Tutorial

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  1. Getting Started: Creating a New Family File
  2. Begin with You
  3. Enter Details About Yourself
  4. Enter Notes
  5. Add Your Spouse
  6. Enter Marriage Details
  7. Add Multiple Spouses
  8. Add Your Children
  9. Explore Some Sidebars: People, Calendar, and Ages
  10. Grow the Tree with Parents and Siblings
  11. More features: Tree View, Relationships, Pictures, Charts
  12. Summary
Step 1: Getting Started

When Reunion is successfully installed, you'll notice a new icon in your Applications folder called Reunion 14. Double-click this icon to start Reunion.

Choosing Applications That Work with Reunion

If you've never used Reunion before, a window will appear the first time you launch Reunion asking you to specify your word processor and web browser. Use the menu buttons in the window to select the applications you use. Reunion needs to know this information in order to open some reports in other applications.

If your applications don't appear in the menus, you should choose Other from the appropriate menu button. This will open a window wherein you can navigate and select an application missing from the list.

Start with You and Your Family

It's a good idea to learn how to use Reunion while entering information about your immediate family, since (hopefully) you are very familiar with details regarding your parents, children, spouse, and siblings.

After you open Reunion, click the New Family File button (see illustration below) and type in a name for your family file, such as "Jones Family." Then click the Create button.

Reunion will open the Begin window, to help you get started.

Step 2: Begin with You

Have some family information ready. If it's not in your head, assemble the immediate family details before proceeding.

When you add a new person to the family file, the Edit Person panel will appear.

In the Edit Person panel, begin by typing in your name. You can point and click the mouse to reposition the blinking cursor within any of the data entry boxes (a.k.a. "fields") or use the Tab key to advance the cursor from field to field. Pressing Shift + Tab will move the cursor backward through the fields. Each field in this window holds a piece of information relating to the name of a person.

First and Middle Names, Last Name

Type your first and middle names into the First & Mid Name field. As you can see, your last name is recorded separately from your first (and middle) name(s). Be sure to type your last name (surname) into the Last Name field.

Titles

If your name carries a title such as Jr., Sr., II, or III, type it into the Suffix Title field. If you want to record a prefix title, such as Dr., type it into the Prefix Title field. We don't recommend that you record everyday titles like Mr. or Mrs.

Maiden Names

Female names should be entered using the maiden name. If a maiden name is unknown, we suggest that you leave the Last Name field empty or enter a question mark (?). Or use the married name, but, as a visual reminder, you might want to enclose it in brackets or parentheses.

Step 3: Enter Details About Yourself

After you are done filling in your name, click the Events button. This displays a section where you can enter dates and places for common events in people's lives. For starters, enter your birth date and birth place. (You can add other events too. Learn more.)

Dates

Reunion will let you enter dates in a variety of formats, but will convert what you type into a particular format that is specified in the Date Settings. You can change the default date format at any time.

Don't Use "I" for 1

Reunion will holler if you try to use an uppercase "i" or lowercase "L" as a substitute for the number "1" in a date entry. They may look similar on the screen, but to the computer, they're worlds apart. Likewise, the uppercase "o" should never be used in place of a zero (0).

If You Don't Know a Date

If you don't know a date, you can leave the date field blank, or you can approximate by typing something like...

? Jan 1850 1850 approx 1755
aft 1949 circa 1800 ca 1901 Jan
bef 1912 ? 1850 ? Jan 1850 1 Jan

Reunion will let you know if you type an entry that it doesn't understand. You'll have the option to make Reunion remember a date entry it can't decipher (these are called custom dates), but it's better to try to enter a "valid" date entry.
If You Don't Know a Place

If a place is unknown, simply leave the field blank. For example, in the Birth Place field, if you don't know where you were born, just press the Tab key and skip the Birth Place field.

Likewise, if you are still living (hopefully), you can simply press the Tab key and bypass the Death Date and Death Place fields — leaving them blank.

