Family Connections is a powerful tool for building family trees/support maps, locating contact information for relatives/connections, logging outreach efforts, and more! Below is an introductory video, a list of the features, and instructions on how to perform each action.

Overview

Trees are built by adding people, grouping those people, and drawing lines between them.

Each person in a tree can be edited to include their name, contact information, social media accounts, and much more. Each person can also be labeled with a color indicating their status in your process. You can move people around in the workspace to achieve your desired layout.

You can draw lines between people to indicate a relationship. Each line can be styled (solid, dotted, dashed) and can be given a label to better clarify the relationship.

You can use groups of people to indicate non-familial relationships. Each group can be moved, resized, and labeled.

Managing Workspaces

A single case can have multiple "Workspaces". Think of workspaces like blank scratch pads. You can have one workspace for the paternal side of the family, and another for the maternal side. There are no limits to the number of workspaces, and you can name the workspaces as you see fit. You can edit workspace names, delete workspaces, and copy content between work spaces.

Create a New Workspace

When in the "Connections" tab:
Click the dropdown arrow in the white box in the upper left
Select "Add Workspace"
You can then choose from any of the templates, remember you can continue to edit/remove things from the templates. You can also choose a blank workspace if you would rather build out your workspace. Finally, you can choose an existing workspace to copy (these are at the bottom of the templates list under "Existing Workspaces.")
The workspace name defaults to the name of the template, but you can change this to anything you like.
Click "Create New Workspace" in the bottom right of the window.
You may now edit your new workspace

View a Different Workspace

When in the "Connections" tab:
Click the drop down in the Workspaces list, upper left of your screen
Choose the workspace you'd like to view

Edit a Workspace Name

When in the "Connections" tab:
Chose the workspace name you'd like to edit from the drop down in the Workspaces list, upper left
Click the word "edit" next to the Workspace name
Provide a new name
Click Save

Delete a Workspace

Caution: Deleting a workspace is a permanent, and can not be recovered
When in the "Connections" tab:
Chose the workspace name you'd like to edit from the drop down in the Workspaces list, upper left
Click the word "edit" next to the Workspace name
Click the delete button
Confirm the deletion in the popup window

Managing People And Placeholders

The Family Connections tree builder allows you to add both people and placeholders to the tree, move them, edit them, and remove them.

Adding People and Placeholders

There are several methods to add a person to a workspace.

While in a workspace of a case:

Create a Placeholder Person

Option 1: Shortcut

Position your mouse anywhere in the grey unused area of the workspace
Double click the left mouse button
This creates a "Placeholder" person that can be used when the person is not identified

Option 2: Use the builder button:

Click the "Add Placeholder" button (as shown below)
A Placeholder will appear just to the right of top center of your workspace
Drag the newly added Placeholder to the desired location

Add An Identified Person

Open a case and choose a workspace
Click the "Add Person" button (single person circle) --second-from-the-top button at the top right of your workspace
Enter a new name, or select from the existing case persons list
Click the blue checkbox
Drag the newly added person to a new location

Change a Placeholder Person To An Identified Person

Position your mouse over the Placeholder icon
Double click the left mouse button
In the popup, enter the name of a new or existing case person
Click the blue "Create New Person" button

Selecting Multiple People To View, Move, or Delete

Position your mouse anywhere in the unused grey area, right click-and-drag your mouse across multiple people to select
OR, select the first person or item, then hold down the control (ctrl) button, and select additional people or items

Moving People

You can move a single individual person, or multiple people at once

Moving a single person

Position your mouse over the person to be moved
Left-click-and-drag your mouse to move the person

Moving multiple people

Select multiple people (see above for multi-select instructions)
Position your mouse over any one of the selected people
Left-click-and-drag your mouse to move the person

View a Person's Details

Left click a single person in the workspace
A right side panel will slide out

Editing a Person's Details

Left click a single person in the workspace
In the right slide out panel, click the "details" tab
Click the "Edit Details" button

Assign a Status To a Person

Use the statuses to define your current understanding of each person in the tree. The statuses appear as colors on each person in a tree.

Left click a single person in the workspace to select
Click a status color in the "Person Status" bar at the top of the workspace

Search For a Person By Name

Click the "search" icon (magnifying glass) in the upper left of the workspace
Enter the person's name you wish to find

Find People By Status

Click one of the colored circles on the left side of the workspace

Deleting People, Lines, or Groups From A Workspace

Note that removing a person from a workspace does not delete the person from the case. To view all people in a case, click the word "People" in the grey menu bar across the top of your workspace.

Select one or more people, lines, or groups to be deleted
Press the "Delete" or "Backspace" key on your keyboard

Managing Groups Of People

Family Connections visual tree builder allows you to group people to indicate non-familial relationships, or other considerations.

Create A Group Of People

Select multiple people by right clicking in the grey area of the workspace, then drag your mouse around the group of people, or by selecting first one person, then holding down the control (ctrl) button and selecting additional, adjacent people.
Click the "Add Group" button (3rd button from the top at the right of your workspace)
Enter a name for the group
Click the blue checkmark

Moving a Group Of People

Left click the darker gray of the group box space (not on a person or placeholder within the group)
Left-click-and-drag the group to move the position

Renaming a Group

Double click the name of the group
Type the new name
Press enter complete the edit

Deleting a Group

Left click to select the group
Press the delete or backspace button on your keyboard

Managing Relationship Lines

Lines in the tree represent relationships of any kind between people.

Create a New Relationship Line

Position your mouse over the name of a person or placeholder in the tree
Right click on the person or placeholder
Drag your mouse toward your destination
To create a bend, position your mouse and right-click
If you create an unwanted bend, left-click one time to remove the last bend
If you do not want to complete the line, press the escape key
To complete the line, position your mouse over another person, line, or placeholder, then right click

OR use the line drawing widget by clicking the Line Drawing button (4th from the top on the right side of your workspace)

Edit a Line Bend

Left click once to select the line
Left click once on the bend in the selected line to view the small black bend circle
Left click and drag to move the bend

Delete a Bend

Left click once to the select the line
Left click again on the bend in the selected line to view the small black bend circle
Press the delete key on your keyboard

Change a Line Style

Select one or more lines to edit
Click the desired style in the "Line Style" tool at the top of the workspace

Add a Line Label

Double left click the target line
Type the name
Press the enter key to complete the edit

Move a Line Label

Left click the line label to select it
Left click and drag the line label to the desired position

Delete a Line

Select one or more lines to delete
Press the delete or backspace button on your keyboard

Support

If you have questions or suggestions, please email [email protected]