Home› Welcome to the FamilySearch Community!› FamilySearch Help› Indexing

What do we do when we find a name that's too hard to read? Do we put a star in place of the letters?

LukeChapman1
LukeChapman1 ✭
January 2, 2022 edited January 2, 2022 in Indexing

Sometimes I find words that I can't read while reviewing. Is it okay to keep the stars in place of the letters?

0

Best Answers

  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 2, 2022 edited January 3, 2022 Answer ✓

    Hi @LukeChapman1

    We use a question mark (?) as a “wild card” for a single unreadable character, and a single asterisk (*) in place of a consecutive series of two or more unreadable characters. We never use two question marks or two asterisks in a row, or a question mark and asterisk next to each other. You can also share your batch here with that specific question, and someone might be able to make it out. There are some eagle-eyed Indexers out there.

    Below, from the General Indexing Guidelines (should be the last section of your Project Instructions) is a link to a more detailed article on this and related situations:

    https://prod.familysearch.psdops.com/cmsa/idx/unreadable-information

    1
  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 2, 2022 Answer ✓

    GENERAL INDEXING GUIDELINES (GIG)

    Here is the list of General Indexing Guideline (GIG). They should be the last section of most projects these days. Some projects still have similar information under the heading "Additional Information." You can see that the GIG is a treasure trove of useful general information. It applies when the Project Instructions (all parts - examples, Field Helps, etc.) don't advise to the contrary. I think that the links are live so that you can explore them. The answers to many questions posed here are in the GIG.

    • General Indexing Guidelines
    • Given Names
    • Alias Names
    • Surnames
    • How to Index Individuals Whose Names Were Not Fully Recorded
    • Place-Names
    • Indexing Dates
    • Handwriting Help
    • Diacritics and Other Characters
    • Unreadable Information
    • Crossed-Out, Corrected, Canceled, or Void Information
    • Overlays
    • Number of Entries per Image
    • What to Do When Records Span 2 Images or to View Additional Images
    • Ditto Marks
    • Duplicate Images
    • Brightness and Contrast
    • Using the Ruler
    • Rotating an Image


    1

Answers

  • LukeChapman1
    LukeChapman1 ✭
    January 2, 2022

    Thank you for answering, and thank you for answering all of my questions.

    1
  • LukeChapman1
    LukeChapman1 ✭
    January 2, 2022

    The indexing guidelines also helped.

    1
Clear
No Groups Found

Categories

  • 28.5K All Categories
  • 22.8K FamilySearch Help
  • 113 Get Involved
  • 2.6K General Questions
  • 423 FamilySearch Center
  • 433 FamilySearch Account
  • 4.1K Family Tree
  • 3.2K Search
  • 4.5K Indexing
  • 592 Memories
  • 6.1K Temple
  • 308 Other Languages
  • 34 Community News
  • 6.4K Suggest an Idea
  • Groups