Why simplifying can improve clarity

TreeLine can include your entire family in a single chart — but for large families, this often produces a chart that is dense and difficult to navigate. Pruning is the process of selectively removing people from the visible chart, retaining the ones most relevant to the story you want to tell.

There are two pruning approaches. The first is manual: you choose which people to hide. The second uses TreeLine's relevance scoring, which automatically identifies people who are central to the family narrative — direct ancestors, close relatives, and people with many connections — and hides those on the periphery.

Pruning does not delete anyone from your family data. Hidden people remain in your family and can be restored at any time. The pruned chart simply reflects a curated view of your family — a choice about what to emphasise.