RootsChat.Com
Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: O1dgobbo on Tuesday 18 March 14 11:29 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I got an e-mail this morning announcing the new Findmypast. I had a look at the new site and was disappointed to discover that I could not find how to search a particular English census for an address. The new site seems to emulate Ancestry chucking up numerous records of people with vaguely similar names to the target but has lost (well I could not find how) the ability to focus on a particular area/location which used to be so easy on the old site.
All the best
Gobbo
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According to FindMyPast there is a page headed 'Census, Land and Surveys' where you will find the option for addresses.
Haven't been moved over yet so not able to try it.
Susan
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This was raised on FindMyPast's Facebook page on 10/03/14, according to the screen dump that FindMyPast posted on FB, it's below the "Other Household Member" section on the Census, Land & Surveys search page.
Like msr, I've not been moved across yet.
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Well...I've just looked today and I agree what a disappointment and personally, a disgrace. Displays behave differently using Firefox and IE, "printing" a result translation can use many pages as there is a spacer line between each line printed (both IE and Firefox) especially in IE (a one-person print resulted in 3 pages - could be my IE?), the census image in IE is portrait whilst in Firefox it is landscape and how do you now save am image (used to be djvu file) and how do you get the enumerators list as was available in the 1911 Census?
Other subtle "money-earning" things i've noticed: Census search - you now can't get to use "where born" filter so all results displayed you have to wander through trying to find the "one", employment and "years married" is missing from the 1911 Census translation. Is this plot to make everyone be a full member?
I've given up now so not even tried the others census's yet. Birth, Marriage etc "seems" as-is.
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Nightmare, before 2clicks to get to where I need to go, now 12 clicks. What a total mess. I don't want to see results from things not within my subs. FMPast you were heads up on Ancestry in terms of search & now.......... :'( :'( :'( :'(
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FMPast you were heads up on Ancestry in terms of search & now..........
Probably a photo finish now as Ancestry's "new search" is also causing problems
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and how do you now save am image (used to be djvu file)
When viewing the image it gives the opportunity to download in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
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Just having a look at it now, I have been moved, but haven't as yet received a notification.
Cheers
KHP
ADDED: I note that after you sign out, you can fill out the feedback survey ;D
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I have been moved to the new search...and not impressed with it at all..to print a transcript page, it print on 2 pages..waste of paper..if you fit to print on 1 page, the text is so small you can not read it, and you have to click on each person to view there information, which is time wasting, they have took the simplicity search, use away..i will not be renewing my subs, in fact I have hardly used the site, since i change over..i wonder if I can have a refund ?
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Hi
I was just on the FindMyPast site and suddenly the whole format changed mid research and I cannot get the old site back .Has anyone else noticed this ?? I hate this different format .
Any help much appreciated.
Regards
Nooshie
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Hi,
Some folks have been switched to the newer look:
Another thread on FindMyPast
Cheers
KHP
Moderator Comment: [ Topic Merged ]
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Hi Nooshie
They've been advertising that the new site is coming for weeks.
I think the secret to success is to persevere with it and not to judge too hastily.
And there are plenty of chatters here who will try and help you out if we can.
What are you having problems with?
Dawn
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Hi,
Most of my research is parish records, great for me in Plymouth as loads of local records are on there. I used to have a drop down box at the top of the page that took me straight to births etc. now there is 'search all records'. I also really hate the layout, very confusing with loads of extraneous results appearing. I have only just subscribed last weekend how disappointing,
regards
Nooshie
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'My records' are showing as 1600 pages - It should be about 8 pages. I cleared these records when they first introduced the My records feature and now it appears to be showing everything I have looked at since 2010. ::)
I can't see a way to set it permanently at UK records, I am having to put it in every time. Also don't like the census transcripts, they used to be really good as I could just cut/paste a whole household in one go and put it straight into my family tree notes.
I don't think that the feedback survey will be relevant to this latest 'upgrade' by FindMyPast. I started to answer it and gave up.
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oh my goodness, I just had another go , all I want is a simple route to the parish rcords I was using , as they cut me off midstream to go to the new format. I have just given up, after having to type the country in (it was automatically UK before) then they asked me for a collection set and a record set. I can't be bothered
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Hi Nooshie
I think that the simple route to the Parish registers is from this page
http://new.findmypast.co.uk/
On the left hand side it gives
UK Family History Records
Census records
BMD
Parish Records
Travel & Migration
Military
Newspapers
The bad news is that all the links are working except Parish registers, the others take you to the search page for that topic.
