Sign-In Page
Comments
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I like your idea of getting rid of wasted space and rearranging the boxes. I'm just another user so this doesn't really count for anything, but I picture your idea as changing from the current:
to something like this Photoshop mockup that I just threw together:
Is that what you had in mind? For people that just want to start typing in their user name, the box is right where they will expect it to be. For people that are going to click on one of the alternate ways to sign in, the icons are prominent enough to pull their attention right to them.
I don't know enough about current web design to know if such arranging is possible and there is the problem of this probably being harder to compress to mobile screen or tablet size than the current page which can turn into this:
if people narrow their screen to the minimum allowed.
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"a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently..." A lot does not mean all. I never had any problems until now. How in the world can you think making it more difficult and more inconvenient to sign in is in any way an improvement? Seriously? Bring back the 2-week option!
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When users signed in on FamilySearch.org, there used to be a check box offering the option to stay signed in for a period of 2 weeks. We’ve listened to a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently. With recent updates allowing users to sign in more easily to FamilySearch.org, and considering the Stay Signed In feature provides a higher security risk, the check box has now been removed.
When users sign in to FamilySearch.org, they will remain signed in for a time, as long as they are actively using the site. For users who prefer not to re-enter their credentials every time they access FamilySearch, they have several alternatives for a quick and easy sign-in experience.
Third-Party Sign-In Options
Try logging in to FamilySearch.org with Facebook, Google, or Apple, a feature added to FamilySearch.org earlier this year. These options appear right at the top of the sign in page.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can likewise use their Church account username and password to sign in to FamilySearch, by clicking the Sign in with Church account option.
Using a Password Manager
Another option is to configure your browser’s password manager to automatically enter your sign-in credentials whenever you visit FamilySearch.org.
If you’re not sure how to enable a password manager for FamilySearch, just go to your preferred search engine and enter something like, “Get [browser name] to remember my username and password.”
Here are some helpful articles explaining how to do this on a few popular browsers:
· Internet Explorer Password Manager
No Check Box, No Problem
Whether you have 1, 5, or 100 usernames in your work and personal life, they are hard to remember! At FamilySearch, we understand that. (That’s why we originally had the Stay Signed In check box option.)
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I'm afraid the engineers did not think this change through. What is the security risk when using FamilySearch at home? I can't think of one, but if there is, the current ability to remained signed in for a whole day doesn't help with that aspect at all.
When using FamilySearch in a public place any security risk now appears to be far worse. Previously, there was a warning not to use the "2 week" option and one was automatically signed out after half an hour or so if one didn't. The longer, new sign in time means, if you walk away from a computer without signing out, it's far easier for another user to carry out work using your password.
In fact, the whole page has been badly designed - from the way it prioritises the options to sign in with 3rd party programs to the show password ("eye") icon not appearing until the first character has been inputted - at odds with most other websites: including even the sign in to FamilySearch Church accounts!
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@Tennuchi Alan Cyril Edward quoted " ... We’ve listened to a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently ..."
I'm quite convinced that a lot of the people who were complaining about not being kept signed-in, were misunderstanding. Even if you asked to stay signed in, you always had to click the sign-in button. I fear that this clicking led some people to say, "It didn't keep me signed in" - even though they never had to supply their password, etc.
Did anyone from FamilySearch attempt to follow this up? We did suggest it many times in the Community but never(?) had any response to say either "No I had to supply my password etc" or to say, "Oh - that's right isn't it, I didn't realise..."
As it is, Ancestry, with its Two-Factor Authorisation, happily manages to keep me signed in for days or even weeks (I've not measured it yet) and they have my credit card, etc. Why the difference in system capability?
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Why cant you have a place on the new log in that lets us stay logged in the same as the old system. I bet if you took a survey on the new log in 99% would be against it.
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For those who were getting kicked out under an hour and were not closing your browser like @Leila Escarraman, engineers just released another fix which appears to have resolved it for some we have talked with.
Currently, the sign in policies are the same across the board. FamilySearch cannot tell the difference between a personal computer and a public computer. They look at industry standards, best practices, and what other companies are doing but are not required to match other companies. FamilySearch has to do what is best for the data and images they have available which are "on loan" from other organizations like archives and societies.
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I am uncomfortable with password managers, so this isn't an option for me. Logging in every day is inconvenient and it interrupts work in progress. Please bring back the two week option.
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@ketherin - c - my thanks for your input to this thread. I do think it's important to understand what this change is about, so I don't think the bit about
"... FamilySearch has to do what is best for the data and images they have available which are "on loan" from other organizations like archives and societies..."
is particularly relevant to the matter. Maybe. Anything that I, as a non-Church member can see, on FS from record offices etc, is accessible for free to anyone taking the trouble to register a sign-on. So whether it's accessed for free from a proper sign-on or for free from an improperly accessed sign-on, doesn't seem to matter to me.
For me, I'd be more worried about people accessing private areas (i.e. data about living people) on shared computers where the stay-logged-in option was (originally) used - closing that gap seems important to me.
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Yes! Where is the feedback option? This signing in every time I want to do some history work is extremely off-putting. This is absolutely ridiculous! Find another solution for those who don't know how to sign out!
