Indexing difficulty level

Pat Holliday

I am new to indexing but not genealogical research. I would like to work on the Co. Cavan Ireland project which is listed as "intermediate" level but when I clicked on it, a message came up indicating that it was advanced. I can find no "beginner" projects. If I start on the above and find it too difficult, how do I cancel?

Melissa S Himes

Hi Pat. I looked at a batch in this project to better understand why it might say advanced. I think it is probably the handwriting, having to look at adjacent images to figure out the column headers and also the abbreviations and signs that are used in these old records, i.e., a cross for death, latin words, etc.

If you read all the project instructions, look at the examples, and read the field helps you should be okay. If you find it is too difficult, you simply click on the Batch tab in the left corner and Return Batch for another indexer to pick up.

You can also share your batch with others here and they can guide you along to make sure you are on the right track! After you have indexed a few records, you can share the batch by copying the URL or the batch code which is the sequence of letters/numbers in brackets following the project title and paste the code or link as a new thread.

There are several videos which help to learn about indexing. My favorite is:

             Indexing Discussion (Jason Pierson Live)      

The actual lesson begins at about the 8 minute mark.

Welcome to Indexing! I hope you like doing the indexing as much as genealogical research!

Tom123

If you want to return a batch, when you have the batch opened, if you look above the tool bar you will see "Batch". Click on Batch, it will open a window and you will see "Return Batch". Click on Return Batch and it will send the batch back and will make it available for some other indexer to complete the batch.

There are very beginner batches any more. The "intermediate" batch are just a little harder, but if you read the project instructions you should be able to complete the batches.

If you ever need help with a batch, you can always share the batch with other indexers. The share batch button on the toolbar is the third button from the right, it looks like a box with an arrow.

Hope this information helps you.

Pat Holliday

Thanks to both of you for your help. I'm going to give it a try and will certainly take advantage of the "share" feature to make sure I'm on the right path. What a great community! Thanks again.

ElaineRigby

Thank you for contacting FamilySearch indexing community help. The higher difficulty level may be because the handwriting is hard to read.  Please send the batch number so that we can help. You can find the batch number by opening the batch and clicking on the word ‘batch’ in the upper left part of the screen. A drop down will give you choices, the top one is About Batch. Click on that and the resulting box will have the Image Name and Batch ID. Please reply with the Batch ID.

Also, any time you do not want to keep a batch, you can send it back by:

Going to the upper left portion of the file screen, and click Batch.

Click the 4th option in the drop down which is Return Batch.

That will send the batch back to be done by another indexer.

We hope this will be helpful to you. Be sure to contact us if you need more help with this or other concerns.

Pat Holliday

Thanks for the information. I did look at the batch and determined that the handwriting would be very difficult indeed. I returned the two batches from County Cavan and selected a death record for VA that looks less intimidating. When I get more comfortable I may go back to the Cavan project since that's where some of my ancestors lived.

Pat