Family Tree Maker has some really helpful chart options.

It also has approximately 700 different ways to customize those charts.

Okay, maybe not 700.

But once you start clicking through the Publish section, changing facts, adjusting fonts, testing layouts, adding borders, checking page breaks, and deciding whether a line should be straight, curved, boxed, borderless, centered, aligned, or emotionally supportive…

It can feel like a lot.

And if you’re a detail person?

Dangerous territory.

You start out thinking:

“I just want a nice family chart.”

And suddenly you’re 2 hours deep into box styles wondering if your 3rd great-grandfather needs a border.

So in this post, I’m going to focus on the main settings I think most people actually need first when customizing a Family Tree Maker family chart.

Not every single option.

Not every tiny formatting possibility.

Just the clean, useful path to make your chart more readable, more organized, and more “this looks intentional” instead of “Family Tree Maker generated this and I surrendered.”

If you want the more detailed, screenshot-heavy walkthrough, I made a companion guide for that too:

👉 Download the Full Family Tree Maker Family Chart Customization Guide Here

That guide goes deeper into the extra settings for my fellow detail people.

Because I see you.

I am you. Believe me.

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Before You Customize: What Is This Chart For?

Before you start changing anything, it helps to decide what the chart is actually for.

Because a chart you’re using for research may need to look different from a chart you’re printing for a family reunion.

Ask yourself:

• Is this chart just for me or for others?
• Am I printing it or just using it electronically?
• Am I sharing it with family?
• Am I putting it in a family history book?
• Do I need it to be pretty, practical, or both?

A research chart can be more detailed because you may want extra facts, numbers, sources, or blank spaces.

A family reunion chart probably needs to be cleaner and easier to read.

A family history book chart may need page numbers, consistent formatting, and saved templates.

Basically:

Purpose first. Pretty second.

Otherwise, you may accidentally create a beautiful chart no one can read.

Which is very genealogy of us, but not ideal.

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Step 1: Choose the Person for Your Chart

Start in your family tree and select the person you want the chart to be based on.

Then click Publish at the top of the Family Tree Maker window.

This is where Family Tree Maker keeps the different chart and report options.

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Step 2: Choose Your Chart Type

Once you’re in the Publish section, choose the chart you want to create.

Family Tree Maker gives a short description when you click each chart type, which is helpful if you’re still deciding what kind of visual you need.

If you’re not sure which chart type to use, you may want to start with:

• Pedigree Chart
• Descendant Chart
• Extended Family Chart
• Fan Chart

Each chart has a different purpose, so the “best” one depends on what you’re trying to show.

If you want more help deciding which chart fits your goal, you can also check out:

5 Ways to View Your Family Tree on Family Tree Maker

Once you choose your chart, double-click it or click Create Chart.

Family Tree Maker will generate a default chart based on the person you selected.

And then the real fun begins.  Or chaos.

Probably both.

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Step 3: Decide Between Book Layout and Poster Layout

One of the biggest decisions is whether to use Book or Poster layout.

These two layout options change how your chart behaves when it gets larger than one page.

Book Layout

Book layout breaks a large chart across pages like a report or book.

This can be helpful if you want to include charts in a printed family history book or binder.

Family Tree Maker also adds continuation arrows to help show where the chart continues from one page to another.

This is useful.

Also mildly humbling when you realize one family line has expanded beyond one printable page.

Poster Layout

Poster layout treats the chart more like one large continuous sheet.

This is usually better if you want a big wall chart, family reunion chart, or large visual display.

The important thing with Poster layout is to check your page breaks before printing so that boxes and names are not split awkwardly between pages.

Because nothing says “family history masterpiece” quite like cutting someone’s name in half.

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Step 4: Choose What Facts to Include

This is probably one of the most important customization steps.

The Items to Include option controls what facts appear for each person on the chart.

The default may include basics like:

• Name
• Birth
• Marriage
• Death

But you can add other facts too, depending on what you have in your tree.

For example, you might include:

• nickname
• burial
• residence
• occupation
• military service
• immigration

But here’s the catch:

Family Tree Maker applies the selected facts across the chart.

So if you add “Nickname,” anyone with a documented nickname may show one.

Anyone without one may not.

And if you choose to include blank facts, you may end up with blank lines where that information doesn’t exist.

That can be helpful for a research chart.

It can also make a display chart look weirdly empty.

My suggestion:

For a clean family-sharing chart:

Stick with the basics. Name. Birth. Marriage. Death.

For a research chart:

Include the facts you’re actively trying to compare.

For a family history book:

Use consistent facts across charts so the book feels organized.

This is one of those places where more information is not always better.

I say that as someone who deeply enjoys more information.

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Step 5: Adjust Name and Fact Formatting

Family Tree Maker lets you customize how names and facts appear.

For names, you can change things like:

• name order
• whether surnames appear in all caps
• whether titles show
• whether nicknames appear
• whether married names appear for women

This can be really helpful depending on your chart’s purpose.

For example, I personally like surnames in all caps when I’m scanning a chart quickly.

It makes the family lines easier to follow.

For other facts, you can choose whether to show:

• date
• place
• description
• fact label

You can also decide how the fact label appears.

