Family tree guides: where to find the records
Where the birth, marriage and death records are in each country, what is free, and how to go from a name on a certificate to a person with a story.
Free to try
Your palace, on your phone too.
Does the GDPR apply to a family tree or a family archive?
When the GDPR applies to your family tree, photos and stories: the household exemption, deceased relatives, living relatives and what changes once you publish online.
Garbled characters in a GEDCOM file (é instead of é): how to fix them
Why names in a GEDCOM file show é, ö or ü instead of é, ö or ü, how to tell which of three problems you have, and how to repair the file for free in your browser without changing anything else.
Convert an ANSEL GEDCOM file to UTF-8: free, in your browser
What ANSEL is, how to tell that your GEDCOM file uses it, and how to convert it to UTF-8 for free without losing an accent, with what the conversion changes and what it leaves alone.
GEDCOM errors: broken links, duplicate IDs and impossible dates, and how to find them
What broken links, duplicate IDs and impossible dates in a GEDCOM file mean, how to find every one with its line number for free, and why no tool should repair them for you.
Which GEDCOM version is my file: 5.5, 5.5.1 or 7.0? And can I open it?
How to see in ten seconds which GEDCOM version a file is, what really differs between 5.5.1 and 7.0, what to do with a .gdz file, and which of our free tools read which version.
How to preserve your family history and pass it on: tree, photos, voices and stories
How to keep your family's history and pass it on: start with what disappears, build the family tree, give photos a name and a year, record voices, and bring it all together in one place the next generation can open.
How to create a family tree step by step
How to build your own family tree: start with yourself, ask the older generation, go through the family's documents, give every fact a source, choose paper or software, save it as GEDCOM and grow it generation by generation.
Ancestry research in Germany for beginners: how to start and which sources help
Starting ancestry research in Germany, step by step: with a question, with the family's own papers, then the registry office, archives, church books online and free databases. And how to keep your findings so the family can find them.
How to make a family tree in France: steps, civil records, photos and voices
How to make your family tree step by step: start with yourself, talk to the oldest relatives, search French civil records and the online Archives départementales, number with Sosa, then bring the tree to life with photos, voices and stories.
How to make a family tree: steps, sources in Spain and how to bring it to life
How to make a family tree step by step: start with yourself, ask the older generation, look for the libro de familia, record your sources and make use of the two surnames. With the sources in Spain and how to bring the tree to life with photos, voices and stories.
Free online GEDCOM viewers compared (2026)
Ten free ways to open a GEDCOM file: which run in the browser, which keep the file on your device, which need an account, and which GEDCOM versions they read.
Open a GEDCOM file online: free and without uploading it
How to open a GEDCOM file in your browser without uploading it or making an account, and how to check in a minute that it stays on your device.
Genealogy archives online in Belgium, by province (2026)
Which Belgian archives have civil records, parish registers and population registers online, province by province: free or paid, account or not, name search or browsing.
Genealogy archives online in the Netherlands, by province (2026)
Which Dutch archives have civil records, church registers and population registers online, province by province: free or paid, account or not, name search or browsing.
How to export your family tree as a GEDCOM file
Where the export button is on Ancestry, MyHeritage, Geneanet and FamilySearch, what comes along in the file and what stays behind, and how to check the export before you delete anything.
Where are the gaps in your family tree, and where to look next
Every family tree has people without a date, without a surname, without a place or without a family. How to find them all at once, and which record usually fills each kind of gap.
England & Wales family tree: where to find the records
From the certificate in the tin box to parish registers from 1538: where the records of England and Wales are, what is free and what a GRO certificate costs.
Starting a family tree in Ireland: where to find the records
From a Mass card in the drawer to the Catholic parish registers: where Irish records are online, what is free, what was lost in 1922 and why the place matters.
Starting a family tree in the US: where to find the records
From the family Bible to the 1950 census: where American records are kept, what is free online, how to order vital records and how to trace an immigrant.
Starting a family tree in Italy: where to find the records
From a village name on a passenger list to the civil records of 1809: where Italian sources are online for free, how Antenati works and how to ask the comune.
Starting a family tree in Poland: where to find the records
From a village name in grandma's letters to parish books of the 1600s: where Polish records are free online, why partitions matter and who may request copies.
Starting a family tree in Belgium: where to find the records
From the memorial cards in the drawer to the parish registers of 1650: where Belgian sources are online, what is free, which records are public and how to request recent records.
Starting a family tree in the Netherlands: finding records
From the baptism registers of 1600 to your grandfather's personal record card: where the Dutch sources are, what you can find online for free, which records are public and how to request recent ones.
Starting a family tree in France: where to find the records
From parish registers to the censuses of 1836: where the French sources are kept, what is free online, which records you may consult and how to request a recent certificate.
Starting a family tree in Germany: where to find the records
From a seventeenth-century church book to your grandmother's birth certificate: where the German sources are kept, what is freely accessible and how to get more recent certificates from the registry office.
Spanish ancestors: birth records, parish books and PARES
Request an old Spanish birth certificate free from the Registro Civil (since 1871), then go back further with parish registers and PARES. Steps and free software.
Emigrant ancestors: Red Star Line, Ellis Island and Canada
A great-uncle who left Antwerp for New York in 1910, an aunt who went to Canada after the war: where to find the passenger lists, what is on them, and why the myth of the changed name is not true.
Finding an ancestor from the First World War: where to search
A memorial card, a medal, a name on the village war memorial: how to find out who your ancestor in the First World War was, in Belgian, British, French and German sources, and through the Red Cross.
How to open a GEDCOM file without genealogy software
Someone sent you a .ged file and you have nothing to open it with. Here is how to see what is inside in a few minutes, without installing anything and without the file ever leaving your computer.
Tracing Your Family History: A Beginner's Guide to Genealogy
Interested in your family's roots but don't know where to start? This beginner-friendly guide walks you through the first steps of genealogical research, from interviewing relatives to navigating online records.
DNA Testing for Genealogy: What It Can and Cannot Tell You
DNA testing promises to unlock your ancestry, but the results can be confusing. Learn what different tests reveal, their limitations, and how to use them effectively in your family research.