Upgrading
Upgrading from Reunion 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13
Upgrading from Reunion 1.0, 1.5, 1.7, 2, 3, or 4
After Upgrading
If You Use ReunionTouch
If You Upgraded From Reunion 10 and Your Family File is Larger
If You Upgraded From Reunion 13 and Your Family File is Smaller
New Features In Reunion 14
Using Files Created with the Demo Version
International Localizations/Translations
Missing Multimedia Items, Upgrading From Reunion 10 or Older
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Getting Started
Tutorial
Upgrading from Reunion 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13
If you previously used Reunion 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 you'll need to upgrade (or convert) your family files to the new Reunion 14 file format. In a nutshell, you'll use Reunion 14 to "open" your old family file and then a new, version 14, family file will be created with a new name.
Follow the steps below. (Tip: To skip steps 3, 4, and 5, you can simply drag and drop an old family file icon onto the Reunion 14 application icon.)
- Open Reunion 14.
- If you haven't yet entered your license information, a window will appear, asking for your license information that you received by email after purchasing Reunion 14. Enter your User Name and License Code and then click Enter License Code.
- A window titled "Open" should appear. If not, choose File > Open.
- Select your OLD Reunion family file.
You may need to navigate through your folders to locate your old family files.
If you're upgrading from Reunion 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13, your family file is probably located inside this folder:
Home/Documents/Reunion Files.
If you used Reunion 13 with ReunionTouch (our mobile app) then your family file is located somewhere in your Dropbox or an iCloud Drive folder.
If you're upgrading from version 8, the Reunion 8 folder is probably inside the Applications folder.
If the name of your old family file is gray in the Open window list, then click Cancel,
find your family file in the Finder, and rename your family file using an extension of ".familyfile"
(for example: My Family File.familyfile).
- When you have your old family file highlighted in the window, click Open.
- A window titled "Upgrade Family File" will appear. You'll be asked to name the new, converted family file.
- Click Convert and Reunion will create a new, version 14 family file and open it for you. Your old family file will not be changed in any way. The information in your new family file will be the same as the information in your old family file but the appearance will be different.
If you see a message regarding multimedia files that couldn't be found, click here.
Upgrading from Reunion 1.0, 1.5, 1.7, 2, 3, or 4
Reunion has been around a long time! If you have version 4 or older (1.0, 1.5, 1.7, 2.0, 3.0, or 4.0), contact us for upgrade information.
Installing Reunion 14 does not overwrite, eliminate, or change your older version of the Reunion application. If you upgraded from Reunion 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13, you'll wind up with both the new Reunion 14 application file in addition to your old Reunion 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 application file. (These are, by default, located in your Applications folder.) If you followed the instructions above, you should have an upgraded (or converted) version of your old family file inside your Home/Documents/Reunion Files folder.
You do not have to keep a copy of the older version of the Reunion app on your hard disk. However, before you trash the older version...
- We recommend making backups of your old family files for archive purposes.
- Version 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 chart files are converted to the Reunion 14 format when they are opened in Reunion 14 and the File > Save As menu item is used. After doing this, they can't be opened by earlier versions of Reunion. Reunion 14 will not open charts created with Reunion 7 or earlier versions.
If You Use ReunionTouch...
If you were sharing a version 13 family file with a device using ReunionTouch, it's important to complete the following steps...
- On the Mac, upgrade/convert your old family file to the Reunion 14 format.
This will create a new, version 14 family file, which you will have named and, hopefully, saved in Dropbox or an iCloud Drive folder.
However, creating a version 14 family file does not remove or delete your version 13 family file.
So, you'll have both temporarily.
- Open ReunionTouch on your device.
- If your old family file opens, close it. (Tap the Hammer icon and tap Close.)
- In the Welcome window of ReunionTouch, tap "Download a family file from Dropbox." or "Download a family file from iCloud Drive."
- Locate and tap the name of your version 14 family file in the list. It will have a different icon (than Reunion 13) and, in smaller text under the file name, you'll see "Reunion 14 Family File."
