MyHeritage Released Sun Charts

There are some things that all genealogists do. Everyone searches online for information about their ancestors, makes copies of their research, and continues to build their family tree. Are you looking for something different to do with your genealogy research? MyHeritage has released Sun Charts. You probably haven’t put one of those together yet!

Sun Charts are an innovative new family tree chart that is used for visualizing descendants in family trees. Looking at the same information, in a new way, can result in new insights and ideas.

The Sun Chart is now available for all MyHeritage users for free. It is designed to place as many descendants as possible on the smallest possible chart, scaling to hundreds or even thousands of people. It is ideal for sharing with relatives at a family reunion or get-together. Descendant charts that would not fit in a room if arranged horizontally or vertically can now be prepared in this compact circular format and hung conveniently on the wall.

The circular format of the Sun Chart was inspired by a family tree chart format that MyHeritage staff encountered multiple times while researching family history in Corfu, Greece. It was used by the Jewish community in Corfu, and the researchers immediately saw that it offered a unique benefit: a different segment is allocated for each person, proportional to the extent of descendants he or she has, in a very compact layout that can easily be extended as new generations are born.

The first thing to do when creating a Sun Chart on MyHeritage is to select the option under the “Print Charts and Books” menu. Select the Sun Chart option. In the “Customize the Chart” section, you need to select the main ancestor for the chart. Pick the number of generations to display. If the main ancestor has more than one spouse, select only one of his or her spouses for the chart.

When you are happy with all of your selections, click “Generate Chart”. It will be created as a PDF file. You can download that file onto your computer and print it out. It will also be sent to you via email. MyHeritage also offers a printing service that you can use to print and ship a quality version of the Sun Chart to family members.

In order for the Sun Chart to be created, one must have a family tree on MyHeritage. Those who are not MyHeritage users can start a family tree there for free. It is also possible to import your existing family tree as GEDCOM.

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