Add an expiration date to ordinances cards
Ordinances with a four-month reservation, the ordinances cards should have an expiration date for the reservation.
Comments
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With reservations so often expiring in just 90 days, I have to remember to write the expiration date on the card so I don't mix them up and do not-so-"perishable" names before the ones with a "short shelf life."
It would be helpful for patrons and probably not hard for the engineers (programmers) to add the Expiration date to the printout. That way we would know it is correct.
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The reason why the developers shouldn’t add an expiration date onto the ordinance card itself is because all temples that are currently operating and affected by Govt. COVID policies haven’t been reopened to full capacity and at phase 4. Essentially what FamilySearch states in “My Reservations” is that because not all temples have been fully reopened, your expiration date will be pushed back by one day, repeating everyday, until all temples currently dedicated are fully operational (aka, phase 4), then your expiration date will matter. I like the idea, but due to this reason, the expiration date will be incorrect each recurring day.
Personally, that’s my opinion why this feature shouldn’t be added right now, however, I do agree the card should have a printed date and an expiration date on the ordinance card so you can see and prioritize what work needs to get done due to time constraints.
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We all work different ways in Family Tree and in getting ordinances done, so please accept this as just my thoughts and just my way of doing things as one way to never need the expiration dates.
Since Family Tree is an open edit system, the tree continually grows and changes. People add more information, people remove incorrect information, people fix errors, people find duplicates, and merge them. For example, just a couple of weeks ago I was working on a family and found that someone had merged a set of parents incorrectly and so added a child that did not belong there. Someone had reserved the child's sealing to the incorrect parents and printed the card. I repaired the records then messaged the person with the reservation, asking her to please tear up the printed card.
Therefore, since the filters on our reservation list work so well and it is so easy to get the specific cards we want printed out, I feel it is best to not print any cards until the the night before or the day of a temple trip. Then I can be sure that the card is still valid and the work still needs to be done.
It's always a bit disappointing to have printed out a card for an endowment months in advance, taken the card to the temple, then come home to find that someone had found yet another duplicate for the person that showed his endowment was completed years ago.
Here is one way to set the filters when wanting to do a particular type of ordinance for a particular last name, making sure those closest to expiring are done first: put the last name in the search box, choose Perform Next, sort by ascending expiration date, choose just the one type of ordinance desired. It looks like this:
(Marta is on this list because her mother was a Horneland and so her sealing to parents includes that name.)
I can check off a card or three to print and use them the next day. The temple keeps the card. No need to worry about an expiration date.
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Gordonn has a point. I always try to verify just before going to the temple to make sure nothing has changed, but don't always have time to print then.
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Since the expiration dates have been back in effect, I have been trying to get those dates hand written on all my cards. Yikes! It has taken hours and hours and I am only about a third finished. I tried to print a descending list of expiration dates to make it easier (That way I can physically mark when I had the date hand written on the card) but that didn't work. For some reason, the expiration dates all changed to two or three years. IS THERE SOME WAY THE EXPIRATION DATE CAN BE INCLUDED ON THE CARD WHEN IT IS PRINTED, LIKE THE PRINT AND REPRINT DATES ARE, HORIZONTALLY ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CARD?
Thank you!
Shelley Magleby
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A couple of thoughts about this request.
1 There can be different expiration dates for each ordinance. So only one date on the card isn’t enough.
2 The expiration date can change as you do ordinances. So if it was printed on a card with multiple ordinances it would be wrong after the next ordinance was complete. But now that temples don’t return cards it wouldn’t really matter too much.
3 When the reservation expiration date is reached it does not invalidate the printed card. You can still take the card to the temple and perform the work. This does increase the chance of duplicate work being done. So it is best to print the ordinances cards shortly before you do the work.
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I would love to see the expiration date on my temple cards. I print my cards and clip them together according to their expiration date that I've written on the card.
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Why don't you print the expiration date on the person's family names card
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I'm not sure how this would work. The expiration date resets every time an ordinance is completed, so if someone prints a card and takes it to the temple, the expiration date will immediately be inaccurate. Also, we strongly encourage patrons to only print cards that they are immediately ready to take to the temple, so the idea would be that they print the card, do the ordinance, and the expiration date is immediately extended from the date the ordinances.
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Like this
Ordinance Expires:13 August 2023
and then when you go to print the next Ordinance
Ordinance Expires: 26 June 2026
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When we print the ordinance cards to take to the temple, it would be nice to have the expiration date on the card. For instance, when I print initiatory cards I print several at a time. When I get home, I print those same cards again to do the endowments. It would be nice to have the expiration dates on the cards so I can prioritize which endowments, etc. to do next.
Often I will have family members call me to see if I have any ordinances ready to do. Often, I will email them a pdf copy of a card that I have already printed. Having an expiration date on the card will help them to not put off doing the work.
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I would love to have the ordinance expiration date on each ordinance card! That would help to know which ordinances I need to do first!
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It would be very helpful to have the expiration date on the card even if the expiration date if only for the next ordinance to be completed.
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I suggest the ordinance expiration date be printed on the Family card.
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It would be very, very helpful if the expiration date can be printed on the ordinance card. It would save the patron time by not having to look up the date every time.
Thanks.
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I totally agree!!! I don't care what date I printed the card, but it is important to me to be able to quickly see when the ordinance reservation expires.
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Other than knowing a printed card is getting old - having the 'Date Printed' on the card is somewhat useless.
