Install Ancestris Install, re-install or update Ancestris on MacOS, Windows and Linux. Java pre-requisite. Files location, launch settings and user settings. Install and start Ancestris Read license and user rights Ancestris is free software, licensed under the  GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE V3. Ancestris is a free genealogy program, for unlimited time usage, and an unlimited number of individuals. It is made available to you by volunteers. Check our required configuration Ancestris works on all latest MacOS, Windows and Linux platforms running Java.If Ancestris does not start, or shows the Ancestris splash screen and stops, it is most generally related to an issue with the Java installation. To use Ancestris, it is required to have the following configuration: Java version 8 to 21. We can only support Java LTS versions of java even though Ancestris seems to properly work with other intermediary versions. 2 Gb RAM 200 Mb of available disk space A big enough screen, 1920 x 1080 minimum recommended Java is a prerequisite To use Ancestris, you need to have Java installed on your system. Ancestris is compatible and has been tested with the version listed above. To identify which Java version is installed on your system, other Java versions available, how to swap between Java versions, or the Java technical requirements, check out the Java installation page. Note to MacOS users Ancestris comes with a native MacOS launcher which requires MacOS version 10.14.4 at a minimum. If you cannot upgrade your MacOS version to this level, you will need to launch Ancestris manually from the Ancestris script itself located here: /Applications/Ancestris.app/Contents/Resources/ancestris/bin/ancestris If you use the manual way of launching Ancestris, you will not be able to write nor read files located underneath the Documents, Desktop and Downloads folders as per Apple security restrictions even though Ancestris is signed and notarized using the Apple platform. As an alternative, you will be able to store your files under /Public. Installation If you need detailed installation steps, we provide you with a step-by-step guide corresponding to your system :✔ Step-by-step installation guide for MacOS✔ Step-by-step installation guide of stable version 11 for Windows✔ Step-by-step installation guide of daily version 12 for Windows What follows is the general overview of the installation and the links in case of troubles or to change launch settings. Go to Download on the Ancestris site Ancestris can be downloaded for free on our page  https://www.ancestris.org via the DOWNLOAD option. Choose your Ancestris version Two versions are available. Choose the stable version 11 if you are aiming for stability and do not need to benefit from the latest developments. Choose the daily version 12 if you wish to benefit from the latest functionalities. All versions work on any device under any operating system that can use Java. All versions work with all existing translations. All versions are full versions and allow unlimited usage. Download Ancestris This shows the Download section of the Ancestris site. Click on the Ancestris version button of your operating system MacOS. It will download a pkg file. Windows. It will download an exe or zip file depending on the Ancestris version. Linux. Hovering over Ancestris 11 or Ancestris 12, a menu will appear where you can pick the AppImage file or a ZIP file. The downloaded file will be specific to the operating system you choose Follow the steps suggested by your Internet browser and save the file The download will take a few minutes and will result in a file of about 139 Mb. This is an example with Ancestris 11 for Windows. This is an example with Ancestris 12 for Windows or for Linux. Choose Ancestris folder At the end of the download, the file will be placed in your default download folder. If you don't know what this folder is, check your Internet browser's settings or else click on the downloaded icon of your browser. From that folder, feel free to move the downloaded file wherever you want on your computer. The software platform used by Ancestris is Netbeans. Therefore, accents in the installation path are prohibited. On MacOS, the stable version is installed by default in /Applications. Start Ancestris The way to start Ancestris  slightly differs depending on the OS system you have. Ancestris's files will be inside the resulting ancestris folder. Refer to the Software files page to have the detailed view of the  ancestris folder. To start Ancestris, run the downloaded file or else run the executable in the bin folder that corresponds to the operating system you are using. MacOS : click on the package file and Ancestris will install itself in the Applications folder, from which you can start Ancestris. Windows : for version 11, just double-click on the downloaded exe file Ancestris11Setup.exe. This installation programme will assist you in the installation of Ancestris and it will also create the launcher icon. For version 12, run the ancestris64.exe file in the bin folder. Linux : click on the AppImage file or unzip the archive and then double-click on the 'ancestris' file of the bin folder. Regardless of the version, here is what you will see when Ancestris is started. Troubleshooting If you need detailed installation steps, please read the step-by-step guide below corresponding to your system :✔ Step-by-step installation guide for MacOS✔ Step-by-step installation guide of stable version 11 for Windows✔ Step-by-step installation guide of daily version 12 for Windows If Ancestris does not start, or shows the Ancestris splash screen and stops, it is most generally related to an issue with the Java installation. Either Java is not installed or Ancestris does not find it or finds an incompatible version or finds a corrupted version. Please check the Java installation page for help. Personalisation Shortcut icon If you need to customize a shortcut with a nice icon to start Ancestris, please