How to attach an Ancestry document to Familysearch

Hartley, Melvin Jay

Amy Archibald

Follow the instructions here:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-add-an-outside-source-to-family-tree

For the URL for the Ancestry source, be sure to use the shareable Ancestry link. The button for it is at the top right corner of the Ancestry browser page. Then anyone will be able to access the link (even those who may not have a current Ancestry account).

maryellenstevensbarnes1

@Amy Archibald Thanks, wondered the same thing myself - now maybe I'll try it 😎

Alan E. Brown

One tool that can be helpful in attaching outside sources is the bookmarklet provided by RecordSeek.com. It will fill in the title, URL, citation, and optional tags for the outside source. That can save you time over the multiple copy/pastes you would otherwise have to do.

One specific note about using RecordSeek with Ancestry: As @Amy Archibald noted, it's helpful to use the shareable link, but RecordSeek defaults to using the link to the record that is less helpful for people without Ancestry accounts. So you may need to go back to the source that RecordSeek created and edit the URL to point to the shareable link.

DavidNCraig

@Alan E. Brown

@Amy Archibald

Thanks to both of you for these tips on attaching sources.

I don't understand the Ancestry "shareable link" you have mentioned. Will you please review my Ancestry 1921 Census attachment to Charles Thomas Luscombe (G3L4-4FW) using recordseek, and provide an example of the shareable link for this Ancestry source.

Thanks in advance.

Alan E. Brown

The reason you can't see the shareable link is that you chose to use the image as your source, rather than the record with transcription. For many reasons, I think it's much better to use the record. In this case, that would be found at:

William Samuel Hollings in the 1921 England Census

From there, it's super easy to get to the image. But if you only use the URL to the image, it's much harder to get to the record details.

But back to the question at hand, the link I used above has the additional benefit of including a Share button that allows you to create a shareable link. Here's one I created for that record:

Shareable

Such a link provides better information for people who don't have an Ancestry account.

DavidNCraig

So, when using when using Recordseek, I should use the "William Samuel Hollings in the 1921 England Census" link.

I don't understand the "shareable link" concept. I don't know how to create a shareable link.

When I attach the Ancestry source, am I supposed to create/include the shareable link? Is that in addition to the "William Samuel Hollings in the 1921 England Census" link?

Amy Archibald

See the red arrow at the top right of the screen. Click the Share and copy the link from this location to use for your source in FamilySearch.

DavidNCraig

So when using Recordseek, use this shareable link in addition to the prepopulated link used by Recordseek? Or replace the Recordseek prepopulated link with this shareable link.

Amy Archibald

Replace the link that RecordSeek adds with this shareable link. The shareable like will allow others who don't have an Ancestry account to see the record you are trying to share. If you use the pre-populated link, only those who have Ancestry accounts will be able to see that record when clicking on your source URL.

DavidNCraig

TY!