Attach Source from Source Box to Multiple People
Hi:
I'm going through and adding some documentation to some research I did earlier. I have one source that is just referring to a specific collection of church records online (not on FamilySearch). Is there any way I could attach this source to multiple people at once?
Thanks!
Cody Bailey
Best Answer
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Cody,
Even though you can attach a source in your Source Box to multiple people in the tree, please know that if you do that and then edit that source on any one of the people you attached it to, it will automatically change it on that same source for all of the people you attached it to. For example, if you attach it to John and then Edit the source in his Sources by adding the Event Date 1850 and you type anything in the Describe the Record (Note) field, it will automatically change the Event Date to 1850 and add whatever you typed in the Describe the Record box to every person you have already attached that source to from your Source Box. Then if you attach it to Mary and put the Event Date as 1855 for her, the Event Date of 1850 for John (and everyone else it's attached to) will automatically change to 1855. If you add a different Note to the Source for Mary, it will get rid of the Note you typed for John and everyone else you attached the source to to whatever you just typed for Mary, and on and on and on. If you don't add a Note when you attach the source to Mary, it will have the Describe the Record (Note) you typed for John in Mary's sources, and it might not be accurate for Mary.
Many have done what you want to do and then after attaching it to hundreds of their ancestors' pages found out that the event dates and notes are all wrong for all but the last person they attached it to. Please be sure to experiment with this to see what happens when you attach a source from the Source Box to another individual. Edit the Event Date and then go back and look at that source on the page of the individual you first attached it to to see if the Event Date stayed as originally added or if it edited to the Event Date of the second individual. Then you will know if you really want to use the Source Box for attaching sources to your ancestors.
If it's possible, you are better off trying to locate the source in FamilySearch's historical records and going to the page you want for each ancestor and clicking Attach to Family Tree. Then you can attach it to each person on that one page of the historical record and it will be a good convenient thing that it automatically changes the event date and any notes to each person.
This article explains how to easily attach a record found in FamilySearch historical records to a person in Family Tree.
The Source Box is best used as a place to collect the names of record collections, books, websites, and so on so that you remember they exist and can go back and look at them again as you find more ancestors who might be in them.
We hope you find this additional information helpful.
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Answers
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This is an article from the FamilySearch Help Centre which describes the process for attaching a source from the source box to the record of an individual. You can repeat the process for multiple people, This process needs to be done for each person at a time, not as a group of people in one action.
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Dear Cody,
Welcome to the FamilySearch community. Thank you for the time you spend asking questions.
Regarding: Attach Source from Source Box to Multiple People
How do I Tag memories in Family Tree
Tagging photos and documents identifies the people who are in them. Tags can also ensure that the photo or document appears with that person’s record in Family Tree.
A person in Family Tree can have up to 1,000 memories tagged to him or her. No limit exists for the number of tags for a given photo or document. However, when tagging photos, each tag needs to start in its own separate space. The system does not allow you to put a new tag on top of an existing one. If a photo has a full-screen tag, you will need to shrink it in order to add additional tags.
You can add a tag to a memory, regardless of who uploaded it. This means that other FamilySearch users can help you identify all of those unknown people in your photos and documents. It also means you might help identify an unknown person in a photo or document uploaded by someone else.
Steps (website)
On the website, tags are rectangles or squares with a name beneath them.
- After signing in to FamilySearch, go to the menu bar at the top of the screen, and click Memories.
- In the drop-down, click Gallery.
- To see your photos, click the camera icon, and to see your documents, click the documents icon.
- (Optional) To see only untagged photos or documents, click the down arrow beside Arrange, and then click Not Tagged.
- Click the photo or document that you want to tag.
- On the image, click where the tag should be.
- For pdf files, simply go to the "Who is in this memory?" search bar, and type in the ancestor's name. Tagging specific locations on the photo or document is currently not available for pdfs.
- (Optional) To make the tag larger or smaller, click the green circle, and drag it to the correct size.
- (Optional) To reposition the tag, click in the tag, and drag it to the desired position.
- In the text box, enter the name of the person. As you type, names of your ancestors and relatives in Family Tree appear.
- If the correct name appears, click it. This automatically attaches this memory to the person in Family Tree.
- If the correct name does not appear, finish typing the name, and click Add New. This memory is not yet attached to Family Tree. If the person is in Family Tree, click Attach to Family Tree, and find the person using his or her name or ID number.
- Repeat for everyone in the photo or document.
Related articles
How do I tag people in stories and audio files?
Who can view the items uploaded in Memories for living people?
In Memories, how do I create person tags for people with the same name?
Can I add memories about my living relatives to Family Tree?
Do private memories appear in the change history in Family Tree?
Thank you for the work you are doing in Family Tree and we wish you much success.
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Since the collection is online, if it is possible to attach a specific record to the specific person it pertains to, that would be much more useful to future researchers so you may want to consider taking the time now to do that rather than adding just the general source. Your small investment in time now will save a lot of time for multiple people in the future.
For example, I have a group of people whose birth records are all in the same parish register. I could just create a source to the table of contents and attach that source to all of them using this link as part of the source: https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb/contents/8303?clerical_parishes%5B0%5D=1221P&start_year=1850&end_year=1850&text=
Or I could create a specific source for each of them using a link like this: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20070222690240 and adding details such as "see entry 127."
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You can use the Source Linker to attach "the other people in a record hint" to the same source. You would need to go to the sources page of an individual who you have attached that source to. Click on the source and then select "Review Attachments". This will open up Source Linker.
There is a change focus feature that allows you to change the focus person and attach other related individuals. I've included a link to the Help Center article that describes this feature. If the individuals are not related and you know their ID number in Family Tree, you can still use the Change Focus feature by pasting the ID number into the popup that comes up when you click on Change Focus which will then bring up that individual in Source Linker and you can then attach the source to that individual.
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The Source Linker is only for FamilySearch Sources. That is not what Cody is working on adding.
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You are right! The Review Attachment button does not appear if the source has been attached outside of FamilySearch. I did not realize that. In that case the response above regarding putting the source into the guest's Source Box is a great option - it can be kept there and added to other individuals in Family Tree from their individual sources page.
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There is an option in the Source box to Copy the source. That would create a new source that can then be modified and added to an individual's record without changing the sources attached to other individuals.
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Thanks for the great suggestions.
@Gordon Collett, the record is a paid site with only a limited subscription period. I no longer have the subscription, so I can't access the individual pages anymore.
Thanks again!
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Thank you for this information! I did not know you could "copy" rather than "attach" a source from the Source Box, and then you can "copy" it to another individual's sources, and edit it, without it affecting the source for other individuals to whom you attached it. I wish I had a new source I could add to my Source Box and then copy, rather that attach, it to another individual to see how this works.
There is this article that explains copying a source from the source box,
which is a very different process from attaching a source from the source box as explained in this article.
Thank you, sgsreader!
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