Family Historian comes with a variety of helpful documentation, for people who are already users and for people considering buying the software.

Help File, Guides, Tutorials etc.

• You can access the Help File by clicking Help in the current window or pressing the F1 key. There is a Search tab and a Favorites tab to aid finding topics.
• You can access the Quick Start Guide via Help > Quick Start Guide or Help > Getting Started, or online at Family Historian.
• There is a companion book called “Getting the Most from Family Historian”.  This was included as a free PDF file with ƒh versions 3, 4 and 5, and used installed Tutorial Files. From ƒh version 6, the book is only available for purchase in hard copy and uses the Family Historian Sample ProjectA Project is a Windows folder, created by Family Historian, which contains all your Family Tree information recorded in Family Historian. Normally located in the Documents\Family Historian Projects folder. for its tutorials. e.g. paperback from Calico Pie and Amazon or ring folder from My History. There is not yet a version of this book for ƒh7.
• Calico PieCalico Pie Limited is a UK software house, and the publishers of Family Historian. offer a quick tour of ƒh and some video tutorials which can be accessed via Help.
• Jane TaubmanJane Taubman is the originator and administrator of the Family Historian User Group. She has been using Family Historian since Version 2 and researching her tree on and off since she was 19. She runs occasional Family Historian Courses. has an online overview of Family Historian – Software for the Genealogist.

Online Documentation and Downloads

With Calico Pie’s permission, we have been able to put much of the documentation online (in various formats) for existing users, and for people interested in purchasing the software.

Version 7

• The Version 7 Help file is here.

Version 6

• The Version 6 Help file is here.
• If you prefer to use an ebook reader for the help files there is an epub and a mobi file.
• The V5 tutorial files work in V6, and the V5 book “Getting the Most from Family Historian” is still relevant (although the new features in V6 are not discussed). There’s a comparison between Getting the Most from Family Historian for versions 5 and 6 below.

Version 5

• There are epub and mobi versions of the Version 5 help files.
• “Getting the Most from Family Historian” is available via the ƒh V5 menu: Help > Book: Getting the Most from Family Historian”

“Getting the Most from Family Historian” Comparison

This table compares the V5 and V6 books chapter title by chapter. Although the chapter titles have not been changed, the changes to the screens mean most screenshots will not match exactly and the process of working through the tutorials has been extensively revised.

V5 uses installed Tutorial Files whereas V6 uses the Family Historian Sample Project for its tutorials.

The best location to install those Tutorial Files is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Tutorial Files\, which you may need to create. This folder is preserved by the Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings pluginPlugins are small programs that allow new features to be added without upgrading Family Historian itself; some plugins are written by Calico Pie and others are written by users..

	Version 5 Chapters		Version 6 Chapters	Comments
1	Getting Started with the Focus WindowThe Focus Window is the primary workspace window.  It displays information about a chosen person, called the 'Focus Person'.	1	Getting Started with the Focus Window
2	Editing Records with the Property BoxThe Property Box is the primary window for data entry and for viewing details of stored records.  It is used with records of all types.	2	Editing Records with the Property Box
3	Introduction to Diagrams	3	Introduction to Diagrams
4	Pictures & MultimediaWhen you add a picture, video, sound recording, document file etc into a Family Historian project, a Media record is created to represent that media item within the project; the Media record includes a link to the actual Media file. Part 1: The Property Box	4	Pictures & Media Part 1: The Property Box
5	Pictures & Multimedia Part 2: The Multimedia Window	5	Pictures & Media Part 2: The Media Window
6	Events, AttributesEvents are things that happened to an Individual and Attributes are things that described them. & NotesFamily Historian version 6 and below supports two types of Notes: Local notes (associated with a single person, record, or fact); and Note Records (sometimes called Shared Notes), that can be linked to multiple records and/or facts. Version 7 introduced in the Property Box	6	FactsFacts are one of the key concepts at the heart of Family Historian; they are how you record the things that happened to, or described, each ancestor (Individual). & Notes in the Property Box
7	Browsing, Searching & Editing in the Records WindowThe Records Window provides a comprehensive view of all the information stored within a Family Historian project.	7	Browsing, Searching & Editing in the Records Window
8	Diagram-based Editing	8	Diagram-based Editing
9	Setting the Style, Layout & Content of Diagrams	9	Setting the Style, Layout & Content of Diagrams
10	Smart Trees and Wall Charts	10	Smart Trees and Wall Charts
11	Scaling & Printing Diagrams	11	Scaling & Printing Diagrams
12	Recording Your SourcesSource: "where information was found". This could be anything from an archive in a county records office, a book, or even a relative's recorded recollection. Citing your Sources helps to show how you reached a particular conclusion about an Individual.	12	Recording Your Sources
		13	Web Search, Web Hints & Web Clipping	New chapter
		14	PlacesAccording to GEDCOM, a Place should hold "The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place…"  , Maps and Timelines	New chapter
	See 17. Reports	15	Reports and Narratives
	See 18. Books & Booklets	16	Books & Booklets
13	Introduction to QueriesQuerying is a very powerful feature that allows you to specify and save criteria for identifying a set of records of a given record type.	17	Introduction to Queries
14	Writing Custom Queries	18	Writing Custom Queries
15	Compare, Merge, Split, Copy and Export GEDCOMGEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software. It is a file format that most genealogical programs and online trees recognise. Files	19	Projects: Compare, Merge, Split, Copy & Export
16	Named ListsNamed Lists are a way in FH to group related items — which can be records of any type(s) — so that you can easily find them to work with. and Record FlagsRecord Flags are a way of marking an Individual record.	20	Named Lists and Record Flags
17	Reports		See 15. Reports and Narratives
18	Books & Booklets		See 16. Books and Booklets
19	More Wizards and Tools	21	Website Generation and Other Wizards & Tools