check your operating system's documentation on how to create it, and feel free to use the included image file ancestris.gif provided within the softwares files. For MacOS, see the step-by-step guide.For Windows, see the step-by-step guide.For Linux, there are several of these procedures, and quite different from one system to another. Launch settings You can personalise the way Ancestris starts such as the memory allocation for instance. In case you need to personalise the way Ancestris is launched, please refer to the Launch settings page. User settings If you are interested in knowing where the user settings files are, please refer to the Software and user settings files page. Reinstall or upgrade Ancestris There are several situations where you may need to reinstall Ancestris, but they all end up following the same steps described below. Situations to justify reinstallation Reinstalling Ancestris on the same computer If a new version of Ancestris is out and you want to benefit from it. For instance, upgrading from version 11 to version 12. If there was a major modification of the same version, usually the daily version. For instance, when the Ancestris team makes changes to the Ancestris platform, they will ask you to reinstall. To be notified of such changes, you will need to subscribe to the discussion list. If a change has happened to your computer, or if some Ancestris files are lost. In this situation, Ancestris might no longer work properly. In all those situations, your action will result in reinstalling Ancestris. When reinstalling Ancestris, you will automatically be able to preserve your customizations. It is up to you to decide if you want to reinstall Ancestris at the same location on your computer or not.In either case, we recommend you to get rid of the former Ancestris instance and replace the Software files.In case you were to keep two different instances of Ancestris on the same computer, Ancestris might get confused as there is only one set of user settings. Reinstalling Ancestris on a second computer If you are to install Ancestris on a second computer, just proceed as a regular first-time installation. If you want to have the same user settings on both computers, you should first copy the user settings folder from one computer to the other one. Alternatively, you can also use the export button of the Ancestris preferences window. Reinstalling stable version 11 To reinstall the main version, while preserving your user settings, just proceed as a regular first-time installation. It should be much quicker as Java should already be installed and your Ancestris launcher is already set. In practice, it will consist of simply replacing the 5 folders listed in the following steps. Reinstalling daily version 12 To upgrade from the main version to the daily version, or reinstall the daily version, follow the instructions below. You have two possibilities: Either erase the previous application and re-install the new one (the preferred choice for MacOS). Or replace the existing files with the new ones, which lets you keep the launcher that you might have set up (the preferred choice for Linux and Windows). In the first situation, erase the previous Ancestris application and reinstall the new one. In the second situation, follow the steps below: Quit Ancestris, if it is running Download the daily version from the Ancestris web site and install it as per the initial installation. In case you need to replace the files manually, go to the ancestris folder of the previous installation and delete the following 5 folders ancestris bin etc harness platform Replace them with the recently downloaded corresponding 5 folders included in the package or the compressed archive. Restart Ancestris as usual In case some settings no longer work, or are not compatible with the new version, please refer to the User settings page if you want to manage them yourself. Update Ancestris The Ancestris team constantly works on improving the Ancestris software. All updates we make to the version you have are available to you automatically, and you do not have anything to do, whether you are using the Main version or the Daily version. Automatic updates You will receive an automatic notification for updates to the version you currently use, each time you start Ancestris. When Ancestris starts, a small window will open for a few seconds at the lower right corner, indicating the number of available updates. Just click the link in this window and follow the steps. If you miss this window as it only appears for a few seconds, the little icon will remain available for you to click on it. The window above will reappear again. If you click to get the updates, you will be asked to confirm to download the updates. Click Next and Ancestris will download them. A progress bar will appear on the bottom right corner. Ancestris then asks for your confirmation. Click Continue and then, Ancestris will offer to restart. Click on the link. Ancestris will close and restart. Proactive updates It is also possible to retrieve updates at any time. Just choose Options / Update Ancestris from the main menu bar. The same assistant shown above will open. As explained above, just follow the steps and Ancestris will offer to restart at the end. If no updates are available, the following window will appear. Knowing more about the updates If you use Stable version 11 When we discover bugs that could impact your use of the Main version, we fix them and the update becomes available to you according to the instructions above. These updates are very rare. If you use daily version 12 Regarding the daily version, updates happen almost daily ! Minor updates Most of the time, these updates are evolutions or new functionality. These updates are available to you and happen on a regular basis. You can benefit from them according to the description above. That's it. Structural updates On rare occasions, certain Ancestris updates of daily version 11 happen in the core platform