This is a short tour of the main changes in ƒh8, with links to the Knowledge Base articles that cover each one. For the Knowledge Base articles written or revised for Version 8, see What’s New in the Knowledge Base for Version 8. If you are about to upgrade, start with Upgrading to Family Historian 8.
Headline Features
Smart Folders
Smart folders sort your records into folders automatically, so you can browse a 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. by source template, placeAccording to GEDCOM, a Place should hold "The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place…" or anything else a query can pick out. They appear in an optional pane beside every tab of the Records WindowThe Records Window provides a comprehensive view of all the information stored within a Family Historian project., in every record selector, and in the Query Window. Folders are grouped into folder sets; ƒh comes with a standard set for each record type, and you can make your own. See An Overview of Smart Folders.
FamilySearch
A new FamilySearch Window lets you match people in your project with people in the FamilySearch global tree or in a FamilySearch user tree, compare the two, copy information in either direction, and receive record hints. Matching shares nothing with FamilySearch; ƒh only stores the FamilySearch Id. You need a free FamilySearch account. The window can float in front of other windows and follow your selection. See the help page The FamilySearch Window.
AI Connector
The AI Connector is an optional plugin that lets Claude, or another compatible AI assistant, work with your project through ƒh‘s plugin interface: answering questions about your data or, if you allow it, making changes, which you can undo when you finish. You need your own account with the AI service, and anything it reads is sent to that service. See The AI Connector.
Family Historian Mobile
A free companion app shows your project on your phone: people, relationships, 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., 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, pictures, maps and trees. ƒh8 makes a compact copy for it with Export to Family Historian Mobile on the File menu. At launch the Android app is in beta and an iPhone version is in development. See Family Historian Mobile.
Maps
EventsEvents are things that happened to an Individual and Attributes are things that described them. can now be mapped by address as well as by place. Maps can carry shapes and text, and overlays such as the historic counties of the UK; you can import your own overlays in geoJSON format. Maps can be saved and reopened, or saved as MediaWhen 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. records or JPEG images. There is also a search for markers within a given distance of a point. See Maps in Version 8.
Queries
The Query Window has been redesigned. The Rows tab is now the Filters tab, and the old Add if / Remove unless conditions have gone; filters are grouped in AND and OR subgroups instead, shown as a tree. 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. use a new file format (.fhqx); older queries are converted when you upgrade or import them. There are new query types for addresses"The address structure should be formed as it would appear on a mailing label…", according to GEDCOM; however, this is capable of a number of interpretations, and Address and Place are best considered together., citationsA link between a source and a fact, documenting Where within the source you find information being "cited" to support the fact/conclusion. and witnessesA Witness is somebody who played an important role in an event (or rarely, attribute) but were not a Principal, e.g. they could have been a bridesmaid at a wedding, rather than one of the individuals getting married., and a Query Manager tool. See An Overview of Queries in Version 8.
Addresses
Addresses are now records in their own right, normally linked to a place. An Address record can have a map location, pictures and notes, and there is a new Address List report. Entering an address works much as before, and auto-complete offers the addresses already linked to the place. See Working with Places and Addresses in Version 8.
Sources and Citations
There is a third type of source, free form, alongside generic and templated sourcesFamily Historian Version 7 introduced the ability to define sources using 'Source Templates' to aid precision and consistency in entering source-identifying information. . Any citation’s footnote, short footnote and bibliography output can now be customised in the Citation Window. Smart folders can show sources grouped by template or other details without changing how the data is stored. See Sources and Citations in Version 8 (for New Users), Sources and Citations in Version 8 (for Upgraders from Version 7) and Free Form Sources.
Reports
The new All Relatives Narrative report covers every relative of one person, a generation at a time, youngest first, and can say how each is related to them. There is also a new Register Report, Address List and Place List reports, and a Special Text option on the Formats tab for the wording used for partners and children. See the help page Report Options Dialog: Main Tab (All Relative).
Diagrams
Box icons are now SVG, the default fan chart is three-quarter, and box styles can be saved as presets and shared. Options for any diagram type can be saved and reused. See Diagrams in Version 8.
Books
Books can include a pedigree chart, and diagrams can still be edited after they have been added. Multi-page diagrams can be laid out to fit a book’s pages exactly, and small figures can take up part of a page. You can also make scrapbooks and photo books. See Creating a Book.
64-bit
ƒh8 is a 64-bit program, so it copes with much larger projects, diagrams, reports and books. It needs a 64-bit version of Windows. The old limits on backup size have gone.Non-Family Relationships
Witness support has been extended so you can record relationships of any kind: friend lists, friendship groups, enslavement, and custom relationships that are one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many. See Recording Non-Family Relationships and Witness Facts.
LDS Church Support
For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ƒh8 can record ordinance details on the 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). tab, and has an updated LDS OrdinancesLDS Ordinances These are a special class of standard GEDCOM facts associated with the Church of the Latter Day Saints. They are only managed on the All Tab of the Property Box for an Individual and cannot be customised. • report and a new LDS Ordinances query. Turn it on with Enable LDS Support on the General tab of Tools > Preferences. See LDS Church Support in Version 8.
Other Changes
- A search tool finds lost projects, backups and 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. See Finding Lost Projects, Backups and GEDCOM Files.
- A Backup and Restore Settings tool saves your preferences and customisations separately from your projects. See Backup and Recovery.
- Version 8 can be installed alongside an earlier version, and copies your settings across. Do not edit the same project in both. See Upgrading to Family Historian 8.
- You can create your own fact flags. See Fact Flags.
- The Focus WindowThe Focus Window is the primary workspace window. It displays information about a chosen person, called the 'Focus Person'. can show more in its boxes. See Introducing the Focus Window.
- The Records Window filter accepts wildcards, and sorting is a single click.
- The Data Reference Assistant is now the ExpressionExpressions are composed from two technical features: Data References and Functions; they also often involve Operators to compare values. Entry Assistant, and can insert functionsA 'function' is an expression which returns values based on computations. Typically, functions require data to be supplied to them as 'parameters'. A function in Family Historian is similar to a 'function' as used in spreadsheet applications (such as MS as well as data referencesData references are expressions which are used to provide a way of referring to particular items of data in your project, such as records or particular fields within records. They can be used for advanced customizations of diagrams, websites, family.
- Media can be linked to facts and citations from the Media Window as well as from the fact or citation.
- Unique Ids can be generated for a single record, and File Merge/Compare can match on them. See Record Identifiers.
- PluginsPlugins 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. can now supply smart folders. See Using Plugins in Version 8.