How to Create a Family Tree in Excel

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Family trees are a popular school project and a fun way to let people know your ancestors. While Excel is capable of complex genealogy work, for long-term research projects you should use specialized software.

Table of Contents

Use templates

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Create a new document from a template. Click File → New from Template if the option is available. On some versions of Excel, you just need to choose File → New and a frame of templates will appear for you to choose from.

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Find a sample of a family tree. The family tree template is not pre-installed, so you need to search online. Use the keyword “family tree” to find and download two options available for free. If you don’t see the search bar, look under the headings “Microsoft Office Online”, “Office.com” or “Online templates” depending on your version of Excel. ^{[1] X Research Sources}^{[2] X Research Sources} Select the “Personal” subsection, then browse the family tree sample.

On Excel 2007 and earlier, you may not see these options. Look for unofficial templates online, or see more below.

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Try a traditional family tree diagram. The “Family tree chart” template is a simple spreadsheet with colored cells outlining the family tree. There is only the box for you and the four generations of direct ancestors. This template is suitable for school projects and cannot be extended to genealogy research. To use, you just need to click on the colored box and enter the family member’s name.

To add a cell for siblings, copy the “your” cell and paste it into another cell in the same column to make it the same green cell as yours. Similarly, you can copy your parent’s cell and paste it into another cell in the same column to create a light green box for aunt/uncle.

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Create a larger family tree. If you are working with a more complex family tree, choose the “Family tree” template. This template uses the SmartArt feature that is only available in Excel 2007 and later. ^{[3] X Research Source} You can click on the squares and enter the names of relatives, besides you have many more features such as:

Click anywhere on the document to display the Text Pane text frame. This feature allows you to edit your family tree through a simple and concise list. To add a relative, click the + button at the top of the frame. With the new cell selected, you can use the → or ← buttons to move between generations. Click and drag the mouse to move the box below the boy or girl’s name.
Right on the document, the SmartArt ribbon menu also has many options for the appearance. For example, if you click on the Hierarchy icon, a choice of how to display the data will appear.

Using SmartArt (Excel 2007 and later)

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Click the SmartArt icon in the ribbon bar. On the new version of Excel, you can use the “SmartArt” feature to create better-looking charts. Choose “SmartArt” in the ribbon menu above the blank worksheet to get started.

On Excel 2007, you select the Insert tab (Insert), then find the SmartArt option in the Illustrations group. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Create a hierarchy table. In the SmartArt options that show up on the ribbon menu, select the Hierarchy icon near the left side of the menu. Then select the type of hierarchy that you want to use in the spreadsheet.

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Fill in the family tree. You can drag the new chart around and zoom in like other Excel objects. Click on each blank figure or line in the chart to enter a name for the family tree.

Or, you can use the Text Pane while selecting the chart. Any changes you make in the text frame will also affect the graph.

Use a traditional spreadsheet

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Select Insert Shape. Create a new Excel spreadsheet. Click Insert in the top menu or ribbon menu, then choose Shape . You can choose rectangle, oval or any other shape.

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Place the figure in the spreadsheet. Click and drag on the worksheet to “draw” the pattern. If you want to create a nice circle or square, hold down the ⇧ Shift key while dragging the mouse. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Enter your name in the picture . Click on the bottom of the image and enter your name. Then customize the font size, color, and style to your liking before proceeding to the next step.

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Copy and paste to create more shapes. Select the shape you just drew and press Ctrl + C (or ⌘ Cmd + C on a Mac) to copy. Press Ctrl + V to paste the corresponding number of shapes you need.

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Arrange the shapes in the family tree. Click and drag the shapes together to make a fake tree layout. Usually, you can place one shape at the bottom of the sheet, two in the top row, two more at the top, and so on. Then, click on each picture and enter the names of the relatives.

Advice

PowerPoint also has a free family tree template.

Steps

Use templates

Using SmartArt (Excel 2007 and later)

Use a traditional spreadsheet

Advice

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