of Ancestris. These changes can be simple menu translations or something major. For instance when we upgrade the underlying Netbeans platform on which Ancestris sits. The Ancestris team will know when that happens, and will notify you through the forum or the discussion list and in the Recent updates panel of the Welcome window of Ancestris. For instance, the image below shows an update of version 11 that occurred on June 2nd, 2020. As usual, these updates will be available to you through the Automatic updates described above. However, if you only apply these updates automatically, it will not reinstall the whole software. Therefore, either the new evolution will still not be available to you (e.g. menu translations), or maybe you will experience some major dysfunctions. Ancestris might just not work anymore. Do not worry, you will notice if it happens and it will not alter your data. To fully benefit from those changes, you will have to reinstall Ancestris. Please follow the reinstallation instructions in this case. Step-by-step installation on MacOS This page documents a detailed step-by-step installation of Ancestris on a MacOS system. We will show an example that occurred on March 2024, of the installation of Ancestris version 12 on MacOS Sonoma. Installation of Java 1. From the MacOS desktop... 2. Open a terminal and type "java -version" to check if Java is already installed or not. If java is installed, the response will indicate that Java is found and provide the version number. Here version 17 is installed.In this case, all good, jump to step 5 to install Ancestris. Otherwise, if Java is not installed, the response will indicate that Java cannot be located. So install it by following these next steps. 3. Install Java by going to the Adoptium web site. Here Adoptium suggests to install the LTS (Long Term Support) release Java 21 for MacOS. Click the "Latest LTS Release"  button. You should see this page now. Note: If you want to install another version, click the button "Other platforms and versions". Downloading has started... Click the download round button on your browser and wait. After a short moment, downloading is completed. Launch the JDK package from this download popup. You should see this installation window. Click Continue. Click Continue. Click Agree. Click Install. Validate with your fingerprint or provide your Mac password. The installation starts. Installation is completed. It tells you where it has been installed. Click Close. Finally, you are asked to Keep or Move the installation package to the bin. Do as you wish here. 4. Check that Java now shows up in the Terminal window. Type "Java -version". The following result should appear, indicating Java 21 is installed. You are now done with the Java installation. Let's install Ancestris now. Installation of Ancestris 5. Go to the https://www.ancestris.org web site In the menu, click on DOWNLOAD. You are taken to the Download section of the web site. Click the Ancestris 12 button for MacOS column. Download starts. Click the Download round button of your browser to see the progress bar and wait. When completed, you should see the Ancestris package is approximately 94 MB. Launch it from this popup window by clicking the little "Open" icon. The Ancestris installation window should appear. Click Continue. Click Install.Confirm with your fingerprint or provide your Mac password. Installation proceeds... The installer asks for your permission to put the files on your computer. Press Allow. The installation completes quickly. Press Close. Finally, you are asked to Keep or Move the installation package to the bin. Do as you wish here. 6. Launch Ancestris from the Application launchpad screen. In your application Launchpad screen, Ancestris should appear among the other applications. Launch it. Ancestris starts. The main Ancestris window then appears. You are done with the installation. The language of the interface should automatically be set to your system language. Congratulations. 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 have previously installed the version 10 with Windows installer, please uninstall the version before installing the version 11. Install Ancestris version 11 Follow the instructions below. 1/4 - DownloadAncestris Go to https://www.ancestris.org Click on 'DOWNLOAD' in the menu Click on the Ancestris 11 button of the Windows panel. Downloading may take 3 to 4 minutes as it is about 160 Mb. 2/4 - Double-click on the downloaded file Ancestris 11 has a setup wizard for Windows. The downloaded file is Ancestris11Setup.exe and its size is 139Mb. Click on Next Accept the agreement then click on Next Choose an install path. The path shouldn't have any accent not special caracters. Then click on Next Define a name for the short-cut in "Start" Menu. You can choose not to create any short-cut with the check-box on the bottom of the screen. Then click on Next Check the box to create a short-cut on the desktop. Then click on Next Click on Install The software is installed on your computer. You can launch directly the application with the "Launch Ancestris" check-box 3/4 - Click the short-cut and Ancestris then starts. 4/4 -The Welcome page then appears. You are now ready to use Ancestris. 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 are independent and do not all need to be done. Screens shown might look different from those of the current Ancestris web site or the current Ancestris software version. Knowing which Java version you use Java Control Panel Open the Windows Control Panel and then the Java Control Panel. On its General tab, click 'About' to check the installed Java version. On its Security tab, untick 'Enable Java content for browsers and Web Start applications' to improve security. Command prompt Alternatively, these steps let you identify which version of Java is running on your system. 1 - Open a Windows PowerShell window and enter CMD or open a Command Prompt window. 