A genealogy can be made into a typeset PDF, ready to print and bind, and a person's line can be drawn as one long picture. Both show the names of living relatives, so they are for the genealogy's administrators, members whose account is linked to it, and anyone who has entered its family code; without one of those, the PDF and Lineage image buttons are simply not on the page. No account is needed - the family code is enough.
1Choose the cover and the layout
Press PDF on the front page or the chart for the whole genealogy, or on a person's page for that person and their branch alone - the page says which, under its title. Then choose:
- Cover style: ten of them, from Vermilion, Ink, Jade and Porcelain blue to Thread-bound and Navy quarter, each shown as this genealogy's own cover. The three with + Add photo can carry a photograph of yours as their background; it is deleted once the PDF has been made. Press ⤢ on a cover to see it larger.
- Layout style: Classic sets the names vertically, right to left, a row to each generation, as the old books did; Outline runs across the page, one person to a line, indented by branch; Index is a table by generation, for looking up pages. Each comes with a sample page.
2Choose the paper, then generate it
Further down you can choose:
- Generation column design (classic style) and Generation column (classic style): how the generation column in the margin of the Classic layout is drawn, and which side it goes on;
- Paper: eight sizes - A4, B5, 16K (large), 16K (standard), 8K (large), 32K (pocket), A3 and Letter - and Orientation, Portrait or Landscape;
- Typeface: other typefaces for the names and for the generation column;
- First page number of the chart: for a genealogy bound into another book, or a volume that continues an earlier one. The chart's first page carries that number and the pages after it follow on, and every "continued on page N" uses the new numbers.
Press Generate & download. A large genealogy takes about 10–30 seconds; keep the page open meanwhile. On a computer the download starts by itself; on a phone or tablet, press Share or save to keep it on the device or send it straight to the family. The continued-on and continued-from marks in the PDF, and its table of contents, are links.
3The lineage image
Press Lineage image on a person's page or the chart to draw that person and everyone descended from them as one tree: them at the top, their descendants spreading out below, a generation to a row. From the chart of the whole genealogy, it starts at the founder.
- Heading: set across the top of the picture. It starts as the genealogy's name and the person's; change it as you like, or empty it for no heading at all.
- How many generations: leave it empty for the whole line, or put 5 to draw the person and four generations below them.
- Format: PDF is drawn in lines, so it stays sharp however far you zoom in and its names can be searched; PNG is a picture that opens anywhere.
- Detail, Compact, Shape, Type size and the rest each say under them what they do.
Press Draw it and download; it arrives the same way as the PDF.
4Share with relatives
The front page, each person's page, the chart, the statistics, the village pages and others have Share this page at the top right. In WeChat it copies the link and shows you where WeChat's own menu is - tap ⋯ at the top right, then Send to chat or Share to Moments. In other browsers it opens the phone's or computer's share menu, or, where there is none, copies the link and says Link copied.
What you share is an address: whoever opens it sees what they themselves may see, so without the family code the recent generations stay hidden. To send the PDF or the picture itself, use Share or save when you download it on a phone.
Tips
- Not signed in? Press Enter the family code on the genealogy's front page and type the code a relative gave you; the downloads are then yours for 14 days from when you entered it. On a shared computer, press Code accepted on the front page when you have finished, then End access.
- Signed in, but your account is linked to a different genealogy? Then this one's download buttons are not shown to you. Press Apply to switch to this genealogy on its front page; once its administrators approve, you can download it.
- A very large line makes a very wide picture, and it is drawn at a lower resolution so that it fits. For a sharper one, draw fewer generations under How many generations.
- The PDF and the picture name living relatives and say how they are related. Think about where they may end up before you pass them on.