The instructions in this article pertain to our New Ancestry experience. If you are not yet using this experience and would like to switch, please click here for instructions.

The Shoebox is a great tool for collecting information as you find records of interest on Ancestry. Just as you might use a Shoebox to keep old letters, photographs, and records, you can use the online Shoebox to store records that you find as you search. As you have time, you can go back and consider the value of these records, and add them to the appropriate place in your family tree online.

This article discusses the following:

Locating the shoebox

Saving a record to the shoebox

Attaching items from the shoebox to your tree

Removing items from your shoebox

Locating the shoebox

The shoebox is located on the homepage of Ancestry. To get there, you will want to select the Home tab from the Navigation bar at the top of Ancestry. The shoebox is usually located at the bottom of the home page.

Saving a record to the shoebox

After performing a search and selecting a record, you can save the record to your Shoebox by first clicking the Save button located below the transcribed summary of this record, or in the upper right side of an original image. This will present you with various options for saving. Select the Save record to my Shoebox option.

Attaching items from the shoebox to your tree

Locate the record in your Shoebox and click on the title to view the record.

Below the transcribed summary of this record or from the upper-right section of an original record image, you will find a Save button. Click this button, and this time select Save to someone in my tree.

A window will open allowing you to choose what tree and what individual you want to save this to. After selecting the tree you want this information saved to, type the name of the person in the text field here, and then select their name from the list that appears. Once this is listed, click the Attach button. You can also select the option in the bottom right of this window to Add this as a new person to your tree.

Removing items from your shoebox

Find the item you want to remove in the list of Shoebox items. Click the Blue trash can icon to the far right of the item.

A window will open asking if you are sure you want to remove this item from your Shoebox. Click OK. The page will refresh with a confirmation that this item has been removed from the Shoebox.