Book

What Is a Book?

Creating a Book - Start With the Book Panel

Format

For Whom?

How Many Generations?

Pruning

Layout

The Narrative Option

Optional Sections

Basic Titles

Using the Book Project Window

Navigating in the Book Project Window

Opening the Quickview in the Book Project Window

Adding an Object to a Page

Updating a Book

Settings

Sections

Front and Back Cover

The Report Format

Sources

Preferred Pictures

Media Pages

Surname Pages

Place Index

Person Index

Table of Contents

Working With Sections

Custom Sections

Editing Objects in Book Pages

Editing Line Objects

Editing Shape Objects

Editing Divider and Frame Objects

Editing Image Objects

Page Numbering

Building a PDF File Book — The Final Step


Family History Reports

Register Reports

Sources

Pictures

Privacy Filter

What Is a Book?

Well, you probably already know what a "book" is.

In Reunion, a book is an automatically generated yet fully customizable PDF document that you can share, publish, or print. It's based on a core report — register, family history, ancestor, hourglass, or relative report — and includes several traditional book elements wrapped together into one cohesive and customizable PDF file for the 21st century.

(Click Mr. Lincoln to see an example PDF book on our web site.)

The main elements of a book project include...

When using Reunion to publish and share a book, other people can browse and search through your information with rich detail and in the context of a familiar format (a book) with more traditional sections like indexes of people, places, and pictures, together with page numbers, headers, and footers. And it's not necessary to print a book. It's usually preferable (and certainly less expensive) to share a book (or "e-book") as a PDF file with the added bonus of many built-in tools for navigation and searching within the book. In particular, people, places, and pictures are all linked together in the book. Thus, a reader could find somebody in the index, click their name, go instantly to their detailed information in the body of the report, then click a source citation, go immediately to the complete source entry, click a picture, go immediately to all of a person's pictures neatly organized in the media section, click a web page link in notes or sources and open a browser to the web page, etc., etc. The PDF file format provides the benefit of linked information, yet everything appearing in a more traditional format — and completely searchable too!

In a nutshell, here are the three steps to making a book...

  1. In the Reports >Book panel, basic choices are made for the book.
  2. Next, the Book Project window shows a preliminary version of the book, and this is where customization happens. Images, graphics, text, and even completed pages from other apps can be added in the Book Project window. Each section of the book reveals several different options.
  3. Finally, a PDF file of your book is created and saved. It can be shared or printed. Initially, it appears in Apple's Preview app.

All these steps are described in detail below.

Creating a Book - Start with the Book Panel

To begin making a book...

  1. Open a family file and navigate to the desired starting person.
  2. Click Reports in the navbar.
  3. Click Book in the list of reports. A panel with several options will appear in the center of Reunion's window.

Format

The kernel of a book is based on a report. There are six different reports to choose from: person sheets, register, family history, ancestor, hourglass, or relative. After selecting Reports > Book, use the Format button to select one of the six reports.

book format

Most of the reports offer both a narrative-style presentation (using sentences and paragraphs) or an outline-style presentation (using a series of fields listed together in a meaningful grouping and sequence).

If you are new to Reunion (or even if you need a refresher on these report formats), follow these links for an explanation of each report's numbering system...

For Whom?

By default, names of the husband and wife of the current family appear when selecting Reports > Book. To create a book beginning with a different person or couple, select (single-click) any name in any sidebar and the "Descendants of," "Ancestors of," or "Relatives of" section will change. Or, return to the family view and navigate until the desired starting person/couple appears. Then return to the Reports > Book panel.

How Many Generations?

To set the number of generations in a book, use the up/down arrows next to the Generations field or type a number into the field. Book reports can move in different directions from 2 to 99 generations. The size of the report — in number of characters — is limited only by the amount of available disk space.

Pruning

The Reports > Book panel provides different options for pruning large books. Look for the "Prune" label in the Reports > Book panel.

The choices depend on the report selected with the Format button, and may include only...

These options provide the means to prune what otherwise may become very large books. A simple diagram of a descendant report (whose structure is the same as the family history report) limited to "direct lines only" (aka bold children) is given here.

To enable privacy filtering in a book, check the Use privacy filtering button in the Reports > Book panel. Privacy filtering is explained here.

