Control Who Appears in a Family Chart

The starting Person anchors the chart. Direct lines follows that person’s ancestors. All family adds ancestors’ siblings and the starting Person’s siblings. It does not mean every connected person: the starting Person’s descendants, a spouse-only branch or cousins’ descendants are not automatically included.

In the sample, Anna is connected to her parents, partner James and daughter Elena. Anna’s ancestry chart does not automatically include James or Elena. Change the starting Person to explore another ancestry. Relationships outside the selected chart can still appear in a Person dossier’s permitted relations; that does not mean the other person receives a complete dossier.

Generations / family hops limits traversal. All removes that hop limit, but a 400-card safeguard still applies. Fewer generations can improve readability and printing. A repeated ancestor or complex family connection is still one recorded person; it is not a reason to duplicate that Person.

Living / unknown status offers Show permitted details or Hide private details. The restrictive choice suppresses private details for living or unknown-status people and excludes redacted people from appended dossiers. Normal record read rights apply first. Photos, captions, documents and free-text narratives are not automatically anonymized: review the actual output before sharing.

When someone is missing, check the starting Person, relation direction, saved links, scope, family-hop limit, read rights and privacy choice. Folders, tags and photographs do not establish kinship. A missing map marker can also mean an unresolved or hidden birthplace.

Choose Save chart preferences and save the collection before relying on the Family Tree’s Documents count, which follows saved settings. Compare Family Scope and Privacy.