For example:

• Birth
• B
• born
• BIRTH

Personally, I think shorter labels usually work better on charts because space disappears fast.

Charts are very good at reminding us that names like “Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Something Something III” were not designed with modern formatting in mind.

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Step 6: Change Fonts Without Making Everyone Squint

Fonts can make a chart look cleaner and more polished.

They can also make a chart unreadable if we get too enthusiastic.

Family Tree Maker lets you adjust fonts by fact type.

That means you can format names differently from dates, places, notes, sources, and other details.

My basic recommendation:

• make names the easiest thing to read
• keep fact text smaller than names
• avoid overly decorative fonts
• print preview before you commit

A font can look perfectly fine on your screen and then become microscopic once printed.

Don’t ask me how I know.

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Step 7: Use Box and Line Styles Carefully

Box and line styles can make a chart look polished.

They can also make it look crowded.

This option controls things like:

• borders around people
• chart border
• pedigree lines
• divider lines
• box size
• line style

For poster charts, I often like having boxes or borders around individuals because it makes the chart feel cleaner and easier to follow.

For book-style charts, too many lines can start feeling cluttered.

So my general rule is:

• If the border helps the reader follow the chart, keep it.
• If it just adds visual noise, remove it.

This is one of those settings worth playing with.

You may find a style you love completely by accident.

Which is basically genealogy’s entire brand.

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Step 8: Add a Header, Footer, or Note

Headers and footers are easy to overlook, but they can be really helpful.

You can use them to include:

• date printed
• page numbers
• chart notes
• source reminders
• personal notes

I especially recommend adding the date created or date printed.

Family trees change.

A lot.

So if you come back to a chart later, it helps to know whether it was printed last week or three years and twelve research spirals ago.

If you’re using Book layout, page numbers can also help keep everything in order.

Future-you will appreciate this.

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Step 9: Add an Image or Text Box

Family Tree Maker also lets you insert images or text boxes into your chart.

This can be useful if you want to add:

• a title block
• family photo
• short explanation
• note about the chart
• decorative image
• family crest or symbol

Once inserted, you can drag the image or text box where you want it and resize it.

This is one of those features I would use lightly.

A small note or image can make the chart feel personal.

Too many can make the chart feel like a scrapbook page and a spreadsheet are in the middle of a war.

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Step 10: Check Page Setup and Margins

Before printing or exporting, check your page setup.

This is where you can adjust:

• printer
• paper size
• portrait or landscape orientation
• scale
• margins

If you plan to print the chart, pay special attention to margins.

Your software may let you set a tiny margin, but your printer may not actually print that close to the edge.

And then suddenly a branch of the family disappears into the non-printable void.

Very dramatic.

Very avoidable.

If you’re using Poster layout, turn on page breaks before printing so you can see where each page will land.

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Step 11: Save Your Settings

This is the step I think people forget.

If you create a chart style you like, save the settings.

Family Tree Maker lets you save chart settings as a template, which is helpful if you want multiple charts to look consistent.

This is especially useful if you’re creating:

• a family history book
• multiple branch charts
• reunion handouts
• research charts for different ancestors

You can also use saved settings to return to a default or preferred template if your design experiment gets a little out of hand.

Not that that ever happens, obviously.

Never.

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Step 12: Save the Chart Itself

Saving settings and saving the chart are different things.

Saving settings saves the style.

Saving the chart saves that specific chart.

If you have a chart you’ll return to again, save it with a useful name.

Something like:

Descendant Chart – Everett Fletcher Line

is much more helpful than:

Chart 1

Because future-you will not remember what Chart 1 was.

Future-you has enough to deal with.

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My Quick Customization Path

If you just want the clean version, here’s the path I’d follow:

1. Choose the person.
2. Open Publish.
3. Choose the chart type.
4. Decide Book vs. Poster layout.
5. Pick only the most useful facts.
6. Make the names readable.
7. Adjust boxes and lines only if they help.
8. Add date/page numbers if printing.
9. Check page setup and margins.
10. Save the chart settings.
11. Save the chart itself.

That’s it.

You can absolutely go deeper later.

But this gets you to a clean, usable chart without needing to test every single option in one sitting.

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Want the Full Screenshot Walkthrough?

If you’re the kind of person who likes seeing more of the menus and settings, I made a more detailed PDF guide to go with this post.

It includes extra notes on:

• chart preview views
• Items to Include
• name options
• fact options
• fonts
• box and line styles
• headers and footers
• page setup and margins
• saved settings
• Book vs. Poster layout
• advanced layout options
• checkbox format options
• person locator
• troubleshooting tips

Download the Full Family Tree Maker Family Chart Customization Guide Here

Because sometimes a short blog post is enough.

And sometimes you need the detailed version so you can click through everything without feeling like you’ve wandered into a settings forest.

Both are valid.

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Final Thoughts

Family Tree Maker is a great tool for creating family charts, whether you want something practical for research or polished enough to share with relatives.

The trick is not customizing everything just because you can.

Start with the purpose.

Make the chart readable.

Add only what helps.

Then save your settings before you forget how you got there.

Because genealogy already gives us enough mysteries.

We do not need to create extra ones through formatting.

Trust me.

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🔗 Related Rabbit Holes

• 5 Ways to View Your Family Tree on Family Tree Maker

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