Understanding and Searching FamilySearch Records

November 27, 2023

  1. Sign in to FamilySearch.
  2. Click Search and then click Records.
  3. To begin a basic search, enter a name, a place, and a year.
  4. Click Search.

The FamilySearch search engine finds the exact name entered, as well as names with spelling variations.

Search with a Life Event

To filter the search results, add a Life Event. On the panel to the right of the search results, click Any, Birth, Marriage, Residence, or Death. You get the best results when you leave some search fields blank. Otherwise, the system misses some other types of records. As you choose a life event, consider these factors:

  • What do you already know about the person?
  • What are you looking for?
  • What type of record could contain the desired information?

Search with a Relationship

You can modify search results by adding Family Members. On the panel to the right of the search results, find Add Family Member. Click Spouse, Father, Mother, or Other Person.

Family groups could show gaps between the birthdates of children. You can look for the children of the couple:

  1. Remove the first name from the search and use only the Last Name field.
  2. In the Add Family Member section, enter the first and last name of the father.
  3. Enter only the first name of the mother.

Add Record Options

On the panel to the right of search results, find Add Record Options.

  • Location lets you specify where the records originate from.
  • Type allows you to filter by record type.
  • Batch Number lets you enter a batch number for an indexed record set. Do not enter an Ancestral File batch number here.
  • Image Group Number (DGS) or Film Number allows you to filter results to a specific set of digital images.
  • Principal lets you filter results to records in which the name you entered is a principal person on the record. For example, on a US census record, the head of household is the principal person. On a birth record, the newborn is the principal person.

  1. On the panel to the right of search results, scroll to the bottom and click the Show Exact Search toggle.
  2. Check boxes appear to the right of name and place fields.
  3. Click the boxes for fields where you want the search results to exactly match the search terms.

Exact search is not available for dates. The Exact Search option can cause you to miss some helpful records.

Reading Search Results

  • The Name column provides the name of the historical record as well as the person’s name.
  • The Events column provides specific events from the record to help you determine if it is a match.
  • The Relationships column provides names and relationships for other people listed on the record.
  • The far-right column provides viewing options.
    • The pedigree icon means that the record is attached as a source in Family Tree. Click to move to the Family Tree profile for the person.
    • Click a camera icon and view the record image.
    • The icon that looks like a sheet of lined paper takes you to the page showing the indexed information.

On a small screen, the Name column includes viewing options. The Events and Relationships columns are combined.

Additional filters

Above the search results are additional filtering options in the form of gray bubbles. The Collection bubble opens a filter in the right panel. To select collections you want to keep, click in the boxes. Then click Apply Collection Filter.

Other filters, such as Sex, Race, Birth, Marriage, Death, Other, and Residence, provide additional filters you can choose from and then click Apply.

Image Manipulation

When you click to view a record image, it opens in an image viewer window. Most open in an older image viewer:

  • To enlarge or reduce the image, click + or –.
  • To see the thumbnails of all the images on the film, click the grid of 8 dots.
  • To view a full screen, click the full-screen icon. To leave full-screen mode, press Esc on the keyboard.
  • To print, click Print. 
  • To download the image to your computer, click Download. 
  • To rotate the image, brighten or darken the image, or invert the image to a negative view, click Tools.
  • To return to the search results, click the back arrow on your address bar. 

To search for variations of a name, use wildcards. A wildcard search can help to find additional records. Wildcards represent unknown characters in a search term. To conduct a wildcard search, use an asterisk (*) in place of one or more letters in the search field. Or use a ? in place of exactly 1 letter.

For example, Tiffany can be spelled many different ways. If you replace some of the letters with an asterisk, Tif*n*, you could see these variations: Tiffani, Tifani, Tiffanee. Or enter ?athy to find both Kathy and Cathy.

Search Browse All Published Collections

Browse all published collections allows you to search for indexed and browse-only (non-indexed) collections by record type. Some records come from third-party websites.

  1. On the Search Historical Records page, click Browse all published collections. You see an alphabetical list of all record collections.
  2. To filter the list, at the top, enter search terms in the Collection title box.
  3. On the right panel, further filter the list.

Recognizing Indexed and Browse Images Collections

To the right of a collection's information, look for a camera icon. Cameras mean that images are available. If you see no camera, the collection is index-only.

Some collections say “Browse Images” in the Records column. The record collection is not indexed. But you can browse the digital images.

The number in the Records column reflects the number of indexed images.

Search by place

Find records for a specific place from the Historical Records Search page:

  1. Find the Search by Place section and click Browse Places.
  2. Click the portion of the world that you want to know about. For example, click United Kingdom and Ireland.
  3. On the right panel, click a more specific place of interest, for example, Ireland.
  4. You are directed to the research page of the place that you selected.

Using Waypoints

Waypoints allow you to quickly find images in browse-only (non-indexed) collections. Look for Browse Images. A waypoint is a reference point or location in a records collection. Researchers use waypoints to navigate the collection online. Waypointing is less detailed than indexing and allows FamilySearch to make records collections available online before the collections are fully indexed.