2 - Type java -version at the prompt. You will obtain a display as below, which shows that Java Version 8 (aka 1.8) 64-Bit is installed. Otherwise, it means java is not installed. Follow these instructions to install it. java version "1.8.0_221" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_221-b11) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.221-b11, mixed mode) If it shows "64 Bit", you have Java 64-Bit installed and you will be able to run ancestris64.exe to launch AncestrisIf it does not show 64-Bit, you have installed Java 32-Bit and you will not be able to launch Ancestris with ancestris64.exe. It will not find Java. You will need to launch Ancestris with ancestris.exe. 3 - Type exit once or twice to close the command window. Install Ancestris version 12 Follow the instructions below from your Windows system. 1/6 - Download Ancestris Go to https://www.ancestris.org Click on 'DOWNLOAD' in the Menu Then click on the ANCESTRIS 12 button of the Windows panel. Downloading may take 2 to 3 minutes 2/6 - Extract the Ancestris file Ancestris does not need to be installed as it runs directly from its .exe file. So right-click the downloaded ancestris-latest.zip file, choose 'Extract All' and select a destination folder where the .exe file can run. On Windows 7, unzip into the C:\Program Files folder otherwise Ancestris won't run. 3/6 - Check the Ancestris file to run In the destination folder, open the ancestris folder and then the bin folder; there the ancestris64.exe file will run Ancestris on a 64-bit system, while the ancestris.exe file will run it on a 32-bit system. 4/6 - Add an Ancestris shortcut Right-click on the ancestris64.exe or ancestris.exe file and choose 'Pin to Start' or 'Pin to taskbar' to add a shortcut to the Start menu or the Taskbar. Then set the icon of the resulting Ancestris shortcut. For that, you need to right-click on the shortcut and replace the icon with the ancestris.gif file. 5/6 - Click the shortcut and Ancestris then starts 6/6 - The Welcome page then appears. You are now ready to use Ancestris. If Ancestris does not start, it might be related to a Java version issue. You may have to swap the Java version.Please follow these instructions. 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 main installation page. Via the official ppa repositoryhttps://launchpad.net/~ancestris Stable version "Ancestris stable" To install the stable version of Ancestris: Add the PPA ppa: ancestris / ancestris-stable in your software sources. Then reload the list of packages. Finally install the Ancestris package All this can be done using the following commands: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ancestris/ancestris-stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt install ancestris Development version 12 "Ancestris unstable" To install the unstable version of Ancestris: Add the PPA ppa: ancestris / ancestris-unstable in your software sources. Then reload the list of packages. Finally install the Ancestris package All this can be done using the following commands: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ancestris/ancestris-unstable sudo apt-get update sudo apt install ancestris From the Ancestris web site An Ubuntu package is available on the official website in the download area by hovering the mouse over the button ANCESTRIS 11. Uninstallation To uninstall ancestris from the command line: sudo apt remove ancestris Java installation Ancestris needs Java and is compatible with Java versions 8 to 21. If Ancestris does not start, or shows the Ancestris splash screen and stops, it is most generally related to an issue with the Java installation. Either Java is not installed or Ancestris does not find it or finds an incompatible version or finds a corrupted version. The following sections offer a step-by-step check to ensure Ancestris is using a valid Java version. General principle Ancestris works with all Java versions listed at the top of this page. Ancestris is compiled with version 8 for better compatibility with most users. Ancestris has been tested with several versions which are LTS (Long Term Support) versions. We do not systematically test Ancestris with Short Term versions. They are quickly obsolete and cannot be downloaded after 18 months but some users regularly confirm that Ancestris works well with all java versions. If a functioning version of Java is available on your system, Ancestris will find it without having to configure anything. Otherwise, you can install Java from any vendor. Our users find it easier to download it from Adoptium. To know whether Java is installed on your system, follow these instructions. In case Ancestris does not start although Java is installed, please check the Troubleshooting section. You can have multiple versions of Java installed on your system. To tell Ancestris which one to use, you will need to either update the Ancestris configuration file. For this, follow these instructions. or change the default Java version. For this, follow these instructions. Install Java A simple way to get an official Java version is to get it from Adoptium.net If Java is not installed or if you want the latest or a specific version of Java, just download it from the site above. Identify if Java is already installed If you don't know if Java is installed or which version is installed, open a command line terminal and type the command line: java -version If you see an error message in the terminal, then Java is not installed on your system. Ancestris cannot run. Please follow the Install section below to install Java. If you see something like this below where Java version is displayed, it means Java is installed with the indicated version. You may have several versions installed, but this one is the one Ancestris will find, unless you configured Ancestris to do differently. java version "1.8.0_251" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_251-b08) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.251-b08, mixed mode) According to the display above, we can see