Blank Entries

If you begin typing something into a field and then decide you want a blank entry, just clear the field using the Delete key. Then press the Tab key or click the mouse inside the next field to continue entering information.

Step 4: Enter Notes

After you are done filling in a few events, click the Notes button. This displays an area where you can enter miscellaneous notes.

The left side of this screen should highlight Misc. Notes, and the scrolling text field on the right side is where you enter miscellaneous information. Examples would include immigration details, personal stories and accounts, military service records, land holdings, heirlooms and artifacts, aliases, unusual death circumstances, etc.

There is room for 64,000 characters (about 10,000 words) of text in the Miscellaneous Notes field for each person. You can add other note fields too.

If you press the Return key while the cursor is inside a note field, you'll make a new paragraph. New paragraphs (or blank lines between paragraphs) will make your reports more readable.

Note: Reunion has only a few windows where pressing the Return key is not the equivalent of clicking the default button (the one in blue, near the bottom-right). This is one of them. However, pressing the Enter key is always the same as clicking the default button.
Saving Your Information: Names, Events, and Notes

When you are done entering some information, click Done or press the Enter key to accept your entries. You'll be looking at your family record where you should see some of the information you just entered.

The Home Family

Now that you've begun by adding yourself, Reunion has created a family record for you. For now, this is home — the record that appears each time you open your family file.

You can always return to home by clicking the Home button in the bottom bar.


Step 5: Add Your Spouse
Note: If you were never married, steps 5 , 6, and 7 do not apply during the Tutorial. However, it would still be beneficial to walk through the process. To designate that you were never married, click the Add button (+) that appears above your name and choose Never Married.

To add your husband or wife, click the Add button that appears above your name and choose Add New Spouse.

The Edit Person panel appears again (the same one used to enter your own data). You can begin entering information for your spouse (such as name and events). When you're finished with your spouse, click the Done button and your spouse should appear alongside your information on the family record.

Step 6: Enter Marriage Details

To enter your marriage date, marriage place, and marital status, click the marriage field that appears between and above your names (or choose Edit > Family > Marriage from the menu at the top).

Then type your marriage date and place into the Marriage section of the Edit Family panel.

Documenting Divorce

To document marital status (other than married), click the Status button.

Step 7: Add Multiple Spouses

If you have been married more than once, click the Add button above your name and choose Add New Spouse. Up to 150 spouses may be entered for each individual. Hopefully, that'll do.

The Edit Person panel will appear waiting for you to enter the name, dates, and other information for the other spouse. As before, female spouses should be entered using the maiden name as the last name. When you're finished, click the Done button.

Reunion will make a new family record for the immediate family of you and your other spouse. The other spouse you just "added" will be shown as the spouse on the new family record.

It's easy to tell if somebody has multiple spouses because a little red will appear in the upper-right corner of his or her button. We call this the Person menu button. It contains lots of goodies, explained here. First and foremost, the button lets you open the family record for a person and his or her other spouses.

In a Nutshell

A family record will be made for each marriage to each spouse. If you have been married three times, you will appear on three family records — one for each family of which you were a part. Your information will be identical on all three family records, but each record will show a different spouse. A family record will automatically be made for you and your current spouse, you and your first spouse, and you and your second spouse. Three times married — three different family records. The natural or adopted children of each of the three separate marriages will appear on the family record showing the children's natural or adoptive parents as the mother and father.

Step 8: Add Your Children

After adding you and your spouse, we take care of your kids — beginning with your oldest child and working down to the youngest. We'll start with the natural and adopted children of you and your spouse (whose name appears next to yours on the current family record). If you have step-children or children from a previous marriage, they will be entered later on a family record listing both of their natural parents as husband and wife.

To add a child, click the Add Children button (it's in the middle of the family view) and choose Add New Male Child or Add New Female Child.

The Edit Person panel will appear waiting for you to enter the name, dates, and other information for the child. The father's last name will appear, by default, as the last name of the child; however, you may change it if necessary. For married female children, use the maiden name. When you're finished, click Done or press Enter. Remember, you can always come back and make additions or corrections later.

