* Printing Family Tree

Questions regarding use of any Version of Family Historian. Please ensure you have set your Version of Family Historian in your Profile. If your question fits in one of these subject-specific sub-forums, please ask it there.
Post Reply
avatar
DAVIDSAYERS2
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: 13 Oct 2019 08:23
Family Historian: V6

Printing Family Tree

Post by DAVIDSAYERS2 »

When printing the Family Tree Descendants no boxes it is very long. It measures 17 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 2 inches when 100%.

I have found a printer who can print size A0 but scaling it down will not help as the proportions are so extreme.

Any suggestions

Regards

David
User avatar
tatewise
Megastar
Posts: 28333
Joined: 25 May 2010 11:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Torbay, Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Printing Family Tree

Post by tatewise »

Welcome to the FHUG David.
I have moved your posting to the FH General Usage forum because it is not a Wish List Request for a new feature.
It is in fact a fairly standard request for advice about printing large Diagrams.

See how_to:creating_a_single_page_pdf_of_a_diagram|> Single Page PDF of a Diagram that gives background advice and options, including PDF up to 200" x 200", i.e. 16' 8" x 16' 8".

However, your Descendants Diagram is unusually tall and narrow, which suggests a slightly unusual tree.
I imagine it is just a single line of descent without sibling branches? Can you confirm please.
This sort of diagram is best printed on a sheet roll.

There is always a conflict with such large Diagrams between the size of the page and the size of the font.
If you scale down the paper size the text becomes illegible. If you make the text legible the paper is unmanageable.
One solution is to reduce the details in each box to perhaps just Name and Life Dates to allow a larger font and at the same time reduce the diagram size.

What you may be able to do is produce a series of Descendant Diagrams by choosing a different Diagram Root for each one and limiting the number of Generations. By saving as PDF it is possible to stitch them together side by side to produce one page with more reasonable dimensions.

Please give us a few more clues to go on, and there may be other options.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Printing Family Tree

Post by LornaCraig »

David, can you also tell us whether you are using a top-down tree or a right-left tree?
And is 17 feet 4 inches the width or the height?

A top-down descendants tree can be extremely wide if you include all siblings in every generation. There are ways of reducing this, without necessarily hiding any of the siblings, using the Movement Control Box to shift some sections of the diagram.

As Mike says, if you give us some more details we can make some suggestions.
Lorna
avatar
DAVIDSAYERS2
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: 13 Oct 2019 08:23
Family Historian: V6

Re: Printing Family Tree

Post by DAVIDSAYERS2 »

Hi

Thank you for your replies.

The Tree is very long and narrow because the grandfather married twice and had 22 children.

I can make thing better by using the movement control box but it seems only to allow me to move families downwards not horizontally as well. If I could move downwards and then horizontally left or right the diagram would become squarer.

Hope this makes sense

David
User avatar
tatewise
Megastar
Posts: 28333
Joined: 25 May 2010 11:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Torbay, Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Printing Family Tree

Post by tatewise »

It sounds like you have a Top-down Orientation, and the Diagram is actually very wide and narrow.
This is because there are 22 child boxes side by side, and boxes are wider than they all tall.

Try setting Diagram > Options > General tab Orientation: Left-right which should make it a bit squarer.

Also use Movement Control Box in Box & Bar mode, and drag alternate individual Child boxes left/right so they are staggered. That can be repeated for each generation.
Moving some vertical bars up or down may also help.

With a Top-down Orientation, it is possible to perform a similar staggering by dragging Child boxes up/down.

See info:forums#posting_topics|> Posting Topics about attaching screenshots and post a shot of your Diagram problems.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Printing Family Tree

Post by LornaCraig »

DAVIDSAYERS2 wrote: 14 Oct 2019 09:48 If I could move downwards and then horizontally left or right the diagram would become squarer.
It is quite easy to move families downwards and then horizontally. Here is an example created from the Family Historian Sample Project. It's a descendants tree with Michael Pleasance Munro as the diagram root.

As you will see, the family of his son Peter Michael Munro has been moved down and then right, while the family of his daughter Julia Rosalind Munro has been moved down and then left. The result is a squarer diagram. This was achieved by selecting the Box and Bar option in the Movement Control Box. (In the case of Julia's family, because she has only one child there is no bar to drag so you need to click on the tiny white diamond above her son Martin Hodgegs and drag on that.)

Click the Help button in the Movement Control Box for details of how to achieve various moves. I hope this helps.

Sample diagramJPG.JPG
Sample diagramJPG.JPG (146.34 KiB) Viewed 4091 times
Lorna
Post Reply