New search page
This new page is so confusing that I don't even know what to do with it. Why do you have to change something that is just fine the way it is? This is NOT an improvement and doesn't make it easier to search. And btw figuring out how to add a comment wasn't much easier.
Comments
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I agree with HansenKevanMark and others. There was no reason for Family Search to change their search interface. It is terrible in my opinion. I have been using this website for years.
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I can't seem to get to the real Search page. I've cleared browser cache and cookies, but keep ending up with a screen that looks like a smartphone interface (see attached PNG file). How do I get to the real Search page?
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I agree that the new format search page is confusing and has controls that blatantly don't work! I want to weep – I've been using the website for years and it was one of my favourites. Now I can't even get basic results – such as place and exact matches. 😡
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The new search page is terrible, there is absolutely nothing good to say about it. Why on earth change something everyone is familiar with? I have spent all afternoon showing an elderly person new to family history how to use the site and now it is completely wasted. I have no clue how to search never mind tell her.
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Sure is a waste of space, we can only see a few records at a time now.
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New Search facility is a waste of time and effort. Can't use date selection to limit data or limit the surname. Please revert back to old search
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I have been doing genealogy since 1991 and using this site for years. When I got on the site today to find a couple of records, I was presented with the new search format. It is WORTHLESS search. I cannot search using this new format. I only needed to look for census records in 1900 and 1910 and a death in 1914 for someone and I get over 80 pages of non related sources to sift through. Most of which were not even in the specified area of his search criteria. If they do not go back to their old format or something that at least lets me look at specific records for a search I will have to go elsewhere to find my records and do my research. If I don't have to quit researching all together.
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The new search page is beyond terrible! Do you really want to become like Ancestry, where a search buries you with thousands of items, most of which may only share a similar name. Please go back to the regular search page I have been using for years, where filters really filter, and I have a decent chance of finding information that is relevant to my query. I really would like to continue using your service, but cannot justify the waste of time and the amount of aggravation that the new format causes. What were you thinking?!?! Please revert to the former search page.
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I am just as unsatisfied and frustrated with the new search features as all of these commenters. I have been using FS exclusively for verifying family relationships because of the various filters and drill down options. The only improvement needed was an option to exclude record sets (such as military records).
When trying to use the new "More" options - they don't work. The algorithms are not there! I cannot research a specific location. I can add it as a search feature - but now I get records from all over the place and not the specific area I am searching.
Adding date ranges (such as estimated birth, death, or marriage years) is gone.
Adding multiple last names for women who have married more than once is gone.
Record hint popups seem to have disappeared along with the above search features. Again - the algorithms seem to be missing.
The layout is annoying, to say the least. My focus needs to be on the records and not on a search box. Hitting the "X" to get it out of view is not user friendly, as then I have to go hit the "More" button to pull it back up to change the search perimeters and the cycle goes on and on.
The name being searched for needs to be frozen at the top of the screen (like it used to be).
This version needs to go back to beta testing. It is user unfriendly and doesn't work.
AND - I looked all over for the "Feedback" button that is shown on other comments pages......where is it? Was that just for the Beta version?
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All the above, seconded.
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Agreed. I have been trying to use the new search, trying to recreate the same results and experience from the old. It is tricky! I have been able to finally find some work arounds, but it is way more clicks and you can't see everything on the same page like you used to. I have used FamilySearch from the very beginning, and have rolled with the changes, but this is just plain hard and more confusing. It was simple to tweak searches and view the differing results before.
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I also agree with the above. Too confusing and getting very little useful information back. I know what I'm looking for is in there because I have found it in the past. Can't find a lot of the stuff now. Very frustrating.
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I agree with everything that has been posted above, why has familysearch changed this page? before last September you could put a name in and the results would not only show him and his wife but also their children if they had any, now you get the person you are looking for and his wife, and also his siblings which is not what you want at this stage. Please familysearch revert back to the previous format.
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I have again attempted to use the new search page and I am again disappointed. Please return the OLD search page. You must spend up to 10 minutes looking for information and end up handed although I have an earlier version of the data I was just told does not exist. It almost turns me off from working on my Family Tree.
Boes
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Hate the new Search (and also speaking for a friend in the UK who hates it too).
