FamilySearch Family Tree Tips

Published in the Logan Utah Family Search Library newsletter 26 Dec 2012  Vol 13, Issue 51

Source: submitted by Ann A.  to FHCNET mailing list, Oct 27, 2012 

I have a few tips for using FamilySearch Family Tree, things I have picked up as I have used Family Tree in the last few months. I  wonder if anyone would like to add to my list.

 1. If you want to use a book from books.familysearch.org as a source for someone in your Family Tree, be aware that the URL in the top of your browser is very temporary. You should be able to find a permanent link, however. Right now I see 'Copy Link' in the top right corner by the title of the book I just accessed. When you click on 'Copy Link' it opens the permanent link that you can copy by using Ctrl-C. Then you can paste it into the web page field of the source you are creating. 

2. Use the little 'Copy' button located beside 'My Source Box' on the landing pages of the sources you find in familysearch.org. This copies what has been indexed so you can paste the indexed data into the notes field in your source. It does not pick up household information on census records, however. 

3. If you find a source attached to one of your Family Tree ancestors that is not in your Source Box and you want to attach it to a relationship or to someone else, click on the title of the source you want, click on 'view' then add it to your Source Box as you would any other source you find on familysearch.org. The entire source, including notes will be copied and you will still be able to tell to whom and to which relationships it has already been attached. 

4. The link to the Family Tree Training materials, including the webinars on Editing Relationships, Sourcing and Merging is familysearch.org/tree-training. You have to be signed in to access them. 

5. Be sure to attach sources to your husband-wife AND parent-child relationships to prevent others from coming in behind you and deleting correct relationship data.

6. Record Seek is a useful tool for creating sources you find on websites other than familysearch.org and putting them in your Source Box. Go to  recordseek.com and drag the green 'RecordIt' button to your browser bookmark bar. When you have a landing page for a source in findagrave.com or even ancestry or whatever, click on the 'Record It' button you added to your browser bookmark bar and it will copy the URL, citation and a title into the proper source fields. I have used it mostly in Chrome but it should work in Firefox too. It does not work with Internet Explorer9.