Family tree

There are three types of tree diagrams GEDKeeper can create: tree of ancestors (ascending relationship tree), tree of descendants (descending relationship tree), and a combined tree (tree of ancestors and descendants). You can set up the diagram appearance from the "Service\Options" menu in the "Options" dialog on the "Charts\Trees" tab. You can change what information to show about persons and change colors of tree elements.

To build a tree, you pick a person out in person list, then choose a tree type (ancestors, descendants, or complete) in the "Pedigree" menu. Alternatively, you can use the following buttons from the main window:

•  Tree of ancestors
•  Tree of descendants
•  Complete tree

After a tree is created, you can use the button to export the tree in one of the following formats: raster format (BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG) or vector (EMF, SVG). Not every family tree may be saved as a raster file since they may not store more than 65k pixels per horizontal line. Vector files do not have such restrictions. Therefore, a vector format can store trees of any size. Moreover, having a vector file may be better for the next image processing in graphical applications and printing.

The following controls are available when you view a diagram:

• Vertical scrolling with mouse wheel.
• Horizontal scrolling with mouse wheel and holding the [Shift] key.
• Zoom with mouse wheel and holding the [Ctrl] key.
• Zoom with scale control at top right corner of the window.
• The [F4] key performs the folding or unfolding of the selected person's branch.
• The [F5] key rebuilds the tree.
• The [F6] key marks the currently selected person as a starting point and updates all ancestors and descendants of that starting point.
• The [F7] key recalculates relation degrees (if they are turned on) of the currently selected person.
• Double-click on a person to enter edit mode for that person.
• Click on a person to adjust it with the window's center.
• Pan the content while the mouse's right button is held.
• click on the icon ("there are additional hidden data") near a person to rebuild the tree relative to that person (this icon is not exported to an image file).

The number of visible generations (of both ancestors and descendants) can be adjusted from one to nine (or unlimited) by the "Generations" button using the dropdown menu.

You can also filter content with the button.

If you have used the [F6] key or the icon (set new person as the central one for the tree), you can use the and buttons to return to the previous or next person.

shows the following tree options:

• All — show both ancestors and descendants for a specified person.
• Ancestors only — only ancestors of the selected person are visible.
• Descendants only — only descendants of the selected person are visible.
• Trace root — turns off/on a mode when the center of the tree is smoothly adjusted with the selected person.
• The certainty index — turns off/on the authenticity index visibility for each person in the tree (it is handy for visual valuation of development progress).
• Background color — changes the background color for the tree.
• Background image — changes the background image for the tree.

Other hotkeys:

• The [Ctrl + F] key performs the quick person search by name.
• The [Ctrl + S] key performs the save current database.