The Dynamic Ancestors Wheel

Dynamic wheels are available in the Graphs tab. They can be represented as a wheel or a fan, and can be colored according to various filters.

Click on the Graphs > Ancestors Wheel tab or, if you have already added it to your toolbar, click on the icon . The wheel is built around the primary person currently displayed on your other Heredis screens (Immediate Family, XXL Family, Personal Data…)

Depending on the generation, the information displayed as well as its format will vary so it can fit in the box.

Navigate

You can navigate the wheel by changing the primary person. Right click on the person you want to place in the center of the wheel and choose Move to Primary Person.

The wheel automatically recalculates the ancestors of the new primary person, who will also be displayed under the other tabs (Family, Data, Search).

Double-click on a person’s box to go directly to this person’s Personal Data screen.

Left click and hold your mouse button to move the wheel around on your screen. Click on the button to re-center the wheel on your screen.

Right-clicking also allows you to view a person’s relatives. Clicking on one of the relatives’ name modifies the wheel by placing this relative as the primary person.

To zoom in or out, you can use :

• the scroll-wheel on your mouse,
• the + and – buttons in the top left-hand corner of the wheel screen.

Other Options

A foldable Options panel is at your disposal in the top right-hand corner to set up the wheel’s parameters. To give yourself more space when viewing the wheel, click on the cross  in the Options panel.

To re-open the Options panel, click on the hamburger button.

The Options panels allows you to choose:

• the Shape of the wheel. You may prefer to view the wheel at a different angle than the default one of 360 degrees. Click on the graph icon that suits you best.

• the Number of generations to be displayed. You may choose from 4 to 12 generations. The more generations you have selected, the longer it will take for Heredis to display the wheel.

Tip: The speed at which the wheel is displayed also depends on the power of your computer and the current use of your computer’s memory. Avoid using other programs simultaneously if you want the wheel to be displayed at a faster rate.

• Coloring. You may choose to color the wheel by:
  • Generation. Each generation will have its own color.
  • Gender. Men and women will be highlighted in two different colors.
  • Quarter. Quarters start from the grandparents’ generation. The paternal grandfather’s and grandmother’s, the maternal grandfather’s and grandmother’s quarters can each be highlighted in a different color.
  • Ahn. Number. Display clearly which persons of the wheel belong to the Ahnentafel line.
  • Person declared as Complete. This coloring option gives you an opportunity to visualize the persons whose conditions of completeness for major life events are met. See Heredis’ Preferences > Completeness of data.
  • Marked Person. If you have marked persons based on one or more criteria, they can be assigned a different color than those unmarked. E.g., if you want to identify all persons born in the same city. See The different data fields > Flags and their use, and Smart Search for information on how to tag or “mark” persons.
  • Place: see Location wheels article.
  • None. No wheel coloring at all.

Depending on the selected color format, one or more sliders will appear so you can choose the color to be applied. Left-click on the black slider and move it over the color bar to apply the desired color.

Once you have chosen which color to apply, release the left click. The color will then be applied to the wheel.

Coloring by Generation filter with arrows

Coloring by quarter, color selection by grandparent

You can choose whether or not to display

• empty boxes. To obtain a perfect wheel, or simply to view the remaining work, check the Show empty boxes box to view them.
• duplicate branches. In genealogy, consanguineous marriages are common. These marriages lead to the repetition of branches, known as implexes. You can view implexes by checking the duplicate branches box. The text in the boxes of persons present several times in the wheel is then written in red. You can then right-click on one of the implexed boxes and choose Show all occurrences to see where the boxes for that person are located. Heredis highlights them for ease of use.

To stop highlighting occurrences, right-click again on one of the boxes and select Do not show all occurrences.

• Untraceable Parents allows you to display the boxes of missing parents of an individual.
• Confidentials display or not the persons declared confidential in the genealogy. If “Confidential” is unchecked, persons will appear with the word Confidential in their box.
• Use Gregorian Dates. This option makes it possible to transform the dates entered into an unusual calendar into a Gregorian date for a better understanding, for your family members, for example.

Given names

Choose the format of your first names by clicking on the drop-down menu.

• all given names,
• first given name,
• usual given name
• or the given name and initials of subsequent names.

Places

Choose the format of the places shown in the boxes.

Return to default settings

To return to the default settings (6 Generations, coloring by generation, 360° wheel shape, without empty boxes and implexes, without parents not found with confidentials and with date calendar entered), click on the Default Settings button.

Highlight a branch

Do you wish to highlight a branch so you can show your maternal family the section of the wheel that will be of interest to them?

Right-click on the box of the person at the base of the branch you wish to view. Select Highlight the branch.

Colors will be brighter and the branch will be shaded, thus highlighting it on the screen.

Export for printing

The Dynamic Ancestors Wheel was designed as a printable document.

Click on the cogwheel then click on Export to PDF format for printing.

A setup windows opens. In it, the wheel is previewed as it was set up in the Graphs tab.

The wheel’s title is automatically generated using the primary person’s information. Click on Hide title to see it disappear, or on Show title to see it again.

Before exporting to PDF, set up your print format. The preview will show you the number of pages needed for printing based on the chosen format.

Click on Hide Page Breaks to no longer see them.

Click on the Page Setup drop-down list to select your settings. If none of the suggested paper sizes suits your needs, select Customized. Then enter the desired width and height in cm.

Note: The PDF format allows you to create a document with a maximum size of 5 by 5 meters. If your wheel is larger and your printer has a paper roll larger than 5×5 m, remember to “delete assembling link-up zone”. This way, when printing, the document won’t show any breaks.

Change orientation from Landscape to Portrait if necessary.

The number of pages depends on the paper size you selected. Modifying the number of pages will decrease or increase the print factor. If you decrease it too much, the data entered in your wheel may not be legible.

Tip: Before printing, make sure that your data is legible by opening the PDF file and setting the zoom to 100%. If you can’t read what is inside the boxes located the furthest from the center of the wheel, do not start printing.

Once your parameters are set, click on the Export PDF button. Choose where to save the file on your computer and name it. The file is now independent from Heredis and can be opened by anyone with a PDF reader software (Adobe reader…).