← Guides

Getting started

Welcome. This page takes you from a fresh install to a tree you can click around in — about five minutes.

1. Name your archive

On first run Oakbough Family doesn't ask for a folder, it asks for a name: "What will you call your tree?". Type anything — "Kowalski", "Mum's side" — and press Create archive. The app creates the folder under its own data directory and from then on opens straight onto your tree.

Nothing is hidden: the full path to the files is right there in Settings, under the archive's name. It is an ordinary folder of ordinary files — you simply don't have to make a decision about network drives or synced folders before you have seen the program at all.

Already have a Oakbough Family archive from an earlier install or another computer? Use Bring in an existing folder… — the app copies it in and leaves your original untouched.

2. Bring in an old tree (or start from scratch)

Already have research in another program — Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Gramps, anything? Export a GEDCOM there (every genealogy program can), then in Oakbough Family go to Settings → Data → Import GEDCOM. Every person, family, source and photo reference becomes a note in your archive, and the places become records with coordinates straight away. The migration guide lists the exact menu for each program. A plain spreadsheet of people goes in through Import people (CSV).

Prefer a blank page? Click + New person in the People panel and you're away. From then on, right-click anyone in the tree to add a parent, child or spouse exactly where they belong.

3. What lands on your disk

An archive is just folders of readable files:

Kowalski/
├── Persons/   I1.md            ← one note per person
├── Places/    L1.md            ← places with their coordinates
├── Sources/   S1.md            ← the records your facts come from
├── Research/  Q1.md            ← open questions & what you've tried
├── Media/     jan-portrait.jpg ← photos and scans
└── vocab.toml                  ← your own kinds of events

A filename is a stable id, not a name — which is why discovering that your great-grandmother was really called something else doesn't break a single link in the archive. The name and every fact are in the note's first lines:

---
type: person
aliases: [Jan Kowalski]
given: Jan
maiden_name: Kowalski
born: 1888-03-12
birthplace: "[[L4|Wiele]]"
---

(maiden_name is the birth surname — a married surname has its own married_name key, so neither eats the other. [[L4|Wiele]] is a link to the place note Places/L4.md, labelled with the name you see on screen.)

You never have to look in there — the app gives you everything — but the files are there, plain and readable, for the day you want them.

4. Finding your way around

  • The bar along the top switches the big views: Tree, Graph, Map, Timeline, Snapshot, Statistics, Research Health and the Registry. The rail down the left edge opens the tool panels: People, Places, Sources, Research log, On this day, Archive Health, Vocabulary, Settings…
  • Ctrl+P is the fastest jump to anyone — start typing a surname and press Enter.
  • Clicking a person in any view opens their card. In the tree, Shift+click makes them the new centre.
  • The Inspector on the right shows the full detail and is where you edit.

Spend a minute clicking through the Tree, the Map and the Graph — it's the same family shown three ways, and the most enjoyable part.

5. Safety nets

Before you go deep, pick a folder for copies in Settings → Backups — ideally another drive or a USB stick. The app makes a copy when you close it and checks afterwards that everything is inside. Anything that could delete or overwrite asks first and keeps the old notes. Details: Backups and safety.