Downloading Your Raw DNA Data
- geneticsforthepeop
- Sep 20
- 2 min read
Here at Genetics for the People, we love helping you learn more about how your body works and providing realistic options to help you and your doctor manage your health and wellness. To do that accurately and securely, we need your raw DNA data file.
We sometimes get asked if clients can just provide their username and password for Ancestry, 23andMe, or Sequencing.com. The answer is a firm no, and we want to explain why.
Your Security is Non-Negotiable
Your login credentials are the keys to your genetic kingdom. Sharing them with anyone- including us- is a significant security risk. We believe you should never share your passwords. Our program is built to work with the data file you own and control, not to access your private accounts.
How Our Technology Works
Our program is tuned to process the specific format of a raw data file. This file, which typically ends in .zip or .txt, contains a long list of your genetic markers without any of your personal account information attached. Logging into your account wouldn't help our program run; it needs that specific raw data file to function correctly.
What You Need to Do
Log in to your DNA service account (Ancestry, 23andMe, or Sequencing.com) yourself.
Find the "Download Raw Data" section in your settings.
Download the file to your computer (this may take some time).
Upload that specific file directly to our website/form
By doing it this way, you never expose your password, and you maintain complete control over your accounts and data.
Need Help Downloading Your File?
For Sequencing, you will have the option to download multiple different files. We need the raw DNA compatibility file.
Confirming you have the correct file
Once you have the file downloaded, right click the file and then select "open with notepad". It is a very large file, so if you open it with notepad it may crash the program. Once it opens it should look something like this. It will have a 19-20 header of text with each line starting with a #. After that it will have the columns containing rsID, chromosome, location, and genotype. Some of these columns are going to be named different things depending on which service you use. Thats ok! We will take care of it. As long as it looks generally like this you're golden! That is the file you send in.
23andMe example:
AncestryDNA example:
Sequencing.com example:
If you have any questions, our support team is always happy to help. Thank you for trusting us with your data and for helping us prioritize your privacy.
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