What the heck happened to the search results from historical records???

LegacyUser

Justin Masters said: I came back to an old tab I had open from this morning, where I had searched for a person, and was going to attach more sources, and I don't have that option now.

But a new button appears allowing me to EXPORT results 1-20!!



Clicking on that gives me the option to save a .xls (excel) file which looks like the following:


If I click on a link, a new tab is opened on my browser (at the END of my tabs, and far from the tab I'm working in).

I'm NOT liking this, because it causes me to work OUTSIDE of familysearch for the viewing of sources, and forces a new tab to be used at the end of the long list of tabs I have open.

And what do people without excel spreadsheets do? Use sheets from google? Is this for helping people on phones or poor connections? (You can't see the info until you click a link)

What is the thinking behind this??? I mean, it's a MASSIVE paradigm shift.. but... WHY?

LegacyUser

Justin Masters said: Now I've got back the normal source view interface (whew!)

LegacyUser

Robert Wren said: Justin, I believe that export function has been there for quite some time. By clicking on the "number of records to show" allows up to 100 records to be "exported."

This is a very helpful function which allows better analysis of those records, IMO. By simply opening the file in Libre Office (free), the sheet can be sorted and shaped as desired. I've used it frequently to sort into family groups based on parents, dates and locations. I can then copy it and place it in 'memories' for others to use.

Apparently it's another of those great 'hidden' tools in FamilySearch, that is likely being very underutilized. Try it - you'll like it.

(I have no idea why that column disappeared - and reappeared.)

LegacyUser

Justin Masters said: Robert,

Thanks for sharing your use case on the export function. If you don't mind my asking if you could share how you are able to do better analysis of those records, as I believe the same info shown in the table is the same as in the table on the web site....

Sorting/shaping of somewhat high level info doesn't intuitively show me the usefulness (outside of maybe grouping together similar records, where familysearch kinda scatters the individuals across the page.)

LegacyUser

Robert Wren said: Well, let me try. It depends on the search criteria (and the results), and depending on what you are trying to find. (Yes the same info is shown, but it sorted by the "score" FS assigns.)

This type of analysis generally works better with a 'broader' search. But it can be used with any type. I generally use it to 'organize' families. Depending on the search, the results will show some variety of name, event date, place and family members. Often by sorting columns for father's name, the mother's & place, and date a list of many lines will be organized by families. Sometimes you find birth dates mixed with baptismal.

I've discovered many 'missing' family members doing this. Time gaps between children an sometimes lead to a search of the actual record source and finding the 'missing' child who didn't get indexed (It can be a good Family Search!)

I'll often download 100 or more records to sort. It works for me. And, of course, always track down the actual records!

That's the general philosophy, sorry I don't have some screen shots right now (and it's late)

LegacyUser

Justin Masters said: Robert, thank you. I appreciate you taking some time to explain.

I think I get what you're saying.

LegacyUser

Lundgren said: You will also find the it supports ODS, CSV and XLSX as well now.