Issue 8.11
Dan Lawyer, a Senior Product Manager for FamilySearch said, “Currently, 2.4 million records are waiting to be done, with more coming online every day. That’s one way you can help,” Lawyer said. “That will make it go a bazillion times faster.”
FamilySearch Indexing replaced the old Universal Data Entry (UDE) Extraction program. Now volunteers join thousands of others and index records from home. Indexing is simple; it is all online at http://indexing.familysearch.org/. On the Indexing Web site click Get Started. The program will be downloaded when you click the Download Now button. Follow the instructions on the screen to run the installation program and install it on your computer. If you already have an LDS Account or FamilySearch account, sign in with the same user name and password. If not, click on Register for a New Account. This will take you to the correct site to do that. LDS Account holders are asked to select their stake and ward and enter their telephone number. Read the license agreement, and then click in the I Agree box. Click OK.
Click on Play Video to see a video for the FamilySearch Indexing program. Open the Indexing application by clicking on the desktop icon. Click on the Download Batch button to see what projects are being indexed. For new indexers, when viewing the Download Batch window for the first time, there may be only one choice to download. Click on the project name to highlight it, and then click OK.
View Sample allows the indexer to view one image from the batch before deciding to download a batch from the project. When the batch downloads, a reminder of the importance of reading the instructions appears. It is also a reminder that the Field Helps are visible to help you remember what should be indexed in each field of the batch. After a batch is finished, a message comes up to let you know that the Quality Check will begin checking for entries that are not consistent with the Lookup lists. Double check your entry and Click on OK.
The final step is to click Yes to submit the finished batch. You will see a message that says Congratulations! Click on Download Batch. This time there may be more projects from which to choose.
Suggestion: After indexing one or two batches, go back and review the tutorial or the Quick Start video. You will be surprised how much better you understand the instructions.
Shanna Sullivan Jones is a FamilySearch Indexing Director. For additional information, Shanna can be reached at (435) 628-4900 or shannasjones@msn.com