Hello FamilySearch Community! Try out the new update to Record Search.
Answers
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@Sharon Pilcher you can actually still filter. When you've done your search and get your results, At the top of the list is the Filter Results by section now. This is where you can specify type of record, place, years, etc. Hope that helps!
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yes, you can still filter many things but why make it so its a pile more steps than before? how is that an improvement?
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@Allyssa Edwards You can filter on the front side, but it's a bit different than it was. For example - I do a great deal of research in the US states of New York and New Jersey. I have bookmarks close at hand to narrow my search on the front end.
New York was https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/location/22?region=New%20York
In the new search it is https://beta.familysearch.org/search/location/united-states-of-america/new-york
And I would expect that the word "beta" will shortly disappear from the URL.
It would be great if there was a redirect, as many sites use, when formats change.
I haven't tested all my tried-and-true methods yet. I'm more concerned with functionality. I'm seeing far too many "oops there is a problem" messages when I try to search in Beta.
This - way too often.
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I volunteer several hours a day of valuable time on FS. Navigating through tedious misspellings etc.
The new search page is NOT an improvement. Please don’t fix what wasn’t broke.
The amount of information on my screen has been severely limited.
The font is difficult to interpret.
The new search is very limited. Only providing names in that specific community. As opposed to providing same named individuals in surrounding communities. I find this very frustrating.
if I want to attach a record on my iPad, the record doesn’t open up on a new tab This necessitates me having to input the information all over again just to get back to my original search page. This is so inefficient
Lastly, I beg you to provide an option for those of us who prefer the “old” search engine
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I hate the new layout. Please put it back to the way it was! I went to search Russian records, and instead of showing me the results page, it just went to the new search page. The new layout is proving impossible to use!
Tammy
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I have now spent 20 minutes looking for a marriage record for which I have the full names of both parties, the date and location, and not one result showed up that matched even 1 of the names.
This new process is unworkable and I have been using this site for about 7 years and have plenty of experience.
I cannot in good conscience recommend to others that they use Family Search any longer.
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New search page does not work if you search for anything more than a very simple search, add Parents, place and date range it come back with "Something went wrong", same with other combinations of search, the whole change over so far is a failure, it is hindering my research and I would image many others.
Please give us the option of using the old, better search page, while you try and fix the mess you have made of the new search page.
The whole thing is very frustrating. you have made a big error of judgement in just changing the page overnight. Who ever has been testing this new search page should hang there head in shame, they have done a very poor job.
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I agree with Monica Ross_1 - and also with what Allyssa Edwards said about "you broke it". I am no longer using the search function on this site as a result. I certainly will NOT be recommending it to anyone. Ever.
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I'm trying to stay positive. I've endured several series of changes - remember pilot.familysearch and new familysearch? And probably more that I've forgotten over 15 years of using the site. I was also an official Beta tester on other genealogy sites (NDA still applies). Change can be difficult.
As I've said before, I'm more concerned with functionality. If we can't find the records we know are there, because the system always returns an error, how will we find those records we don't already know about?
The project needs work before it is released on the unsuspecting public.
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I wasn't consulted about being one of the 10%. I am not happy -- and I, too, have had more instances of the "oops there is a problem" message.
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This isn't even working for me on Chrome. (The Beta search page.) I use a Chromebook which has not had any compatibility problems prior to this on FamilySearch for the three years I've owned it.
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i'm all for change, and can adapt... when its a logical, reasonable, and functioning change. nothing about this change seems to be any of those things, nor do i see any hope that it will come to pass. :(
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I doubt anyone was asked if they wanted to part of the 10%. I get "new" sometimes when I log in, and sometimes I get the "old" format. Sometimes it changes from old to new in the middle of a search.
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I encountered this new search screen while working my shift at the family history library yesterday. I was entering the search screen from a profile page. I got accustomed to the new ui quickly and do like the search criteria across the top versus the left side. Much more visible and easy to click 'x' to turn off that criteria.
