How to make a family tree on the computer

During a dinner with relatives, some of them told the story of your family trying to reconstruct the places of origin of your ancestors. After learning about distant relatives you had never heard of before, you decided to clarify and build a family tree of your family. You immediately got to work taking pen and paper, but you realized that the best solution to carry out the project is to rely on a professional tool.

Well, if that’s the case, let me tell you you’ve come to the right place at the right time! With today’s guide, in fact, I will tell you how to make a family tree on the computer indicating some online services and some useful programs to achieve your goal. In fact, you have numerous solutions to succeed in your intent: some allow you to add family members with photos, personal data and biography; others allow you to manage your family tree and invite family members to take part, make changes and additions, with the ability to create discussions to exchange information. Interesting, right?

So come on, don’t waste any more time and deepen the topic immediately: make yourself comfortable, take five minutes of free time and read the next paragraphs carefully. Choose the solution that you think best suits your needs, put into practice the indications I am about to give you and I assure you that in you will be able to quickly create the family tree of your family. I just have to wish you good reading and have fun!

Index

• MyHeritage (Online / Windows / macOS)
• Genoom (Online)
• Gramps (Windows / macOS / Linux)
• Legacy (Windows)
• Other solutions for making a family tree on the computer

MyHeritage (Online / Windows / macOS)

One of the first solutions to consider to make a family tree on the computer is MyHeritage: it is a completely free online service, also available as a program to be installed on your computer and as an application for Android and iOS devices, which allows you to create family trees in an extremely simple way.

If you consider MyHeritage a valid solution to create your family tree, connect to the service website, click on the item Start your tree and enter your data in the fields Name, Surname, Email address and Year of birth, then indicate the name and surname of your father and your mother and presses the Start button.

On the next screen, enter the data of your maternal grandparents in the Name, Surname, Year of birth, Country of birth fields and indicate if they are still alive by placing the checkmark next to Is alive and, if not, indicate the date of death in the appropriate field. Then press the Next button, repeat the operation also for your paternal grandparents and click on the Finish button.

Now, enter a password for your MyHeritage account in the Choose a password and Confirm password fields and press the Save button, then continue with adding the family members by clicking on the + button in the box of each previously added relative and choose whether to add a brother, sister, son, daughter or partner.

Furthermore, by selecting the box of each family member added, you can add and modify their details using the items in the sidebar on the left: Profile to view the profile and family ties; Edit to modify previously added data, add a photo and enter additional information; Add to add a relative; Invite to enter the email address and invite the relative to use MyHeritage; More to delete the relative or delete a link with another person and Add Bio to enter the biography of the selected relative.

As mentioned above, MyHeritage is also available as a program to install on your computer. If you want to download it, go to the Family Tree Builder download page  (the name of the program), click the Download for free button and wait for the software to download.

Now, if you have a Windows PC, double-click on the file you just downloaded, select the Italian language via the drop-down menu provided for the purpose and press the OK button, then click on the Next and Accept buttons, click on the Install button, wait for completion installation and click the Finish button to close the window.

If you have a Mac, double-click the family_tree_builder_ [version] .dmg file and drag the Family Tree Builder icon to the Applications folder of macOS, then double-click the Family Tree Builder icon to start the program. If it doesn’t start, right-click on it and select  Open from the menu that appears.

Now, put the checkmark next to the Italian item to set the language and press the OK button, then click on the Login item to connect to your MyHeritage account or press the Register now option if you have not yet created your account. Then enter your data in the Name, Surname, Gender, Email address and Password fields and press the Next button to complete the registration.

At the first start of Family Tree Builder, if you had already created your family tree online, you will be asked to synchronize the program with MyHeritage: press the OK and Yes buttons, then click on the Download now item to complete the synchronization and continue creating your family tree with Family Tree Builder. The operation is almost identical to what was previously described for the Web version.

MyHeritage is also available in a paid Premium version (7.49 euros/month billed annually) which allows you to enter up to 2,500 people in family trees, offers priority support, adds extra features to the creation of family trees (intelligent merge, interactive map and more) and allows you to access detailed information and documents on people entered in the site database. More info here.

Genoom (Online)

Genoom is a valid online service to create a family tree for free. It offers a simple and intuitive interface and allows you to insert/manage the personal file of each family member, inserting photos, descriptions, profession and many other data. It also allows you to invite various family members to join your account to make changes and create discussions.

To create your family tree with Genoom, connect to the service website and enter your data in the Name, Surname and Email fields, then put the checkmark next to the Male or Female items to indicate your gender and click on the Create tree button to register on the site.

In the newly opened page, you can start creating your family tree starting from the insertion of your parents. Then click on the Add data item in the boxes above your name and enter the data in the Name, Surname and Date of birth fields; specify their gender by placing the checkmark next to an option between Male and Female and indicate if they are still alive by placing the checkmark next to the item Is alive.

You should know that you can associate an email address to each member of the family added a useful function to invite the contact to join your Genoom account and make changes to the family tree created. To do this, type the email address in the Email field (optional), put the checkmark next to the Invite item and click the Add button to add the family member.

After adding a member of the family, presses on his name to add further information or modify those previously entered. In the new open page, click on one of the available options:  Change photo to add a photo by uploading it from your computer Edit tab to apply changes, add contact information ( Email and Website ) and indicate City, Postcode and Country of residence; Invite to invite the relative to join your family network and Edit couples to change the relationship with the partner ( Spouse, Ex-Spouse, Partner, Ex-Partner ) and possibly enter their marriage date. In addition, you can click on the Full Card entry and the Edit Card button to add the bio, profession and add the family member to the map.

