Articles
How to make a family shajara: 8 steps
Updated: 6 October 2026
A shajara is a family tree. Making one is easier than it looks: an evening with the elders, a little patience and somewhere it will all be kept safe. Here is an order that works.
1. Start with yourself
Write down yourself, your parents, brothers and sisters. This is what you know for certain — the foundation everything else rests on.
2. Talk to the elders
Grandparents remember what no document holds. Ask about their parents, brothers and sisters, where they lived and what they did. Record their voices — in years to come this will be the most precious part of the shajara.
3. Write dates down, even rough ones
If you only know the year, or “some time in the 1930s”, write exactly that. A rough date beats an empty one: you can make it precise later.
4. Don’t forget your spouse’s family
Your wife’s or husband’s family is part of the tree too. So it does not crowd the chart, Shajara can fold it into a single “Wife’s family” or “Husband’s family” card.
5. Add photos and stories
Scans of old photos, stories of weddings, moves and jobs — they turn a list of names into a family history.
6. Check for mistakes
A parent younger than their child, a birth after the father’s death, someone entered twice — such slips are inevitable when you gather from many sources. Shajara finds them for you.
7. Share with relatives
Send the .shajara file by Telegram or email. Relatives open it in their own app and fill in their branch — that is how a tree grows fast.
8. Print it
A tree poster for the wall and a family book with biographies and photos make a fine gift for the elders it was all started for.
You can do all of this for free in Shajara — on Android or right in the browser. Your data stays with you: no sign-up, nothing sent to a server.
