Color Tags
What Are Color Tags?
Where Do Color Tags Appear?
Using Color Tags
Editing Color Tags
Color Tag Tips
Using Flags with Tags
The Color Tags feature lets you use color to tag people in your family file. Color tags provide visual clues to distinguish different attributes or groups of people. For example...
- People modified in the last 30 days could be given a green tag.
- Descendants of any ancestor can be given an orange tag.
- Ancestors of your grandchild can be given a cyan color.
- People flagged as "uncertain" can have a magenta tag.
- People with multiple parents can have a yellow tag.
- People with multiple spouses can have a gray tag.
- Y-DNA (Y chromosome DNA) passed down the male line could be given a blue tag (male descendant line).
- mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) passed down the female line could be given a red tag (female descendant line).
- Etc.
And all of these color tags appear simultaneously, if you prefer.
Color tags are "automatic" — that is, once a color tag is assigned to a particular attribute (or "rule") then anybody who meets that rule will receive the appropriate color tag. For example, if the relatives of Leroy Brown are assigned a brown color tag, then subsequently adding a new person who is related to Leroy Brown would automatically assign the brown color tag to the new person.
Note: Y-DNA and mtDNA are also options in Reunion's Marking feature.
color tags
Where Do Color Tags Appear?
Color Tags appear in several places...
- In person buttons.
- In sidebars, at the end of each line (People, Results, Bookmarks).
- In a column in the List Window. A "Color Tags" item appears in the field selection menu in the column header (People, Relatives, Calendar, Results, and Couples).
- In boxes in the tree view. This is an option in the tree view settings (however the option will be disabled if there are no enabled color tags.)
Using Color Tags
To add, remove, edit, enable, disable, or list color tags, click Color Tags in the list of Sidebars.
This reveals the Color Tags sidebar, shown below.

- Each color tag can be individually enabled/disabled by clicking the check-box button to the left of its name. If enabled, a color tag will appear in person buttons, sidebars, and lists (as described in the previous section).
- To see a list of people with any one color tag, select (highlight) the color tag name in the top list.
- To see a list of people having one or more color tags, Command-click or Shift-click color tags in the top list (to select or highlight multiple color tags). In this case another button will appear, to specify whether the bottom list will contain people with any of the highlighted color tags, or only people having all of the color tags.
To add a new color tag, click the + button.
To remove a color tag, select a color tag in the list and click the - button.
- To edit an existing color tag, double-click the name of any color tag in the list. This opens the Edit Color Tag window, described below.
- The number of people in each color tag group appears at the right edge of the list.
- The order of color tag names in the list may be changed by clicking and dragging.
Editing Color Tags
To edit an existing color tag...
- Select Color Tags from the list of Sidebars.
- Double-click the color tag (in the top list). This opens the Edit Color Tag window.

The Who menu is for specifying the group of people to be tagged.

As you select different items in the Who menu, the options will change accordingly.
Select a color and enter a name for the tag. A default name will appear when selecting items from the Who menu; however the name can be changed anytime, simply by editing the text in the Name field.
Color Tag Tips
Color tags in person buttons or in lists can be clicked, as a reminder of what each color means.

When viewing couples (in the Couples list, Results, and Treetops), the color tags from husband & wife are shown together.
When using the Advanced Find feature, color tags appear in the Find selection pop-up menus...

The Results sidebar can, at any time, show a list of people with any color tag.

Color tags do not appear in reports or charts, except when sharing the Tree View or Family View.
Color tags are not "static" — they are auto-updated as changes are made in the family file. Thus, you can't simply turn one person's color tag on or off.
While there are only 12 colors available for color tags, you may enter up to 75 different color tags by repeating some colors.
Using Flags with Tags
Here's an example of using flags with color tags to address a typical situation: a visual indication of uncertainty or uncertain relationships...
Add a new flag and name it "Uncertain" or "Uncertain Information" or "Uncertain Relationship."
Add a new color tag that will use the Uncertain flag. To do this...
- Select Change in the navbar.
- Select Color Tags.
- Click the + button.
- In the Edit Color Tag window, use the Who button to select People with flag checked.
- Select "Uncertain" from the bottom menu (appearing under the Who button).

In this example...
- Every person with the flag "Uncertain" would be assigned a red color tag, visible in their Person buttons and in lists.
- If the Uncertain flag is subsequently unchecked for a person, the red color tag for that person would also disappear.
- If a new person is added and the flag Uncertain is checked, then the new person would assume the red color tag.
- If an existing person didn't have the flag Uncertain checked, and later it was checked, then that person would also assume the red color tag.