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User Guide

How to use Ancestris to develop genealogies.

Install Ancestris

Install, re-install or update Ancestris on MacOS, Windows and Linux. Java pre-requisite. Files lo...

Install and start Ancestris

Read license and user rights Ancestris is free software, licensed under the  GNU GENERAL PUBLIC ...

Reinstall or upgrade Ancestris

There are several situations where you may need to reinstall Ancestris, but they all end up follo...

Update Ancestris

The Ancestris team constantly works on improving the Ancestris software. All updates we make to ...

Step-by-step installation on MacOS

This page documents a detailed step-by-step installation of Ancestris on a MacOS system. We will...

Step-by-step installation of version 11 on Windows

This page shows step-by-step how to install Ancestris version 11 on a Windows system. If you hav...

Step-by-step installation of version 12 on Windows

This page shows step-by-step how to install Ancestris on a Windows system. The sections below ar...

Install Ancestris on Ubuntu and alternative systems

You can install Ancestris via the Ubuntu repository or from the Ancestris.org site as seen on the...

Java installation

Ancestris needs Java and is compatible with Java versions 8 to 21. If Ancestris does not start, ...

Launch settings

It is possible to personalise the launch settings of Ancestris. In general, you should not need ...

Software files and User settings files

There are two groups of files for running Ancestris. The software files run the application, ...

Privacy Policy

The following describes the Privacy Policy of the Ancestris software. License The Ancestris s...

Release notes

Version 11 - May 29, 2021 A few days ahead of schedule, we are happy to announce that version 11...

Discover Ancestris

Guided tour. Start a new genealogy or migrate an existing one from another software.

Master Menus and Windows

Description of all menus and windows. Views, editors and tools.

Main Window

Ancestris's Main Window is the one you see when the software opens. In case no genealogy is open...

Workspace and windows

Ancestris workspace is organised in tab groups. Tab groups In the example below, we have four t...

Relationships between windows

Current entity, current genealogy At any point in time within Ancestris, if one or more genealog...

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar of Ancestris gives you access to all available actions via 7 menus. Logic of the ...

File Menu

This menu regroups all the actions to handle genealogy files, to change file properties and to ex...

Edit Menu

This menu regroups all the actions to make global changes to your genealogical data: undo, redo, ...

View Menu

This menu regroups all the actions to access the genealogical views and editors for the selected ...

Tools Menu

This menu regroups all the tools to explore, manipulate and analyse genealogical data. Each of...

Window Menu

This menu regroups all the actions to handle Ancestris windows. Each of these actions is descr...

Options Menu

This menu regroups the main actions to customize Ancestris. Each of these actions is described...

Help Menu

This menu regroups all the actions to get help and to help Ancestris. It also provides informatio...

Context Menu

The Context menu provides actions that depend on an object and that will apply to it. Most of th...

Drag-and-Drop Menu

The Drag-and-Drop menu can be used to copy entities across genealogies, or to merge entities with...

Toolbar

The Ancestris Main Window Toolbar is a horizontal bar displaying a number of tools in the form of...

Navigation Bar

The navigation bar allows you to navigate forward and backward in the navigation history, i.e. th...

Search Bar

The general search bar lets you to find any type of information anywhere in open genealogy files ...

Create a new genealogy

This action helps you create a new genealogy. Below is the image of the first page of the wizard...

Open a genealogy

This action opens a genealogy. In Ancestris, a genealogy is stored in a file in the Gedcom forma...

Import

This action imports a Gedcom file. Only Gedcom format files can be imported in Ancestris. Upon ...

Merge genealogies

This action combines two genealogies into one. Please note it does not analyse nor merge dupli...

Modify genealogy properties

This window allows you to modify the description, the main language and the author of any genealo...

Modify place jurisdictions

This windows lets you modify the standard place jurisdictions format of any Gedcom file and also ...

Manage medias files

The Media manager lets you ensure that all media files used in your genealogy exist, either on yo...

Media viewer

The Media viewer displays all the media files of the genealogy in one single window. You can vis...

Convert Gedcom format

This window lets you modify the Gedcom norm or the character formatting of any Gedcom file. Thes...

Save as

The Save as action either makes an identical copy of your genealogy under another Gedcom file nam...

Export

This function exports all or part of a genealogy to other software or genealogy sites. This soft...

