SESSION 20 THE BASICS OF NEWFAMILYSEARCH
(Most Beneficial for Latter-day Saints)
By Sylvia H. Sonneborn
For Susquehanna Valley Family History Conference April 14, 2012
Because new FamilySearch is not available to the community at this time, this class will be more useful
to a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who presently has access to the site. In
the future, newFamilySearch will be available to everyone. Anyone interested in the class may attend.
LEARN HOW TO OPEN UP NEW FAMILY SEARCH – Type in new.familysearch.org.
Establish an LDS Account. [Get your membership number and confirmation date from ward
clerk.] You use the same user name and password for other LDS sites.
I suggest that you use the Help Me Get Started with
a list of tutorial lessons. You can do one or all of them.
Family History tab first.
It will give you
HOME PAGE - LEARN TO CLICK THE WORDS THAT SURROUND THE PROGRAM ON
ALL SIDES (You won’t hurt anything!).
TABS ACROSS THE TOP – Home – on the home page, most words/phrases are hyperlinks
(they open a window when clicked); See Me and My Ancestors – that’s the tab that is the gateway
to open the Pedigree with Details; Search – click to look for someone; Add Information – click to
add information to the program; Temple ordinances – click to go to your reserved temple
ordinances list. Click on “Learn How to Use FamilySearch” for tutorials.
TABS ON LEFT AT TOP – Change View – click to go back and forth from Family
Pedigree with Details, which should be the opening view, and the Family Tree view – a spider
web type pedigree that will begin with the person you highlight on the opening Pedigree with
Details view. History will allow you to go back to your start person or to another person you were
working with. Print will print the entire pedigree with details, top and bottom views.
TABS ON RIGHT AT TOP: Sign-out – always click here to sign out of
the program. Help with This Page – go here for tutorials and Family Search Support
to
answer your questions. Here you can find a list of what the various icons mean.
Update My User Profile
will be used if you want to change any of the original settings that you
picked when you registered. You will need your original password to get in and make changes.
Help Center:
By far, one of the most useful buttons on the home page, you can open the Help Center on every
page, bottom left and top right, and a number of places on the Home Page. You can find out what’s
new, or you can type in key words, like How to combine records, and search. Large documents of
instruction will pop up, and you may print these.
ONCE YOU ENTER THE SEE ME AND MY ANCESTORS SITE – Your name should be there,
but your parents may be missing, even if you know they are already in nFS. First of all, this is a
site for deceased ancestors. Enter live ancestors as a bridge to deceased ones. You will need to
search for your ancestors to create your own tree. How to SEARCH. Click on the Search tab along
the top and fill in the information that you know about your person. If you find him, Add. If not,
press the button to Add Individual and fill in the information again.
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LEARN HOW TO USE VERTICAL TABS ALONG THE LEFTHAND SIDE OR FUNCTION
KEYS on “Pedigree with Details View” TO GIVE COMMANDS TO YOUR COMPUTER –
Clicking these will open the lower window pane that contains the person’s information. [His name,
vital statistics, and his PID or - personal identifier – should appear in this view.] Every time you
click on a person’s name to highlight it in the top Pedigree with Details, this person’s information
will appear in the bottom window.
1. SUMMARY – Open the summary and click on the arrows at the end of the line (they
sometimes pale out) but click where they should be to reveal a drop-down menu. Then
select a better choice of information (your name will appear with the date of the change) or
go to the bottom of the drop-down menu and add a new piece of information
2. DETAILS – Click on details to reveal all the records that are combined on your ancestor.
You can click on the Edit button to amend any record that you have contributed. In the far
right column, you will see the name of the contributor, or if it says “multiple,” click that
open to see a list of contributors. In both of these function keys (1 & 2), you can use the
commands to add information and sources of to combine/separate records also. You can
click on contributor’s name to get an e-mail contact if one is provided for collaboration.
Declare legacy to old records here also.
3. LDS ORDINANCES – Click open this button to see if a person is READY for temple
work, or to see what temple work has been completed, or to see who has reserved it. To the
right, you can activate hyperlinks to do temple work for an individual if he is Ready.
4. TIME LINE –Once you enter a person with vital records information, nFS will create a
timeline for that person.
5. MAP – nFS will create a map with red markers to show where events in a person’s life
occurred.
6. PARENTS AND SIBLINGS – Click on this function to see children on the left and
parents on the right. In front of each person’s name, there is a little down-arrow. When
clicked, it will allow you to delete those people you contributed if needed, delete
relationships to a father or a mother, and combine duplicate siblings.
7. SPOUSES AND CHILDREN – Click on this key to see a child from the previous family
with his spouse and children. Check command buttons at bottom.
8. COMBINE DUPLICATES - Click on a name and search for duplicate records on the
same person. Compare them and decide whether to merge the records or not
9. DISCUSSIONS – Add information about a person for others to read and collaborate.
COMMAND WORDS ALONG BOTTOM OF PAGES – These are also hyperlinks that will
open to a new window for you to perform a new action. Examples are Individual Notes,
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Individual Sources (both of which you can add), Children Options, Parent Options, etc. Here is
an example:
Children Options



Add or find sibling
View relationship details
View or add family notes
Just click on these words to open new windows. Close (usually along bottom of window), the word
Done, or the X (usually in upper left-hand corner) will close these windows. In some programs,
there is also a tab for new windows with a tiny X which will close the window.
