Is there any guidance / HELP article on making searches using FIND?
I have long been aware that there are limitations regarding making "Exact" searches using the FIND feature in Family Tree, but wonder if these are outlined anywhere?
It must be quite baffling to newcomers to discover the kind of filtered-down searches that can be made at https://www.familysearch.org/search/ are not possible at https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree/name?from=tree . (Note - one has to click on MORE OPTIONS to reach the required search pages)
As an example, I wanted to discover how many individuals had been added to Family Tree (within the county of Yorkshire) with the first name WRIGHTSON. A search using FIND, in spite of checking the First Name field, still produces names where no first name has been inputted, but where the last name is WRIGHTSON. This is in contrast to a search for records (using SEARCH), which - if just the First Name is entered and checked - omits results where it appears (without a first name) in the Last Name field.
The pages at https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree/results?count=20&q.anyPlace=Yorkshire%2C%20England%2C%20United%20Kingdom&q.anyPlace.exact=on&q.givenName=wrightson&q.givenName.exact=on and https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.anyPlace=Yorkshire%2C%20England&q.anyPlace.exact=on&q.givenName=wrightson&q.givenName.exact=on illustrate this difference in behaviour, although there are no doubt many other examples (involving names, places and time periods) to illustrate the problem.
Of course, the general problem in raising issues like this is our inability to get messages through to, say, the team / engineers responsible for maintaining FIND. So, how can we ever hope to discover how aware FamilySearch / Family Tree developers are of these issues, let alone if they ever intend to make the changes that would considerably reduce our Results lists when using FIND?
Failing not being able to engage directly with the appropriate team on such issues, surely there should at least be a page on the website that explains the uses and limitations of the FIND function? Sorry if such a page already does exists and remains elusive to me!
Answers
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Is this the help article you are looking for?
https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-can-i-find-a-deceased-person-in-family-tree2 -
Thank you for providing the URL for that.
Unfortunately, although whilst the article implies "Exact" searches are an option, as I have illustrated this is not the case. Even in a search of indexed records, checking the "Exact" boxes does not work perfectly, but FIND appears to just prioritise, instead of excluding, results that are not exact matches.
Still, that's a matter for a further post - although, unfortunately, there's no satisfactory current method of directing reports / suggestions to the teams concerned: we just have to rely on a moderator considering an issue important enough to be escalated.
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As an example, I wanted to discover how many individuals had been added to Family Tree (within the county of Yorkshire) with the first name WRIGHTSON. A search using FIND, in spite of checking the First Name field, still produces names where no first name has been inputted, but where the last name is WRIGHTSON.
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The pages at https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree/results?count=20&q.anyPlace=Yorkshire%2C%20England%2C%20United%20Kingdom&q.anyPlace.exact=on&q.givenName=wrightson&q.givenName.exact=on
I think this is working as expected. When I initially clicked on this search, it found 30 matching profiles. The last four gave the impression that Wrightson was only entered as surname, but each one had an AKA with Wrightson as a given name. I removed the AKA from MP13-LD3, then had to wait about five days for the system to re-index it, and now that profile doesn't appear in the search results — only 29 are found.
It is definitely confusing. Entering a single name in the search (i.e. first and/or last, but not adding an Alternate Name to the search) will search all the alternate name fields. Adding an alternate name to the search searches the primary and alternate names fields for either of the names given in the search. There is no option to limit searches to the primary name fields, which there probably should be. There is also no way to specify a blank field in a search, for either profiles or records. So if you wanted a list of records that only recorded a surname, you're out of luck.
Even more confusing: the system will find record hints and possible duplicates based on the surname of an attached spouse, even if the married name isn't entered as an AKA; however, the Find Person search does not do this: it only finds the person if the married name is explicitly entered as an AKA. That's a bug — the behavior should be consistent.
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