Home› Welcome to the FamilySearch Community!› FamilySearch Help› Family Tree

Why does date entry of "before" current or next year fail?

David S Clark
David S Clark ✭
November 16, 2021 edited November 17, 2021 in Family Tree

In 2021 I'm adding a person listed as previously deceased in his brother's 2021 obituary. I don't know the date or year of his death; it could be as recent as 2021. Family Tree won't let me save "before 2022" or even "before 2021". This is a problem in the source linker when adding a new person, or in the person profile page when updating the death date.

Tagged:
  • Standardized dates
  • Adding death date
0

Best Answer

  • Julia Szent-Györgyi
    Julia Szent-Györgyi ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 18, 2021 Answer ✓

    It appears that FS interprets "before 2021" as "less than or equal to 31 Dec 2021", and it chokes on that because 31 Dec 2021 hasn't happened yet.

    Logically, "before" should work with any date, even far in the future: World War One occurred "before 2022", and everything so far has happened "before 2521". But I guess FS doesn't do things that way.

    0

Answers

  • Áine Ní Donnghaile
    Áine Ní Donnghaile ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 16, 2021

    Instead of putting a before date in deceased, I sometimes put a reason with dates. For example, I have -

    "Enumerated in the 1940 census, but probably deceased before 1946. Not mentioned in 1946 obituary of son Roger."

    4
  • David S Clark
    David S Clark ✭
    November 16, 2021

    I like putting that kind of explanation in the "Why This is Correct" field. However, I would like to use something in the actual date field which will standardize. The way it can be used to help match with historical records so I can get hints. "before 2020" works as a standardized date. "before 2021" also works as a standardized date but Family Tree fails when trying to save it.

    1
  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 16, 2021 edited November 16, 2021

    Confirmed: system not allowing to save "before 2021" or "before 2022", but no problem with "before 2020" and earlier years.

    0
  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 18, 2021

    @David S Clark

    As I moderator has not offered any help here, I would suggest you might wish to raise this issue under "Suggest an Idea", which is usually advised as the best place to report possible bugs.

    0
  • dontiknowyou
    dontiknowyou ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 18, 2021

    Can you use "before" and the date of the brother's obituary? That should be allowed, as it is in the past. The problem with "before 2021" is that 2021 is not yet in the past.

    0
  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 18, 2021

    @dontiknowyou

    Presumably you meant to say, "The problem with "before 2022" is that 2021 is not yet in the past". "Before 2021" should be allowable, as it means the event took place in 2020, or before.

    0
  • dontiknowyou
    dontiknowyou ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 19, 2021
    https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/403640#Comment_403640

    I meant exactly what I wrote. @Julia Szent-Györgyi has explained in more detail the logic that appears to pertain on Family Tree.

    0
  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    November 19, 2021

    @Julia Szent-Györgyi and @dontiknowyou

    Thank you for the explanation / clarification!. Just shows my ignorance of how coding is applied in such cases!

    0
Clear
No Groups Found

Categories

  • 30.1K All Categories
  • 24.2K FamilySearch Help
  • 126 Get Involved
  • 2.7K General Questions
  • 442 FamilySearch Center
  • 461 FamilySearch Account
  • 4.5K Family Tree
  • 3.4K Search
  • 4.7K Indexing
  • 641 Memories
  • 6.5K Temple
  • 324 Other Languages
  • 34 Community News
  • 6.6K Suggest an Idea
  • Groups