Layout

A layout is a collection of important settings that determine the content and "look" of a report. For example, the selection of fields that are included for each person and family, the format of names and events, etc. Multiple layouts can be customized and saved for different purposes.

After selecting Reports > Book and choosing the desired book report using the Format button, the layout of the report can be changed by clicking the Layout button and selecting another layout — or choosing Define Layouts to tweak an existing layout or define a new one altogether.

Most of the layout settings for register, family history, ancestor, relative, and hourglass reports are similar and are discussed here. Keep in mind that the hourglass report is actually a combination of the ancestor report (for ancestors) and the register report (for descendants).

The Narrative Option

The register and ancestor reports are traditionally (and by default) documents created in a "narrative" style, presenting information (names, events, facts, etc.) in sentence and paragraph form, as if it were spoken. By contrast, the "outline" style presents the same information in more of a "form" — arranged with blocks of data and columns of field titles beside indented columns of information.

Some people feel that the outline style is easier-to-follow; however, the choice is yours. Just check or uncheck the Narrative button in the report panel.

All book formats include the Narrative option except the family history report.

Optional Sections

In a completed book, some sections are always included. However, some are optional. After selecting Reports > Book, use these five buttons to include the basic optional sections, or pieces, of the book. Each section is explained in detail here.

Basic Titles

After selecting Reports > Book, use the four fields shown below to populate the basic title fields for the book.

These can be changed later, by clicking the Settings button in the Book Project window.

Using the Book Project Window

After you've selected Reports > Book and configured the Book panel, click Create Book Project.

This opens the Book Project window, which has three main parts...

  1. A list of book sections, in the upper-left. Learn more about book sections.
  2. Options for the currently selected section, in the lower-left.
  3. A preview of the current book page, on the right side.

As you select different book sections (in the upper-left corner), a preview of the section/page appears on the right side. Options for the selected section appear in the lower-left.

Navigating in the Book Project Window

One way to navigate through the Book Project window is to click items in the Sections list on the left.

However, the Book Project window also contains "live" links throughout. For example, click a name in the index and go instantly to the person's record in the report, click a source citation and go immediately to the full source, click a picture and go to all of a person's pictures neatly organized in the media section, etc. Look for the cursor to change to a pointing finger when it's moved over a clickable name or item in the book.

When navigating to different pages in the Book Project window, you can move backward or forward using the History menu in the menu bar at the top (or the equivalent keyboard shortcuts).

More shortcuts for navigating in the Book Project window...

More details about the Book Project window...

Opening the Quickview in the Book Project Window

To open the Quickview and optionally navigate back to the family view in your family file, control-click (or right click) on a person's name in the book project.

Adding an Object to a Page

To add an object to the current page in the Book Project window, click the Add Object button in the bottom bar (the brown plus sign).

you can also control-click (or right-click) the canvas for a menu of objects to add.

Objects include text, lines, shapes, divider, frames and media files.

Supported media files include: image files (all types), PDF files, RTF files, and plain text files. Microsoft Word and RTFD files are not supported as a graphical object placed on a page. However, RTFD is supported as a custom book section.

When objects are added, they appear behind other objects on the page (so that you can still see the text of the report body).

Tip: From the Finder, any image (or other supported file) can be dragged and dropped onto any page in a book.

Objects can also be copied to the clipboard (from other apps) and pasted into book pages. These include images, rich text, and plain text. (By the way, you can copy Reunion's tree view and paste it into a book page.)

Shapes, dividers, frames and images can be cut, copied, pasted, and duplicated by selecting an item and using the Edit menu.

Once an object has been added to a book project, it can be resized, repositioned, resized, colorized, etc. This section below explains how to edit the different types of objects in the book project.

Updating a Book

After creating a book project, you may want to update its contents. For example, if new people are added in your family file, or images are tweaked, information is edited, etc. It's easy to update a book project that was previously created.

To do this, click the Update button in the Book Project window. A panel of options will be presented, similar to the panel of options that appeared when the book project was first created.

Note: Updating an existing book project does not change the Front or Back Cover pages of the book.

Book Settings

To change book settings, click the Settings button at the bottom of the Book Project window. Book settings are grouped into four categories...

These are described in the following sections.

Document Settings

The Document Settings of a book refer to...