Doing a search seems to involve more clicking and that doesn't make me happy. Before all your search parameters were to the left but now you have to chose to click on More Options. I've seen people complaining how the basic search only gives you the chance to give one year of birth. If you click More Options you get the opportunity to do a range of dates but that opportunity should be on the first search page. You shouldn't have to click More Options.
Was looking at census returns and previously it would show where the person was born and where the census was taken. Now you just see where they were born. I often look for someone who was born in one place and moved to another and being able to see both places made things a lot quicker.
When you click on a choice the new system is too busy. It's also misleading. Example, census returns. In the old way no matter who in the family you searched for you got the Head first, then the wife, then the children and their relationship is given in relation to the head which is how it is on the actual census return. If you search for a child now you get the child first, then the parents, then siblings and the siblings relations are given as brother, sister instead of being son/daughter of Head. Obviously I can mentally switch that around but it makes it easier to make a mistake. While searching my grandfather, what I had put into More Options was nicely to the right so would have been able to change the name, places, etc., quite easily but saw a family tree attached so clicked on that. When I came back to the list of hits for my grandfather the search info I'd entered was no longer to the right. The basic search was at the top but, of course, without the extra info I'd put in. Grrr!
Know people hate change even if it's good but this change doesn't seem very user friendly and anything that involves clicking multiple times ticks me off.
My positive comment is that the print is a nice size for my old eyes.
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This new searching style in Familysearch is a disaster. I am a professional researcher and I have been doing research for a couple of decades. Why was this change necessary. Are heavy users ever asked what they want. I have to make 3 clicks before i even get to a screen that I can actually use. I have a friend who uses a tablet and his layout does not even look the same as what appears on my pc screen. I dont see the icons at first which tell if there is or is not an image or what type of record it is. What a mess.
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I basically understand and agree with most of the previous discussions. My question is; how do we go about fixing it and who do we send it to for correction? Using this comment page appears as useless as the new search function. I ran into the problem weeks back and somehow was able to access the previous version of the records search function. Now I am frustrated that the new method has shown up again and I don't know how to fix it again. Am I wasting my time discussing it here? Maybe. What I believe is that there is potential for improvement because I have already seen and used the previous system recently. Now I just have to figure out who to send it to fix it or fix it again myself.
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Having already posted to another thread, I'll just add here, the new record search user interface design is bad - really bad. Again, please revert, or at least, provide access to the "old" record search interface.
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All:
Here is the comprehensive discussion of this, with the official explanation by FS staff.
If you have not already, PLEASE go over there and add your comments on the main thread, so we are all heard.
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The new search input screen and results page are atrocious. Not user friendly. I have used FamilySearch for years, and tell everyone how great it is. No more. I’ve stopped using it. I now use Ancestry, almost exclusively, even though I must pay for it! PLEASE revert to the previous version. Did the beta testers actually like this, and prefer it to the previous version?
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All of the options to include or exclude aspects that were really easy before, are now gone. I cannot navigate the new search page, at all. Totally useless. I have to use Ancestry exclusively now.
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The new search page is absolutely worthless. I have been using your website for many years, but, unless things improve quickly, I will be cancelling my membership. The new search function is a total waste of my time!!
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I have been researching my various family lines for over 50 years. In that time I have had to adapt to many changes in the way I search for information as we have moved from writing letters and visiting archives, libraries, cemeteries, and courthouses to using digital media and computers to do most of our research from home. I have been through many updates and changes as things have evolved but I have never seen anything as worthless and user unfriendly as the new search page on FamilySearch. As many have written, we know there is a problem when we cannot find records now that we have easily located in the past. Plus it is beyond frustrating that many records that do come up are so off-target. And it may just be me, but everything on this site just seems wonky lately. It all seems counter to the FamilySearch mission of helping people find their ancestors. So sad.
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I love FamilySearch, and very much appreciate it. It is a great resource. I have recommended it often to others. I add people often and enjoy it. I do not like the new search. It is confusing and annoying.
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I thought it might be helpful to show an example. I am doing cluster research to try to connect two different surnames over time. I wanted to find families with the Rhodes surname who lived in Oglethorpe County Georgia in 1830. Using the old search page, I have looked at these records before so I know people with that surname were there. The screenshot shows the results I got using the new search page. For the record, I tried the same search using the category Residence instead of Place and got the same results. Not even close.
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