How TreeLine arranges your family

What it does. Each person is drawn as a bar that runs left to right

through the years of their life. TreeLine decides which row each bar sits

in: children near their parents, partners beside each other, and as few

crossing lines as it can manage.

Why it matters. Where people sit is what makes a family readable at a

glance. Dates fix where a bar starts and ends; the arrangement only

decides the row.

Where to change it.

1. Layout strategy in the Layout pane. Waterfall (the default)
   
   keeps each family close together and works down the page. Fanned
   
   looks ahead at how big each branch will be and places some branches
   
   above their parents to use the space more evenly.
2. Arrange on the side bar, to move the people you select up or down
   
   yourself or put brothers and sisters in order.
3. To choose which way a branch grows, right-click a person ›
   
   Arrange › Grow up or Grow down (or Ctrl+Shift+↑/↓).

What to expect. Changing the arrangement never changes your family

facts, only where people sit on this TreeLine. Your own moves are kept

when the chart is redrawn, and Undo takes them back.