Posted in Familysearch, Research tips

New Useful Tool on FamilySearch You Will Love

 

“Various Tools” photo by George Tsartsianidis on Getty Images

I just discovered a new tool on Family Search Family Tree that is soooo helpful.  I don’t know how long it has been on the site, but they are adding new things all the time so maybe it hasn’t been long, or I just haven’t noticed it.  But  it is something that allows you to take all the information that has been indexed from a record, copy it to your clipboard, and paste it in whatever word processor or genealogy program you want, all nicely formatted and with a complete source citation.

Wow, if I had had this years ago it would have saved me a ton of time!

Here is how to access this new tool:

1. Open a person’s page in the FamilySearch Family Tree. Click on FamilySearch on the right side of the page in the “Search Records” area.  This will tell FamilySearch to search for records which match this person in its vast database.

2.  When you see a record that looks like a match in the search results list, click on the document icon to bring up an abstract and possibly an image of the record. (If you see a camera icon you know there will be an image available.)

3.  When the record abstract comes up, click on the “Save” box.

4.  Under the “Save” drop down menu click on “Copy full record”.

5.  Open up a word processor or the notes area of your genealogy program and “Paste”. An abstract of the record, complete with source citation will appear in your document or program!

Keep in mind this only works with records found in the FamilySearch database, and not the other websites linked to the “Search Records” box, but you can experiment with copying and pasting directly from records on Ancestry, Find My Past, and MyHeritage.

Author:

I am an Accredited Genealogist® professional living in California. I have been researching and teaching since 1988.

3 thoughts on “New Useful Tool on FamilySearch You Will Love

  1. Even in ancestry which I discovered don’t want you to see much if you aren’t paying, I found out I can print to pdf ! Definitely handy since their monthly price is ridiculous.

  2. Dayna, thanks for sharing. Although I use FamilySearch almost every day, I was not aware of this feature and appreciate your making me aware of it.

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