Feedback: Editing while attaching a source
It would be very helpful to be able to edit fields on an individual while attaching a source. It would make things so much easier and would be a big time saver. I should be able to pull in the info from the source and edit the existing field at the same time I am attaching. I see this in Ancestry and it is more efficient doing it this way.
For the current setup: When attaching sources, it happens quite often that I will have more precise information found in the source that I would like to have updated on the individual's record in the family tree. For example: I currently have only the year for the date of birth with no place of birth but when attaching a birth record, I am provided with the exact DOB and place of birth. In this scenario, I have to capture the differences and attach the source. Then, I have to go to the details of this individual and make the updates manually.
Also, when attaching it is assumed that only what is indexed from the source is then only thing that is available to update. For example: When attaching a source from Find a Grave, I'll add the burial information and quite often there is no date for the burial indexed. I'll only get the place field and not the other associated fields. However, there is a "bio" the obituary of the individual that provides this date. It would be nice to be able to activate the date field while attaching so that this information can be added there. Otherwise, I have to capture the additional info and go back to the details of the individual and update manually.
Thanks.
Answers
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Are you using the mobile app? Sounds like it, because on the web Source Linker the new information can be edited as it is attached.
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The thought process behind the current programming, as explained in the past by others with connection to FamilySearch, is that in the Source Linker you cannot see all the information on the existing data that supports it. Therefore, there is a risk that if one can just pull over information from a source that one could actually overwrite fully supported more accurate information.
For example, if your source says the birth date is 14 Oct 1950 and the Family Tree record says 1948, you would be tempted to just pull over that full date. However, since you are forced to go to the Family Tree record, you will see when you look at the record there the Reason Statement: "Although several existing records for him give a birth date of 14 Oct 1950, there are no primary sources with this date. As seen in the attached sources he was clearly alive in 1949 and the 1950 census states he is age 2. The 14 Oct 1950 is clearly wrong."
Until the Source Linker is completely redesigned to that one can see all the reasons why the existing data is there, things need to stay the way they are. Accuracy and completeness should always be more important than speed.
This, of course, is not an issue when adding completely new information. that is why information in the source that is not present at all in the Family Tree record is allowed.
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