LEARN HOW TO NAVIGATE IN PEDIGREE WITH DETAILS –
1. Click on the Arrow in front of a child’s name, and child will move to key position.
2. Click on the Arrow to the right of the ending of the pedigree, and that will move that couple
one space to the left.
3. Click on the down-arrows directly in front of a last row’s couple’s name, and that will move
the couple two spaces to the left and into the key position, allowing you to move through
your pedigree faster.
PRACTICE USING NEW FAMILY SEARCH HERE: http://training.familysearch.org
LEARN HOW TO ADD PEOPLE - Remember that the top pedigree with details displays the
husband (father) in the upper position and the wife (mother) in the lower. Your patriarchal line will
be at the top of the pedigree. The matriarchal line will appear at the bottom of the pedigree, again
with the husband above the wife. Be careful to add your father’s line to the top and your mother’s
line to the bottom because beginners have trouble figuring how to delete people.
There are numerous ways to add people:
1. In top pedigree with details, if a block has no names, it will have a hyperlink Add or find
husband/wife. Click this open to add or find individuals already in the system. Change
your thinking. You father will be listed as a husband, not father, etc.
2. Children will be listed to the left of the parents in the same area. There is a hyperlink
under the children that says Add or find child. Click that open to add or find a new child
if you have a name.
3. In the bottom window, you can add individuals on two views: Parents and Siblings view
– There are Children Options (Add or Find Sibling, change relationships for adoption,
etc., and Parent Options – Add or find parent [Here you can open it again to add a
second spouse. Clicking on a spouses name will make it bold and display it with the
spouse.] and the second place to add is on the Spouses and Children view.
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LEARN HOW TO ACCESS FAMILY TREE VIEW – Highlight name of person whose pedigree
you want to view. In the top left hand corner, click on Change View.
HOW TO GROW YOUR FAMILY TREE IF NAMES ARE THERE – Click arrows at end of
pedigree. HOW TO USE THE FAMILY TREE – Use window to the right.
LEARN HOW TO PRINT A PEDIGREE CHART – Highlight the name of the person whose
pedigree you want to see. Click on Change view and click on Family Tree. Use the slider to
increase/decrease lineage. Put your cursor on the word “Family Tree” in upper left-hand corner and
left click. The word Print appears at the top. Right click on that to print. On the Pedigree with
Details Page, go to spouses and children, and in the right-hand corner of the lower window, click on
Print Family Group Sheet.
HOW TO GET TEMPLE WORK READY IN YOUR HOME – LEARN HOW TO RESERVE,
REASSIGN, UNRESERVE AND PRINT REPORTS (FOR’S [FAMILY ORDINANCE
REQUESTS]) TO TAKE TO THE TEMPLE. Click the temple icon by the father’s name in the
pedigree with details. This will display the temple work status for every person in the
family. Also, you can use the bottom window and click open the Parents and Siblings view. There
is also an icon directly to the left of the father’s name beside the word Parents. Click on that to
view all temple work. You can also go to the tab LDS Ordinances and use the temple instructions
along the right. I like to use a third party affiliate, like RootsMagic, to reserve people for temple
work. Once you reserve, you can continue to your temple reservation list with tabs at the bottom of
page. Here you can “Reassign” to the temple (click on word Reassign and change tab from your
name to temple) or you can “Unreserve’ if you decide not to do the work. To print a Family
Ordinance Request to take to the temple, click in the box beside the person’s name and then click
on Print or Reprint a Request. Take that FOR to the temple, and the temple will print the blue,
pink, and yellow cards.
SYMBOLS or ICONS:
Blue checkmark by Temple.
Ordinances are done.
(Some ordinances may be in
progress or not needed.)
Green Arrow to Temple.
Ordinances are needed.
The work is “Ready” to do.
This is your ultimate goal – a blue check.
You can check records for accuracy and then
reserve the work.
Small Exclamation Sign by
Temple. Ordinances are
reserved to do. They
are “In Progress” or “Needs
More Information”
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Exclamation Sign by Person.
This individual has more
relationships than the new
FamilySearch can show.
Man and woman on Pedigree
Multiple spouses.
Asterisk on Pedigree.
Multiple parents.
Down Arrow. Edit options
(delete, combine, and so forth).
This symbol appears
immediately in front of a
name. Move individual to
main position on the family
pedigree. You can also move
in either direction by clicking
the arrows to the left and right
of names on the pedigree.
The couple will move one block
to left or right.
Click on the symbols to change directions on
which spouse shows or resolve duplicate
spouses by combining into one record.
Adopted child with birth and adopted parents, or
mistake as submitter attributes person to a
second set of incorrect parents.
The down arrow appears at the end of the
Summary entries (make corrections here). It is
also before names in the bottom view. Click
here to delete, change relationships, or perform
other limited operations.
If this arrow appears in front of a child’s name
on the left, click it to move that child into the
main position. When it appears in front of the
person on the pedigree, click to move the person
over two blocks to the left (if space is available).
Arrows at the end of names will move the
person one block to the left.
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