Source Box: attach source to 1 OR MORE

dontiknowyou

I use the Source Box when I plan to attach a source to 2 or more profiles in Family Tree. Sometimes, especially with obituaries and family history books, there are many more profiles.

It would be very helpful to be able to enter multiple profile IDs at once rather than one at a time (with so many more mouse moves and clicks):

KNZM-222 KNZM-22Y G8XK-6N1 GFTS-P5V GFT3-72Z GFT3-94N

genthusiast

I agree that the Source attachment feature could be improved to make attachment to multiple people easier - particularly with documents/books listing multiple persons. The process for tagging pictures is similarly slow - at least the last time I tagged some pictures - one has to enter the IDs one at a time.

I wonder if FamilySearch does not want to automate Source attachment further because they prefer the process to be individually interactive with users (all attachments require a user to submit that attachment individually)? While this does slow down the process - I suppose one by product is that it would hopefully reduce errors in Source attachment (but I don't think that is the case - especially for persons that might have similar names...). But it does impede the productivity of proficient users - such as dontiknowyou

Work-around: With the current Recents tab - pictured above - one could visit all the profiles/IDs and make them appear in this Recents list - then attach them via the Recents tab (but yes that really increases the clicks/pages to visit).

Associate Relationship Type - similar Idea Rambling (yes it should be in its own Idea...): I wonder if one takes such time to tag/link sources to multiple persons included in that source - if the associated names could not be linked in an Associate Relationship Type (obviously if the persons are listed in the same source - depending on the context - the likelihood that they were associated could increase). Either way, if an associate Relationship Type link were created - individually or automated - I wonder if those associates could be included in Recents (hopefully making future source attachments easier to connect to those possibly included in the Source). Maybe an associate cloud for persons could hopefully prevent mistakes for similarly named persons ... associates were in a particular time/place for their association - if the similarly named person Source does not match these criteria then one could not establish an associate Relationship Type - that could be required before one could create other Relationship Types? (just thinking about how to reduce errors ...). It makes me wonder about a hierarchical approach to Relationship Types - some being gatekeepers to other Relationship Types...

I guess I need to investigate and review what refinements the new Relationship Types include (found in the new Person pages).

dontiknowyou

I already use the Recents list workaround that @genthusiast describes.

However, the Recents list does not include profiles I just created but did not yet visit. I want profiles I just created to be on the Recents list so I can find them. The web and mobile app alike leave them off; I can recover well enough on the web but in the mobile app this omission is very aggravating. So that's another idea to suggest, pending.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

I was just thinking yesterday that the "by ID" box is insanely wide, especially considering that it accepts a grand total of eight characters.

I tested in an image editor: it has room for four IDs consisting of the widest character (W).

So expanding the By ID option to "up to 4 at a time" would require no change in design/appearance.

And yes, I agree wholeheartedly that the sourcing process would be greatly improved by the ability to attach in batches. A single field where you can enter all of the IDs (post office package tracker-style) would work, but it'd be easier to put in one profile (by whatever method) and then get the rest based on it. I envision a mash-up of Source Linker's right-hand column and the catalog image viewer's "Attach to Family Tree" button: choose a profile, get a list of that profile's Family Members section, check off the ones you want, choose another profile, get a new list, check off more profiles, and so on, then click a button, get a confirmation list ("This source will be attached to the following people:") and a reason box, and click Attach.

But in the meantime, a small change would speed up the process: it would be nice if one's source box Attach button remembered "by ID" or "Recents", instead of always going back to "by name".

dontiknowyou

I envision a mash-up

Yes. Or better, the Edit tool on indexed records with images: editing the surname of one household member causes the tool to suggest editing the surname of other household members. The contributor then checks boxes to make it so.