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Home Excel Excel Resources Excel Tips Family Tree in Excel
 

Family Tree in Excel

Udiksha Sable
Article byUdiksha Sable
Madhuri Thakur
Reviewed byMadhuri Thakur

Family Tree in Excel

What is a Family Tree in Excel?

A family tree in Excel is a digital drawing with photos and names of all family members, starting from grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles, siblings, cousins, and others, showing how each of them are related to one another. It can also show the family members’ gender, birth, and death dates, and the inheritance of certain traits or diseases.

To create a family tree in Excel, we can use 4 methods.

 

 

If you want to take your time and create a detailed and personalized family tree, choose these methods where we create a family tree from scratch:
Method #1: Using Shapes
Method #2: SmartArt

Or, if you want a quick and easy way to create a simple and standard family tree, you can follow these methods:
Method #3:Built-in Template
Method #4:Photo Family Tree

4 Methods to Create a Family Tree in Excel

You can download this Family Tree Excel Template here – Family Tree Excel Template

Let’s consider a scenario: Alex, a school student, has received an assignment from his teacher to create his family tree in Excel. In this assignment, he has to include details such as names, relationships, and photos of his family members.

Below are the details of Alex’s family. Let’s see how Alex creates a family tree in Excel using all 4 methods.

Alex creates a family tree in Excel

Method #1: Creating a Family Tree in Excel from Scratch Using Shapes

Step 1: Open a New Blank Excel Sheet, name it “My Family Tree”, and then:

  • Click Insert Tab
  • Find the Illustrations group
  • Click on Shapes

Family Tree in Excel 1-1

Step 2: Choose the shape of your choice to add the image of the first family member. The common shapes you can choose are square or oval.

Family Tree in Excel 1-2

Step 3: Once you choose the shape, a “+” sign will appear on your spreadsheet

Family Tree in Excel 1-3

Step 4: Drag the sign in your spreadsheet to draw the shape.

Tip: To make the shape perfectly round, press the shift key as you drag it down. This can be useful if you want your family tree to have a more uniform and professional look.

Family Tree in Excel 1-4
Step 5: Click on the shape, and a ShapeFormat Tab will appear.
Family Tree in Excel 1-5

Step 6: In the Shape Format tab,

  • Go to the Shape Styles group
  • Select Shape Fill
  • Click on the light Gray color
  • Select No Outline from Shape Outline
Tip: We are choosing a light gray color so that the image can appear more clear, you can choose any color you like.

Family Tree in Excel 1-6

Step 7: To add the name of the family member, we will create a box below the Circle shape. Go to Insert Tab> Illustrations> Shapes> Rectangle rounded corners.

Family Tree in Excel 1-7

Step 8: Shape Fill the rectangle with transparent fill and a black outline (check step 6).

Step 9: Then to add a name in the rectangle,

  • Select Text Fill from WordArt Style Group
  • Type the name ‘George’

Family Tree in Excel 1-8

Step 10: To group both the circle and rectangle together,

  • Select both the shapes
  • Click on the Shape Format tab
  • Find the Arrange Group
  • Select the “Group” option

Family Tree in Excel 1-10

Step 11: Next, let us insert the image in the circle. For this, select the circle shape and click on the Insert Tab> Illustrations> Pictures> Place Over Cells> This Device.

Tip: If you want you can choose and add a picture directly from your mobile phone or online website.

Family Tree in Excel 1-11

Step 12: If you choose the “This Device” option, a Downloads section will appear. Here, you must select the image you want and then click on Insert.

Family Tree in Excel 1-12

Step 13: As you click insert, the image is added to the Excel sheet. You will have to select and move the image over the circle. You can also group it with the shape (check step 10).

Tip: To give the image a more enhanced look, you can remove gridlines from the View Tab.

Family Tree in Excel 1-13

Step 14: Add Relation by creating a box below the name (Step 7), and add the relationship (Step 9) and group it (Step 10).

Family Tree in Excel 1-13

Step 15: To create other family members,

  • Copy the grouped shapes: circle, rectangle, and the image
  • Then paste these shapes wherever you want it
  • Make changes to all names and replace their images
  • Link them with a horizontal or vertical line (as we did for the grandmother below). To Insert a line, select Insert Tab> Illustrations> Shapes> Line.

Family Tree in Excel 1-14

Result: The final diagram should look like the image below, showing all the relationships clearly.
The grandparents have three children, Justin, Peter, and Diana, and all are married and have kids.
Family Tree in Excel 1-14

Method #2: SmartArt Method

Step 1: Open a new blank Excel Sheet, click Insert Tab from the ribbon, and then click on SmartArt from the Illustrations Group. A dialog box will open.

Creating Tree 2-1

Step 2: From the dialog box, choose any design from the Hierarchy listed in the SmartArt Graphic and click OK.