Rosie
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Oh dear, well I have just left my disgruntled feedback on their site. I feel stupidly upset, because at my age I just want things to be easy to use especially after a hard days work. I don't want to have to try too hard.
Thanks
Regards
Nooshie
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Hi
If I use my browser history I can get on to the old site and if I look for Alfred Harland, b 1866 +/- 5 in the North Riding I get two results, one of which is obviously my Alfred. If I then look at the transcript I get a table showing Alfred and his family, plus all their census details and address almost fitting one screen. If I use the new site I need to enter details about the "record collection" and the "record set" and I don't seem to find the option to specify "North Riding". This new search gives eight Alfred Harlands and when I identify my Alfred and look at the transcript I get a dreary column of data about Alfred with many blank spaces so that it extends over two screens and right at the bottom is a table of other household members but not their full data for which an additional charge is required. I find this quite upsetting.
Gobbo
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'My records' are showing as 1600 pages - It should be about 8 pages. I cleared these records when they first introduced the My records feature and now it appears to be showing everything I have looked at since 2010.
I asked a question about this on their FB page as I wanted to know whether there was a quick way to search for a certain record rather than having to go through all the pages. The answer I got wasn't very helpful, they just said there wasn't at the moment, apart from the date I'd first looked at it, but they would put it forward as a suggestion. I can't see the point of having thousands of saved records if there is no way of finding one quickly - it's easier to look for it again. I'd like to be able to say which records I want to save, no point saving those that aren't connected to my tree. I also asked if there was a quick way to clear them - apparently not, but they will put forward the suggestion. ::)
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Nightmare, before 2clicks to get to where I need to go, now 12 clicks. What a total mess. I don't want to see results from things not within my subs. FMPast you were heads up on Ancestry in terms of search & now.......... :'( :'( :'( :'(
Goodness me. I thought that the Ancestry changes from old search were a backward step, but the Findmypast new search is a massive backward step in ease of use. Not only do you need more clicks to get to the right census (you even have to select country now) but the dropdown counties have gone so this has to be typed in (Worcestershire for example is 14 characters as opposed to 2 clicks).
I have just attempted to search the historic newspapers. I used a wild card thus - Walter Willi*ts - hoping results for Walter Willitts and Walter Willits. It gave me 600,000 results. It seemed to give me all the Walters and the then the wild card isn't just confined to one word, but after the first part of the surname, keeps looking through the text until it finds a ts which maybe pages of newspaper later. (same happens if you use the ? wildcard). The filtering to get the right year range, county etc. is even more long winded than the census record selection. And you can't put in your own range eg a small range of 1 or 2 years.
I'm all for change but this feels like something that was given to a bunch of new starters as a project. In practical terms it is tedious and very long winded.
I am normally grumpy but this has made me even more so.
Simon
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I keep clicking onto the site with fear and trepidation but I still have the old site up.
Do you think they might have forgotten me ???
I do hope that they get their parish records' searches sorted though - it would be nice to be able to put in spouse or parents' details rather than having to plough through a whole list -especially when it's a Jones.
Gadget
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I keep clicking onto the site with fear and trepidation but I still have the old site up.
So do I :)
Mo
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I keep clicking onto the site with fear and trepidation but I still have the old site up.
So do I :)
Mo
And me :-\ although I read about folk who have problems with the new Ancestry but can't see what all the fuss is about.
We all moan about changes but in the end there's not a lot we can do except ask for help and then get on with it !
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That may be true that we get used to things, but I have paid good money and as yet cannot even access the parish records that I know are on there because I have pulled them up before. It is coming up with '0' results for everything. Also someone said that you cannot see originals now without paying more,well I have just paid my subscription and do not want to pay more.]. Not happy at all.
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Which PR's are you looking for Nooshie
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. Also someone said that you cannot see originals now without paying more,well I have just paid my subscription and do not want to pay more.]. Not happy at all.
Could you see the originals before on the subscription level you are on? If so, you need to contact FindMyPast and complain, as you are not getting what you paid for and they have broken their side of the contract.
