Export your tree
To get a copy of your data "out of Ancestry", you need to save it in a file in the standard format called a GEDCOM. Most other family history software will allow you to open (or load, or perhaps import) a GEDCOM file; so that means you have effectively transferred your data from Ancestry to the new program. CAUTION A GEDCOM file can include links to images and documents linked to people in your tree but it will not contain them. You need to save each individual picture of your ancestors and every birth or death certificate as a separate file. You may decide that this is not worth the trouble for a every large tree.
Ancestry provides a straight-forward process for getting your GEDCOM file but does not make the links to carry out that process very obvious to users. (It is almost as though they do not want to take your data out.)
Ancestry provides a straight-forward process for getting your GEDCOM file but does not make the links to carry out that process very obvious to users. (It is almost as though they do not want to take your data out.)