What is "Search Trees"
Just noticed something new on the Individual Profile Details page, Search Records panel, labeled "Search Trees"
What is the purpose? Where does this link go? (I get Search Results that are not relevant to the name in the Individual Profile) What is the source of the data? Where can I find more information about this "feature"?
thanks,
DL Melville
Answers
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I have never noticed it. Thanks for pointing it out. It could use a better, more descriptive name.
From what I can tell, the feature seems to search for similar profiles. This would aid in finding duplicates.
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See this 26 Feb post from Robert Kehrer:
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This is fairly new and this post in User Trees Feedback Group [aka CET] explains it a little. FamilySearch made the effort to address the various trees that are out there [to include the Collaborative Family Tree]. Trees not only include those hosted by FamilySearch but also those trees that can be found elsewhere.
Surprised this wasn't a topic at Rootstech [or I missed it…]
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@dlmelville On the right side bar of a person page, there are tools to search evidentiary historical documents , across many websites, under the label "Search Records". Below that is a new section, which has been there for several months, under the label "Search Trees". Just like the records, we anticipate that someday there may be the opportunity to allow the user to search conclusionary tree data across multiple sites. Currently only the trees hosted on FamilySearch are available.
If you click the "FamilySearch Trees" option the system will take the person data from the PID you are on and craft a search of all the tree data hosted on FamilySearch. The entered search parameters will be entered into a "refine form" in the right side panel and a user is encouraged to iterate on these search parameters to get just the results useful to them. The search is initially pretty broad, and you might find value in using "exact" searching on one or more of the parameters.
Each search result will be labeled with the tree collection that it came from. If you would like to see all the various tree collections that are searched click the Collection filter in the bottom of the right side panel search form. Clicking the "Collections" jelly bean filter to the top left of the search results will tell you how many results you have from each collection and let you filter to the collection(s) you desire. The collections include data from the community owned FamilySearch Family Tree, the new user owned User Trees, and the many collections from Genealogies.
If the result is from the FamilySearch Family Tree or User Trees, clicking the result will show a "Compare and Copy" button on the bottom of the right side panel which will open the new TreeLinker tool. In TreeLinker, the person, and surrounding family, from the original tree will be aligned with the found person, and surrounding family in the clicked tree result. In TreeLinker you can compare all the evidence across both trees (by clicking the sources link on an event, and also copy people and sources between trees. If the search result is from the Genealogies, the user will be given the option of attaching the found person to the Family Tree. Over time most of the collections currently in the Genealogies section of the site will be transitioned over to the new tree system and will function the same as Family Tree and User Trees.0 -
@Mark McKenzie_1
Mark, It was mentioned in various presentations at RootsTech, but since it is still in Labs we're really focusing on getting it right based on user feedback before raising awareness. We would greatly appreciate everyone testing it out and providing feedback. It is on by default for all users who have the new User Trees feature enabled…no need to go to labs. You will see this same search capability under the Search menu at the top if you choose to search Family Tree, and in the Find option under the Family Tree menu.
Known issues:
1) Search results still hosted in Genealogies will still display in the Genealogies viewer if clicked and will not have access to TreeLinker for copying data, persons and sources between trees. Over time this data will be transitioned from Genealogies into similarly named collections in the new system, after which they will display in the same tree software and be accessible to TreeLinker.
2) Ancestral File (AF) will not be transitioned. This data is still available on microfilm, and has already been included in the FamilySearch Family Tree. Unfortunately the provenance of who provided the AF data (the living memory the 4-Gen effort for the 1980's) was lost in a merge years ago reducing its utility for genealogical research. Future reindexing from microfilm is unlikely to happen. d1 -
@Robert Kehrer Thanks… I need to get back into CET - User Trees once more and see what it presently looks like and try out the added features.
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