To change the document settings for a book, click the Settings button at the bottom of the Book Project window. Then click Document.

Content, Header, Footer Settings

Content, Header, Footer Settings refer to...

To change the settings for content, header, and/or footer of a book, click the Settings button at the bottom of the Book Project window. Then click Content, Header, Footer.

Tip: Double-click a header or footer on any page to open the settings for Content, Header, Footer.

Title Settings

Title Settings refer to user-defined text variables used in the book.

As you recall, most of these were initially defined in the Reports > Book panel. However, after a book project is created, each title field can be edited.

To change the title settings for a book, click the Settings button at the bottom of the Book Project window. Then click Titles.

Each of the five fields shown above is called a "text variable." I.e., the contents of each text variable can be auto-injected into text objects anywhere in your book. Each field is limited to 100 characters.

For example, you might want to inject the copyright field into the footer on every page. Or, a more obvious example: adding the title to the Front Cover of a book. The syntax for each text variable is as follows (the meaning of each variable should be obvious)...

When you double-click a text object containing any of these variables, the variable name will appear.

Note: more than one text variable may be used in a single field. For example, on the front or Back Cover you might want to put the [bookCopyright] and [bookAuthor] text variables together, like this...

Books also have five other text variables which are preset (they do not appear in the Title Settings); however, they may be used anywhere in a book, and behave exactly like those described above.

Color Settings

The Color Settings of a book refer to the colorization of text. Different colors can be applied to...

The book excerpt below show different colors applied to text: blue for males, red for females, brown for relationships, and yellow highlighting for the direct ancestors.

To change the color settings for a book, click the Settings button at the bottom of the Book Project window. Then click Color.

Book Sections

A book is comprised of several sections. Here's what you need to know...

More details about book sections...

Front and Back Cover

A Front and Back Cover is included in all new book projects.

The Front Cover is the first section of the book; the Back Cover is the last section.

Reunion will create a default Front and Back Cover for new book projects; however, you can customize both. Or, you can create a cover page from scratch in another app, save it as a PDF file, and drag it into the Sections list in the Book Project window. Drag the Front Cover to the top of the Sections list in the Book Project window; drag the Back Cover to the bottom of the list.

As you edit the cover pages of a book project, Reunion will remember your Front and Back Cover and use them for subsequent new book projects. It doesn't do this by name; so you can name your Front and Back Cover as you wish. It attempts to do this by position in the Sections list and section content.

Here are two example book covers featuring different graphics and fonts...

Options for cover pages appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a cover page appears in the right side. (Chances are good you'll want to leave all three of these buttons unchecked.) These options are...

Report Chapters

As explained in the beginning of this chapter, the core of a book is one of five reports: register, family history, ancestor, hourglass, or relative. These five reports differ in structure, direction, numbering system, and division into chapters. When making a new book, the choice of report is made in the Reports > Book panel, via the Format button.

In the Book Project window, the names of report chapters appearing in the Sections list will depend upon which core report the book is based. The example below shows the chapters in a typical Register Report.

Report and Chapter Titles
The title of the core report (such as "Register Report" or "Relative Report") as it appears in the Table of Contents and in the body of the report itself, can be changed by double-clicking the title in the Sections list.

Note: The main title of the report (such as "Register Report") as it appears in the Sections list is really an abbreviation. The full title, such as "Descendants of Leroy Brown & Louise Retherford" will appear on the report page itself and in the Table of Contents.

Titles of chapters within the report (such as "Second Generation," "Third Generation," etc.) can't be edited.

Options for Report Chapters
In the Book Project window, options for the report appear in the lower-left corner whenever a page of the report appears in the right side. For example, if a page from the second generation of a register report appears on the right side, then the following options will appear in the lower-left corner...

The remaining options for report chapters includes...

Sources

To include sources when making a new book project or when updating an existing project, check the Sources button (in the Include section of the Reports > Book panel).

Sources are listed in their own section of the book. They are linked by citation numbers in the body of the book's report. Here is an example Sources page in a book...

Options for Sources appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever sources appear in the right side. These options are...

More general information about sources is here.

Preferred Pictures

To include preferred pictures for each person when making a new book project or when updating an existing project, check the Preferred pictures button in the Include section of the Reports > Book panel.

Pictures can be included in two different places...