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If its Plymouth
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0yiy/
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I hope it works for you, I went through the link that I said does not take you straight there
http://new.findmypast.co.uk/
You will need to complete the 'Who' & 'When' at the top of the page but ignore Where even if it does say World
Then go to Narrow your search results (left of page) -
tick Life Events (BMD's)
In Country select
England
England & Wales
In Record Collection select
Births & Baptisms
Deaths & Burials
Marriages & Divorces
In Record set
Plymouth Baptism Register
Plymouth Deaths & Burials
Plymouth Marriage Register
I am keeping my fingers crossed it works
Rosie
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I have been spending some time testing out the new FindmyPast because with any changes it does take a little while to get used to. For example when FamilySearch upgraded their search engine from the old IGI and other supplementary search engines I personally found that be a great move but there was a lot of people that did struggle with it.
The sort of searching I have done to test the new FindmyPast has been to search for records that I already know exist and to see what it will come out with and also if there's any additional records that I may have missed.
What I am finding is that I am not getting records out that came out of the old FindmyPast. Like Ancestry it will not narrowed down. I tried to do a search on records from Scamblesby, Lincolnshire it did not find the records in Scamblesby but went on looking all over England from Lancashire to Devon. One of the strengths that the old FindmyPast had over Ancestry was to be very easily narrow all widen the search as much as you like. Where I've had a very unusual and rare name I have on a number of occasions just put the name into the search engine. Also with a common name such as my own name "Fletcher" I have easily been able to narrow it down to a village and if that name does not appear in that village within ± 2 years the results would have come back zero but not any more.
I think what they've tried to do is to create a search engine which is user-friendly particularly to new users that will bring up as many records as possible that can be used but the result of this is to fall into no man's land.
I actually subscribe to both Ancestry & FindmyPast where the latter expires on the 31st of this month. Unless there is some miracle that I have not yet discovered I will not be renewing my letter subscription. There's not much point as I shall stick with Ancestry. Until my subscription expires I will be trying to use FindmyPast as much as possible to see if there something I missed.
Robert…
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Printing of Transcript pages, is a waste of time, and paper, if you have a family. it print to 2 pages... fit to print on 1 pages, and the text is so small you can not read, the info on the document .. I,m am having to find my census, then pass info on to my friend, for her to print of for me on her Ancestry..aaarrrr
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If you're having problems with FindMyPast, contact them to let them know. The more people that do that, will highlight the issues to them.
If they get overwhelmed by emails, they may take notice and do something about it.
Or they may already have a solution or 'work around' to your problems.
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I've just been reading the comments posted on Facebook and they are aware of some issues.
They are also aware of some bugs that need fixing.
They have posted this in response to 1 comment
We have listened to all the feedback we have received and are now using it to put together comprehensive user guides as well as a series of blogs on the new search and how to get the best results from it.
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We have listened to all the feedback we have received and are now using it to put together comprehensive user guides as well as a series of blogs on the new search and how to get the best results from it.
It is all very well producing a comprehensive user guide, this can help those who haven't been able to find the records that are there but the way to find them has changed.
It does not, though, distract from the fact that they have produced a cumbersome user interface which in many cases does not home into the narrow search criteria that were previously possible. When applying some filters, new windows open, which then may required sideways scrolling (mouse clicking or touch screen scrolling) for what could be several more 'pages'. Select them, select apply and eventually get back to the main page and go through this again for another filter. Other filters which appear as popup boxes which show about 10 selections and again you have to select 'more' to get the next 10 and so on. Whatever happened to the instant selection of the dropdown box? Not tablet friendly and not so easy to maintain I assume.
This has certainly reduced the ease of use, especially for the seasoned researcher who knows what they want to get to but now have to jump through hoops to get there. I don't like it for this reason. The vast majority of less serious users probably are not bothered which is why it will not change and statistics will probably show (comparitively) a small number of complaints.
At the end of the day, it is the records that they make available that is important although ease of accessing them has become an irritating issue.
Simon
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Quote from: mosiefish on Yesterday at 14:43
Quote from: Gadget on Yesterday at 14:37
I keep clicking onto the site with fear and trepidation but I still have the old site up.
So do I :)
Mo
Me too.
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Perhaps the "improvements" will mean that I don't get thrown out every Sunday afternoon when they are "busy right now..come back later!!". I'm not getting the service I expect, I asked for a refund and was told that as I had used the site I was not entitled to any portion of my subscription back.
As for Ancestry, for me it's hopeless, I can't find records I know I've had before, and I was using them to practise with. So much more typing for my arthritic fingers, and then the search told me the district was not recognised.
rayard.
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Yes , I have arthritic problems too and don't want to spend any more time than needs be trawling through things to find the data I know used to be there almost instantly.
