Family Historian User Group

I have produced an Ancestor and Descendants diagram for one of my grandsons, (whick luckily includes his brother) but their parents are connected by a double line, not too disastrous in itself, but is there any way I can change this line to a single line, to be consistent with the rest of the diagram?

I don't believe so. The double lines denote that the couple were married. You can change the line between an unmarried couple via Diagram > Options and then the Lines tab, but not a married couple.

Thanks Helen,
I was curious why it’s only their parents that have the double line, all other couples have a single line - don’t worry, it’s not that important, I can live with it. Perhaps I’ll ask CP why it should be so

Do the other couples have 'default status'? Or some other marital status?

Mike, try adjusting the Diagram > Options > General tab settings for Use Fork Style for LInes Connecting Ancestors.

If you untick Except for 1st Row of Ancestors then the double lines are replaced by a single line for the parents.

If you untick Use Fork Style for LInes Connecting Ancestors then all Ancestors will have double lines.

The only exceptions will be where the marriage Status is set and the Diagram > Options > Lines tab applies.

I must be missing something, Mike T. I still get lots of double lines for descendants, where the marriage status is unset (default). So how has Mike L eliminated those?

Helen, I'm not sure what point you are making. The settings I referred to only apply to Ancestors which are what I think Mike L was talking about, i.e. single lines between all the couples except the parents. I am guessing that the grandson is the diagram root (since his brothers are included) and only his parents (1st generation ancestors) have double lines. There are probably no actual descendants in his diagram but Ancestors & Descendants includes siblings of the root.

Mike T, I'm trying to learn -- forgive me for trying.

Mike L says he only has one set of double lines in the diagram. I can't understand how that can be unless every ancestor couple bar one were unmarried (and he's changed the defaults for marriage status lines); or he already had the Use Fork Style enabled, which may be the case.

I understand that his grandchildren may not have have descendants (although two of my sisters' grandchildren do so it isn't impossible) , but would expect more than one generation of ancestors.

So I guess yours isn't a generic solution, but specific to this particular use case.

Here is an A&D diagram of the Family Historian Sample Project with Patrick Christopher MUNRO as the root.
The default diagram settings are shown alongside where Use Fork Style... is ticked by default (yellow highlight).
Therefore, all the green box Ancestors are linked by single 'fork style' lines except Patrick's parents (1st Row of Ancestors) who have double lines (yellow highlight).

Patrick's sibling is shown which is NOT possible with an Ancestors only diagram.

Untick Except for 1st Row of Ancestors and the parents will use 'fork style' single lines too.


If any Descendant couples are shown in the diagram then by default they will be connected by double lines.
To get the Ancestror couples to match, then untick Use Fork Style for LInes Connecting Ancestors.
It is not possible to change the Descendant couples connecting lines globally.

All of those cases where double lines are shown may be altered by the Diagram > Options > Lines tab and the marriage Status setting for each couple.

Thanks, Mike -- it's clearer now. At some point I must have turned the forked lines off (a) because I think it's ugly and (b) because it's useful to see the marital status of the ancestor couples.

One (hopefully last) question:

tatewise wrote: ↑

26 Dec 2022 11:51

All of those cases where double lines are shown may be altered by the Diagram > Options > Lines tab and the marriage Status setting for each couple.

Was I right in saying this is possible for every marriage status except the default (married) status? So it isn't possible to get rid of the double lines for descendant couples.

ColeValleyGirl wrote: ↑

26 Dec 2022 12:03

tatewise wrote: ↑

26 Dec 2022 11:51

All of those cases where double lines are shown may be altered by the Diagram > Options > Lines tab and the marriage Status setting for each couple.

Was I right in saying this is possible for every marriage status except the default (married) status? So it isn't possible to get rid of the double lines for descendant couples.

Apart from the 'fork style' option for Ancestors, it is not possible to get rid of the double lines at all.
The Diagram > Options > Lines tab options only offer normal, dotted, or crossed-out.
i.e. solid double, dotted double, or solid double with crossed-out diagonal line.

tatewise wrote: ↑

26 Dec 2022 10:40

Mike, try adjusting the Diagram > Options > General tab settings for Use Fork Style for LInes Connecting Ancestors.

If you untick Except for 1st Row of Ancestors then the double lines are replaced by a single line for the parents.

If you untick Use Fork Style for LInes Connecting Ancestors then all Ancestors will have double lines.

The only exceptions will be where the marriage Status is set and the Diagram > Options > Lines tab applies.

Thanks Mike,
That did the trick

Mike L