We need an option for seeing several pages in context when faced with a very difficult first page of

LegacyUser

Gary Reid Lawlor said: First let me express deep gratitude for the work each of you does for the salvation of souls. Thank you so much!

I need to give some feedback on my experience this morning.

I haven't tried indexing for a long time. I opened a new project today labeled "Spanish intermediate." I'm afraid that the first page presented to me could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be called intermediate. I didn't want to mark it unreadable, for fear that the (very real) people whose names were on that page would be seriously set back in their hopes for redemption. I could make out some names but in spite of my skill with the Spanish language I could not even figure out what kind of record it was -- baptism or marriage.

What I needed was some context -- the option to see several consecutive pages in the record to figure out the priest's patterns and style. A single page of this level of difficulty simply cannot be deciphered without that kind of context. But I didn't know how to access any other pages before making a fateful decision about page 1, so I was very much stuck. After a long time I gave up and returned the batch, not having typed a single name.

I suggest that we need ways to (1) avoid getting people stuck and possibly discouraging (and losing) a valuable volunteer, (2) give people a chance to see more pages of context when needed, and (3) reassure indexers that marking a page as unreadable is not the end of the world.

Thanks again for your work.

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: I tried to help, but over the last few weeks I've been getting a "Batch Cannot Be Opened
This batch cannot be opened. It is possible that this batch no longer exists or you do not have rights to view it. Please find another batch to work on." message whenever I try to open a batch.

What you suggest was definitely possible on the old Indexing Program. But I can't remember whether the new program allows it. It certainly is a very useful feature.

You should only mark a batch unreadable if it really is genuinely undecipherable, and Return a batch instead if it is too difficult for you but possible for others to read.

LegacyUser

Slotbuddy said: Gary, there is an option to see additional images. Unfortunately you didn't ask for help before you returned your batch. On the left side where you have the icon for increasing the size of the image, (the + and - minus signs) there are additional icons. The bottom icon that looks like a book. If you click on it, you can see the previous 6 images and the next 6 images of your batch. This would help you.

In addition, you could ask for help by contacting someone from the community group who would gladly assist you. When you are in the indexing mode, if you look on the right hand side of the screen, you will see a sort of sticker there and if you click on it, you will find it. I grant you the sticker is rather hard to see and I wish it was easier to find, but it is there. They will need your batch number to see your batch so be sure to first look up your share batch. If you need help, always give that number.