Release notes

Version 13 - 30 November 2025

We are pleased to announce the release of Ancestris version 13.

• The daily version will be numbered version 14.
• Both versions are available from our web site.

Ancestris 13 in numbers

• Over 1,200 commits
• 18 months of development
• Runs on all OSes that support Java from version 17 to 25

New features

• Complete overhaul of all reports.
• Unification and improvement of report options.
• Addition of dark look and feel.
• Overhaul of the statement module.
• Addition of an AI-based(Mistral) document transcription feature.
• Feature to change all names to uppercase.
• Overhaul of the duplicate merge module.
• Addition of a search notepad
• Addition of the ability to call up reports using a button in the menu bar
• Addition of a vertical timeline report
• Addition of a descending circular report
• Addition of a report on occupations over time
• Addition of a star tree report
• Addition of a label generator
• Addition of an SVG report viewer

Changes, corrections and improvements

• Cygnus improvements
•  Ariès improvements
• GEDCOM editor improvement
• GedArt additions of functions to export more data
• Family group module improvements
• Entity table corrections
• Anomaly verification module improvements
• Web book improvements
• Improvements to the website module
• Improvements to the common ancestors module
• Improvements to the tag deletion module
• Improvements to the Geneanet export
• Improvements to the graph module
• Improvements to the graphical tree
• Improvements to the Geneatique import
• Improvements to the Aldfaer import

Translation update :

• Catalan
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Hungarian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Turkish

Thank you to all the translators for their constant work, which is so important for the whole community.

Thank you !

To conclude, we would like to thank you, the entire community, for your comments, requests and bug reports, all of which help to keep this software alive and kicking.

We are counting on you in the future to create buzz, tutorials, ideas and enthusiasm.

Version 12 - 08 June 2024

• The daily version will be numbered version 13.
• Both versions are available from our web site.

Ancestris 12 in numbers

• Over 1,700 commits
• 3 years of development
• Runs on all OSes that support Java from version 8 to 22
  

New features

• Support for GEDCOM 7 (complete for GEDCOM editor and Cygnus editor).
• Displays all entities (even illegal ones) in the GEDCOM explorer and in the GEDCOM editor.
• New Hungarian translation
• Save as: exact or partial copy
• Possibility of choosing burial instead of date of death for displays.
• Added option to zoom the entire application.
• Choice of backup directory
• Specific imports for: Elie, Aldfaer, RootsMagic, Ancestry.com, Brother's Keeper
• Addition of a media manager
• Addition of a GEDCOM converter
• Redesigned duplicate search module
• Rewrite calendar report
• Rewrite narrative report
• Rewrite 10-generation circular report with SVG output.
• Addition of an individual lifeline report.
• Added entity sorting at save time and the ability to sort entity properties by date.
• Ability to create a new GEDCOM directly from entities displayed in a view (Tree, Graph, Time-line, Map, Search, Family Groups).
• Family groups module rewritten with new functionalities (marking, grouping, etc.).
• Added ability to override automatic checks.
• New inbreeding calculation and loop detection.
• Addition of a list of default repositories.
• Export to Genealogieonline.nl

Changes, corrections and improvements

• Divorce symbol added to graphic tree
• Improvements to Cygnus
• Improvements to Aries
• Improvements to GEDCOM editor
• Improvements to the common ancestors module
• Opening of a new Ancestris file on SOSA 1
• FILE tag added by default for media entities in entity table
• Preserve sort order in Aries search screens
• Search without accents
• Corrected presentation tutorial for multiple screens.
• Spouse search added to advanced search
• Added marking by X chromosome
• Improved use of media links in editors.
• Geneanet, Geneatique and Heredis import improved.
• Improvements to Web Book export
• Website export improvements
• Sorting on dates in the entity table
• Addition of separators for bookmark management
• Improvements and corrections to the geographic map
• Filters added to graph view
• Allows you to select a date of change in the explorer to view only subsequent modifications.
• Improvements to the multi-generation graphical tree report
• Improves file opening to better detect and explain problems encountered.
• Geneanet export improvements
• Addition of a reset to default button for entity table settings.
• First page of pdf displayed instead of neutral image.
• File saving options retained from one run to the next.
• Print current view added to "Tools" menu.
• Displays JFIF images.
• Enhanced graph view on high resolution screens.
• Individuals can be marked from all views.
• Register module enhancements
• Addition of a maximum waiting time preference for web link verification
• Addition of icons to distinguish the addition of a numbering from the display of Sosa 1.
• Correction of different language display of reports compared to the interface.
• Use report options before launching them from the context menu.
• Added a wizard screen for genealogy comparison.
• Ability to choose the number of generations of ascendants and descendants separately in the dynamic tree.
• Addition of a new GedArt template.
• Addition of a gradient by date in the geographic map.
• Added a parameter to limit the length of a field in a layer.
• Addition of a menu with the recent opened files.
• Added the ability to underline fields in layers.
• Improved management of almanacs.

Translation update :

• Castillan
• Catalan
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• German
• English
• French
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Turkish

Version 11 - 29 May 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