Creating Tree 2-2

Step 3: The design will be inserted into the spreadsheet.

Creating Tree 2-3

Step 4: Right now, we have 5 boxes to add details of family members, if you need more boxes,

  • Select one of the boxes,
  • Right-click and select Add Shape
  • Click Add Shape After

Creating Tree 2-4

Step 5: After adding more boxes, the design will look as shown below.

Creating Tree 2-5

Step 6: Now, to start adding the details of your family, we first need to ungroup and group the overall design 4 times. Here’s why:

  • First, we will ungroup the entire design to ungroup only the boxes and lines that are connected as one image.

Creating Tree 2-6

  • We will again ungroup the whole design to ungroup each shape present in it. This will allow us to delete the lines and add images and text easily.

Creating Tree 2-6.2

  • Next, we will group the image box and the Text shape to move or resize the shape together.

Creating Tree 2-6.3

  • Finally, once we arrange the boxes as per the required order, we can again group the whole diagram together.

Creating Tree 2-6.4

Result: Finally, format the Family Tree by adding images, names, and relationships, as seen below.
Creating Tree 2-7

Method #3: Using In-Built Family Tree Template Generator

Excel offers ready-to-use templates to help you generate and customize a family tree in just a few minutes.

Here’s how you can do it:
Step 1: Open an Excel spreadsheet. Go to the File menu and click New to create a new workbook.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 1

Step 2: In the search bar, type Family Tree and press Enter.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 2

Step 3: Excel will display several templates for family trees.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 3

Step 4: Choose Family Tree Generator and click on Create to open it.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 4

Step 5: Once the template opens, you will see placeholders to add your family members’ names, relationships, and other details.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 5

Step 6: But first, you need to remove all inbuilt details; for that, simply click on Reset Family Members.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 6

Step 7: Start typing to add your family member’s information.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 7

Tip: To add the relationship below the name, press Alt+Enter, and write Grandfather.

Step 8: To add more rows to any table, simply select the rows and columns and drag them down by clicking on the green square in the bottom right corner.

Using In-Built Family Tree Step 8

Step 9: Add all your Family members’ details.

Using In-Built Family Tree Step 9

Note: In the Parents Column, the in-build Excel Template already has a drop-down option where you can select parents’ names.

Step 10: Click on Create Family Tree, mentioned above the table in the right-hand corner.

Using In-Built Family Tree Step 10

Step 11: The Family Tree will be created in the next tab.

Using In-Built Family Tree Step 11

Result: You can also format your Family Tree to give it a nice look by changing Font Style and Color.
Using In-Built Family Tree Step 12

Method #4: Photo Family Tree

Follow Steps 1 to Step 3 from the Method #3.

Step 4: Choose Photo Family Tree and click on Create to open it.

Photo Family Tree Step 4

Step 5: A built-in Family Tree will open.

Method 4 - Step 5

Step 6: To make changes to the family tree, you can delete or add new boxes by copying and pasting the cells. Once you are satisfied with the overall design, you can start adding the names and photos.

Method 4 - Step 6

Step 7: We will use the cell border to add a line between the boxes (to show the relationship between the members).

Note: Another simpler method is using the line shape (Method #1—Step 15). However, copying and pasting cells for structuring can disturb lines. So, use a method that you find easy to manage.

Here is how we can do it:

  • Select cells where you want the line. We have selected E14 to E20.

Method 4 - Step 7

  • Click on Home Tab> Font group > Borders dropdown > Right Border.

Photo Family Tree Step 7.2

  • A line will appear.

Photo Family Tree Step 7.3

Step 8: Make the borderline thick,

  • Select the cells (E14 to E20)
  • Go to the Home tab
  • Click on the Border box
  • Scroll down to Draw Borders
  • Click Line Style
  • Select the thick line.

Photo Family Tree Step 8

  • A pencil will appear. Point the pencil on the line and scroll it down. This will make the borderline thick black.

Photo Family Tree Step 8.2

  • The thick border line will be clearly visible.

Photo Family Tree Step 8.3

Note: You can also change the line color, font color, and font style to format it according to your requirements.

Result:
Photo Family Tree Result

Final Thoughts

Creating family trees is not just a project for school students but an important tool for professionals to organize a family’s medical history. Traditionally, we used to draw family trees on paper, but with modern tools like Excel, we can create and organize family trees digitally. Whatever the purpose, Excel is an amazing tool for creating family trees easily and effectively.

Recommended Articles

In this guide, we discussed how to create a Family Tree in Excel using 4 different methods. If you found this guide helpful, you can also explore some of the other useful articles:

  1. Create Marksheet in Excel
  2. Create a Calendar in Excel
  3. Create a Dashboard in Excel
  4. How to Grade Students Using Excel

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