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The new format does not allow 2 week sign in. Please go back to it!
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If there is a way to stay logged in to FamilySearch, I have not found it. It is irritating to have to log in all the time. Staying logged in for two weeks was better and staying logged in until I log out would be even better. I never log out of my other programs.
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There are many web applications which allow for extendedsign in periods (ex. gmail). Having to constantly log on to FamilySearch is disruptive. For people who operate in secure environments, allow them the choice to utilize an extended sign on period.
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Having to sign in every time has really made this site less appealing and made me second guess donating to the website this year. I am so grateful that this site is available, and I have done a considerable amount of volunteer work, but I wonder if this is a sign that donating is not the right thing to do. I don't want to hear anything about this rule change being "for my own good". I have no bank information on here and 0 risk of theft. The worse they could do is log on and alter my family tree which they could do anyways. It's so unnecessary. Who is the individual/group/dept that keeps proposing these changes? Why can't they just stop and go to a beach somewhere and relax. Leave the website alone. Please.
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It is so irritating to not be able to stay logged in. Unless I am missing something, you can no longer stay logged in for two weeks. If I have missed something, please let me know. If not, please make it so that we can stay logged in. On my other sites I can stay logged in until I log out. If that can't be done, please bring back the two week login.
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Signing in with Facebook, Apple, or Google is worse security than staying logged for two weeks. Same thing for using a browser's password features. Those places are routinely hacked. Please restore the 2-week stay signed in feature.
Thanks.
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I feel the same way!
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The length of time with no activity before being logged out is inappropriate on the FamilySearch.com site.
This behavior is a security device that serves no real purpose in Search.FamilySearch.com. Anyone can get a free membership. That gives any bad actor a better and easier gateway, and it would not be as likely to be noticed by a user.
The previous setting offered a 2 week sign in. That would meet the FamilySearch needs, conform to general Web practices, and be much more user friendly. If there is a FamilySearch compelling requirement 1 week be ok.
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I love this website, but the new sign in flow is super annoying now. Yes, I've read the blog post, which is actually pretty helpful, so thanks for that.
My set up is a regular, username and password. I do have a password manager on desktop and my browser (the latest Firefox). However, I can't use the SourceLinker tool in Firefox. For some reason, FamilySearch says my browser is "too old"? 🤷 So instead, I use DuckDuckGo, which generally works well, but unfortunately there does not seem to be a plugin for that right now. While I use the desktop version of my password manager, it's super annoying, and am hoping that FamilySearch would consider restoring the "Stay signed in" checkbox.
I'm also aware of the option to use 3rd party sign-in. I don't want to let Google and/or Facebook know of my activities on this website. No, I'm not part of the Church of LDS. Might use my Apple account.
But besides the 3rd-party option, another concern I have is: what happens to my current account if I start using the 3rd-party option to sign in? Would the account via 3rd-party signin, be completely separate from my current one? Will I lose access to all the private individual pages? Would it be necessary to do some kind of "merge account" thing?
I really just want to use my current account with my username and password, and stay signed in for 2 weeks at a time. Please consider restoring the previous sign in flow that allows you stay signed in. Thanks for reading.
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@Radiant95 said:
But besides the 3rd-party option, another concern I have is: what happens to my current account if I start using the 3rd-party option to sign in? Would the account via 3rd-party signin, be completely separate from my current one? Will I lose access to all the private individual pages? Would it be necessary to do some kind of "merge account" thing?
When you use a 3rd-party sign in option, FamilySearch will try to find an existing FamilySearch account and sign in to that one; if it can't find one, then it will create a new one. If you have an existing FamilySearch account, you should choose a 3rd-party account that matches your FamilySearch account well, using the same name, email address, and phone number. These are the primary details provided by the 3rd party when it functions as an IdP (identity provider).
If you sign in with a 3rd-party account and find that FamilySearch didn't locate your existing FamilySearch account (your existing person in Family Tree would be your biggest clue), then you should immediately sign out and try a different 3rd-party account, or adjust the profile for your 3rd-party account so that it better matches your FamilySearch account before you try again (EDIT: I'm not sure if adjusting the profile will help -- you might not be able to use that particular 3rd-party to link to your original FamilySearch account because it might be linked to this newly-created account). There is no "merge account" thing, so you really don't want to proceed with a distinct newly-created FamilySearch account.
The 3rd-party account login can be a convenient choice for people creating new FamilySearch accounts so that they don't have to think about a new username and password. But there are pitfalls if someone has an existing FamilySearch account and it isn't found when they sign in with a 3rd-party account.
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@Alan E. Brown - thanks for that. While I've no intention of using those services to access FS, it's important information for anyone who might - or who might want to explore that option - and I'm not sure if it's available anywhere else.
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While taking calls (as a missionary) and signing in myself, it would be very helpful not to have to scroll down to sign in with a FS account. Some guests don't know to scroll down!
If it is necessary to leave the provider sign-ins at the top, could those options be condensed (maybe in 2 columns) so that users would not need to scroll down to sign in with a FS UN/PW?
Possibly the 'or' could also be capitalized and bolded to make it more obvious, if they do need to scroll down.
