this page

Advanced features

Controls

Expand/contract all

Search by match name

Settings

Import Function

Match detail

New functionality

Subscription

Match Detail:

across

< Back to this match

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Group Detail

Drop this match into a new group to move it

New Group for match

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All Matches

Data Report

Inline segment editor

Click on any cell to edit its contents

Share

Transform Groups

Duplicate segments

Remove duplicate segments

Duplicate

The key (aka legend) in DNA Painter

Import

Step 1: Get your file

Step 2: Import the file into DNA Painter

Mass edit mode

Actions

Options

Reports

DNA Painter now includes an option to view a selection of traits mapped to their positions on the chromosomes:

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