Some of you may have experienced the new personal home page for FamilySearch users. When you are logged in, FamilySearch offers a home page with tips and research suggestions geared to you, your preferences, and your needs. Initial testing results suggest this new experience is effective at pointing patrons toward meaningful research experiences and at bringing out valuable content that patrons may have otherwise missed.
As a user, I find that seeing the new photos and documents my cousins are adding is a real bonus. Before this personalized experience, I was often missing these photographs and documents that I had never seen before. They are wonderful! I like being able to create a to-do list and quick access to my recently-viewed ancestor right on my home page.
Here are some of the new options you will find on your personal home page:
- Follow suggested next steps based on previous activity and the state of your ancestors in Family Tree.
- Process and save recommended tasks to add information to your ancestors.
- View recent contributions and activity made by your cousins on your family lines.
- Quickly add items to your own to-do list, and check them off as they are completed.
- See how you are related to any of your ancestors who are included in your activity feed or suggested next steps.
- Enjoy quick access to your recently viewed ancestors in FamilySearch Family Tree to pick up where you left off during your last visit to your tree.
- View personal statistics based on your previous activity on FamilySearch.org. This includes how many photos and stories you have submitted for your ancestors and how many ancestors you are watching in FamilySearch Family Tree.
- Access the Help Center, where you can find information on the location of the nearest family history center, find Support contact information, and take part in a live chat with a member of the support team.
You may be looking for some links you are accustomed to seeing as you come to FamilySearch. Here is a guide to those familiar items:
- My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together booklet—Mark this as a browser favorite to return to it easily.
- Find a Family History Center—See Get Help at the top right of the page, Find Local Help.
- Indexing—See the Toolbar above your welcome name.
- Give Back—See Volunteer at the top right of the page.
After moving into Family Tree or doing a search, you can return to your personal home page by selecting the FamilySearch icon at the top left corner of the page. Be sure to give FamilySearch engineers your feedback by clicking on the Feedback button on the right side of the page. They love to hear from you! Your comments are very valuable to them.
If you are not given the option for the new home page when you log in, be patient! This new experience has started to roll out gradually. In time, all FamilySearch patrons will be able to enjoy this new personalized interface when signing in to FamilySearch.org.