that the installed Java version set by default is version 1.8, aka version 8. If you have a Java version installed as per the example above, and are happy to use this version, you may disregard the rest of this page. Troubleshooting If Java is installed and Ancestris does not start, either Ancestris does not find Java or finds an incompatible version or finds a corrupted version. Whether only one version of Java or several versions are installed on your system, you will then need to check and potentially update the configuration file to tell Ancestris where to look for Java. Rather than changing the Ancestris configuration file, and if several version of Java are available on your system, an alternative would be to change the default Java version. The default Java version is the one appearing when you type java -version like indicated in the section above. This is the one Ancestris will use if an Ancestris configuration file does not exist or does not include the instruction of where to find Java. Update the Ancestris configuration file You only need to worry about what is detailed below if Java is installed and Ancestris does not start. You need to update the Ancestris configuration file to tell where Ancestris should look for Java, if Ancestris does not seem to find it. The principle is the following: If a configuration file exists which includes a jdkhome parameter indicating where to find java, Ancestris will use the corresponding java version Otherwise Ancestris will use the default Java version indicated in the section above Ancestris uses two configuration files, both named ancestris.conf1/ The first one is the Application Configuration file, which is part of the Application directory and it is created during the installation of Ancestris. 2/ The other one is the User Configuration file, which is part of your User directory, and created when you change some Preferences when using Ancestris.The User Configuration file takes precedence over the Application Configuration file So the configuration file to check and update is the User Configuration file if it exists, the Application Configuration file otherwise.- If you are installing Ancestris, you will probably need to update the Application Configuration file.- If you have already used Ancestris and want to change the java version, you will probably need to update the User Configuration file. Chech here to know where the configuration file is depending on your system. The path to Java in the configuration file So open the configuration file with a regular text editor. 1. Check the line defining default_options This line should look like this: default_options="--branding ancestris -J-Xms96m -J-Xmx1g --laf javax.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel" If one of the options in this line includes --jdkhome="/path/to/java, make sure the path specified in this option is the path to the Java version you want to use. If this line does not include a java path, locate jdkhome elsewhere. 2. Check the line defining jdkhome If the line looks like jdkhome="/path/to/java", then make sure the path specified in this option is the path to the Java version you want to use. If the line starts with "#", a comment markup, Ancestris will disregard as if it did not exist. If Ancestris does not start, it could be that the jdkhome folder name is incorrectly spelt or points to an incorrect Java version. Whatever your operating system is, if the default active Java version is different from the one to be used with Ancestris, you have to modify the jdkhome line like this: jdkhome="/path/to/java" Case of MacOS For MacOS, if for example Java 18 and Java 17 are installed on your Mac and you want to force the use of Java 17 for Ancestris, the complete manipulation to force the version of Java would be the following: Edit the Ancestris Application Configuration file (if this is a first install)/Applications/Ancestris.app/Contents/Resources/ancestris/etc/ancestris.conf Look for the line #jdkhome="/path/to/java" and suppress the starting character # in order to uncomment the line so that Ancestris takes it into account. Replace the value to the Java path you want to use, for instance temurin-17 here, so that the line reads: jdkhome="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-17.jdk/Contents/Home" Save the modified ancestris.conf file and check that it has been saved correctly. Restart Ancestris. Case of Windows and Linux For Windows or Linux for example, if the java executable is /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_291-amd64/bin/java, then you must indicate jdkhome="/usr/java/jdk1.8.0_291-amd64/" Note: you have to exclude /bin/java in the path description. Change the default Java versions in case multiple versions are installed If several versions are available on your systems and you need to swap Java versions so that Ancestris uses the default one, the swap procedure depends on your operative system. For MacOS For Windows For Linux Swap default version for MacOS To swap between different Java versions, open a Terminal window and follow the steps below. In the following example, the instructions let you set Version 8 (aka 1.8) by default, without removing Java Version 10: 1/6 - Check which version of Java is set by default java -version echo $jdkhome You can see the java version you are running. 2/6 - Get a list of all installed versions on your system and check Version 8 or 11 is among them /usr/libexec/java_home -V If the version you want is not in the list, then install it as explained in this section. If it is in the list, but not the one you had above, force the path to the java version with the following step. 3/6 - Type in the following 2 lines in the Terminal echo 'export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`' >>~/.bash_profile echo 'export jdkhome==`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`' >>~/.bash_profile These two lines will add the command to set your default Java version in your personal profile. Here, we force version 1.8 (or 8). Replace with your java version. The first line defines the default Java version for all programs (JAVA_HOME, in uppercase). The second line defines the default Java version to use for Ancestris (jdkhome, lowercase). 