But a BIG problem is that the search criteria displayed was not used for the search results displayed. I was looking for a specific social security death record and already had the birth and death dates. When I entered the specific date in the range boxes, i.e. from 1982 to 1982, the results displayed had death dates all over the place. None of them were for 1982. I also removed the places to see if that was causing my 1982 record to not be found and still no matching result. To contrast I went back to the profile page and clicked to search ancestry and the record was found immediately in their top 3 results. I entered the EXACT information (name, dates) from the ss record I found on ancestry and still familysearch would not find it. Then when I went back to the profile page the record I was seeking was in the research help hints. SO it did exist on familysearch but never appeared in my search results!
Another frustrating thing is that when I set my collection filter to US Social Security records, EVERYTIME I changed the search criteria to edit the date range or name field, the collection filter was lost and I had to go back and reselect it. On the old search screen once a collection was selected I could continue to tweak my search criteria on the left side of the screen while seeing results within the collection I had selected.
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Similar experience to mine.
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I liked the old search engine. Is there a way to search for an exact name? There seem to be pages of names whose information differs from what I specified. Also, I miss knowing which records were already attached to someone without clicking on every name to view the next page. Knowing which records were attached on the search page narrowed down which record belonged to the person I was searching.
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"Show Exact Search" gives you the option to mark certain fields exact.
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And the attached icon is still there.
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Can someone on your team please check the issue with New York research? No matter what I search for, using the new/Beta interface, the search returns an error, and I cannot see the details of the record. I've tested multiple times, on different record sets, different names, different time frames. Always
"Something Went Wrong
Unfortunately, something went wrong and we are unable to display the record. Try refreshing the page, or come back later."
Thank you.
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this is exactly what im talking about when i responded early, precisely about the SSDI. ive resorted to using Fold 3 instead, which is also free. its not perfect, but better than the mess they made here. :\
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Terrible. I can't figure out how to search, or at least find things like I use too. It is frustrating to say the least.
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I too am frustrated with the inability to filter results by geographic location.
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At last I was presented with the new "update" earlier today. Wow, have you made life more difficult!
Of course, searching will become easier with use, but why oh why the change?
The old version generally worked fine for me.
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Why in the world are you changing something that has worked beatifically for years.
Change for the purpose of making it look better is is not change.
Looks like that you are trying to mimic Ancestry. That's the last site I would mimic.
In fact I recommend every time I can that they need to mimic your site.
If you need to make it easier to use add the ability to add a person to the on the source linker page
that is not a direct member of the family.
From what I have seen and heard this new search to many clicks too many boxes not easy to use.
Any changes MUST be done to make things easier for the user not beautification.
If you have hired someone from Ancestry that is advising you a huge mistake.
Please don't change.
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The new update has deleted all the 1930 censuses from Nuevo León, Mexico. Therefore making my contributions impossible.
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@Elva Coly Moreno I just checked, and I still see the records for the 1930 Census for Nuevo Leon.
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I have been struggling to use the "new and improved" search, and agree with others - why "fix" what wasn't broken?
Search results don't seem to match criteria entered, especially dates.
If I decide to change criteria in the middle of a search, I do get results, but have to scroll back to Page 1 before I can see the most relevant/likely results.
Right now there is too much scrolling required to perform a search.
Also interesting that records that do exist don't show up as research hints.
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Might be good for a casual user. But significantly less efficient for an experienced user.
-- It's very pretty, and I bet it'll attract new casual users, and I bet it looks great on a phone.
-- Less information is displayed per page. Scanning for information is slower and less efficient.
-- More clicks required, e.g., filtering search requires clicking to open options that used to be displayed by default.
-- I'm willing to change my workflow if a new UI design offers powerful new features, but if those powerful new features are there, they weren't obvious to me.
...and sadly, I found myself exploring other genealogy services....
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Whenever the new beta version would come up after exploring a record, I found I quickly returned to the older interface. I much prefer the compactness of the design. I prefer minimal scrolling and clicks. The spread out design requires much more scrolling. I used to be always able to use the released interface. At the FHL today it only allows me to use the new interface. Frustrating that there is no option to revert back.
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I've been off-line for about a month and just returned to Family Search.
Your new "search records" is NOT an improvement. It seem more difficult to use that the old version.
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