Public vs Private Trees
Understand the differences and choose what's right for you.
Private Trees
Recommended for most users
- ✓ Complete control over who sees your data
- ✓ Protect living people's privacy
- ✓ Share only with invited collaborators
- ✓ Can make public later if desired
- ✗ Not discoverable by other researchers
Public Trees
For genealogy researchers
- ✓ Connect with distant relatives
- ✓ Contribute to genealogy community
- ✓ Discoverable by search engines
- ✗ Information visible to everyone
- ✗ Less privacy control
Unlisted Trees
Middle ground option
- ✓ Share link with specific people
- ✓ Not in search results
- ✓ Anyone with link can view
Changing Privacy Settings
- Open your tree
- Click "Settings"
- Choose privacy level
- Save changes