Relations

A relation says how two things connect: one event caused another, a person is the child of another, a city is located in a country. There are two kinds: relations between two items, and relations between two entities. Both ends of a relation always have the same owner: you, a team, or the site.

Relations between items

An item relation has one of five types. Each one reads from the side you look at it from, so the same relation reads differently on its two items:

• caused, which reads as caused by from the other item;
• led to, which reads as followed from;
• preceded, which reads as followed;
• contradicts, the same both ways;
• same event as, the same both ways.

The two items can be on the same timeline or on two timelines of the same owner, as long as you can edit both timelines.

An item's relations show in its panel in the viewer and on the item's page in the dashboard, each as the relation's wording and the other item. Choose the other item to open it.

To add one, edit the item (or create it) and choose Add relation under Relations. Under Relation, choose the type. The list offers both directions of caused, led to and preceded, so you can say "caused by" from the item you are on without going to the other one. Under Timeline, the item's own timeline is chosen; you can pick another timeline of the same owner that you can edit. Then search for the item under Related item, and choose Add relation. The relation joins the form's list and is saved along with the item when you save; cancelling the form discards it. To remove a relation, choose the × next to it in the form and save; it shows only when you can edit both items' timelines. If a relation can't be saved, for instance because a limit is reached, the item is still saved and a message says so.

Each item can hold up to 50 relations; relations that other items add toward it don't always count. Readers only see the relations whose other item they can see: a relation to an item in the trash, or on a timeline they can't open, isn't listed.

In the viewer. Select or hover an item and arrows link it to its related items on the same timeline. A solid arrow means caused, led to or preceded, pointing the way the relation reads; a dashed line means contradicts; a dotted line means same event as. A small loop means the related item is bunched together with this one: zooming in separates nearby dates, while items on the same date stay together and the item's panel lists its relations. Relations to items on other timelines appear only in the panel. Under Display you can show the arrows for every item at once, or never.

Relations between entities

An entity relation has one of eight built-in types, or one of your own relation types:

• parent of, which reads as child of from the other entity;
• member of, which reads as has member;
• part of, which reads as has part;
• located in, which reads as location of;
• spouse of, sibling of, ally of and enemy of, the same both ways.

A relation can also carry a period and a note. Under Period, give a start date, an end date or both, in any built-in calendar; a start alone means the relation still holds, and reads "since 1912", while an end alone reads "until 1945". Between two entities on the same custom calendar, the period can be dated in that calendar instead; a relation keeps the kind of dates it already has. The note is a short free text. The period shows next to the other entity and the note below it. A relation can also cite sources from the owner's library, under Citations in the Add relation and Edit dialogs, and they show beneath its note; see Sources and citations.

In the dashboard, the entity's Relations tab groups them by wording, such as "child of", and lists each relation on its own line: the other entity, its period if it has one, and its note below. Choose Add relation, pick under Relation a built-in type (the first four in both directions) or one of your relation types, then the entity under Related entity. The period and the note are optional. The other entity must belong to the same owner as this one. If you can edit the entity, the ⋯ menu (Relation actions) next to a relation has Edit and Remove. Edit changes the period and the note and, for a relation with one of your relation types, the type under Relation type; each option shows how the relation will read from this entity. It doesn't change the direction or the other entity; to change those, remove the relation and add a new one.

The public page of an entity, at its /e/... URL, and the entity's dialog in the viewer show the same Relations, read-only. As on items, a relation is listed only when the reader can see the other entity.

Siblings also come from shared parents: anyone who has a parent in common with the entity, through parent of relations, is listed under "sibling of", marked "half-sibling" when the two share one parent and either has another. Those have no ⋯ menu, since nothing is stored to edit; a sibling of relation you add still does.

Relations between entities count against the owner's plan: up to 200 on Free; on Pro and Team there is no practical limit (the safeguard is 250,000). Relations to entities in the trash count too. One entity can have at most 5,000 relations. Relation types count too: up to 20 on Free, up to 200 on Pro, and 200 per team and for the site. See pricing for the current numbers.