To add a sibling, a child or create a couple, click on the Add relative item in the box of the family member of your interest and select one of the items among Add parents, Add sibling, Add a couple, Add child and Add a person who already found in the tree. Then repeat the addition operation for all members of your family and thus create additional “branches” of your family tree.

Once all relatives have been added, you can click on the printer icon at the bottom right to print the family tree. Furthermore, you can press the house icon (top) to access additional features, such as Messages, to exchange private messages with family members who have received and accepted your invitation; Family Forum, to start new public discussions with relatives and Calendar, to create and manage events. Instead, press the world icon to view your family members on the map or the vertical lines icon to view the list of all relatives added.

Genoom is also available in a subscription version, which allows you to eliminate advertising and take advantage of additional features, such as backup, the ability to export the family tree in PDF and view statistics. Click on the Pro account item to sign up for a subscription at a cost of 24 euros/year.

Gramps (Windows / macOS / Linux)

Gramps is free and open-source software available for Windows, macOS and Linux. It has an interface completely in Italian and has support for extensions that, if installed, allow you to expand its functionality.

To download Gramps on your computer, connected to the program’s website, click on the Download Gramps item at the top right and, in the new open page, locate the version of your interest between  Linux, Windows and macOS.

Once the download is complete, if you use a Windows PC, double-click the GrampsAIO- [version] .exe file, press the Next and I agree on buttons, then choose whether to install the program just for you or for all computer users and presses on the Next and Install buttons to start the installation.

If you have a Mac, open the dmg package you just downloaded and drag the Gramps icon to the Applications folder of macOS and start the program by double-clicking on its icon. If it does not start, right-click on it and select the Open item from the menu that appears.

After starting Gramps, press the New button to create a new family tree, enter its name in the appropriate field and click on the Upload family tree item. Then enter the first person by clicking on the item People in the sidebar on the left and press the + icon at the top, then enter the data in the fields Name, Surname, Gender, while using the items at the bottom, such as  Events, Addresses, Internet, Gallery, etc. you can enter more information and add photos. After entering all the data you want, press the OK button to add the person to the family tree.

Now you can create your first relationships. Then select the person created just now and click on Relationships, then click on one of the options available at the top between Add a new set of parents (the icon of the three men and the + ), Add a child to an existing family (the three men icon ) and Add a family with this person as a parent (the two men ).

For example, if you want to create a family with the person created as a child, press the  Add a new set of parents and, in the new open window, click the + button next to the items Father / Partner1 and Mother / Partner2, then enter data and presses the OK button to insert the new components.

From the same screen, you can also add any siblings of the selected person by pressing the + icon next to the Brothers item. Then repeat the procedure for all the people entered to create your family tree which you can view by clicking on the Charts item in the left sidebar.

Legacy (Windows)

Among the solutions to consider to manage your family tree, there is also  Legacy, free and easy-to-use software for Windows PC also available in Italian.

To download Legacy on your computer, connected to the program’s website, click on the Free Download Now item and, in the new open page, press the Download Legacy [version] Standard Edition (free) option. Now, enter your data in the  Email Address, First name and Last name fields, put the checkmark next to the item I’m not a robot, and press the Next step button. Within a few moments you will receive an email with a link to download the program: click on it and, on the opened page, click on the Download now button.

Once the download is complete, double-click on the to start the installation, then press the Next button twice in a row and wait for the installation to finish. Legacy [version] Setup.exe

Now, start the program, select Italian from the menu for choosing the language and press the OK button, then put the checkmark next to the item I want to use the Standard edition of Legacy (free) and click on the Next button, then follow the wizard to configure the program.

To start creating your family tree, click on the option Start a new family file and enter your details in the fields Your name, Your date of birth, Your place of birth, then indicate if you are married and enter possibly the data of your spouse. Then press the buttons Add father and Add mother to enter your parents and those of your partner and then on the buttons Add father of the mother, Add mother of the mother etc. to add the grandparents. To save your changes, click the Done button.

You can manage the people added by pressing on the List of names item at the top, while you can create additional people by clicking on the Add people option and choosing the type of person to create ( Add a husband to his wife, Add a brother, Add a father etc. ).

Other solutions for making a family tree on the computer

If the programs and online services proposed above have not met your needs, you should know that there are other solutions to make a family tree on the computer: here are some that could be for you.

• Geni(Online): is a free tool that allows you to easily create your family tree. It allows you to upload photos and documents, to share your tree with relatives who will be able to insert the missing “pieces”.
• FamilySearch(Online) : a powerful free service that in addition to allowing the creation of family trees, allows you to access a rich data archive with the possibility of tracing your ancestors. The database is constantly updated and has millions of records of people from all over the world. In this regard, you can read my guide on how to trace your ancestors.
• Canva(Online): Another online tool for creating a family tree from one of the many templates available for free. Thanks to its simple and intuitive interface, it is ideal for less experienced users.
• Microsoft Office  (Windows / macOS): using  Excel and, above all,  Word, it is possible to make a family tree using predefined templates and downloading others from the Web. Microsoft Office is for a fee but a free trial version is also available: to find out more, you can read my guide on how to download Office for free.