And as for a 'comprehensive user guide' that , by admission, is saying the new site is hard to access, even for seasoned users. I, for one, do not want to read through a 'comprehensive user guide', life is too short for that!
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Hi
The findmypast e-mail announcing the new system included the following:
"findmypast is now simpler to use with more helpful features so that you can explore your family's story more easily than ever before."
This is just completely untrue.
Gobbo
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you got to laugh .. contacted FindMyPast, concerning the printing of the Transcript page, having to fit the 2 pages on to 1 page, meaning the text is to small to read ...they told me to ..to save the document, then, copy and paste and edit the document for what I want ...what..i know I am not the only one with this problem..it,s on there freed back..don't they realize they have a problem
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I haven't read the entire thread, so it may have been said before. But what you are getting is what we've had to put up with in the Australian version for a while. I hate it. And they've made it clear they have no intention of fixing it. All we got was we are changing the UK version to this one so it must be good. No, it's not good it just means you are expanding an already flawed model.
They are basically dumbing down the service to appeal to a mass audience like Ancestry but what they fail to realise is that the more experienced users, the ones most likely to stick with their research, liked FindMyPast because it allowed you to search only specific datasets and gave you features like address searching on the census'. With all that gone, what is the point?
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I am just looking at some PR's for a parish in Wales, the image has come up and across the top of the page it states 'This page is in Welsh would you like to translate it? Translate /Nope
The parish register that is shown is in English and so is the translation ;D
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Quote from: mosiefish on Yesterday at 14:43
Quote from: Gadget on Yesterday at 14:37
I keep clicking onto the site with fear and trepidation but I still have the old site up.
So do I :)
Mo
Me too.
Me too - was looking forward to the new site but pleased I'm not there yet ;D
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waited six minutes for a death search,. searching and searching .. i give up aarrr!! it's just so annoying, and frustrating ..and there nothing you can do about it ..complain and your doing wrong
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To be honest, I've never liked the FindMyPast interface. I much prefer Ancestry - particularly the keyword feature that I find much more effective than birth or residence. Not crazy about Ancestry's upgrade, but there's not a huge difference.
FindMyPast hasn't moved me over yet, but the limited search options mean I tend to only use it as a back up or for merchant navy, military & newspaper searches
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Now posted on their site
http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2014/your-handy-guide-to-findmypasts-new-search/
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>:( >:(
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Good afternoon all,
I try to do all my own research before posting on Rootschat - I think it rude to expect other people to do your work for you so try to use it only when I hit a brick wall - mainly I use Findmypast, however was horrified to find today they have changed the format and not only finding it unwieldy and clunky but it seems to be missing at least two valuable tools - the ability to find the children of a marriage by using the mother's maiden name to filter the search results, and the marriage-finder facility.
Surely I am not alone in being very disappointed in the new format?
Kincaid
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Strangely I've just used FindMyPast and hadn't noticed any change, but have a banner across the top telling me changes are coming.
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Hi, thanks for the response - that's odd -there are even some responses in their forum, which wasn't easy to find, also complaining about the layout.
Kincaid
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Strangely I've just used FindMyPast and hadn't noticed any change, but have a banner across the top telling me changes are coming.
Me too, seems they are rolling out the changes in stages, I still have the 'old' version for now.
Suey
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Hi Suey,
You could be right - I wish I had the old version - they might be testing it on us Northern peasants first (Cumbria), which is, incidentally, the home of the Lowthers (noticed they were part of your interest group).
I imagine that the complaints will come thick and fast once it goes nationwide.
Kincaid
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they might be testing it on us Northern peasants first (Cumbria)
Kincaid
No, it as spread ;D
Cheers
KHP
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Not reached Northumberland yet.
Gadget
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Hasn`t reached Lancashire either.
So many changes recently to searching databases - I have to access Familysearch through google chrome now and I am still getting to grips with Ancestrys new search. Hey ho!
Mo
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Not here in South Yorkshire either, ;D
Frank.
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Not to Birmingham yet either. ;D
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I've not got it yet in Hampshire either.
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Yes I cant use family search anymore unless I upgrade etc etc etc....... and I dont want to!?!?!?!
Its alll getting beyond me... So I stick to Ancestry and Best of all Roots. and the discs I am buying.
then when I get back to my Scottish side, I supposed that site will have bloomin well changed.
