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Please tell me when my reason statement for attaching a source is too long!

Rea Jeppson Newell
Rea Jeppson Newell ✭
September 19, 2021 in Suggest an Idea

I've been advised to post this issue under several topics.

I've been putting in reason statements for every source I attach. This is at the bottom of the source under the source tab. Because I am translating these records, I put the English translation in the reason statement so some of them do get a little long. The system doesn't tell me that it hasn't saved it! It looks like it is saved, and I move on. I only discovered it wasn't saving the longer ones by accident when I went back to correct something and there was no reason statement. By trial and error and refreshing the page I found that the length was the reason it wasn't saving. TELL ME THAT!! How many hundreds of sources have I entered and thought the reason and translation was being attached because I didn't get an error message and everything looked fine when I saved and now there is no reason statement at all? How much time will that take me to go back and check them all because I didn't get an error message? Please, make it possible to have a longer reason statement, and tell me when it is too long!

Most of these records I am attaching from ancestry.com, I know that it will show an error saving (although it doesn't tell you why) if you put in too long of a reason statement from the "Attach Historical Records to Family Tree" page on FamilySearch. Putting those notes into a PDF file in the memories would be very time consuming, and I don't think it would be easily found by someone else looking at the entry.

Again, it would also be helpful to allow a longer reason statement for attaching a source, and at the very least put in a character counter and then tell me if it is too long.

Here are some screenshots of the "Reason This Source Is Attached" that show the system accepts it all, and I click save, and it all shows that it is saved.

User: "Screenshot 2021-09-18 161832 5.jpg"



I'm editing the source entry so I click ADD at the bottom under "Reason This Source Is Attached".

User: "Screenshot 2021-09-18 161923 6 no counter.jpg"



A text box opens and there is no counter in the corner or anywhere.

User: "Screenshot 2021-09-18 162001 7 still no counter.jpg"



I've pasted in my statement. Still no counter. Everything shows that I have pasted in. I click save.

User: "Screenshot 2021-09-18 162039 8 saved.jpg"



It saves and shows my entire statement as if it was saved. There is no error to say it was too long, it all looks good. Then I refresh the page.

User: "Screenshot 2021-09-18 162113 9 refreshed its gone.jpg"



It is gone!

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