Many of you are frustrated. You're frustrated because you want to start using the FamilySearch
family tree, and it is taking too long to get your tree information into the platform. On
the comment threads on my channel and the other genealogy channels on youtube, as well in Reddit,
and Facebook pages, again and again, and again, people are asking, "why does it take so long
to upload my family tree?" Well, today, I'm going to talk you through a number of reasons
why it's taking so long. And what you need to do about it first, you have to understand the
FamilySearch platform, unlike other genealogy research platforms, you're working in a one
tree place. You are working in a collaborative environment, and FamilySearch makes the family
tree open edit. Anybody can change the information on the family tree. And some of you, you're
worried. You're thinking, ‘I don't want anybody to change my information.’ So, I have a blog post
of why you shouldn't be using FamilySearch if you don't like some of those changes. And you'll find
a link to that blog post in the show notes, or it's over on familyhistoryfanatics.com. But guess
what. People can change your tree, that means they can do a lot of the research that you don't have
the time or access to. Which means it goes to the second principle over here of reducing duplicate
research instead of all of us going to a canadian archive and looking at the same record for the
same person. My aunt can go do the research, or a distant cousin can do the research. We put it
on the FamilySearch family tree, and we're all leveraging each other's research. And so, I don't
necessarily need to be working on that project right now. I can be working on others which is
really great. The other thing that FamilySearch wants is one profile for every person. They
don't want 15 profiles. Which brings me to a principle that you have to get very familiar with,
and that is your family tree person that you have information about is probably already in the
FamilySearch family tree. The FamilySearch program or the company has been around or has inherited
information that began in the late 1800s. They have a lot of material. In 2012 the family tree
that the we’re all working on had all these different digitized databases of information.
I'm not going to go through this too much because I've covered it in my webinar pruning your family
tree, which will also be linked in the description box below. But what they did is they took all of
these databases that have duplicate information about people. And they said, "you know what? We're
going to take your profile of John in a baptismal record in St. Cavern, England; and the user tree
that has John on it; and a pedigree chart somebody submitted; and then the IGL file, which was based
on that baptismal record or the family tree. Yeah, a lot of duplicate information. We're going to
dump it all into the FamilySearch family tree. Now, if you're frustrated about the duplicates,
this is why. It's not that everybody's creating a new profile, although there are some people
who are a lot of times. It's from these different databases and if you'll just merge them together.
They'll stay together. If you don't know how to merge your duplicate profiles that you discover,
there will be links in the description for that process. What is the process? Now FamilySearch
doesn't want you to take your GEDcom file and push it into the family tree and create more duplicate
profiles, particularly anybody who has more than five people in their database, which I know many
of you do. Why don't you tell me how many people you have in your ancestry tree or your RootsMagic
or other genealogy software database in the comments? I'm just curious. The FamilySearch
does not want you to take your GEDcom file and put it into the FamilySearch family tree,
creating more duplicates, creating more of a mess. And so contrary to the recommendations of some of
my colleagues who have taught you how to take your GEDcom and put it into the FamilySearch
family tree using their GEDcom uploader to the active family tree rather than just the archive
side of the platform. I'm going to tell you not to do it that way. A lot of complaints is, ‘Oh, it
times out.’ ‘Oh it's taking so long.’ yeah, that's why FamilySearch is preventing you from creating
duplicates. Now at the end, towards the end of this video, I'll tell you what to do instead.
But in short, don't try to upload your GEDcom in one fell swoop into the FamilySearch family tree.
The next reason why it is really slow to get your information into the FamilySearch family tree
is because it's an open edit platform. And because it's open edit, FamilySearch wants to track
every change somebody makes on the family tree. So that we all know who to yell at
or who to think. So when you use the option, I'm going to tell you about here in a moment,
or you're working on cleaning up your family tree, it takes a long time because every change if you
change a date. If you change a place. If you add a custom fact. If you change your name. If you break
a relationship. If you add a relationship. If you add a media. If you add a source. If you delete a
source. Do you get the idea? everything you do on the platform FamilySearch is tracking that
change. And that slows the process down because what other platform is asking you.
Why are you making this change? and you can only make one change at a time.
But the FamilySearch is trying to slow you down, and this is the reason why
I do have something that I consider a time saver. There are several genealogy programs where you can
not only download information from FamilySearch, but you can also write to FamilySearch. I know for
a fact that RootsMagic does this. And I've talked to you about this in videos on this channel. Other
people in the community have said that Legacy Genealogy software does that. If that is correct,
then make sure you put that in the comments below. I've read the literature on their website,
and I believe that that is accurate. There are some other platforms they can download information
from FamilySearch, but you cannot write to FamilySearch. So yes, go ahead and use a
genealogy software program in order to make it a little easier to compare your GEDcom file
to FamilySearch and make the updates one at a time. You will be able to update a person
from a genealogy program. You can also update facts. You can add sources. And yes, it is
time-consuming but recognize there is a reason why FamilySearch is slowing you down. And it is
to improve the accuracy of the information that we're all using on FamilySearch. So if
you're frustrated, I hope this helps alleviate some of the frustration. If you're thinking,
‘oh my gosh! I don't want to do it.’ Well, then, don't it is okay if you don't participate in the
FamilySearch family tree. But I know that in 2012 I went gangbusters merging profiles connecting
things, getting facts correct, and my tree. For the most part, it has stayed pruned and healthy.
And it looks great. Occasionally a researcher will make a change that I'm like, ‘what the heck
are you doing!’ I'll go and look, and I can see who made the change. Send them an email
within the system, or they may have shared the email address. And I can use my email service
to send them a message and say, ‘hey, what did you do?’ Sometimes they give me new information.
And sometimes I give them new information. And that collaborative environment because we both
just want an accurate family tree has really saved me a lot of time. There have been new pictures
added to the FamilySearch family tree that I would never have known existed had we not be
using this collaborative environment. So I invite you to go ahead and use a FamilySearch.
If you want some no more tips and tricks on how to use FamilySearch, go ahead and check
this playlist up above. And if you want the latest video check the one down below.