WHY so much messing around ........ it will all be like the 3d /£1 coin --- Old refurbed style that costs more....... or something like that ;D ;D ;D ;D ::) ::) yep lost the plot
xin
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Wow - the moderator has linked my original query to all the others and I can see how many are not happy with the new format, all of them really serious researchers by the number of starry icons on their profiles - - I renew my subscription to FindMyPast automatically, but recently lost all my credit cards and renewed them which meant that FindMyPast could not take my automatic subscription so I had to renew manually - I wonder if this means there is a 'cooling off' period, in which case I am going to try to get my money back . . . . Being a Scot, ye ken . . . . ha ha . . . . .don't know why I am laughing, I am spitting mad because I use FindMyPast and Ancestry etc a great deal and am really upset . . . .
Kincaid
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I have just made an attempt to cancel my subscription which was only renewed a few days ago and certainly within the last seven days. I gave them the following explanation:
"I would like to cancel my subscription and request a refund on the grounds that the site has changed so dramatically with the new format that I find it so fundamentally changed as to represent a contractual change of use when compared with what I expected to pay for. I read that you refuse refunds if a search has been made but I put it to you that an attempt at use was a necessary part of finding how fundamentally it has changed - I also refer you to the number of complaints being posted on various forums about the changes"
I am sure it won't work, but at least I have made them aware - if it works I might renew in a few months if they make substantial changes that lead to improvement
Kincaid
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Now posted on their site
http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2014/your-handy-guide-to-findmypasts-new-search/
I'm sure that they think this handy guide is useful (not really as I'm sure most people can work it out by trial and error reasonably quickly), but the example used ironically shows one of the many shortcomings of the new system. I suspect there are not many researchers here who want all the parish records bundled up in a search with all the civil registration records, it's a nonsense. If it's civil registration I want, I'd like to go to straight to them. This is just a mess. The old search wasn't particulary well presented, but at least these records were separate.
Take me straight to the records I want, don't start me off with 6 million results which I have to narrow down.
Simon
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Not reached Northumberland yet.
Gadget
Oh yes it has >:( >:(
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"I would like to cancel my subscription and request a refund on the grounds that the site has changed so dramatically with the new format that I find it so fundamentally changed as to represent a contractual change of use when compared with what I expected to pay for. I read that you refuse refunds if a search has been made but I put it to you that an attempt at use was a necessary part of finding how fundamentally it has changed - I also refer you to the number of complaints being posted on various forums about the changes"
Their Ts & Cs
Changes to the website or records: We reserve the right to make changes to the website, including the records and services we offer, without notice; however, we would not be in business very long if we suddenly took things away that you've paid for without offering you a decent replacement.
It's the last few words of the above which are relevant. Is it a decent replacement? I don't like it, and many others don't either, it's a personal view of how we do our research. 'Decent replacement' is woolly wording. Some things can deteriorate, but can still remain decent, all the records are there, you can still use a search facility to search for them, therefore I'm pretty sure it will be deemed as 'decent'. :(
Simon
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Not reached Northumberland yet.
Gadget
Oh yes it has >:( >:(
It probably has more to do with the old cookie being present more than a regional thing.
Robert...
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I am sure you are right Simon - regarding Cookies, Robert, a good explanation . . . . pity we can't keep the old ones
Kincaid
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Maybe I should have said Tyne and Wear, Jennifer ;D
Anyway - I'll keep my old cookies just as they are :-X
I'm sure it's not as bad as you all say though - Ancestry was supposed to be a disaster but I quite like it. Windows 8.1 is fine as well.
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It probably has more to do with the old cookie being present more than a regional thing.
Robert...
My understanding is that, at least originally when they started because of comments made that people couldn't access the previous site, when someone's account had been migrated, FindMyPast removed their access to the "old" site. In light of this, the fact that some of us remain on the old site is probably more down to having not been migrated yet rather than anything to do with cookies. ;)
In any case, since they started the migration process at the end of January, I've had to re-login on several occasions even though my account on the same laptop is set to stay logged in which relates to the FindMyPast cookie.
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It's not cookies - I've just tried it on my husbands computer as a 'visitor' and it's still the old version.
Also, like smudwhisk:
In any case, since they started the migration process at the end of January, I've had to re-login on several occasions even though my account on the same laptop is set to stay logged in which relates to the FindMyPast cookie.
Gadget
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Me again..re my previous entry IE and Firefox differences. They say it's the way i've set up IE! How about this then:-
W7 IE8, sign in on right of screen, overprinting when printing
XP IE8, "as above"
Vista IE9, sign in on left, overlaying enquiry screen, and overprinting
All the above (except W7), Firefox is ok
All the above on different Computers, with the W7 being a "corporate" computer over which I have no influence whatsoever, so how can that be the way I have set IE up? The only commonality is my login.
