Free family history tools
Free family history tools that run in your browser, no account. There are 9: for old photos, family tree files, digital photo collections and the stories of your parents. 8 of them never send your file or text anywhere.
Restore one old photograph
Repairs one faded or torn photograph and colours it if it was black and white. You see it before and after, side by side.
Your data: Your photo is uploaded and restored by an AI model, labelled as made with AI, and deleted automatically after seven days.
Read a GEDCOM family tree file
Shows the people, families and generations in a GEDCOM file, the oldest known ancestor and the gaps in the tree.
Your data: The file is read in your browser and never leaves your device. Nothing is stored.
Check and repair a GEDCOM file
Finds the wrong character set, garbled letters, broken links, duplicate IDs and impossible dates in a GEDCOM file, and offers a safely repaired copy.
Your data: The file is checked in your browser and never leaves your device.
Turn a GEDCOM file into a spreadsheet
Converts a GEDCOM file into an Excel-ready CSV with one row per person (names, birth, death, parents, spouses) and one per family.
Your data: The file is converted in your browser and never leaves your device.
Print a family tree from a GEDCOM file
Draws an ancestor chart of 4 or 5 generations for a person in your GEDCOM file, to print, save as PDF or download as SVG.
Your data: The chart is drawn in your browser; the file never leaves your device.
See which years are missing from your photos
Reads the date taken of your digital photos and shows how many photos you have per year, so the empty years stand out.
Your data: Nothing is uploaded: only the date inside each file is read, in your browser. Nothing is stored.
See which years your photos cover with the free photo timeline
Answer one question about a life
Choose whose story it is, answer one question, and two gentle follow-up questions help you write down a first memory.
Your data: Your answers stay in your browser and are not stored. No AI is involved: the follow-up questions are written in advance.
Write down a first family story with the free family interview
Twenty questions to ask your parents
A printable sheet of twenty questions to ask your parents about their life, in five languages.
Your data: There is nothing to fill in on the page and no account. The answers stay with you.
Print the free sheet of twenty questions to ask your parents
Build a memory palace
Type up to 20 things to remember and get a route of 20 places through a villa, with a vivid image for each. Walk it and test yourself.
Your data: The palace is built in your browser and nothing is stored on our side.
Put a free tool on your own website
For societies, libraries and bloggers: the GEDCOM viewer, the GEDCOM checker and the twenty questions can run on your own website, with one line of code and no cookies.
Questions people ask
Are these tools really free?
Yes. All of them are free to use and need no account. The photo restorer is limited to two photographs per hour, because each restoration has a real cost for us.
Do I need an account or to install anything?
No. Every tool opens in a web browser. An account is only needed if you want to keep the result in a Memory Palace, and that is your choice.
What happens to my files?
The GEDCOM viewer, the photo timeline, the family interview and the memory palace generator work inside your browser: your file or text is not uploaded and nothing is stored. The photo restorer is the exception: your photo is uploaded, restored by an AI model, labelled as made with AI and deleted automatically after seven days.
Which tool should I start with?
With an old print: the photo restorer. With a family tree file exported from Ancestry, MyHeritage or FamilySearch: the GEDCOM viewer. With a folder of digital photos: the photo timeline. With a parent or grandparent to talk to: the twenty questions or the family interview.
Which languages are the tools in?
English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish. Each tool has its own address in each language.
Who makes these tools?
The Memory Palace, a small team in Leuven, Belgium. The tools are the open doors of The Memory Palace app, where a family's photos, recordings, family tree and stories come together in a 3D palace.