Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Using RootsMagic 6 to Add a New Person to the FamilySearch Family Tree

A reader asked this question in email recently:  "I want to add a name [to the FamilySearch Family Tree]; it has searched -  but did not find a match - I don't see where to go next.  I'm hoping you can address what to do when there is no match."

Contrary to popular opinion and the wishes of FamilySearch, not EVERY person in the world has been added to the FamilySearch Family Tree.  I run into this problem all the time, especially with 19th and 20th century people.

Let me illustrate how to do this with a screen view of a person not yet added to the FamilySearch Family Tree in my database.  I clicked on the "Find Matches" button (upper left-hand corner under the person's name) with Harvey M. Bradley in the "Family Search Person Tools" window in RootsMagic 6:


As you can see above, the "Find Matches" screen in RootsMagic for Harvey M. Bradley did not find any matches for him in FamilySearch Family Tree.  You could click on the "Search for more matches" button, but that rarely finds additional matches for me.

The key to your problem is the "Add to FamilySearch" button outlined in red on the screen above.  Click it, and the confirmation window opens to finalize adding the person to the FamilySearch Family Tree:


The "Add my person to FamilySearch" message says:

"This will add a copy of your RootsMagic person to FamilySearch.  Make sure the person isn't already on FamilySearch before selecting this option."

Then click the "Add to FamilySearch" button below the message.

Your next task is to go into the "FamilySearch Person Tools" (the blue icon next to the name in the Pedigree, Family or Descendant View) and add the information for your person into the Family Tree.  Adding the Person is not enough - you have to add whatever information you have for the person - birth, marriage, death, spouse, children, etc.  If you add another person (e.g., a spouse or a child), you will have to go through the same process - Match or add the person to the Family Tree, then add their information.

It's easy...I heard the head slap (and the "D'oh" exclamation) of my reader who just couldn't see the "Add to FamilySearch" button without the red outline on the first screen.  We all do things like this!  I do...true confessions!  There are so many little details with every website that it's impossible to remember everything when I need it.

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

1 comment:

Grandpa Landmeier said...

Only deceased persons are going to show up on Family Tree. Living persons will only show to the inputter.