Agree with most others comments, I def. need a refund, and why oh why remove the option to filter on place of birth - it now takes me (and am I lucky doing this?) 89 "look ats" on an individual when it would have taken only 3 on the old system. By the way, if you search on a male 1911 census, it doesn't show years married, as the enumerator only enetered that for the wife?!!, but it showed it on the old system.
Another point, the "download" option saves as a .jpg not as before a .djvu, and you only "see" the option to do this by scrollong down to the bottom of the screen and it keeps disappearing.. must be the way I set up IE heh? >:(
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Another point, the "download" option saves as a .jpg not as before a .djvu, and you only "see" the option to do this by scrollong down to the bottom of the screen and it keeps disappearing.. must be the way I set up IE heh? >:(
I've not seen djvu as a save option for a number of years on FindMyPast, always been jpg in recent years thankfully as much more widely used. ;) Having changed laptops at the beginning of last year, I've had to resave some files that were in that format because none of the websites now give the option of installing the plugin, as they did previously when they used it. Even in the past, I had to try save the djvu images as jpgs to share with other people because many didn't have the plugin installed.
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Me again..re my previous entry IE and Firefox differences. They say it's the way i've set up IE! How about this then:-
W7 IE8, sign in on right of screen, overprinting when printing
XP IE8, "as above"
Vista IE9, sign in on left, overlaying enquiry screen, and overprinting
All the above (except W7), Firefox is ok
All the above on different Computers, with the W7 being a "corporate" computer over which I have no influence whatsoever, so how can that be the way I have set IE up? The only commonality is my login.
Agree with most others comments, I def. need a refund, and why oh why remove the option to filter on place of birth - it now takes me (and am I lucky doing this?) 89 "look ats" on an individual when it would have taken only 3 on the old system. By the way, if you search on a male 1911 census, it doesn't show years married, as the enumerator only enetered that for the wife?!!, but it showed it on the old system.
Another point, the "download" option saves as a .jpg not as before a .djvu, and you only "see" the option to do this by scrollong down to the bottom of the screen and it keeps disappearing.. must be the way I set up IE heh? >:(
IE8 is almost certainly your problem. Having just looked at a machine with W7 and IE8, it certainly does have these type problems with new findmypast. Unfortunately probably the same with IE9. However as you say Firefox works I'm not sure why you don't use that. IE8 is old and websites are now producing web pages that may no longer be supported, it's not just findmypast.
I wouldn't expect a marriage date search working for a male simply because it is not associated with that record. The wife is a separate record. I doubt this was available in the old search for this reason as well although someone with old search may be able to prove me wrong.
I have to agree with smudwhisk regarding djvu. I suspect there is not much demand for it anymore, in the past people probably converted to jpg after it had bee saved as djvu. Used in the right browser the new viewer is pretty good.
Simon
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I do hope that they get their parish records' searches sorted though - it would be nice to be able to put in spouse or parents' details rather than having to plough through a whole list -especially when it's a Jones.
If you go to the actual record set search form (there is one for each record set eg the Manchester Baptism Register) then you are able to put in a mother's name. Same with marriages, go to the record set search form and you are then able to put in a spouse name. Some sets for some reason don't have an option for spouse or mother etc, but this maybe something to do with how the databases bought by FindMyPast. All record sets can be accessed from the search 'all records' drop down and each has a specific search form.
The confusion arises when you first access the site and the most obvious selections take you to the more generalised search forms which only allow for wide search criteria of many collections which you then try and narrow down using filters but cannot get the exacting features that you get with the record set search forms. The general census search is a good example of not being very useful, especially as it has no 'where born' or 'other' search box.
So good luck to all those yet to be migrated, hopefully this helps
Simon
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If you go to the actual record set search form (there is one for each record set eg the Manchester Baptism Register) then you are able to put in a mother's name. Same with marriages, go to the record set search form and you are then able to put in a spouse name. Some sets for some reason don't have an option for spouse or mother etc, but this maybe something to do with how the databases bought by FindMyPast. All record sets can be accessed from the search 'all records' drop down and each has a specific search form.
