# Getting Started

Create your account, take the product tour, and learn the core upload-to-knowledge-base workflow.


KleioBase turns scans of old documents - birth certificates, census pages, letters, handwritten records - into a connected family history. You upload an image, the AI transcribes and translates it and pulls out the people, dates, and places, and you confirm what it found. Each confirmed record builds up person profiles you can browse, link, and export.

If you would rather watch than read, the [90-second walkthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoeGIDvgtWs) covers this whole flow on a real 1842 marriage record.

This guide gets you from a new account to your first confirmed record.

## Create your account

1. Go to the sign-up page and enter your email and a password. Passwords need at least 8 characters, including an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, and a number. The form shows which rules are met as you type, and tells you when the two password fields match.
2. Submit the form to create your account. New accounts start on the free **Explorer** plan - no card required.
3. Open the confirmation email we send you and click the link. If it has not arrived, check your spam or junk folder.
4. Sign in. You will land on your dashboard.

If the confirmation email never arrives, sign in with your email and password anyway: when the address is not confirmed yet, the sign-in page offers a "Resend confirmation email" button.

If you forget your password, use the "Forgot password" link on the sign-in page to get a reset email.

### Opening KleioBase from Facebook or Instagram

A link tapped inside Facebook, Messenger or Instagram opens in that app's own built-in browser, where signing in with Google or GitHub usually fails. KleioBase notices this and shows a short notice with a copy-link button: copy the link and open it in Safari or Chrome, or use the app's menu and choose to open the page in your browser. Signing in with an email address and password works normally in either place.

## Sign-in methods

You can sign in to KleioBase with an email address and password, with Google, or
with GitHub. Whichever one you started with, you can add the others later so you
are not locked out if you lose access to one of them.

Go to Settings, then Account, and find the Sign-in methods section. Each method
shows whether it is connected, and you can connect or remove one from there.

Whenever a sign-in method is added to or removed from your account, we email you
to let you know. If you get one of those emails and it was not you, change your
password and contact support.

### Adding a password

If you signed up with Google or GitHub, your account does not have a password
yet. Choose "Set a password" and we will email you a secure link to pick one.
After that you can sign in with your email address as well as with your
provider.

### Removing a method

You need to keep at least one way of signing in, so the last remaining method
cannot be removed. Add another method first, then remove the one you no longer
want.

Your password can be changed at any time but not removed, because your account
is identified by its email address.

### If a provider is already in use

A Google or GitHub account can only be connected to one KleioBase account. If
you see a message saying the account is already linked elsewhere, sign in to that
other KleioBase account and remove the connection there first, or delete that
account if you no longer need it.

Connecting a provider never changes your account email address, even if the
provider uses a different one.

## Take the product tour

The first time you sign in, a short guided tour points out the main parts of the app. It walks you through:

1. **A 90-second overview** - the same walkthrough video shown at the top of this page.
2. **Uploading your first record** - where to add a document, the region-selection tools, the context box, and the Process button.
3. **Reviewing and confirming** - where the transcription and extracted data appear, and how confirming turns a record into person profiles.
4. **Exploring the rest** - your knowledge base, the Research Companion, your account menu, the Family Tree, and Insights.

The upload, process, and confirm steps advance on their own as you actually do them; the rest advance when you click through. You can replay the whole tour any time from **Settings > Account & Preferences > Restart product tour**.

## The core workflow

Almost everything in KleioBase follows the same path:

1. **Upload** a scan or photo of a document.
2. **Process** it so the AI reads the handwriting and extracts the people and events.
3. **Review** the result and fix anything the AI misread.
4. **Confirm** it - this creates or updates person profiles and links the record to them.

After you confirm a few records, your [knowledge base](/docs/knowledge-base) fills with people, your [timeline](/docs/knowledge-base) and [places map](/docs/knowledge-base) populate, and KleioBase starts suggesting [duplicate profiles to merge](/docs/finding-duplicates).

Start with [Uploading Records](/docs/uploading-records) for the full upload walkthrough.

## Your dashboard

The dashboard is your home screen.

- **Before your first record**, it shows the three-step Upload to Extract to Confirm workflow to get you started.
- **Once you have data**, it shows your totals (records, people), a connection-rate dial, recent activity, and any pending duplicate matches or research suggestions.

The connection rate tells you how much of your tree is linked back to your **home person** (more on that below).

### On This Day

Once you have data, the dashboard also shows an **On This Day** card: birthdays and death anniversaries from your tree that fall on today's date in past years, plus historical context happening around the same date.