4/6 - Close the Terminal exit 5/6 - Reopen a Terminal and check that the running Java is now the one you want (version 8 in our example) java -version echo $jdkhome You can now start Ancestris. 6/6 - Start Ancestris When Ancestris starts, a Terminal window opens at the same time. You can see in the title bar that version 8 of Java is being used by Ancestris. Swap default version for Windows You have to create a BAT file per Java version you wish to keep. Use your favourite text editor to create those files, using the code below, and place them in a folder available from your PATH. JAVA8.BAT @echo off echo Setting JAVA_HOME set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_12 echo setting PATH set PATH=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_12\bin;%PATH% echo Display java version java -version JAVA11.BAT @echo off echo Setting JAVA_HOME set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.11.0_11 echo setting PATH set PATH=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.11.0_11\bin;%PATH% echo Display java version java -version While creating these files, make sure you specify the correct name for the Java files for the lines JAVA_HOME, depending on your Java installation When you decide to change the Java version, just run the corresponding BAT file: JAVA8 for version 1.8, or JAVA11 for version 11. The Java version at use will be shown on the terminal. To check if the change is really in effect, type java -version on a console or check this page. Swap default version for Linux Type the following on a console : sudo update-alternatives --config java Select from the list the version needed. To get help using this tool : sudo update-alternatives -l Launch settings It is possible to personalise the launch settings of Ancestris. In general, you should not need to set or modify them. However, in some specific circumstances, you may want to tweak them a bit. It is as simple as editing the line in the Ancestris configuration file. Please refer to the location of the configuration file page to know where it is located. Set memory size for large genealogies Ancestris works perfectly fine with genealogies of several dozens or thousands of individuals. You can get Ancestris to work with several genealogies at the same time. We recommend a 4 GB memory for very large genealogies. Ancestris can open and manage a simple genealogy of 600,000 individuals. For very large genealogies, we recommend that you change Ancestris's startup parameters to increase maximum memory size for Java. Parameter to change:  -J-Xmx to 8GB for instance. default_options="-J-Xmx8g --laf Nimbus --branding ancestris --locale fr -J-Xms96m" We also recommend, if needed, to reboot your device and to only start Ancestris and nothing else, so that all memory available will be allocated to Ancestris. Set default language The default language can be set in Ancestris preferences. It can also be initialised to a language of your choice using the launch setting. Parameter to change:  --locale to the 2-digit-language code. Example : "en". default_options="-J-Xmx1g --laf Nimbus --branding ancestris --locale en -J-Xms96m" Set default look and feel The default look and feel can be set in Ancestris preferences. It can also be initialised to a look and feel of your choice using the launch setting. Parameter to change: --laf to the look-and-feel name provided in Ancestris preferences. default_options="-J-Xmx1g --laf Nimbus --branding ancestris --locale en -J-Xms96m" For the standard look and feel, remove the parameter from the line. Set default icon size In very rare circumstances, if you modify the default size of the fonts and icons on your computer or use a very large screen, Ancestris might display its icons in too small a size. It is possible to increase the aspects of the icons with Ancestris using the following method but only with Java 11. Parameter to change: -J-Dsun.java2d.uiScale=2 default_options="-J-Xmx1g --laf Nimbus --branding ancestris --locale en -J-Xms96m -J-Dsun.java2d.uiScale=2" Windows specific instructions Another way to force icon size on Windows with Java version 8 is the following. Right-click ancestris.exe or ancestris64.exe, select Properties and choose the Compatibility tab. Click on Change high DPI settings. Set the choice to System, validate with OK and then restart Ancestris. Software files and User settings files There are two groups of files for running Ancestris. The software files run the application, The user settings files store user preferences. You may lose the software files because you can always get them from the Ancestris website; but you should backup you user settings files as they are specific to you. Software files Ancestris software files will be inside the ancestris folder used during the installation. You can type whereis ancestris on a terminal on Linux, or locate ancestris on MacOS, or  dir ancestris /s /p on Windows to find out what that folder is. This ancestris folder contains the following sub-folders. ancestris bin ancestris : executable file to start Ancestris under MacOS and Linux ancestris.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows ancestris64.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows with Java 64-bit architecture (recommended) ancestris.gif : Ancestris icon to use when creating an application launcher shortcut other Ancestris icons etc ancestris.conf : application configuration file harness platform When you reinstall Ancestris, you simply replace those software files. User settings files The User directory Ancestris user settings files are in the user directory. You can see the location of the user directory on the About dialogue. This dialogue can be accessed from the main menu / Help / About Ancestris or else by clicking on the About button .Example : This user directory depends on your operating system. Windows : C:\Users\[your name]\...