Not on the old search with the Welsh Parish records, it doesn't :(
I've been with FindMyPast since it started - it only had the GRO indexes then but no one else did ;D ;D ;D
Gadget
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I have had loads of issues with the new FindMyPast..and complained..why can i not just press print to print a census of..was told to copy /paste/edit... the more complaint, they get the better..so all just keep complaing...I for one will not use then again
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Going back to the puzzle about how they are rolling out the new Search (not cookies) - could it possible be just simply in alpha order.I note that some of you who have it have surnames in the top half of the alphabet. Mine's in the bottom half - not sure about others.
Gadget Zystwry :-X
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That is what I thought earlier on Gadget ;D .... about the surnames being alphabetcial .... cause mine is way up top ......... but then again, I did also click on the heading that was up there, if I wanted to go in queue to try it ;D :D
Cheers
KHP
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I must still be in the alphabetical queue then.......
I clicked on the banner and registered my interest as soon as it appeared
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I clicked on the banner and registered my interest as soon as it appeared
So did I :D
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Hello
Need help please.
I could SCREAM regarding saved searches.With the new layout I cant find a way to delete unwanted searches.I was down to 2 pages and now seem to have 80 :'(
Thank you
omega
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Can we delete saved records? I've opened some that I don't want just to find out if they are my family so they seem to go into saved. Now have a lot don't need.
Can I delete, like we could on old site. ?
Thought this would be quicker than sending , yet another message to find my FindMyPast
2mm :) smile for you rootchatters. Not for FindMyPast
2mm
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Hi
Maybe you could get help on this thread:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=681106.0
Gadget
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Hello Gadget
Thank-you.There is a lot to read on the Thread.
I, like most people HATE change.
Will let people if I have any success
omega
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Hi Omega,
Just had a look at the new layout.
On my "saved searches" page there are two blue buttons: "sort" and "delete records".
These are after the two boxes on the left hand side where it says: date first viewed / descending
where you can choose in which order you view the records.
Hope this helps a little.
Viv
Topics merged.
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That is what I thought earlier on Gadget ;D .... about the surnames being alphabetcial .... cause mine is way up top ......... but then again, I did also click on the heading that was up there, if I wanted to go in queue to try it ;D :D
Cheers
KHP
I'm at the end of the alphabet and used to being at the back of the class, and I was moved over last week.
Any more theories?
Simon
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Maybe they're leaving the nice polite females till last!
:-X ;D ;D ;D
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Grumpy old men first then :) I think we've cracked it.
Simon
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what about grumpy middle aged women!
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That rules me out - I'm too old to be middle aged ;D
(Think I'll start playing the dear little old lady part now :-X )
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Alright, grumpies of any age or gender then.
Although there should be a warning to those who have yet to be migrated that they may be rapidly propelled into the world of the grumpy normally only acheived via the normal route of gradual aging.
Simon
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Alright, grumpies of any age or gender then.
Although there should be a warning to those who have yet to be migrated that they may be rapidly propelled into the world of the grumpy normally only acheived via the normal route of gradual aging.
Simon
Ye gods and little fishes :o, it doesn't take much to make me grumpy nowadays so I may as well go and lock myself in a dark room and chuck away the key now!
Suey, (dreading the migration) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared003.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
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Hello
Need help please.
I could SCREAM regarding saved searches.With the new layout I cant find a way to delete unwanted searches.I was down to 2 pages and now seem to have 80 :'(
Thank you
omega
After all that effort we made before to clear them Omega and now it is even worse :'(
ADDED I am at the end of the alphabet too and I am on new search ::)
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Topics have been merged - maybe this will help:
Hi Omega,
Just had a look at the new layout.
On my "saved searches" page there are two blue buttons: "sort" and "delete records".
These are after the two boxes on the left hand side where it says: date first viewed / descending
where you can choose in which order you view the records.
Hope this helps a little.
Viv
Topics merged.
[/quote]
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Hi Viv
It isn't the 'Saved Searches' that is the problem its the 'My records' which save every look up you do and used to give you the option to delete them. Like Omega I only had under 10 pages prior to the New FindMyPast now I have them in the 100's.
Rosie
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Hi Rosie,
I've got "my saved records" which save every look up and I have a "delete" button
and I only had 4 pages and still only have 4 pages.....
Maybe they like me :)
Viv
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Is it possible to do a snip of your delete button location and put it up so the others can see, please, Blodwen. :)
I just have the old version :(
(and 510 pages of them :-[ )
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Hi Gadget
Maybe I have the old version too !!
I'll try :)
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I've just checked mine and I'm still on the old version. It is possible to delete records but only a page at a time and with over 500 pages that will take ages. It also apears to save it everytime I look at something, so if I check the record 3 times it saves it 3 times.
