Guides and reference
Genogram Builder documentation
This documentation explains how to draw, annotate and export a genogram in Genogram Builder. Each article addresses a single task, and most include a short demonstration that runs in the editor itself. The symbols and conventions follow McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry (2020).
- 57
- articles
- 34
- with a demonstration
- 9
- topics
Frequently read articles
These articles answer the questions that new users ask most often.
Topics
The articles are arranged in 9 topics, which follow the order in which a genogram is usually made.
This section introduces the parts of the editor and explains how to open a sample family and draw a first genogram.
Each person has a record of name, dates, health conditions, gender identity and background, which is edited in the side panel.
Couples, children, siblings, adoption, fostering, step-families and twins are each drawn according to a distinct convention.
Emotional relationships are drawn as lines between two people, using the set defined by McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry (2020) or lines that you define yourself.
The lasso encloses a household or another group, notes and titles annotate the chart, and backgrounds shade an area of the page.
The arrangement tools align generations and separate crowded branches, and the view settings determine what the chart draws and writes.
The key lists every symbol that appears on the chart, and the reference articles define each symbol and line of the notation.
The assistant prepares a draft genogram from written notes for you to review, and it can also change an existing chart from a typed instruction.
The editor keeps your work in this browser and exports the chart as an image, a PDF or a project file for backup and submission.
Notation
Symbols and lines
Genogram Builder draws the notation of McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry (2020). Select a symbol to see it in a small family, read its definition and learn how to draw it. The search accepts names, meanings and descriptions of appearance, such as estranged or zigzag.
A person is drawn as a square, a circle, an arched symbol or a diamond, according to gender. Marks inside or around the symbol record a death, the index person, gender identity, a secret or migration.