Geneanet export

The Geneanet export creates a file totally compatible with the expectations of the Geneanet site ...

Find / Replace

This tool can find or replace any text of the genealogy content. Description In the first two...

Delete

This function deletes data elements from a genealogy. Description Your genealogy information ...

Generate Sosa numbers

This function generates or erases genealogical numberings of individuals in a genealogy. The p...

Generate ID numbers

This function renumbers the entities of your genealogy by redefining their identification number....

Mark special individuals

This feature marks or displays certain special individuals in your genealogy such as implex famil...

Age calculation

This function calculates ages of all the individuals at their respective life events. Descript...

See modifications history

This function gives the history of modifications made to a genealogy within Ancestris. Descrip...

Entity card

The Entity card gives an overview of the current entity. The content of the card shows the key...

Entities table

The Entities table lists all the entities of the genealogy and provides detailed information for ...

Dynamic tree

The Dynamic tree shows a genealogy in the form of a tree. You can quickly select any individual ...

Timeline

The Timeline shows all the individual of the genealogy along a timeline of events that occurred i...

Geographic map

The Geographic map displays all the genealogy events at their location on a map. You can visua...

Graph

The Graph shows a view of your genealogy in the form of a graph, where all individuals are displa...

Cygnus editor

The Cygnus editor is one of the three main editors of Ancestris. The philosophy of the Cygnus ...

Gedcom editor

The Gedcom editor is one of the three main editors of Ancestris. The philosophy of the Gedcom ...

Aries editor

The Aries editor is one of the three main editors of Ancestris. The philosophy of the Aries ed...

List of places

The List of Places is a list of all places and corresponding events of the genealogy. All pla...

Table of places

The Table of Places is a global place editor used as a spreadsheet, to help you edit and clean al...

Places editor

The Places editor is an editor dedicated to adding or modifying places, by standardizing their na...

Simple navigator

The Simple navigator allows you to navigate efficiently through the family nucleus of the selecte...

Extended navigator

The Extended navigator allows you to navigate in the genealogical from the family nucleus, and to...

Advanced search

The Advanced search is a powerful tool to search for entities that match multiple criteria, throu...

Genealogy compare

The Genealogy compare tool compares genealogies to find common individuals using geographical are...

Registers records

The Registers records tool is designed to develop your genealogy from genealogy records entered b...

Registers records - Appendix

Mapping between register and Gedcom data Case of a birth Birth certificate Individual ...

Datulator

The Datulator is a tool to calculate or convert dates. This tool will make your life easier in...

Calculator

The Calculator is a simple pocket calculator. This saves you the trouble of having to find whe...

Validate Gedcom compliance and data consistency

This tool checks your genealogy data for anomalies, in terms of incompatibility with the Gedcom s...

Merge duplicates

This tool detects duplicate entities and allows you to merge them. Description This tool give...

Common ancestors

This tool identifies the common ancestors of two individuals in the genealogy and displays the co...

Lists and reports

This function launches the Ancestris reports. Some reports can be run directly from the Ancest...

Information Sheets of Individuals/Families

This report produces summary sheets of individuals or families, trees, narrative sheets, in a tot...

WebBook

The WebBook makes it possible to generate Web pages, from a genealogy file to be placed locally, ...

Web Site

The Website generates a mini web site allowing you to browse your genealogy locally...

Print of current view

This function prints the current view. At this stage, only the Dynamic Tree view can be printe...

Welcome page

The Welcome page helps you get started with Ancestris as well as in its daily use. Description ...

GEDCOM Explorer

The GEDCOM Explorer is a special Ancestris window dedicated to the exploration of each open Gedco...

Preferences

The Preferences is where you customize a lot of elements of Ancestris. This is what one of the m...

Update Ancestris

This action checks if the version of Ancestris that is already installed on your computer is up t...

Manage extensions

This menu allows you to check or force an Ancestris updates, and to customize Ancestris by instal...

Contact Ancestris Support Team

This feature helps you contact the Ancestris support team by email, describing your problem and a...

Make a donation to Ancestris

Ancestris does not have any specific funding since we are all volunteers and your donations pay f...

Customize Ancestris

How to customize Ancestris. How to add or remove modules.

Control the quality of your genealogy data

GEDCOM standard, structure of genealogy data. Data management and control.

Develop your genealogy

How to use Ancestris in various genealogy situations : know your genealogy status, search for off...