Search consistency request

Dennis J Yancey

I sometimes wish FamilySearch had more consistency and functionality in some of its searching.

The Digital Book search is really deficient (doesnt handle AND/OR operators and really only correctly handles one term searches (unless you put quotes around a compound term) and that is not the same as an AND operator https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/

The Memories FIND is better - but still has a few drawbacks

("AND/OR" operators dont work when typed in lower case)

it also does some funky things with words that it somehow assumes are equivalent (do a search on LYNCHING and you get the surname LYNCH - there are some even worse word pairs that come up with surprising/annoying results at times. I really wish for the most part this "word - paring/association" would be turned off - or at least allow an option for exact phrase results only. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find

also see: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/advanced-search-options-for-memories

and then you have the FamilyTree find https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree/name?from=tree

I'll let others comment on that one . . . .

The Search Catalog - has some different features - customized to the catlog https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog

I totally understand that each area of FamilySearch - needs some degree of uniqueness in its search capabilities - Im not expecting them to be identical. - but just some food for thought - the comments above - for some of the FS Engineers looking for feedback.

Some great tips for making the most of Google searches - see:

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/google.htm

Dennis J Yancey

OH . . . one feature that I would really LOVE to see for FamilySearch Memories - is explained in the following:

I know that there are thousands of "SAMPLERS" that have been uploaded to FS Memories. Recently I had the need to find all the samplers in the system for Families in VERMONT.

So I type in "SAMPLER AND VERMONT" and I get the following:

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find?searchTerms=SAMPLER%20AND%20VERMONT&searchType=text-search&searchCategories=IMAGE%2CPDF%2CTEXT%2CAUDIO%2CALBUM&page=1&maxRecords=50&firstRecord=0&_=1690678886339

Note the results returned are really just any results that have these two search terms in the title or description.

A few sampler do show up - but I know there are many others. . . What I REALLY want is to see any sampler in Memories that is LINKED (person tagged) to a person who was born or lived in Vermont. Yes - clearly that is not a simple task - based on the current design of the data and search utility. But having a Memories FIND that allows you to search on the criteria of the person it is hooked to - is a really valuable option that can often come in very handy.

And . . . actually Ancestry.com in its corresponding image search - actually does allow - just that.

I can do just an image search and then I can leave the name blank - and just populate the location of Vermont - and the add a key word parameter of "Sampler" and "voila" - I have quite a more comprehensive list of samplers from Vermont.

see ancestry.com search: https://www.ancestry.com/search/?event=_vermont-usa_48&count=50&keyword=sampler&types=p

This is the type of thing I hope the FS Memories Engineers would consider - for the future. I realize its not a simple "tweak". But I do think a much more advanced search engine for memories would really be useful.

Dennis J Yancey

Another thing I have constantly hoped would be updated in the FS Memories FIND

is to be able to filter on WHEN The item weas uploaded to FamilySearch Memories.

For anyone researching a specific topic over a long perod of time.

Its nice to know what has been added since the last tme they ran specific query.

a similar take on this - is when I have seen other sites show a "Last time viewed" (by user) date.