Ancestry - I'm open to a logical explanation

[Coromandel]

Sorry to be dumb- but are we talking about Family Search or Ancestry? Rgds Quentin

Ancestry, I hope, or else we've all been answering the wrong question.

[Sue Mackay]

To add to what Coromandel said about going directly to the search for the set of records you require, it may not be worth doing for a temporary sub, but otherwise it is definitely worth customising your home page (there is a link you can click to do this). I have My Quick Links set up to appear to the right of the search box when I log in, and it lists all my favourite databases which I have added to Quick Links

[susan-y]

I often find if I use exact match....I get NOTHING....That can be just as frustrating.
Thanks for the Summarized by category' tip., Coromandel, I've never tried that . I find some days are better than others for getting who you are searching for... I kind of put it down to how busy the site is!! I am hopeless at searching properly for things and everything takes twice as long as someone that knows what they are doing would take!

Sue

[pilgrim father]

Like you Philippa I'm a bit searched out and have now cancelled my subscription with Ancestry. If I'm going to spend money on a product, I really want it to be user friendly.

[Philippa_Harvey]

Sorry I haven't been back since yesterday but things have cropped up that have inconsiderately intruded into my research time.

I only have a couple of days access to Ancestry left so have to extractus digitus and get back into gear, hopefully tomorrow.

I'll try to incorporate all your suggestions and see where that leads me.

Yes, Quentin, it's Ancestry, not Family Search.

Back tomorrow when the fog clears.

Thank you all - you are gems of the first order.



Philippa

[mfwebb]

Far be it from me to bang the drum for A******Y but I have had a subscription since 2005 and it now pretty much does what I want (I am with A.co.uk) and the results which might be most interesting are always at the top.

I am currently evaluating FMP having been able to grab a few hundred free credits. I have the same frustration with FMP which Philipa had with A. I suppose it's all down to playing with the settings and perservering.

The main criteria to look for in deciding on a subscription is what records each site holds. For me, A has West Yorkshire Parish Records so that's a bonus. So I stick with A and use FMP for the occasional look-up on a PAYG basis. But it seems to me that FMP gets the records first, the 1911 census for example was available and searchable on FMP a full 12 months before it became available on A.

All the best,
Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK

[Quentin]

I have had great success with Anc.....try! Have had a sub for several years. I am on the Australian one, and I very rarely need Australian records, but as soon as I go searching, everything Australian comes up and I have to 'edit' and untick the Australia Records Only box. That is my only frustration! 99% of the info I require is from UK but it first takes me on the Australian route. When they asked for suggestions I pointed this out, but it seems they only like my contributions when I am correcting mistakes. Fam Srch drives me nuts as it doesn't seem to take notice of my 'refined' info and gives me a million options. That is why I queried the site we were talking about. FMP sounds like it might be worth a look. Thank you.
Quentin

[KathNZ]

As Ann says, I always use Old Search (if it says Go to New Search in top right hand corner, leave well alone, if it says Go to Old Search, click this) and have the Exact Matches only box permanently ticked. This does not preclude me using the Spelling box to widen the search to Soundex if I want. There is also a box at the bottom you can tick to limit the search to UK and Ireland.

Sorry to be thick but could someone tell me (again) how to get back to the old search page. Help !

[Waitabit]

On Ancestry goto the search box up top, in the drop-down list hit 'search all records' across at the top of this page is:
"Go to Old Search" click there-on & enjoy.

[KathNZ]

Thanks so much, I will try to remember