Or maybe a 'Sign in with FamilySearch Account' button near the top that would take them to the bottom. There seems to be a lot of options that would make signing in easier and more comfortable for our guests!
Thanks for all you do!
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As a missionary taking FS Support calls, I have had many calls from guests who are confused by the new Sign-in page. Guests who created FS accounts before Provider sign-ins were an option think they now need to sign-in with one of those options because they have a Google (or Facebook ) account or because they have an Apple computer. When they try that, their UN or PW fails and they call support.
Maybe it would be better to have the UN and PW fields and or Sign-in with FS option at the top. After all, the guests are navigating to the FS page so it makes sense that FS sign-in options should be first. Those who created their accounts using a provider option seem to know to use those options. Plus those options stand out much more pronounced than the UN and PW fields.
Hope this feedback helps! Thank you!🙂
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This is the link that you can bookmark for the sign in page.
https://ident.familysearch.org/identity/login/?state=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/+1734-01-21
I use a password manager for my username and password when on my desktop at home. It will automatically fill in the password, so once I hit this screen it is one click to get to familysearch.org
The check box has been eliminated and it does not look like it is coming back.
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I use FamilySearch mostly at my desktop at home and find it annoying to have to log in every time I come back to use it - even if it has only been a brief pause. It used to be that I could mark a box and at least stay signed in for 2 weeks. Now even that has been removed. I would be very grateful if you would please allow for patrons to remain logged in on a specific computer like other websites. My desktop is quite secure.
Thank you for your consideration.
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You will find lots of complaints about this issue, but it is surprising that you now find yourself having to sign in so often throughout the day.
I'm relatively happy with the change, as for some reason I never did find myself able to remain signed in for two weeks - having to sign back in every time I closer the browser. Also, whereas I used to have to sign in again if I was inactive in FamilySearch for around half an hour, I now find I can remain logged in all day.
FamilySearch representatives have confirmed remaining signed in for up to 24 hours should now be the position for us all, so you should not be having your problem if that is indeed the case.
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I'm also quite annoyed by the frequent need to log in. I seem to be in between - I can usually expect my session to stay logged in if I'm gone an hour or two, but I'll need to log in at least daily. (Fortunately I use a password manager so at least it's quick).
I also was never able to stay logged in with the old "stay logged in" checkbox, so for me things haven't really changed. It would be nice if FamilySearch was a bit less paranoid, and kept sessions active for at least a day without activity.
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I would appreciate you making family search a more user-friendly to Sign-In on One-Page, and to keep signed in for two weeks for convenience. Not to have to be searching on a couple of pages just to sign in. It used to be a Very user-friendly system.
Thank you for your consideration and attention to this matter.
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@ketherin - c
I appreciate you trying to help those of us continuing to have issues with the new login.
I posted on another thread (https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/153544/what-happened-to-the-stay-signed-in-check-box-on-familysearch-org-familysearch/p2) before finding this one, but wanted to add my configuration details.
I'm using WIN10 desktop, updated Chrome browser, NO extensions or add-ons, DO NOT delete cookies, and have Restore Tabs checked. I have always manually logged in with FS account, do not use browser password manager, and do not close or exit the browser unless required. I have been dealing with the repeated log-in's that are still more than 1x per day, but better than every hour. That said, I have also needed to randomly re-login even while actively working, so it is still working inconsistently for some of us. I have multiple tabs open at a time and prior to today they would usually refresh to previous page once re-logging in.
However, I unfortunately just discovered that the tabs do not restore correctly if window session is manually restored from History. All 49 of them reverted to the login page with no history of previous page I was working on nor ability to refresh once logged-in. This is significantly different behavior than all other tabs I had open (including multiple Ancestry tabs), which all restored correctly. I believe they do restore with history when browser is simply relaunched as per my browser setting to restore. After this browser update/relaunch, the window with the FS tabs did not automatically restore and I had to fetch it from the History. All 49 tabs were there, but were basically empty of data and each needing independent login as they couldn't recognize I had logged back into site on adjacent tab. Like I said, only the FS tabs did this and I've now read multiple feedback from others with same issue. Shouldn't the page URL's be written to the cookies because the login is being revoked anyway, so once I've logged back into 1 tab, they should all refresh and then load where I left off. This is what used to happen under the old login parameters as I've never had all the FS tabs go blank and revert to the same page. It's not as though I had closed the browser for more than 24 hours or whatever the forced logout period is, it was a matter of minutes.
Anyhow it's important to make the point here that this is not in line with expectations because the browser offers the option to restore tabs which inherently means they will retain their history and be usable--even if needing to re-login. Family Search tabs are currently an outlier in not conforming to this action. In the interim, we need better details to prevent this from happening while a remedy is developed and implemented. And please something other than suggestion to use the 3rd party login options--I only use 1 out of 3 and it does not have same account info as my family search login and I have no intention of intermingling my accounts. Family Search needs its own solution, probably similar to what many of other sites seem to be doing, not pass responsibility off to some mega corporation that tracks and collects our data.
Thank you for taking our concerns to the coding architects!
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Return 2 week log in or at least retain/restore place we were before being logged out.
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