- The version 14 family file will be downloaded to your device. It may take a long time if it has lots of pictures. When it's done, you may begin using it.
- To avoid confusion, at some point you should use ReunionTouch to delete the old,
version 13 copy of your family file on the device.
(Note: Deleting the family file on the device, does not delete the Mac family file in Dropbox or iCloud Drive.)
If you upgraded from Reunion 13 and your family file is smaller...
If you have compared the file size of your new Reunion 14 family file to your older Reunion family file — which we don't recommend — you may notice that the new Reunion 14 family file size is smaller. This is normal and happens primarily because certain types of data is cached in your old family file and will be re-cached, as needed, when using Reunion 14. Having said that, the number of people, families, sources, and media items should not change when upgrading to Reunion 14.
If you upgraded from Reunion 10 and your family file is larger...
If you upgraded from Reunion 10 and your newly upgraded family file has become larger, it's probably because you have lots of images (linked to people, families, and source records). Reunion 14 builds larger preview (or thumbnail) images than version 10 or older, and this takes up more space — lots more, depending on the nature of the images and, of course, the number of images. However, the good news is that you can control this enlargement to a considerable degree. Learn more.
If you upgraded from Reunion 8...
Installing Reunion 14 does not overwrite, eliminate, or change your older version of the Reunion application file or its accompanying files or folders. If you upgraded from Reunion 8, you'll wind up with both the new Reunion 14 application and supporting folders/files (described here) in addition to your old Reunion 8 folder (which was, by default, located in your Applications folder). If you followed the instructions above, you should have an upgraded (or converted) version of your old family file inside your Home/Documents/Reunion Files folder.
You do not have to keep a copy of the older version of Reunion on your hard disk. However, before you trash the older version...
- We recommend making backups of your old family files for archive purposes.
- Be sure you've moved all the files you do want to keep out of your old folder and into the Reunion Files folder. For example, you should move your old charts and reports into the new Charts and Reports folders located in your new Reunion Files folder (which is in your Documents folder).
- If your pictures were stored in a folder inside the old Reunion 8 folder, you should move that folder into your new Reunion Pictures folder, which is located inside your Home/Pictures folder.
- Version 8 chart files are converted to the Reunion 14 format when they are opened and Saved in Reunion 14. Once saved by Reunion 14, they can't be opened by earlier versions of Reunion. When converting version 8 charts with Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top orientations (and their butterfly or waterfall variations), some chart lines may be covered by other chart boxes. The problem is fixed if you change the line spacing. This is an issue caused by older Carbon fonts and the Carbon Font Manager being different from the newer macOS Font Manager. Reunion 14 has a Leading button (in the chart editing tool panel) to help clean up some of these upgraded charts. Reunion 14 will not open charts created with Reunion 7 or earlier versions.
New Features in Reunion 14
After installing Reunion, you can enjoy learning about the new features by choosing Help > New Features or clicking here.
If you've skipped a version or two, please visit our web site for information about features added in older versions of Reunion.
Using Files Created with the Demo Version
The fully licensed version of Reunion 14 can open a family file created by the demo version. No special tricks are needed.
International Localization/Translations
For details about the availability of Reunion in different languages, and for information about translating (or localizing) Reunion 14 into other languages, visit this web page.
"Alternate Resource Files" for translations/localizations created for older versions of Reunion will not work with Reunion 14.
Missing Multimedia Items
As part of the upgrade process, Reunion attempts to locate your original multimedia files,
such as pictures, movies, sounds, etc., that you've linked to people, families, and source records.
If any of these items can't be found, then a message will appear at the end of the upgrade process notifying you how many items couldn't be found.

There are usually just two steps to solving this problem...
- Figure out where your pictures, movies, etc., are stored (they're in a folder somewhere) and telling Reunion 14 what folder they are stored in.
- Repairing the broken links.
To do this...
- Choose Reunion > Settings.
- Click the Multimedia icon.
Click here for more details.