- **Living** mode (the default) shows anniversaries for people in your tree, with their relationship to your home person spelled out in plain language (for example "Your great-grandmother" rather than just a name).
- **Historical** mode shows notable historical events from the same date, drawn from an events dataset KleioBase curates. This mode can be empty for some dates if no matching event has been added yet.

Switch between the two with the toggle at the top of the card.

Each entry has a share button that generates an image card with the name, event, and relationship label, safe to post or send without exposing anything else from your tree.

#### Weekly digest email

KleioBase can also email you a weekly digest of upcoming On This Day highlights. It is **on by default** for new accounts. To change how often you get it, or to turn it off, go to **Settings > Account & Preferences** and set the **On This Day digest email** option to Weekly, Daily, or Off. Every digest email includes a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom, separate from your general email preferences.

## Account settings

Open settings from the menu in the sidebar. The sections you will use most:

- **Account & Preferences** - your display name and avatar, your **home person**, your theme (light, dark, or system), the button to restart the product tour, and a danger zone for clearing your data or deleting your account.
- **Billing** - your current plan, upgrades, invoices, and pay-as-you-go credits. See [Plans & Billing](/docs/plans-and-billing).
- **Workspaces** (Professional) - create and rename your isolated knowledge bases. If you have more than one workspace, a switcher also appears at the top of the sidebar so you can jump between them from anywhere. See [Workspaces](/docs/workspaces).
- **Import / Export** - bring a tree in or take your data out. See [Importing & Exporting Data](/docs/importing-and-exporting).
- **Accessibility** - a low-contrast text toggle if the default text is too bright for you.
- **Support** - quick links to chat with Kleio, the help center, email support, and the service status page.

### Getting help

Stuck or have a question? You have a few options:

- **Chat with Kleio** - select **Support** in the sidebar (or **Settings > Support**) to open the AI support assistant in any page. It answers questions about using KleioBase right where you are.
- **Help Center** - browse these guides at any time from **Settings > Support** or `/docs`.
- **Email** - write to support@kleiobase.com and the team will get back to you, usually within a day.
- **Service Status** - check current uptime and any ongoing incidents at [status.kleiobase.com](https://status.kleiobase.com).

### Email preferences

The sign-up form includes an optional checkbox to receive product updates and research tips by email. You can turn this on or off at any time under **Settings > Account > Email preferences**. Each marketing email also has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Transactional emails (password resets, billing receipts) are not affected by this setting.

Separately, the founder occasionally emails a short question about how you are getting on - never more than one every couple of weeks, and never an advert. Every one has a one-click unsubscribe link that works without signing in, and there is a toggle under **Settings > Account & Preferences**.

### Set your home person

Your **home person** (also called the root person) is the anchor of your tree - usually you, or the relative you are researching outward from. KleioBase uses it to work out which profiles are "connected" to your main tree and which are floating on their own. Set it under **Account & Preferences** once you have created a few profiles. See [Your Knowledge Base](/docs/knowledge-base) for what "connected" means in practice.

## What to read next

- [Uploading Records](/docs/uploading-records) - supported files, AI extraction, and confirming results.
- [Your Knowledge Base](/docs/knowledge-base) - people, families, records, places, timeline, and trash.
- [Family Tree](/docs/family-tree) - explore your family as an interactive chart.
- [Research Companion](/docs/research-companion) - ask the AI about your tree.
- [Plans & Billing](/docs/plans-and-billing) - what each plan unlocks.
- [Workspaces](/docs/workspaces) - separate, isolated knowledge bases if your plan includes more than one.


## Walkthrough transcript

The narration of the walkthrough video linked above, as text.

You have just uploaded a new record. Before you process it, two things are worth doing.

Most register pages hold more than one record. Drag a box around the entry you want, and only that one gets read. Everything outside the box is ignored.

Then add anything you already know. A place, a year, a family name. It does not need to be complete. It helps resolve handwriting that could be read more than one way.

DeepScan reads the page with a stronger model. It costs five credits instead of one, and on a hand like this one, it earns them. Then click process.

You get the transcription in the original language, a translation, and the details pulled out separately. Read them before you accept them. If you find anything that is wrong, you can correct it here.

Clicking confirm saves the record and the people in it. Matching runs separately in the background. KleioBase never merges anyone on its own.

When it finds someone who might already be in your tree, it shows you both side by side with the evidence, and you decide whether to accept or dismiss the match. You can also ask the Research Companion about the match and make it accept it for you.

That is just one record. Every other one works the same way.

Canonical: https://kleiobase.com/docs/getting-started