Family Historian dimensions are given in your preferred units. You can choose between inches, centimeters, or millmetres. These are set in Preferences (accessible from the Tools menu).
All diagrams can be displayed in all orientations - that is, top-down, bottom-up, left-right or right- left. The dimension settings are applicable to all orientations. But for convenience all descriptions and labels are given as for top-down orientation.
| Minimum box width | Boxes expand to show the text they contain. This gives the minimum width for boxes. |
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| Minimum box height | Minimum box height. |
| Maximum box width | The maximum width for boxes. |
| ...excludes pictures | Specifies whether the maximum width for boxes takes into account pictures at the side of boxes, or not. |
| Standard box width | This size is used for various purposes and is best kept at a reasonable approximation of a normal box width. |
| Standard box height | Again, this size is used for various purposes and is best kept at a reasonable approximation of a normal box height. |
| Offset from box top to marriage lines | Vertical distance from the top of a box to the topmost of the two marriage lines connecting the person to his or her spouse. |
| Gap between marriage lines | The vertical distance between marriage lines. |
| Between spouses (minimum) | Minimum distance to leave between spouses. |
| Between siblings (minimum) | Minimum distance to leave between siblings. |
| Between other descendants (minimum) | Minimum distance to leave between all other descendant boxes (that is, boxes in lines which descend down the diagram). |
| Between other ancestors (minimum) | Minimum distance to leave between all other ancestor boxes (that is, boxes in lines which ascend up the diagram). |
| Between sub-trees (minimum) | Applicable only to All Relatives trees. Is the minimum distance to leave between sub-trees. |
| Additional offset for ‘outer’ spouses |
Suppose person X marries three times, to A, B, and C, and the boxes are positioned in this order: A X B C. In this case, both A and B are next to the person they married - i.e. X. But C is not next to X. She or he is next to B - one of X’s other spouses. In this situation, C is called an ‘outer’ spouse. By setting a non-zero value here, you can position outer spouses slightly further away from their neighbouring box (B in the example) than you would if they had actually been married to that person. |
| ‘Outer’ spouse marriage line break |
In addition to positioning ‘outer’ spouse boxes further apart, you can also insert a break in the marriage lines if you wish so that, in the example from the previous section, the marriage lines that connect C to B have a little gap in them. That is, they do not quite reach B’s box. That can give a useful visual clue that it was not B that C married. Set this value to zero if you do not wish to have this marriage line break. |
| More Dimensions | Opens the More Dimensions Dialog. |
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| Advanced | Opens the Advanced Diagram Features Dialog. |
| Restore Defaults | Sets all dimensions (including those shown in the More Dimensions dialog) back to their installation defaults. |