When a person has multiple partners, the standard layout spaces each family apart because each family’s children pull their parent outward. This can waste a lot of horizontal space, especially when several families have children.
The Auto compact spouse option tells Pedigree Forge to pull these families closer together, overlapping children under adjacent partners where possible.
On the Layout tab of the Chart Properties panel, tick Auto compact spouse in the Displayed Content section.
In a navigating chart, this option is enabled by default.
With auto compact enabled, Pedigree Forge analyses each spouse group and adjusts how parents are positioned relative to their children. Families are pulled inward toward the descendant, and where possible their children tuck under adjacent partners. Family bars that would otherwise clash are automatically lifted to avoid collisions.
The result is a significantly narrower chart when a person has two or more partners with children.
Auto compact works well for most descendant charts. It is most effective when a person has two or more partners with children, as these are the cases where the standard layout wastes the most space.
For simple charts where each person has only one partner, the option has no visible effect.