Getting Started with Genome Mate Pro, Part 1 — Install the Program

Scroll down for links to other posts in this series.

Genome Mate Pro (GMP for short) is a program by Beckins LLC for managing genealogical DNA segment information. Think of it as a universal chromosome browser with extra bells and whistles.  It is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and it’s free!  (If you find it useful, I strongly urge you to donate to the developer.)

GMP lets you:

• manage your autosomal segment matches from Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, GEDmatch, and MyHeritage in one place;
• integrate that segment data with match information from AncestryDNA;
• keep notes on your DNA relatives;
• triangulate;
• link segments to specific ancestors in your family tree;
• search all of your matches by specific criteria (surname, location, email, haplogroup, etc.);
• generate email form letters listing shared segments to your matches;
• and create a segment map (also called a chromosome painting) for your ancestors.

Unfortunately, there’s a steep learning curve to GMP.  In fact, this is the message you’ll see when you first launch the program:

 

The user guide by Jim Sipe and Kathy “PK” Thompson is a fabulous resource, but it’s 300 pages long (at last count). That’s a bit intimidating to someone first learning to use the program.  I’ve been using GMP since it’s alpha-testing days, and I published a previous version of this tutorial series in a Facebook group. With the recent release of a new version of GMP, I decided to revise the “getting started” series here on my blog.  Hopefully, I can help you get up and running with GMP as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Each part of the series is designed to get you through one task (or a few small, related ones) via individual numbered steps.  Screenshots will have red arrows or circles to point you in the right direction.  If you have trouble with any of the steps, please leave a comment telling me which step number didn’t work, what you were doing at the time, and what operating system your computer/device uses. Also check out the Genome Mate Pro Facebook group for help and useful tips.

If you’re game, your first assignment is to download the User Guide and to install GMP on your computer.

 

Download and Unzip the User Guide.

1. Go to http://getgmp.com/download.
2. On the left, hover your cursor over “GMP User Guide”, then click the download icon that appears.
   
3. Find the pdf file on your hard drive (it will probably be in your “Downloads” folder) and put it someplace where you can access it easily.

 

Download and Install the Latest Version of GMP onto Your Computer

1. Go to http://getgmp.com/download.
2. On the left, hover your cursor over the name of your computer operating system, then click the small arrow that appears.
   
3. On the next screen, hover your cursor over the version (32 bit or 64 bit) that applies to your computer configuration, and click the download icon. (Mac users will only have one version.)
4. If you’re on a Windows system, open the User Guide (see above) to page 11 and follow the instructions for installing. If you’re on a Mac, follow the instructions that follow.

Install GMP on a Mac

1. Double click on the file “Mac OS X (Cocoa Intel).zip” to unzip it.
2. Open the new folder called “Mac OS X (Cocoa Intel)”.
3. Double click on the file “Genome Mate Pro.app.tar” in that folder.
4. You should now see a file called “Genome Mate Pro” in the folder. Drag and drop it to your Applications Folder (or wherever you would like to keep the program). You can throw away the .zip and .tar files.
5. Drag and drop the icon into your Dock if you’d like quick access to the program.
6. Right-click or control-click on the app, and select “Open*. Click “Open” on the pop-up that follows.
7. GMP is now installed on your computer. Congrats!

Quick Overview of Genome Mate Pro

The workflow for GMP involves data imports (inputs) from various DNA testing companies and other sources that allow several downstream functions (or outputs).

 

Within GMP, different features are organized into “tabs” listed along the top of the window.  You can switch from any tab to any other at will.

 

Go ahead and click through the tabs in GMP to see what’s on offer.  If you’ve never used the program before, there won’t be much to see in most of the tabs.  Even so, it will help to familiarize yourself with the program, so poke around.  We will learn more about the tabs in subsequent parts of the tutorial.

A brief summary of each tab is:

• Profiles — manage data for individual DNA testers for each database they’re in
• Chromosomes — chromosome browser
• Relative List — sortable, filterable lists of DNA matches
• Relative Detail — specific details for DNA matches (name, contact information, shared segments, ethnicity, ancestor names), plus the ability to merge specific matches who have tested at more than one site
• Ancestors — your gedcom data
• Segment Map — chromosome mapping of ancestral segments
• Options — program settings
• Help — common problems, quick start instructions, and a link to donate to the developer

 

That wasn’t so bad, was it?  In the next installment, we’ll set up a “profile” for someone who has done DNA testing.

 

Getting Started with Genome Mate Pro Series

• Part 1 — Install the Program
• Part 2 — Set Up a Profile for a GEDmatch User
• Part 3 — Activate GEDmatch Import Templates
• Part 4 — App Settings
• Part 5 — First GEDmatch Imports
• Part 6 — The Chromosome Browser
• Part 7 — More GEDmatch Imports
• Part 8 — The Relative Detail Tab
• Part 9 — Import a Gedcom
• Part 10 — Import GEDmatch Triangulations
• Part 11 — Install the DNAGedcom Client
• Part 12 — Use the DNAGedcom Client to Import FTDNA Data
• Part 13 — Merge Duplicates (coming soon!)
• Part 14 — The Relative List Tab (coming soon!)
• Part 15 — A Few Tips (coming soon!)
• Part 16 — Use the DNAGedcom Client to Import 23andMe Data (coming soon!)
• Part 17 — Import Ancestry Composition from 23andMe (coming soon!)
• Part 18 —Use the DNAGedcom Client to Import AncestryDNA Data (coming soon!)
• Part 19 — The Segment Map Tab (coming soon!)
• Part 20 — Create Custom Templates for MyHeritage (and Others) (coming soon!)
• Part 21 — Customize Genome Mate Pro (coming soon!)
• Part 22 — Update Your GMP Version