In the steps below, you’ll learn how to make a genogram on your Mac with Creately. We’ll cover how to add relatives quickly, document family details more accurately, organize larger trees, and share or export your work without downloading anything.
Step 1. Open Creately on your Mac
Whether you’re using an Intel Mac or an Apple Silicon Mac, you can create a genogram in Creately directly from Safari or Chrome. There is nothing to install, and Mac users can work faster with keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, and automatic saving while they build.
Open Safari or any modern browser on your Mac and go to Creately.
If you already have an account, just click Log In and enter your details. If you are new to Creately, you can create an account for free by signing-up with your email or Google account.
Step 2. Start from a template, or text-to-genogram with AI
- Choose ready-made genogram templates if you want a quick starting point, or just click Start from a Blank Canvas if you prefer to build it yourself.
- If you prefer to begin from a written description instead of a blank canvas, the AI Genogram Tool is a useful shortcut for Mac users who already have family details written down.
Step 3. Add people to your genogram
Let’s start by adding the people who belong in your genogram.
- Click the Plus button in the lower-left corner to open the genogram shape library to access the notation you need. Here you’ll find standard person symbols along with more detailed notation for clinical and relationship-focused genograms. If you want a quick refresher, see Creately’s guide to genogram symbols
Click and drag a shape onto the canvas for each family member, then double-click to add a name, date of birth, or other basic details.
To move faster on a Mac, select a person and use the quick-add shortcuts: press 1 for partner, 2 for child, 3 for parent, 4 for both parents, and 5 for sibling. This is especially helpful when you’re building a genogram during an interview or working from handwritten notes.
If someone is deceased or has an important status you want reflected visually, update the person’s properties so the symbol changes automatically instead of manually redrawing it.
Step 4. Connect family members with relationship lines
Now it’s time to show how everyone is connected.
To connect two people, select a shape and use the connector handles or the contextual toolbar. You can also select two shapes at a time, and use the keyboard shortcuts to add relationships (1 for adding relationship and 2 for adding a child).
Creately supports a much wider range of genogram relationships than a basic family tree, including marriage, divorce, separation, cohabitation, biological, adoptive, foster, and step relationships, plus emotional relationship markers such as closeness, conflict, and cut-off.
This makes it easier for Mac users to build a genogram that reflects real family structures instead of forcing everything into a simple parent-child chart.
Step 5. Add extra details and emotional relationships
Click on a person’s shape to open the properties and add the details that matter for your use case. You can still use the notes panel for observations, but Creately also lets you structure more information directly in the genogram.
If you’re creating a medical or clinical genogram, add health conditions, genetic markers, medications, allergies, or behavioral details so the diagram becomes more useful than a visual family list.
- If you want to highlight patterns visually, use colors, relationship lines, and viewpoint changes to make health, emotional, or cultural patterns easier to spot at a glance.
Step 6. Organize the layout
As your genogram grows, it can start to feel a bit messy. Here’s how to tidy things up:
Arrange people by generation—grandparents at the top, then parents, and children at the bottom.
Use Creately’s grid lines and alignment tools to keep everything neat. These tools appear when you move shapes around.
If it helps, zoom in or out using the slider at the bottom right of the screen, so you can see the whole family clearly.
Step 7. Save, share, or export your genogram as a PDF, PNG, or SVG
Once you’re finished, or even halfway through, your work is already being saved as you go.
Creately automatically saves changes in real time, which is useful if you’re switching between windows, taking notes, or collaborating from your Mac during a session.
To share your genogram with someone else (like a teacher, counselor, or family member), click the Share button. You can collaborate live with teammates, and add feedback with comments.
You can copy a private link, or invite someone by email. You can choose whether they can just view or also edit.
To download a copy, click Export, then choose a format like PDF, PNG, or SVG. This is great if you want to print it or include it in a report.
Ready-made Genogram Templates to Get Started
Now that you know how to make a genogram on Mac with Creately, here are a few templates to help you get started on your genograms.
Tips for Using Creately on Mac
Using Creately on your Mac is simple because it runs in the browser, but a few tips can make the experience much faster and more useful when you’re building genograms.
Start with the right symbol set
Use Creately’s built-in genogram symbols and the genogram shape library instead of adapting generic flowchart shapes. This helps you build a genogram that is easier to read and closer to standard notation from the beginning.
Use shortcuts to build family structures faster
On a Mac, keyboard shortcuts make a big difference when you’re adding relatives quickly. Once a person is selected, use 1-5 to add the most common family relationships without breaking your flow.
Use AI when you already have written family notes
If you’ve already written down the family structure, medical history, or relationship notes, start with the AI genogram from text feature to generate a first draft. This is a faster way to get your structure onto the canvas before you refine it.
Add structured details, not just labels
Use person properties and notes to capture details like medical history, emotional dynamics, or life events. This helps turn your genogram into a working reference instead of just a static diagram.
Keep larger genograms organized with frames and clean connectors
As the family tree expands, use frames to group generations or branches and rely on connectors to keep relationships readable as you move things around.
