Group a household with the lasso
Draw a loop around the people who live together to outline them as a household. The same tool also marks a temporary arrangement or highlights part of the chart.
McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry (2020) show a household by drawing a dotted line around the people who live together, and Genogram Builder follows that convention. A temporary or past arrangement, such as foster care or a stay with grandparents, is drawn in the same way with a longer dash. A highlight, which is not part of the notation, is a light wash of colour that draws attention to a region of the chart. To shade an area without grouping anyone, use a background instead.
Procedure
- 1
Press L, or click Lasso on the tool rail. The lasso options open beside the tool.
- 2
Select Household, Temporary or Highlight in the options.
- 3
Click one of the colour swatches, or click Any colour… to choose a colour of your own.
- 4
Drag a loop around the people, and release the pointer. The group is created, and its card opens beside the outline.
- 5
Check the name that the editor has given the group, and type a different one if necessary.
If two or more people are already selected, press L to group them at once, using the kind of group chosen last. You can also click Group in the side panel and select the kind there.
The three kinds of group
Names and colours of new groups
The editor names a new household after the surname that at least half of its members share, for example “Hawkins household”. If no surname is shared as widely, it uses the first name of the first member, and a new highlight is left without a name. Each kind of group keeps its own colour, so a household starts in Ink, a temporary group in Blue and a highlight in Amber until another colour is chosen.
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