Find Function too broad

Discussions about using and improving the new FamilySearch online application.
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ljerryd
New Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:42 am

Find Function too broad

#1

Post by ljerryd »

I am blown away that there is no way to ONLY search my personal tree for an ancestor that I or another relative might have entered. Instead, "FIND" gives only one option: EVERYTHING in the entire FS database. Please consider an option to search within our own personal trees. Yes, I searched the help files and even sent a request to FS help center. Their reply was just what I posted above. Find it within the myriad names that come up when you hit "Find".
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aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

Re: Find Function too broad

#2

Post by aebrown »

ljerryd wrote:I am blown away that there is no way to ONLY search my personal tree for an ancestor that I or another relative might have entered. Instead, "FIND" gives only one option: EVERYTHING in the entire FS database. Please consider an option to search within our own personal trees. Yes, I searched the help files and even sent a request to FS help center. Their reply was just what I posted above. Find it within the myriad names that come up when you hit "Find".
There's no such thing in FamilySearch as "your personal tree". There is only one common tree that everyone shares, which is the entire FS database. Yes, you are provided a default view of a portion of that common tree, where you see yourself, your children, and a few generations of ancestors. But that's just a view -- it's not "your personal tree."

I suppose it's theoretically possible that FamilySearch could restrict the Find feature to just search some definition of "my tree", but it would be quite compute-intensive. Also, I'm pretty sure you'd find a wide range of opinions as to what "my tree" means to different people. Is it just your straight-line pedigree going back 4 generations? 6 generations? 8 generations? back to Adam and Eve? And does it include children of your direct ancestors? What about their children and grandchildren, etc.? What about additional spouses? What about their children and grandchildren, etc.? What about cases where a person has multiple sets of parents?
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