\.ancestris\ MacOS : ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/ancestris/ Linux : ~/.ancestris/ Where is the installed version number. 11 : in this case, the main version 11 trunk : in this case, the daily version 12 So the user directory, where the personalisation of Ancestris is located, is, according to your system: Windows : Version 11: C:\Users\[your name]\...\.ancestris\11 Version 12: C:\Users\[your name]\...\.ancestris\trunk MacOS : Version 11:  ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/ancestris/11 Version 12: ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/ancestris/trunk Linux : Version 11:  ~/.ancestris/11 Version 12: ~/.ancestris/trunk In case your have reinstalled Ancestris from a previous version, and if you want to continue using your previous personalisation, you just have to copy the user directory of the previous version to the  user directory of the new version. The User Configuration file and the log file There are two especially important files in the user's folder for startup and diagnostic of eventual bugs. The configuration file : /etc/ancestris.conf defines the launch settings. The log file : /ancestris/ancestris.log stores all warnings and error messages occurring while you use Ancestris. Here are also located your preferences and customised templates. Your preferences : /ancestris/config Your personal templates : /ancestris/blueprints Your almanacs : /ancestris/almanac Your individual and family record templates : /ancestris/gedart Your history of modifications : /var/cache/ModificationsHistory Please check the user guide to learn what these templates are for. Ancestris uses two configuration files, both named ancestris.conf1/ The first one is the Application Configuration file, which is part of the Application directory and it is created during the installation of Ancestris. 2/ The other one is the User Configuration file, which is part of your User directory, and created when you change some Preferences when using Ancestris.The User Configuration file takes precedence over the Application Configuration file So the configuration file to check and update is the User Configuration file if it exists, the Application Configuration file otherwise.- If you are installing Ancestris, you will probably need to update the Application Configuration file.- If you have already used Ancestris and want to change the java version, you will probably need to update the User Configuration file. Detailed description ~/.ancestris/trunk User directory ancestris User defined templates almanac Almanacs for the chronology view and for chronology reporting. blueprints Blueprints available for displaying genealogy information in dynamic tree view, Gedcom editor, etc. gedart Standard models and user-defined models for the individual and family record / Gedart report. ancestris.log Ancestris log file. This is the file Ancestris support might need in case you submit an error. You can define the size of the log file in the Preferences. config User defined preferences Modules User preferences of installed extensions Preferences User preferences of all views and tools except those of the installed extensions Toolbars Main toolbar settings Windows2Local Position of windows shortcuts.html Shortcuts etc ancestris.conf Ancestris configuration file for Launch settings This configuration file complements the Ancestris application configuration file placed in the software files described above. modules Installed extensions update_tracking Installed extensions update information var cache ModificationsHistory Modification history of Gedcom files opened by Ancestris ... Temporary information stored by Ancestris log Temporary log files When you reinstall Ancestris, user settings files are not modified and you should be able to run the updated version with all your previous settings. However, there could be some changes in the way the new version uses some of the settings. - If this is the case, we recommend you to only keep the ancestris, config, etc and ModificationsHistory folders. - If you have trouble with the windows, we recommend you to remove the Windows2Local folder. Uninstall Ancestris To uninstall Ancestris, just delete the 2 folders of the software files and the user settings files. Privacy Policy The following describes the Privacy Policy of the Ancestris software. License The Ancestris software is free and licensed under the  GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE V3. Location The Ancestris software is installed on the computer of the user, not on a server. Advertising The Ancestris software does not include any sollicitation to promote or buy any product It does not allow to buy or sell any product. Data The Ancestris software stores all user data in Gedcom files in folders indicated by the user It stores user settings in the user settings folder on the user computer It does not store any user data outside of these files The users controls 100% of their data and are free to erase these files or folders from their computer at any time Login The Ancestris software does not require any login of any sort or to any web site, including the Ancestris website. The only existing login that might exist is for the forum in order to get user support but it is not managed from the Ancestris software nor has any connection with the Ancestris software. Connections The Ancestris software works well without any Internet communication. However some functionalities require an internet connection. In this case, the Ancestris software communicates outside of the user computer in two occasions: When communicating to the Ancestris server at startup, when checking for updates, when displaying geographic maps (Openstreetmap service), when looking for location names (Geonames service), and when closing the application. The only information stored on the Ancestris server in this