With the Temple System now enforcing expiration dates ... having the expiration date on the card would be much more helpful ... allowing temple patrons to order cards by expiration date, if there were no other family drivers for giving preference to particular ordinances to be performed.
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Only printing cards prior to a temple appointment does away with any need to print expiration dates. As you will only have the cards you are using at that appointment. Then when you are ready for your next appointment, only print the cards needed for that appointment. There is no need to print cards in excess of scheduled appointments. This also provides for no longer needing to sort or manage large stacks of cards.
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Please consider including the expiration date of a reserved ordinance on family file ordinance cards. It would make it much easier to prioritize which ordinances should be done first when we have a stack of ordinance cards waiting to be completed. This is a suggestion for the temple department.
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Would it be possible to print the expiration dates on the individual Temple ordinance cards? It would certainly be helpful, especially for those who don't have personal computers or cell phones where expiration messages are currently being sent.
I have spoken with several individuals about this and they too have often wondered why the expiration dates are not printed on the cards.
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I'd suggest the expiration date be printed in one of the upper corners of the card so it is easily visible when sorting cards.
@Amy Archibald While your technique might work for some folks that just have a single reservation list, if there are multiple reservation lists, each owned by a member of the family along with a shared family group, it gets a little tricky. Some people just work better with tangible objects (printed cards) that they can touch and sort.
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@EarlMarshall if it isnt documented it didnt happen
I also work with multiple family members with each having a reservation list. Each person only prints cards for their appointments. We just had a family reunion and 4 temple sessions and each were able to print cards just for those events. No need to print far in advance and worry about expiration dates. We coordinated one week before. So, yes we had printed tangible cards that we all touched and sorted for importance in the work we were doing, but we didn't print excess of what we needed. We completed dozens of ordinances with no worry about expiration dates.
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I have a suggestion for the temple name cards we print out from family search.
Could you include the date that our reservation expires?
I notice that it prints the date that we print the card, but it would be great if we also knew the date that card expires so that we don't duplicate work.
Thanks!
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There seems to be a push to have Ordinance Cards printed ... just-in-time, meaning a day or two prior to going to the temple, and only for the Ordinances to be performed. This add a lot of time to each and every temple visit as the printing process is not quick. Our preference is to work from a rubber-banded stack of sorted Cards.
Regardless -- the "Date Printed" appearing on the Card provides me Zero value.
With the ability to reserve Ordinances 'native' from FamilySearch with a 2-year expiration, or from Ordinances shared with the Temple with 120-day expiration .... Having the Expiration Date on the Printed Ordinance Card would be very helpful ... allowing the quick 'promotion' of an ordinance that is about to expire, or allowing ordering of ordinances in order of expiration.
Today, once printed -- the expiration state of the ordinance disappears. We are currently writing dates on the back of Card to help outselves not miss a soon-to-expire ordinance.
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Would it be possible to print the ordinance reservation expiration date on the cards when they are printed? I'm sure that would mean a change in coding, but it would be extremely helpful. Thanks
Viola Antwine
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This question has been asked repeatedly. I would suggest using the search feature in the community to see all the discussion as to why it is not super simple and how expiration dates even change (get extended) as ordinances are completed. Plus with cards not getting returned there is less need for this. Best solution is to print cards close to when they will be used to ensure they are not duplicate.
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Many stake members and temple friends have lost names because they expired before we could get to the temple to do them. It has occurred to me that if the expiration date were printed on the Family file card we would be able to complete them in a more timely manner. Maybe where the date printed is you could put the expiration date. I feel certain this would help. Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Jenna Carey
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It would help sooooo much if the expiration date of the ordinance would be printed on the card. I go to the work to do that on all the cards I print so I know which ones to do first before they expire. It would save so much time.
Otherwise when I give the baptism cards to my grandchildren, who think they will get them done soon and then they don't within the 4 months----ordinances get done from the printed card, which have already expired and gone back to the temple and been done by someone else in the meantime.
I know it is good to check the cards before going to the temple, but 90% of the people or more, do not do that or even know how. They are too busy or uninterested to learn right now. They just want to be given a family card and are willing to do the ordinance. And that is great--they are still doing FH/Temple work and getting the blessings.
It would decrease duplication even more and make their time in temple service count, if they could easily see if a card has expired. Then their time would be spent helping a different person on the other side of the veil.
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Is it really difficult to hand write the exp date (ex: 12/20= Dec 20th) on each card; maybe even written in red? No matter who the card gets shared with (ex: grandchildren), they could see the date. Verbal communication is an added measure of assurance that they know the exp. date. I don't know if FS. programmers will put a priority on printing the exp date on the cards. Meanwhile, just my opinion, it seems a quick task to hand write the date on the card. This is what I've been doing for years and I know it works. 'Haven't lost a reservation yet and done over 3000 ordinances in about 3 1/2 years; a lot of those cards were shared with others.
There is also a "Soon to Expire" notification added (I think through the bell icon) that can be helpful in managing reservations. It seems that FS is trying to help, even if it's not adding the exp date to the printed cards.
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Per Cindy Hecker's comment - yes, the expiration dates seem to change often. However, I've had cards where the expiration dates keep changing and no ordinance has been done in between changes. I also had some cards that were going to expire soon, had one-by-one gotten each ordinance completed with only SP remaining. But after doing the Endowment, the expiration date did not change. The card was "expired" and disappeared from my Reservation list 2 weeks later, before I was able to return and do the sealings. And I had completed an ordinance just 2 weeks prior.
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