I'm really struggling following this change

HKathryn9

I used to be able to search for records on the old system really quickly. Since it's changed if I keep losing the details of the ancestor I'm researching and have to put them in again and again, which is so frustrating I'm considering getting the train to my nearest archive library. I couldn't find a way to go back from just viewing marriage records to viewing the whole collection, despite starting a new search with a new name. This is the first time I've written anything on one of your forums. I searched the forums to see whether anyone else was experiencing difficulty or just me! Please change this back or make it more user friendly.

Tina Murtha

Totally agree. Due to family events I stopped my research for almost a year. Today my first day back I am appalled at the changes. I immediately felt like I was back in ancestry not family search. I have always gone to family search for the older records looking up surnames from particular locations, particularly in Eastern European countries. Just because ancestry is popular for quick short term researchers, they don't hold a candle to family search for deep research. Please return to yourself.

Sewatahonsatat

For years I had relied on your site for information. I had recommended it to my friends. NO MORE! Your computer geeks have totally destroyed the records search process. It is beyond horrendously onerous. Put it back the way it was and fire the "wizards" who made it so worthless to the average person. Makes me sick to see what they have done to destroy a user friendly tool.

Barrett Thompson

Had the exact same experience in trying to search MARRIAGES only after reading through interminable list of births. I guess you just have to get completely out of the search you are in and have to remember and re-type name, place, etc. all over again, and don't forget the exact collection you had just been in from scratch. Find and click, find and click, find and click.

lindakinda

The purest hell now. Takes ages to search anything, and most results are meaningless.

Dspinks41

I agree with many others that the changes in the search facility make it much more difficult to locate records ... it is very clunky please give the option to use the old search capability ....

Higley1985

They've effectively destroyed FamilySearch with these changes to the search functionality. I haven't logged on to my account in over a week. I was hoping that they would have taken all of the negative feedback and switched back to how it was before. Nope. They didn't. The site still sucks.

Oh well. The world is falling apart. Why shouldn't FamilySearch follow suit?

dorenes1

I agree with all of the above comments. Surnames I research have various spellings, with the old version of FamilySearch I would get more results or variations. Now the search is very narrow only to the name I have entered. Very difficult to do research on new version.

Also I have found some striking errors in transcription - example: death in Warwick, New York cited in New York Death Index indicates death in Warwickshire, England!! I appears there is no way to flag this or note correction.

Paul W

@Barrett Thompson

Initially I had 338 results when undertaking this search. I went to "Type" and checked the "Marriage" box and all the births / christenings disappeared. Okay, I still get some unwanted items, but now only 39 results, with the marriages of the primary person prioritised.

See https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?exactSearching=true&f.recordType=1&q.givenName=george&q.givenName.exact=on&q.marriageLikeDate.from=1810&q.marriageLikeDate.to=1830&q.marriageLikePlace=yorkshire&q.surname=wrightson&q.surname.exact=on

Bdair

I tried Ancestry and found it difficult to use and much preferred Family Search and have been using it and suggesting it to others for several years. Since the new search functions have changed, I have given up searching and just review and attach the suggestions. I am considering looking into other programs.

Julie Starmer

Another vote for the old style search function here!

I'm really struggling to find records with the new style 😐️

Karen Gates

The new search is terrible! Please return to the old style search. This one is incredibly frustrating. What have you done? Obviously you did not Beta this to get user input.

WellsBettyAnn1

I believe that the new search engine is forcing us into "fuzzy searches". Google did the same thing a number of years back. They used to do very focused searches, and all I had to do was to enter the names of a couple I was researching, and Google would find websites where those exact names appeared together. It was wonderful, but did not last...Now, Google searches for ancestors are not as profitable. Often, that browser comes up with websites that have absolutely nothing to do with the search terms entered. I hate to see Familysearch follow the same deadend path.

Mary Stott

Under the old search I was able to ask for persons living in a specific geographic area in a specific US census year and download the result in .csv format for an area study. Apparently records can't be downloaded at this time?

The new search seems aimed at beginners, that's great. Maybe something more flexible for more experienced researchers?