case is the anonymous connection information. It is used by the Ancestris team to get volume traffic information and statistics. The Ancestris website and server is hosted on the OVH cloud and does not contain any user information managed by the Ancestris software. When users use the "Genealogy Compare" functionality in a sharing mode. It then compares their genealogy with that of other users on a deliberate basis. Users consciously share and indicate to include private information or not. In this case, the only information potentially shared with another user is the information the other user already has, which is the common information included in a given genealogy between the two users. The information shared is limited to names, dates, locations and event types as per public genealogy records. Notes are not shared for instance. Publications The Ancestris software includes functionalities to produce reports and genealogy extract. Users are responsible for the resulting genealogy information they are sharing with other parties. Ancestris cannot be held responsible in case of improper information sharing outside of the software. Release notes Version 11 - May 29, 2021 A few days ahead of schedule, we are happy to announce that version 11 is now the stable version. For those who were in version 11, nothing changes except that from tomorrow, you will be in version 12. For those who were on version 10 and up to date with the automatic updates, you will get a small pop-up window telling you that version 10 is obsolete and that you are invited to upgrade to version 11. This will not prevent you from continuing to use version 10, but we really recommend that you switch to version 11. Version 11 key figures 1 year and 4 months of development 790 commits 1 server burnt at OVH A few short nights to get everything back in shape New features Display of images located on the Internet Added the possibility to download the web images linked in the genealogy on his computer Added the possibility to undo/redo with the keyboard in the text fields Added duplicate detection when creating a new person Geneanet synchronization module (files included) Changed the location table to be almost a spreadsheet New GEDCOM comparison module instead of tree sharing Added entity drag and drop Added markers in layers Added module for generating Identifiers Added a module for marking remarkable individuals Adding a module to calculate age New management of the recording of the position of windows Adding the definition of the size of characters in the parameters Visualization of non-standard entities Improvements Technical version upgrade (Netbeans 11), allows to use up to Java 15 Improvement of the toolbar and labels of the graph view Modification of the menus organization Display of Geonames usage rules No creation of empty tags with Cygnus Possibility to delete a tag only if it is empty, visualization of the content of the tags before deletion Move columns in the table of entities, add keyboard shortcuts Adding an input list for the pseudos Replacement of the old help by the online help on the documentation server Added filters on the selection windows of the Aries editor Added a specific import for Ahnenblatt Added specific import for Legacy Added specific import for RootsMagic Updated application discovery Added 15 new reports Added 9 new templates for GEDART reports Added age at death to the age report Improved the genealogy progress report to open easily in a spreadsheet Improved reports when multiple images are linked to an entity Added a font to display non-Roman alphabets in reports. Improved performance of geolocation by internet Possibility to not search for postal codes Removal of the localities in the reports Added the possibility to search on multiple marriages in the advanced search Improvement of the support contact module Search insensitive to accents Search with all names of a person Differentiate between siblings and semi-siblings when displaying common ancestors Added control of isolated entities Added date at the bottom of the printouts Modified the GEDCOM import report Corrections Fixed the use of passwords to encrypt GEDCOM data Management of the cause of an event in Aries Management of events that have taken place Fixed selection of Notes properties in the recording options Fixed parent/child sequence test in GEDCOM controls Correction of the use of the AGENCY tag in Aries Fixed zip code in Aries editor Correction of demo GEDCOMs (Kennedy and Bourbon) Correction of the management of the memory parameters under 1Go Correction of the management of the coordinates Fix @ in names Correction of the narrative report when events are empty Read almanacs in UTF-8 to respect diacritics Adds associations in GEDCOM merge Removes excess line breaks in GEDCOM. (On Windows under certain conditions only) Prevented the systematic search of the Internet to geolocate when modifying a place Re-enabled the display of the Web Book mapping Correction of the Web Book parameters. Correction of bookmarks with a chosen name. Adjustment of sorting when name prefixes are used Selecting an existing place no longer creates another one in Aries. Corrected display of common ancestors Corrected misuse of the ASSO tag with any other tag. Added the possibility to enter a fact (FACT) in the Aries editor And a mountain of translations New documentation in 9 languages (3 complete : French, English, Portuguese; 6 in progress: German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Danish, Dutch) Added Turkish translation Added Russian translation Many updates of the application translations (German, English, Spanish, Catalan, Danish, French, Greek, Dutch, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech) Many thanks to the translators Finally, thank you to the whole community By your remarks, your requests, your reports of anomalies, you make it possible to make live and embellish this software. We count on you to create buzz, tutorials, ideas and enthusiasm.