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Add parents

One command adds both parents of a person, joined as a married couple, with the person linked to them as their child. Repeating the command from each parent adds the grandparents.

1 min readChecked 16 October 2026Open in the editor

The parents of a person are drawn on the row above, joined by a couple line from which the person hangs as their child. Genograms conventionally record at least three generations, so the parents of each parent are usually added as well. The editor places the father on the left and the mother on the right, following the convention for couples.

Demonstration in the editor
This demonstration runs in the editor on a copy of a sample family. It does not change your own chart.

Procedure

  1. 1

    Hover over the person to show the ring.

  2. 2

    Click Parents at the top of the ring. A father and a mother appear on the row above, and the side panel opens with the father’s placeholder name selected.

  3. 3

    Type the father’s name.

  4. 4

    Double-click the mother. The side panel shows her details with the name selected.

  5. 5

    Type the mother’s name.

  6. 6

    Repeat these steps from each parent to add the grandparents.

Tip

New parents begin as a married couple. If they never married or have since separated, click their couple line and change the Relationship.

When one parent is already drawn

If the person already has one parent on the chart, Parents adds only the other parent, of the opposite sex to the first. The two parents are then joined by a couple line whose status is Married. In the side panel, the command appears under Family as Add a parent in this case and as Add parents when no parent is drawn.