↓ Skip to main content
Charted Roots
  1. Guides/
  2. Research guides/

I want to generate a family reunion report

632 words·3 mins
Table of Contents

Use this when you’re preparing for a family reunion and want a printed handout showing the family tree, key dates, and biographical info for relatives who don’t use Obsidian (or anything genealogy-related). The Report Wizard’s Descendant Report and Ancestor Report formats are the right shape for this — multi-generation, structured for reading, easy to scan and pass around.

By the end you’ll have a PDF document suitable for printing as a single handout or stapled booklet.

What you’ll need
#

  • A documented common ancestor or yourself as the starting point.
  • A general idea of how many generations to include — too few feels thin, too many becomes a tome.

Steps
#

1. Open the Report Wizard
#

Control Center → Reports → Generate Report.

2. Pick the report type
#

For a family reunion, two report types fit:

  • Descendant Report — starts from a common ancestor and shows their descendants forward. Best when reunion attendees share a common ancestor (typical reunion shape).
  • Ancestor Report — starts from a current generation and works backward through ancestors. Best when the reunion centers on a living person and you want to celebrate their ancestry.

Pick whichever fits your reunion’s framing.

3. Select the starting person
#

Search for the common ancestor (Descendant Report) or the central living person (Ancestor Report). Birth/death years appear next to names for disambiguation.

4. Configure generations and inclusions
#

  • Number of generations — 4 to 6 is the sweet spot for a reunion handout. Fewer than 4 feels too sparse; more than 6 produces a document that takes 30+ minutes to read.
  • Include spouses — yes, almost always. Reunion attendees want to see who married into the family.
  • Birth/death dates — yes; helps date-conscious relatives place themselves on the tree.
  • Birth/death places — optional; useful for diasporic families where geography is part of the story.
  • Notes — optional; include for biographical color, exclude if you want a structural-only document.

5. Choose output format
#

  • PDF — print-ready. Default choice.
  • ODT — editable in LibreOffice, Word, or Google Docs. Pick this if you want to add a custom cover page, photos, or a personal welcome message before printing.

6. Generate
#

Click Generate. The report saves to your configured output folder. Open it to verify before printing.

7. (Optional) Polish in a word processor
#

If you exported to ODT, open the file in your word processor and add:

  • A cover page with the reunion date, location, and a family photo.
  • A brief introduction or family-history note from the reunion organizer.
  • Photos of family members alongside their entries.

Then export to PDF for printing.

Variations
#

  • Multiple reports for multiple branches. For larger reunions where attendees span multiple branches, generate one Descendant Report per founding ancestor and bind them together. Easier than a single mega-report.
  • Save the report config as a preset. If you generate a similar report annually, save the wizard configuration so re-running next year is a single click.
  • Pair with a printable tree. Many reunions use a Descendant Report handout PLUS a wall-sized printed tree as a visual centerpiece. See I want to generate a printable family tree.
  • Privacy for living persons. If the report will be shared publicly (or with extended-family who include privacy-conscious individuals), enable living-person privacy under Settings → Charted Roots → Privacy. The report respects your privacy threshold.

Related guides#

Reference
#

Found something wrong or unclear? Suggest an edit — opens a pre-filled issue with the guides label.