Here is an example of a report page with preferred pictures (notice how text flows around the pictures)...

Options for preferred pictures appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a report page appears in the right side. For example, if the core of your book is a register report, then anytime any page of the register report appears on the right side of the Book Project window, you'll see options for preferred pictures in the lower-left. These options include...

We recommend experimenting with the picture alignment, size, and width to achieve the desired appearance for the report.

Media Pages in Books

To include Media pages when making a new book project or when updating an existing book project, check the Media pages button in the Include section of the Reports > Book panel. Here is an example Media page in a book...

media page

Options for Media pages appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a Media page appears in the right side. These options are...

Note: People with pictures will appear in the Media pages section sorted by: last name, first name, birth date. Movie and sound files are not included in books.

Surnames

To include an index of surnames when making a new book project or when updating an existing project, check the Surname pages button (in the Include section of the Reports > Book panel).

Here is an example Surnames page...

Options for Surnames pages appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a Surnames page appears in the right side. These options are...

Place Index

To include a Place index when making a new book project or when updating an existing project, check the Place index button (in the Include section of the Reports > Book panel).

The Place Index includes every place used in any event field in the report.

Here is an example Place Index page...

Options for the Place Index appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a Place Index page appears in the right side. These options are...

Person Index

A Person Index is included in all new book projects. It includes every person in the book. Here is an example 3-column Person Index page...

Options for the Person Index appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever a Person Index page appears in the right side. These options are...

Table of Contents

A Table of Contents is included in all new book projects.

The Table of Contents shows the contents and order of items in the Sections list of the Book Project window — AND whether or not each section is specified to be included in the Table of Contents. For example, typically cover pages are not included in a Table of Contents. This is an option in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window when a cover page appears in the right side of the window (i.e., when it is the "current section.")

Here is an example Table of Contents...

Options for the Table of Contents appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window whenever the Table of Contents page appears in the right side. These options are...

Working with Sections

To review...

In the Book Project window, Control-clicking any item in the Sections list reveals a menu with several features...

Adding a Section

To add a section to a book, click the + button under the Sections list in the Book Project window. This opens the Add Section window, which contains prebuilt sections with different designs. This window will also contain any custom sections that you have saved, as well as a "blank" page and default front and back cover pages.

Items in the Add Section window are shown with small thumbnail images and are divided into three categories: Custom Sections, Front Covers, and Back Covers. Select the desired section from the scrolling list of sections and click the blue "Add Section..." button at the bottom. The selected section will appear in the Sections list in the Book Project window.

After adding a new section, it can be repositioned (click and drag the name of a section up/down in the Sections list) and/or renamed (double-clicking its name, directly in the Sections list).

If there are custom sections that become obsolete or unwanted, they can be selected in the Add Section window and removed, by clicking the Remove Section button (the red minus sign, in the lower-left corner).

Sections within the Add Section window can be renamed by clicking them once to select, and then click the name again (much like renaming files in the Finder). The “Blank” and “Default” sections can't be renamed.

Adding a Blank Page

To add a blank, empty page to a book, click the + button under the Sections list in the Book Project window. This opens the Add Section window, which contains a "Blank" item, in the Custom Sections.

If you add a blank page, then presumably you'll want to name and populate the empty page with graphics or text, as explained here.

Saving a Section

If a section of a book has been customized (for example, a nifty Front Cover with custom images), it can be saved for use in other books. Just control-click the section in the Sections list of the Book Project window and choose Save Section. The next time you open the Add Section window, it will appear for selection.

Removing a Section From a Book Project

To remove (or delete) a section from a book...

  1. Select the section you want to delete in the Sections list in the Book Project window.
  2. Click the - button beneath the Sections list. There is no undo; however a confirming window will appear before anything is removed.

Importing and Exporting Sections

Any book sections not auto-generated by Reunion may be imported or exported — making it easy to share book sections with other books or with other Reunion users. These include Front and Back Covers and Custom Sections.

Custom Sections in Books

Any book section can be customized. For example, you can add text, add an object, or add a media file (a picture, drawing, logo, etc.) to any page by using the Add Object button underneath the page. This was explained here. In the case of adding images, these can also be dragged-and-dropped from the Finder.

However, Reunion also supports custom sections that you create from scratch.