Children in the Family View

As you enter children, Reunion will automatically make new child buttons that appear in the lower part of the family view. By default, boys are blue; girls are pink.

If you prefer, you can view children (and parents) in a list. Learn more.

Clicking a child's name will open his own family. On the child's family record, the names of the child's parents will appear above the child's name. Clicking one of these names takes you back to the parents' family record.

Child Buttons with Gray Text

In Reunion, children without children appear with gray text. Children with children appear with black text. (These colors can be changed. Learn more.)

Complete the Children

For the next child of this family, click the Add Children button and choose Add New Male Child or Add New Female Child and repeat the process. Continue likewise until all your natural and/or adopted children are entered.

If you need to reorder the children in a family, drag and drop a child button to the spot where the child belongs. Or, if you're viewing children in a list, just drag the child up or down in the list.

The Family Record Concept

Reunion is designed so that each person will appear in the middle of a family record — even if he or she is not married. It may be confusing at first — having a "family record" for your child who is only two years old, for example — but try thinking of it as a future family record. Chances are good that eventually your two-year-old will have a spouse whose information you can enter on your future Mac. In the meantime, remember that each person will appear on the left or right side, in the middle of his or her own family record — even if he or she is unmarried.

Let's Click to Navigate

Now's a good time to check out the links between your family record and your child's family record.

From your family, click your child's name, and the screen should show your child's family record. Then click on your name in one of the parent buttons — the upper-right or upper-left corner (you and your spouse should be in one of these corners, husband above the wife), and you'll go back to your family. Try it again — click your child and go to his or her card; click directly on one of his parents (you or your spouse) and return to your card. Hence the phrase click-to-navigate.

Step 9: Explore Some Sidebars

The sidebar is a list on the right side of the Reunion window. Sidebars are handy for navigating and searching.

The People Sidebar

Be default, the sidebar (on the right side of the Reunion window) will show People. The People sidebar is a searchable, alphabetized index of people in your family file. One way to show a person's record is to click their name in the People sidebar. Learn more.

The Calendar Sidebar

In the Sidebar list (which appears on the left side of the Reunion window), click Calendar. This opens the Calendar sidebar.

Your name should be in the calendar list. Click any name in the calendar and Reunion will open the record in the family view. The Calendar sidebar can be customized in many ways. Learn more.

The Ages Sidebar: What Day of the Week Were You Born?

Return to your family record and select Ages in the Sidebar list.

The sidebar will show you interesting details about you and your spouse, including the weekday of your birth date and marriage date, how old you are, how long you've been married, and how young you were when you got married.

Learn more about the Ages sidebar.

To return to the People sidebar, click People in the Sidebar list.

Step 10: Grow the Tree with Parents and Siblings
Adding Your Father

To enter information about your parents, click back to your family record. Let's begin with your father by clicking the Add button (the brown plus sign) that appears above your name and choosing Add New Father.

The Edit Person panel will appear waiting for you to enter your father's name, birth date, and whatever other details you desire. When finished, click Done and you'll be looking at your father's family record which should now include your name in a child button. Reunion has just made a new family record for your parents. Think of this new family record as a different immediate family.

Adding Your Mother

For your mother, click the Add button above your father's name and choose Add New Spouse. Enter your mother's vitals and click Done.

Now your father and mother should appear together on their family record. When you click your child button (on your parents' family record), your family record should appear and their names should appear above your name, on your family.

Adding Your Siblings

Click to navigate to your parents' family. When you get there, enter their children (your natural or adopted brothers and sisters from this couple) by clicking the Add Children button and following the same procedure as when you entered your own children.

Adding Your Spouse's Parents

When you finish adding your parents' natural and adopted children, click back to your family and create a new record for your spouse's parents. To do this, click the Add button (the brown plus sign) that appears above your spouse's name and choose Add New Father.

Then add your spouse's mother and the children of your spouse's parents (your spouse's brothers and sisters, your in-laws).

