What is newFamilySearch

What is newFamilySearch? new.familysearch.org is a temporary web site used to host the Church's new online Temple Ready program which is part of the new Family Tree program. Once this program is ready, it will be added to the FamilySearch web site and will no longer be called newFamilySearch but "Family Tree" and the online "TempleReady". newFamilySearch is now in use or announced for use in about 2/3rds of the Temples in theChurch. Family Tree is a new database which contains all the official family history Temple databases of the Church. They took the IGI, all the Temple Records, Church Membership records for the dead, the Ancestral File, the Four Generation program submissions, the Pedigree Resource file submissions, and many of the extracted databases which were extracted for Temple work and they have merged them all into one large database. This new database will be called the FamilySearch Family Tree program. Family Tree will allow us to clean up mistakes and add source information to the official Temple records of the Church. Family Tree creates folders for each individual and combines all the submissions for the same individual into these folders. No information is lost or merged even if it contains errors. The person who submittied the data will be allowed to correct errors. These individuals are then linked into a one world pedigree. Members of the Church assist in the combining of duplicate records into the folders and linking the individuals into pedigrees. Most of the names already in newFamilySearch have already had Temple ordinances preformed for them. Soon non-members will be able to add names to this World Wide Family Pedigree, members linking into these names will be able to preform the Temple work for these names. Members can add names to the Family Tree program in newFamilySearch that need Temple ordinance work and the names can be cleared for the Temple from your home in the Family Tree program. After all combining is done, if a name shows needed ordinances, you can click on the name to reserve it so no one else can do the Temple work. When you are ready to take the name to the Temple you choose the option to print a Ordinance Request Form. At this point the name is cleared in the online Temple Ready program and if no records showing the ordinaces are completed are found an Ordinance Request form is printed with a bar code on it. You will take this form to the Temple File desk and they will scan the bar code and print your ordinance cards. newFamilySearch is not available in any Utah or Idaho Temples yet, but should be by the end of 2008 or the first part of 2009. All other US Temples are either using newFamilySearch or have been announced for a start date. Utah is being saved for last to allow the Church to be ready for the large load adding the Utah Temples will put on the new system. newFamilySeach is a replacement for Temple Ready at the Family History Centers. Once a Temple district starts using newFamilySearch the Family History Centers in that Temple district will stop using the old Temple Ready system. Family History Centers are being given more research resources, so you will now go to the Family History Centers to do research instead of needing to spend all your time downloading and updating personal files to find out what Temple work has already been done and clearing names for the Temple. The Family History Centers now have free access to many subscription Family History web sites. Also the new Record Search program introduced by FamilySearch will have links to original documents from the Family History Centers for free. At home many of these original documents will be viewable at partner sites for a fee, even though the indexes will be free at FamilySearch. The FamilySearch Record Search pilot site is available now at www.familysearch.org, look in the search menu for Record Search pilot.

Programs that Sync with newFamilySearch

On Saturday May 10th 2008 at the UVPAFUG meeting we heard and saw presentations from, Ancestral Quest, Family Insight and Roots Magic on how their programs will be updated to sync with newFamilySearch (nFS). Each of these programs takes a little different approach to the task but all accomplish the same thing. Both Family Insight (next version of PAF Insight) and Ancestral Quest will work directly from PAF. Both demonstrated how their programs work with the PAF database. Both programs when installed add a function in the tools menu of PAF like PAF Insight does now. When you click on that function it opens their application and works directly with your PAF file. All changes made in Family Insight or Ancestral Quest’s sync process are stored inside your PAF file. Roots Magic requires you to import your data from your PAF file into Roots Magic and then to use Roots Magic from then on, so you convert your database over to Roots Magic and stop using PAF. With Ancestral Quest you can choose to use it from PAF and have all the changes made to your PAF database or you can convert over to Ancestral Quest and stop using PAF which ever you choose.

The sync process is very similar to the combining process in nFS. The desktop programs first sign you into nFS, they ask for your nFS user name and password. You must sign in each time you use the program, nFS is not allowing them to remember your password for you. After the program is opened and you are signed in, you select a name you want to sync. You are then presented with a list of possible matches from nFS and you choose which names are the same person as your name. If you select more than one name from nFS which matches the name in your file, the program combines those duplicates in nFS into one folder. The nFS ID number from the folder of the name you selected is stored in your PAF or Roots Magic database. Those names are now considered synced. (The term sync is the function of linking your name to a name in nFS) You also have the ability to select data from your database to be added to nFS or to select data from nFS to move into your database. To do this you are presented with a split screen with your data on the left and nFS data on the right. You select which data you want to move to the other program and push a button and the data selected is moved. You are given the choice to merge or add the data coming from nFS. If you choose to add it, the data is stored as an “Other Event” in PAF, if you choose to merge it, it replaces the data you had in that field. You can even select to add multiple birth, christening, marriage, and death dates and places. Not all data you move from nFS into PAF will be displayed when working inside PAF but it will be stored in the PAF database and can be viewed while using the other programs. An example of this is the nFS ID number will not be visible inside of PAF, you will need to open Family Insight or Ancestral Quest from PAF to see that ID number.

Each of the three programs had different ways of performing the functions I mentioned above. Family Insight worked just like PAF Insight in the way information was presented, with the added functions of syncing and moving data both ways. When you use Ancestral Quest with PAF you see your PAF file opened inside the Ancestral Quest program, which looks and feels a lot like PAF. You select names to sync from a pedigree or family view and are presented with the possible matches and options in either new screens or in pop ups. Roots Magic has all the syncing functions added as part of the Roots Magic program. The Roots Magic program seemed to me to be much easier to use. (It had less pop ups and questions to answer) Many of the functions in Roots Magic are done automatically in the background, including background searches which took much longer in the other programs.

All three programs can be used to do combining, linking, selecting defaults for the summary view, and to add new names to nFS. None of them will have the ability to clear names for the Temple until a future date after nFS allows the third party companies to offer that option. Family Insight said they will soon add a very easy, fast method to uncombined records in nFS. They all promised to keep adding functions as nFS allows them to perform new functions. Family Insight will also be providing a free download program which will allow anyone to download multiple generations of their family line directly from nFS into PAF. Roots Magic also has a built in function in their program which allows downloading multiple generations at once from nFS. Ancestral Quest had built in to their program the ability to download full families at once one generation at a time.
The timeframe for release of these programs has not been announced, but from the questions that were asked and from the information given in the presentations I got the impression that some of them might be available as early as this summer, but others will wait for full nFS rollout before they release their updated programs. There are also other companies besides these three that will be announcing sync capabilities with nFS.

newFamilyHistory

I have not posted here for some time because I have spent most of my time updating my newFamilyHistory web sites. For more information about what is going on in famiy history, please visit my other sites:

newFamilyHistory Family History Consultants Page

Whats new in Family History

There are links from these pages to my other sites.