The basic idea is that anything you create in any app can be inserted into your book. We call that a "custom section." The key is simply saving whatever you compose as a PDF or RTF file, and then adding the file to your book as a new, custom section.

Examples of Custom Sections in Books

Adding a Custom Section

To create a custom section in a book project using a PDF, RTF, RTFD, or plain text file...

  1. Be sure you're looking at a Book Project window.
  2. From the menu at the top, choose File > Create Section with File.
  3. Select a file and click Import.

Or, simply drag-and-drop any PDF, RTF, or plain text file into the Sections list in the Book Project window.

The new section can be repositioned and/or renamed in the Sections list, as explained here.

Sections Created From PDF Files...

Editing Objects in Book Pages

As explained earlier, objects (text, lines, shapes, dividers, frames and images) can be added to any page in a book, via the Add Object button (in the bottom bar), control-clicking (or right-clicking) on the canvas, or simply via drag-and-drop from the Finder.

To select an object, click directly on it.

To select an object behind another object, press the Command key and click the top object; then click again to select objects underneath.

A selected object can be repositioned with the mouse or nudged with the Up/Down Arrow keys.

Shapes, dividers, frames and images can be resized by clicking and dragging on the resize handles.

Text, shapes, dividers, frames and images can be rotated by clickin and dragging on the rotation handles.

When an object is selected on a book page, one of the following options panels will appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window depending on what type of object is selected...

These panels provide several ways to customize objects and should be self-explanatory for the most part.

Editing Lines

To edit a line object, select it by clicking directly on it. The following options panel will appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window...

The editing of line objects is explained in more detail here.

The All Pages in Section permits an identical "watermark" object, so to speak, on every page in the section.

Editing Shapes

To edit a shape object, select it by clicking directly on it. The following options panel will appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window...

The editing of shape objects is explained in more detail here.

The All Pages in Section permits an identical "watermark" object, so to speak, on every page in the section.

Editing Dividers and Frames

To edit a divider or frame object, select it by clicking directly on it. The following options panel will appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window...

The Position button will scale the selected frame object to the Printable page or the Full page. A selection of Custom simply means you scale the frame by dragging its resize handles.

The All Pages in Section permits an identical "watermark" object, so to speak, on every page in the section.

Editing Images

To edit an image object, select it by clicking directly on it. The following options panel will appear in the lower-left corner of the Book Project window...

The Position button will scale the selected image to the width, height, or whatever it takes to fill the entire page. A selection of Custom simply means you scale the image by dragging its corners.

In addition, the Position button has Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical menu commands. Flipping is not the same as rotating and is explained here.

The All Pages in Section permits an identical "watermark" object, so to speak, on every page in the section.

Page Numbering

As explained earlier, the Document Settings of a book include the option for page numbers to appear in the header and/or footer of pages.

Page numbering happens immediately as sections are added or removed, and when formatting is changed (such as number of columns, font size, etc.)

Roman Numerals

If a book contains any sections before the Table of Contents (other than a Cover Page) — such as Introduction, Foreword, etc. — the pages in those sections will be numbered with lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii. iv, etc.). The Table of Contents will also receive a roman numeral.

Put another way, Roman numeral page numbering begins after the Cover Page, except when the next page after the Cover Page is the Table of Contents.

A valid Cover Page is not numbered (or considered when assigning subsequent page numbers). To be considered a valid "Cover Page" the section must meet the following conditions...

Integer or Natural Numbers

Integer page numbering (1, 2, 3, etc.) begins after Table of Contents, except when there are no pages with Roman numerals (i.e., there are no sections except a Cover Page before the Table of Contents).

Building a PDF File Book — The Final Step

The final step in the bookmaking process is creating a PDF file.

To do this (assuming your book has been tweaked and customized to your liking), click the Create and Open PDF Book button, in the lower-right corner of the Book Project window.

You'll be asked to name the PDF file (your book) and then the book will appear in Apple's Preview app, for perusing, sharing or printing. It will look something like the example below...

Apple's Preview app (or any other PDF viewing app) has its own features and tools. For example, notice the page thumbnails along the left side of Preview's window in the illustration above. Also, people can use the Search Box in Preview to look for people and places in your book.

Make a mental note of where you stored the PDF book file; in case you want to upload, email, share, or view it later.