{"id":13231,"date":"2026-09-23T09:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/?post_type=kb_article&p=13231"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:41:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:41:38","slug":"diagrams-in-version-8","status":"publish","type":"kb_article","link":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/kb-article\/diagrams-in-version-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Diagrams in Version 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Version 8 of \u0192h<\/span><\/span> has a new graphics engine, which uses the graphics card where there is one, so diagrams draw faster and look different. This article covers what has changed for anyone who knows diagrams from earlier versions. For how diagrams work in general, see An Overview of Diagrams and Charts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If your diagrams have lost icons, box text or other changes you made in Version 7, start with What Happens to Your Version 7 Diagrams<\/em> below.<\/p>\n

The New Look<\/h2><\/summary>

Boxes have a light glow rather than a shadow, the root person’s box is white and names are coloured by sex. All standard diagrams use the new look by default; see Choosing a Preferred Look<\/em> below if you want something else.<\/p>\n

Charts saved in earlier versions still open, but the new engine places text slightly differently. The Legacy Charts (pre-v8)<\/em> setting in Advanced Preferences (General tab of Tools > Preferences<\/a>) chooses what to favour: text quality, position accuracy, or (the default) position if the chart contains shapes and text quality if not. The difference is small and most likely to show when saving to PDF. See Advanced Preferences<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

What Happens to Your Version 7 Diagrams<\/h2><\/summary>

When Version 8 is installed on a PC with an earlier version, it copies the settings across, including custom diagrams and text schemes. If you had changed the settings of the four core standard diagrams (Ancestors, Descendants, Ancestors & Descendants and All Relatives), your versions are saved as custom diagram types with a “V7 – ” prefix (V7 – Ancestors<\/em> and so on), and the standard diagrams revert to the new look. The copies are on the Custom Diagrams<\/em> submenu of the Charts<\/em> button on the main toolbar.<\/p>\n

To give the standard diagrams your old look back, see the next section. Saved charts and charts in books are unchanged. See Notes on Upgrading to Version 8<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If a diagram’s settings still haven’t come across (box expressions on a diagram you never saved as a custom type, for example), open it in \u0192h<\/span><\/span>7, save it as a custom diagram type, export that (File > Import\/Export<\/a>) and import it into \u0192h<\/span><\/span>8 the same way.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Choosing a Preferred Look for Standard Diagrams<\/h2><\/summary>
\"Choose<\/a>
Choose Preferred Look for Standard Diagrams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click the Charts<\/em> button on the main toolbar and choose Choose Preferred Look for Standard Diagrams<\/em>. The dialog lists six standard diagrams: Ancestors, Descendants, Ancestors & Descendants, All Relatives, All Relatives + Indirect Relatives, and Everyone. Tick the ones to change, click Copy Option Set<\/em> and select a diagram, standard or custom, whose look you want. Its options are copied: an Ancestors diagram is still an Ancestors diagram, but uses the boxes, text, icons, layout and orientation of the one you selected.<\/p>\n

Everyone and All Relatives + Indirect Relatives can contain several trees, so background stripes and other background options are not copied into them, as stripes only line up with the first tree. The change applies only to diagrams opened afterwards; open diagrams, saved charts and book charts keep their look. Restore Defaults<\/em> in the same dialog returns any of the six to the installed look. See How to Choose Preferred Look for Standard Diagrams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Options for any diagram type can now be changed and reused, and the Text and Boxes tabs of Diagram Options each have a Restore Defaults<\/em> button.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Boxes: Presets, Effects and Lines<\/h2><\/summary>

On the Boxes<\/em> tab of Diagram Options, Save as Preset<\/em> at the bottom of the presets list saves the current box settings for use in other diagrams. Presets can be exported and imported with File > Import\/Export > Diagram Box Preset<\/a>. See Diagram Options Dialog: Boxes Tab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Box Features dialog (Edit Features<\/em> on the Boxes tab) has a new Effect<\/em> setting; Glow is the one the default look uses. Shadows and background pictures now have an opacity setting, and boxes can have no outline. See Box Features Dialog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Icons<\/h2><\/summary>

The standard box icons are now SVG rather than EMF, so they scale without blurring. Icons can be exported, and your own imported, with File > Import\/Export > Diagram Box Icons<\/a>; imported icons go into a Custom<\/em> category. SVG, PNG, BMP and EMF are accepted, but SVG gives the best results. Free SVG icons are widely available, and Inkscape (also free) will make them. See Diagram Box Icons Dialog<\/a>, and Using Icons<\/a> for how to attach icons to conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Two New Text Schemes<\/h2><\/summary>

Two new text schemes use record flags to keep details out of diagrams:<\/p>\n