One of the benefits of testing with Family Tree DNA is their Matching Notification function.  Once your test result is posted to your Personal Page on the FTDNA secure server, you will be notified by email of your matches, for both Y-DNA and mtDNA tests.  You will continue to be notified of matches to your DNA profile by email, as the DNA results of other FTDNA customers are posted in the future to their Personal Page.

To be notified of matches and to view matches, you must have submitted a Release Form to Family Tree DNA.  The release form comes with your test kit, and is short and simple.  The release form authorizes FTDNA to show your name and email address to the people tested that have a DNA profile match with you.  This is the only information that your matches will see, and you see the same information for those who you match.

If you forgot to send in the release form, you can print a copy from the FTDNA Web site and then mail the signed form back to FTDNA :

http://www.familytreeDNA.com/release.html 

If you are unsure if you have submitted the release form, go to your Personal Page at FamilyTreeDNA.com, and click on the selection Matches.  If you do not have a release form on file, a page will appear that tells you that you don't have a release form on file.

When you have a release form on file, you will receive email notice of matches when test results are posted for others to whom you match.

You can also go to your Personal Page at any time, and click on the selection Matches to see who you match.

The second item relating to Matches is concerned with your participation in a Surname Project, and your results are set to Public or Private.  This selection is only relevant to those who do belong to a Surname Project and took a Y-DNA test.   For Y-DNA, if you belong to a Surname Project, there is a setting called Public/Private, which determines whether the whole FTDNA database is used to find matches for you, or that your matches are identified only for members of your Surname Project (in our case the Knowles Surname Project participants).  The following explains how the setting determines the search for matches:

Public:  searches the whole Family Tree DNA customer database, of those who submitted a release form and are set to Public.

Private:  searches the only the Knowles Project, for those who have submitted a release form.

Most of your matches with other surnames will typically not have any genealogical value (particularly if your Haplotype is R1b and you have only a 12-marker test result.  These matches tend to occur because you are either related prior to the adoption of surnames, or as a result of Haplotype Convergence.  Convergence is where the Y-DNA markers for two unrelated surname lines mutate over many generations and now exhibit a match or are a close match.   If you belong to Haplogroup R1b, you will typically have many matches with other surnames.

The Public/Private setting determines if you see matches outside your Surname Project.  The Public/Private setting only applies to members of a Surname Project who have taken a Y-DNA test.  If you took a Y-DNA test, and don't belong to a Surname Project, your setting is automatically set to Public.

Before spending time pursuing a match looking for a paper connection, it is recommended that both participants who match exactly or are a very close match, upgrade their test to 37-markers, to verify that the match is still relevant.  If you match at 12 or 25-markers, you can easily upgrade by clicking Order Tests on your Personal Page at FTDNA.  A new test kit is NOT required for an upgrade, since your initial test procured through Family Tree DNA includes 25 years of storage for your sample.

If your test results haven't produced any matches, it is important for you to validate your test result and your family tree, by having a distant (preferably a third cousin or more distant) direct descent male participate in the Y-DNA testing program, if at all possible.

As long as you submitted a release form, you will continue to receive email notice of genetic matches that occur, when test results are posted for other FTDNA customers.   You view these matches by clicking on the Matches selection on your Personal Page.  Matches since your last visit will have two asterisks (" ** ") to denote that these matches are new.

For further information, see the following articles:

Why is the Surname Important?

Haplotype Convergence