Step 11: More features: Tree View, Relatives, Pictures, Charts
The Tree View

Go back to your child's family record and click Tree View in the navbar. The navbar appears on the left side of Reunion's window. Learn more.

The Tree View displays a graphic tree chart which should resemble the example below.

The Tree View can be customized in many ways. Learn more.

Click Family View in the navbar to return to the family view.

Note: the Tree View is mainly a navigational tool — a way to view people and navigate (although it can be printed and emailed). Reunion also creates different types of tree charts with considerable flexibility. Learn more.

How Are You Related?

Return to your family record and click your Person menu button (the little in the upper-right corner of your button). You'll notice that everybody has one.

From this menu, choose Find Relatives.

Reunion will figure out how you're related to other people in your family file and list your relatives in the Relatives sidebar. Also, you'll see the relationship appearing inside buttons for people (it'll say "Father," "1st Cousin," etc.). As you click through the family records in your family file, you'll see, at a glance, how people are related to you.

Like all sidebars, you can click any name in the sidebar to show a person in the family view.

Add Some Pictures

Reunion integrates multimedia to bring your family tree to life. You can link people, families, or source records to a variety of file types: pictures, movies, sounds, PDF files, RTF files, etc. In this tutorial, we'll simply add some pictures.

Surely you have a picture of yourself. Probably lots of pictures. Here's the easy way to add a picture to your record in Reunion...

  1. Figure out where your pictures are stored. They could be in your Pictures folder. They could be in Apple's Photos app. Or, perhaps a folder on your desktop somewhere.
  2. In Reunion, navigate to your record in the family view. Resize the Reunion window so that you can see Reunion and your Finder/desktop.
  3. Drag a picture file from the Finder and drop it on your button in the family view. Don't "drop" the file (release the mouse button) until your button is highlighted.

The picture will appear inside your button. It can be resized by hovering the mouse over the bottom-center of the picture and then clicking and dragging, up or down.

Learn more about multimedia features in Reunion.

Make a Chart

To create a chart...

  1. Select Charts in the navbar.
  2. Select one of the seven chart types.

  3. Click the Create Chart button.

Reunion will build, draw, and display a graphic chart which you may edit and print. Reunion creates tree charts (descendant, ancestor, and relative charts), timeline charts, and fan charts. It also prints cascading pedigree charts.

Ancestor charts start with a source person and move backward in time. Learn more.


Descendant charts start with a source couple and move forward in time. Learn more.


Relative charts move both directions, showing blood relatives and spouses of a source person. Learn more.


Bowtie charts begins with a couple in the center and goes backward in time, moving to the left from the source husband, and to the right from the source wife (spreading outward horizontally, so to speak). Learn more.


Hourglass charts begins with a couple in the center and goes backward in time moving up from the source couple and forward in time moving down from the source couple. Learn more.


Everybody charts show every person that you’ve selected to be included in the chart. This could be your entire family file or a smaller subset of your family file. Learn more.


Timeline charts depict the lifespans of people as horizontal bars, similar to a Gantt chart. Learn more.


Fan charts are similar to ancestor charts, because they start with a person and move backward in time. However, the layout resembles a wedge-shaped fan or the feathers of a peacock. Learn more.


All charts have many common elements and features. For example, you can add titles, captions, frames, and pictures to any chart. Try clicking a box and changing some box attributes with the tool panel.

Learn more about charts.

Step 12: Summary

By now you probably understand that Reunion is designed to link your family information in a way that's easy to understand and navigate.

It's important to understand the family record concept — that each family record shows an immediate family. If you click a child button, you'll open that child's family record (which will display the previous card's husband and wife as parents). Likewise, if you click a parent, you'll open a card which lists the parents in the middle of their own family record, and shows the previous card's husband or wife as a child.

With Reunion you can easily link lots of individuals and families and click-to-navigate through generations of your ancestors. To expand the tree, you must add more people. All family records work just like your family record. Simply follow the path outlined in the tutorial as you did when adding your immediate family.

This concludes the tutorial.