Add several sets of parents

It is common to have several sets of parents. Until Heredis 2025, you had to choose which parents to enter and indicate the other parents as related persons.

Since Heredis 2026, it has been possible to enter several sets of parents, also known as multiple parents.

By default, Heredis indicates the first parents entered (see the Add parents article) as the biological parents. We’ll see how to change this in this article.

Add multiple parents

This entry can only be made from the Data tab > Personal Data.
Click on the Parents tab in the central area.

Click on to add a couple of parents. It can also be a single-parent “couple” if only one parent is added.

A window opens.
Select the first parent by clicking on the link.

By convention, the father is always placed on the left and the mother on the right.

If you are only entering a mother, click on the link on the right.

For same-sex couples, simply change the default gender.

Check the list of persons to see if the parent already exists.
Click on a match to display the summary.

If it matches, click on Choose.
Otherwise, enter the known information and click on Create.

Indicate parental role

After selecting or entering the parent(s), choose the parental role.

Click on the drop-down menu to choose between :

• Biological parents
• Adoptive parents
• Other

If you choose Other, enter the desired text in the blank field.
For example: Tutor or Foster family.

In this way, all situations can be entered.

Changing the role of an existing parent couple

You have entered parents by adding them as described in the Add parents article, or you have validated too quickly and forgotten to indicate the parental role.

By default, Heredis indicates the first parents entered as biological parents.
If you forgot to indicate a parental role when adding a set of parents, Heredis indicates Adoptive parents.

You can modify it.

Click on the Data tab > Personal Data.
Select the couple to be modified.
Click on the pencil .
Then click on the drop-down menu and choose the appropriate role as indicated in the previous paragraph.

You can mix parental roles, for example, to have a biological father and an adoptive mother if required.

Note: Heredis offers the adoptive parental role if the person already has biological parents entered.

Please note: Heredis will alert you if you have more than one biological set of parents. If you haven’t made a mistake, validate.

You can have one parent who appears in several couples.
For example, a biological father and a biological mother. The biological father dies and the stepfather decides to adopt the child. He is therefore the adoptive father.
Create couples:

• biological father and mother
• adoptive father and biological mother

The mother appears in two couples and always has the same parental role.

Please note that if you change the parental role of a parent appearing in several sets of parents for this person, you change it for all couples.

Note: a parent couple entered is shown only for the primary person to which you have added it. If you wish to add an adoptive couple to a sibling, you must repeat the addition for each member of the sibling.

Representation of ancestry

In all graphical representations, Heredis shows the main set of parents.
By default, the first set entered is displayed.

You can modify the main couple to have the Immediate Family, the XXL Family or the trees of the Charts button, etc. corresponding to the ancestry you wish to see.

Adoptive ancestry tree

Biological ancestry tree

To change the main couple,
Click on the Data tab > Personal Data.
Select the couple you wish to be the main couple.
Click on the star.

Note : this choice of a main couple in the ancestor representations is deliberate. It avoids convoluted representations where it is difficult to find one’s way through the ancestry of several sets of parents.

If the primary person is from the Ahnentafel line, the calculation is modified to take this couple into account, rather than the one that was previously the main one.

In the Books and Sheets, all couples are listed. However, the ancestry developed is that of the main couple.

Delete a set of parents

Click on the Data tab > Personal Data.
Select the set to be detached
Click on the .

You detach the couple but do not permanently delete them from the file. They still appear in the list of existing persons and are still indicated as a couple. You can attach them to another person without having to re-enter everything.