Relation types

A relation type is a name for how two entities relate, such as "rules". A type has a name and either how it reads on the other entity ("ruled by") or Same both ways, as "sibling of" does. Every relation of a type reads alike, so renaming a type rewords all the relations that use it; History keeps the name the relation had at the time. Each owner keeps its own types: yours, each team's and the site's.

In Add relation, open Relation: the list shows the built-in types under Built-in relation types, then your own types under Custom relation types. Every type except those that are Same both ways is offered in both directions, "rules" and "ruled by", also when it reads the same on the other entity, where the two choices end in → and ←; choosing the second saves the relation on the other entity, like the reverse built-in choices. Manage types and New type… appear only for an owner whose types you can change: you, a team where you can create entities, or the site if you are a site admin. To make a type on the spot, choose New type…, fill in Name and then either On the other entity or Same both ways, and choose Create type; it is selected for you. Same both ways can't be changed after the type is created. If the name on the other entity is the same as the type's name, the relation shows → after it on the entity you added it on and ← on the other.

Choose Manage types in that list, or the Relation types link on the Entities page beside Deleted entities, to open the page with an owner's types, with the same tabs as the Entities page for your own entities, a team's and the site's. Each type is listed with its Name, On the other entity (or "same both ways") and Used by, the number of relations that use it; the ⋯ menu has Rename and Delete. A type can only be deleted when no relation uses it; give those relations another type or remove them first. Anyone who can create entities for an owner can create and rename its types; deleting a type needs owner level, which in a team means its owner and admins.

Family tree

The Tree view draws the people on a timeline as a family tree: a row for each generation, couples side by side, children under their parents. It is built from the parent of, spouse of and sibling of relations between people, and a person with none of those isn't drawn. Relatives one step beyond the people on the timeline are drawn too, muted and with a dashed border, so a family isn't cut off at the edge of the timeline. When a spouse relation has a start date, it shows on the line between the couple, such as "m. 1950". Point at a line, or tap it on a phone, to see who it joins and the relation's dates. The tree can't be drawn when the timeline's entities and their relatives one step beyond number more than 10,000.

The Tree toggle sits beside Timeline, Map and List, and shows when the timeline has people. Choose a card to open that person's details in the viewer, with a link to their page. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and choose Fit all to bring the whole tree back into view.

Through a share link, only public people appear in the tree, so make the people public for a tree you share by link.

A tree from a genealogy program doesn't have to be drawn relation by relation: import its GEDCOM file, and the parents, partners and children arrive as relations. See Importing a family tree.

Mentioning items, timelines and collections

Relations aren't the only way to point at another item. In an item's notes, or in a description, type @ (or press the @ button in the toolbar, Insert a mention) and choose from the list, which is grouped into Entities, Items, Timelines and Collections. Items are those of the same timeline; timelines and collections are the owner's that you can see.

Readers who may open what is mentioned get a link; everyone else sees plain text. The item, timeline or collection then lists the items whose notes mention it under Mentioned in, on its page and, for items and timelines, in the viewer's details. Mentions in descriptions aren't listed there. A mention is not a relation: it doesn't link the two items, show arrows in the viewer or count toward the 50 relations.

History and undo

Every relation added or removed is its own entry in the History of the item or entity, and the item's entries also show on its timeline's History tab. So is every edit to an entity relation's type, period or note. Restoring one of these entries undoes just that change: it removes a relation that was added, adds back one that was removed, or puts an edited relation back as it was. See Deleted items and restoring for how History works.

A relation added with one of the reverse choices, such as "caused by", is saved on the other item or entity, so its entry is in the other one's History. The add dialog tells you when that happens.

Transfers

When a timeline is transferred, relations between its own items stay. Relations between its items and items on the sender's other timelines are removed, because they would join two owners; the offer and the review before accepting both say so. The entities its items link are copied to the receiver, and the relations among those copied entities are copied with them. The relation types they use come along too. If the receiver already has a type with the same name, ignoring capitals, that reads the same way (both Same both ways, or both with a name on the other entity), the receiver's type is used and its wording wins; otherwise the sender's type is copied, and if its name is taken the copy arrives with a suffix, such as "rules (2)".

See People, places and things for how entities work.