← Guides

Getting started

1. Pick a vault folder

On first launch StemmaFiles asks for a vault — an ordinary folder that will hold your whole genealogy. Pick an empty folder for a fresh start, or a folder that already contains a StemmaFiles vault. The app remembers it for next time.

2. Import a GEDCOM (or start from scratch)

If you have research in another program (Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Gramps…), export a GEDCOM file there and import it via Settings → Data → Import GEDCOM. Every person, family, source, citation and photo reference becomes a readable note. See the migration guide for program-specific notes.

Starting fresh? Use + New Person in the People panel and build from there — right-click anyone in a tree to add a parent, child or spouse in place.

3. What lands on disk

MyFamily/
├── Persons/   Jan Kowalski (1888–1942).md
├── Places/    Warszawa.md
├── Sources/   1900 Census.md
├── Research/  Who was Anna's father.md
├── Media/     jan-portrait.jpg
└── .git/      ← automatic snapshots (when git is installed)

Each person is one markdown note: structured facts (dates, places, citations) in the YAML header, free narrative below, relationships as [[wikilinks]]. Edit notes by hand or in Obsidian whenever you like — the app picks changes up live.

4. Find your way around

  • Activity rail (left edge): People list, Tree, Graph, Map, Sources, Research, Settings.
  • Ctrl+P: quick-find — jump to any person by name, diacritics optional.
  • Click a person in any view for their card; Shift+click in the tree re-roots it on them.
  • The Inspector (right panel) shows full details and the editor.

5. Safety nets

With git installed, the vault is snapshotted automatically (browse and revert in the History panel). Destructive operations are confirmed and backed up first. For backups and using a second computer, read Sync & backup.