Full-Text Search and More New FamilySearch Features

Patty Robison, Cranberry Genealogy Club Program Committee and Harry Karatassos, Cranberry Genealogy Club member presented a very informative and useful talk and discussion on Full-Text Search and hints in the Family Search genealogy platform.

Patty presented a program that she and Pat Purifoy put together and that Patty originally presented during a special Saturday in-person workshop on January 17. Harry added more information and context as well as several newer hints for using Family Search.

Patty was excited to share information on how to use Full-Text search because the new feature is a true game changer. Unlike traditional searches that rely on indexing, Full-text search scans the actual words inside digitized documents, revealing names, places, and details that would otherwise stay hidden. For genealogists, this means breaking through brick walls, uncovering overlooked records, and finding clues you never knew to look for.

Patty also presented real, live examples of searching using the Full-text feature. This was very helpful in visualizing how the system works. You can enter search terms in quotes to get specific returns or enter keywords, names, places, societies, military units, etc. You can also filter by place e.g., by country, state, county or other designations. When you find a result you can click on “Summarize Document” to get a very good summary in addition to the full search results. This can be handy to weed out results that may not be of use and to quickly peruse several results to maximize your search time. The Summarize Document button can also be used to translate the records that you find.

Harry contributed to Patty’s presentation and also gave additional hints and tips for searching in Family Search as well as hints on saving your finds. Harry discouraged using a cellphone to take pictures of your screen or taking screen shots and discussed three ways to save your work. First was to download your work to be printed or saved later; second, copy and paste your document; and third use a website called recordseek.com to save your information.

Besides Full-Text search you may want to try Catalog search or use Full-text search within a collection that you find. You can also click on the first page of Full-text search at the bottom right to get tips on searching.

Why use Full-Text search? It is a time saver, you can get more information on people you have already information on (try again after weeks, months or even years because there are always new records added), and you will find information that you never knew existed.

To access Full-text search go to Family Search and log in, click on the Search pull down menu then click Full-Text, enter search terms, and apply filters on the left side to filter results to a specific location of time frame. Consider using as few filters as possible in order to keep the number of results manageable. More full-text tips directly from Family Search...