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Adding Generations, People, and Record Pages to Your Ancestry Family History Book
Adding Generations, People, and Record Pages to Your Ancestry Family History Book

Extend the number of generations, add another person, timelines, family group sheets, records, and blank pages to your Family History Book

Janelle avatar
Written by Janelle
Updated over a month ago

MyCanvas is a self-publishing website that enables Ancestry.com members to incorporate some of the information from their online trees into Family History Books, Posters, and Calendars.

The cost of the books will vary depending on the size, cover type, and number of pages. The base price includes the first 20 pages, but you can easily add up to 350 pages - additional pages are $0.98 each for the 11 x 8.5" book and $1.25 each for the 13 x 10" book. Click here for more information on our Ancestry Family History Book - Product and Pricing.

We offer Family History Books that display a portion of your Ancestry tree, including names, photos, and dates. Unfortunately, we can't print out the entire family tree.

You can create Standard, Combination, and Descendant Books. All three book templates include a tree chart, family group sheets, and timelines that automatically fill with information from your Ancestry Tree.

Unwanted pages must be manually deleted from the preview (double-page spread). You can select the DELETE tab to remove the page. Before you delete a page, please remember that deleted pages cannot be recovered.


Do you want to add generations, people, and record pages to your book? For instructions, keep reading or watch the video tutorials at the end of this article.

First, open the project you want to edit. From the preview (double-page spread), select the + Add to Book button.

The + Add to Book feature allows you to add several new pages while editing your Family History Book. These features include:

  • Extending the book to include more generations.

  • Adding a missing person from your tree beyond the number of generations you included.

  • Adding Ancestry records for everyone already in your book.

  • Adding a Family Group Sheet with the names of two parents and their children.

  • Adding a Timeline page for a single person from your tree.

  • Add all available Ancestry photos for a person to your book.

  • Adding and removing the Table of Contents.

  • Adding a Title page.

  • Adding blank (canvas) pages to customize with stories, recipes, fun family facts, photo collages, and more!


When using the + Add to Book feature, you may select "Add a Family Tree," allowing you to extend the book to include more generations. When adding new generation pages, the data transferred from Ancestry to the MyCanvas project must come from the same Ancestry Tree selected when creating the book.

You can add more generations until you have put in the number of generations you want or until the book has reached its maximum number of pages, whichever comes first. Each book includes a minimum of 20 pages, but you can add up to 350 pages.

Once you select Add a Family Tree, enter the name in the "Search person by name" for whom you want as the starting person of the new Tree Chart page. Then, select a tree type (Standard, Combination, or Descendant). Select the number of generations and the page types you want to include (title page, divider page, family tree, person timelines, and family group sheets). Finally, click the "+ Add Page(s)" in the bottom right corner.

The new pages will be added at the end of the book. You can learn how to rearrange the pages by clicking here.


Are you looking to add a missing person from your tree beyond the number of generations you included? Select "Add a Person" to include their Timelines and Family Group Sheets.

Once you select "Add a Person," enter the missing person's name in the "Search person by name" and choose the page types you want to include (person timelines and family group sheets). Then, click the "+ Add Page(s)" in the bottom right corner.


Select "Add Title" to add a title and dedication page to your book.


Ancestry records and photos are available in the editor and can be added to your project manually. To add all available record pages for a person in the book, select "Add Record Pages."

Enter the name in the search bar and click the name box of the person to whom you want to add record pages. Then click the "+ Choose Record(s)" button in the lower right-hand corner.

You can choose which records you want to add to your book by clicking them to highlight them in blue. Then click the "+ Add Record Page(s)" button in the lower right-hand corner.

You can also use the "In book" tab to search for a person by name or scroll through and select the listed names.


You can also add records using the "Find Records" Tab

From the preview (double-page spread), click the Find Records tab on the Family Group Sheet or Timeline page. This will automatically pull up the couple's or individual's records to be selected.

You can choose which records you want to add to your book by clicking them to highlight them in blue. Then click the "+ Add Record Page(s)" button in the lower right-hand corner.

The selected records will be added as a new page after the timelines.


You will select "Add Photo Pages" to automatically add all available photos for a person in the book.

Click here for our guide on adding and editing photos.


Would you like to add more Family Group Sheet pages to your book? You can add them by selecting "Add Family Group Sheet."

Once you select "Add Family Group Sheet," enter the name in the "Search person by name" and click their name card. Then, click on the partner's name card you want to include. Finally, click the "+ Add Page(s)" in the bottom right corner.


You can select "Add Timeline Page" to add a Timeline page for a single person in your tree.

The timeline events in the Family History Book are transferred from an individual's Facts page on Ancestry.com. The book timeline typically displays one event per decade (i.e., birth, death, burial, and residence), so this page may not include all events from the Ancestry Facts. You are welcome to add or delete any unwanted events or manually copy and paste in more events that were not transferred from Ancestry.

Tip: The easiest way to do this is to duplicate existing events on the Timeline page, drag the line and text box to the correct spot on the timeline, and paste the event information from Ancestry.

HOW TO DUPLICATE

Duplicating a text box is great for copying a style and changing the information. To duplicate, select the text you want to copy. Then, select the "Duplicate Elements" icon on the top white toolbar.

Once you select the duplicate elements button, a copy of your text box will be created. You can edit the content, resize, and move the text box.

Click here for our guide on text customization.

You can also duplicate the line element by clicking on it and selecting the "Duplicate Elements" icon.

Once you select the duplicate elements button, a copy of the line element will be created. You can resize and move the line.

Click here to see how to customize your project with the line element.


If you delete the Table of Contents page(s) and want to undo that action, select the "Add Table of Contents" box to add them back to your book. Please keep in mind deleting the pages will remove any manual edits you made and cannot be restored. Manual edits will need to be added to the restored Table of Contents.


Select "Add Blank Page" to add a blank (canvas) page to customize with life stories, recipes, fun family facts, photo collages, and more! Please note the project will not transfer the "LifeStory" history from the Ancestry Tree. The individual stories need to be added to a page manually.

Tip: Blank pages can also be added by selecting the ADD tab on the preview (double-page spread) and "Add New Blank Page" in the editor.


Tutorials

How to Add More Generations to a Family History Book:

Using the "Add to Book" Button to add Photos, Records, and More:


Need help starting your book? Check out this article: How to Create Your Ancestry Family History Book.

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