It seems a silly system, as if there is no way of sorting apart from by the date you looked it up, I can't see the point. At least if you could sort alphabetically that would help. Over half of the records that it has saved are of no further interest to me, as they are from look ups etc. I would prefer to be given the option to save the record, not have it happen automatically.
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This is what I have, Blodwen
Agree, Jan, I'd have to go through everyone ::) :-X
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Try a third time - but yes - I have the old version too. Sorry for the confusion folks. Hadn't been on FindMyPast for ages and thought they had already done the update :-\
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We hope you like it!
There doesn't appear to be any way to tell them I don't like their saved records page and I want to opt out. I wonder how many people actually use it as it is much quicker to search again rather than plough through pages and pages.
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Hello Blodwen & Rosie
I did a lengthly reply & must have pushed a wrong button :'(
I cant find anywhere to delete unwanted searches.Will give it a few days then phone them
omega
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Hello Blodwen & Rosie
I did a lengthly reply & must have pushed a wrong button :'(
I cant find anywhere to delete unwanted searches.Will give it a few days then phone them
omega
Click the little square next to date first viewed and then click delete, that will remove a page of the searches. As we've said though, you have to do it a page at a time, so if you have lots of pages it could take hours. There needs to be a delete all button or an option not to save in the first place. I messaged them on FB and got the reply that they would pass my suggestion on. If you get a better answer if you phone them, it would be interesting to hear what they say.
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I am on new version and haven't got a square next to date first viewed :-\
Rosie
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Maybe they're leaving the nice polite females till last!
:-X ;D ;D ;D
I'm only going to whisper this incase they hear me,but I'm still on the old version.
Still not coping with the new Ancestry and new Windows 7 computer both at the same time.
I can see I'm going to be even grumpier soon :'(
Carol
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Same here Rosie :-X
omega
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Maybe they're leaving the nice polite females till last!
:-X ;D ;D ;D
I'm only going to whisper this incase they hear me,but I'm still on the old version.
Still not coping with the new Ancestry and new Windows 7 computer both at the same time.
I can see I'm going to be even grumpier soon :'(
Carol
I had the benefit of always using Ancestry new version, I am not saying I'm good at it though but at least it's one less thing to fathom out. I have also just got a new Windows 8.1 computer so know what you're going through. :)
I used to prefer FindMyPast but if I had to make the choice to get rid of one it would probably go - I would have axed Ancestry before the new FindMyPast came into being.
Omega - I am glad it's not just me ;D
Rosie
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Seems we're in the same boat Rosie.I too have Windows 8.1,HATE IT.
Daughter NO1 & S-I-L don't like either,so not an age thing
Think I`ll try getting out the other side of the Bed tomorrow :'( :'( :'(
Grumpy omega
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I'm still on the old search and they have stopped me searching yet again as they are too busy!!
I'm dreading the new version.
I can't find things on Ancestry which used to be there and Familysearch is not as useful anymore.
I used to love this hobby, now it's spoilt!!
rayard.
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I'm at the end of the alphabet and used to being at the back of the class, and I was moved over last week.
Any more theories?
I used to be at the front of the class before I got married, now I'm at the end of the alphabet, but I've still got the old version of FindMyPast.
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Maybe they're leaving the nice polite females till last!
:-X ;D ;D ;D
That's obviously the answer Gadget. ;)
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In answer to Reply #81
I'm at the end of the alphabet and used to being at the back of the class, and I was moved over last week.
Any more theories?
Simon
No, my crystal ball is overloaded ;D
Cheers
KHP
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It has caught up with me ???
Now understand what the problem is..... uughh
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Mmm
A message from the CEO today. (see below- first image). When I click on it, I get the message shown in my second image ::)
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I'm still on the old version and have the banner asking if I want to be one of the first to try the new site. It would be interesting to know what criteria they've used to decide when to change people.
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Just discovered that today was the day for me :o
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i,v been on the new FindMyPast, for about 3 weeks now, and i have barely used it, can not find anything...i,m turning to family org to search..and finding them..it,s a waste of time and money..will never uses it again, it is so disappointing..what have they done?
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Hi
Please...can someone tell me how to download an image of a newspaper article from the new FindMyPast? ???
Coco
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Good morning all,
Well, judging by the amount of unhappiness I can see I was not the only one whose family research has come to a shuddering halt - Truth is I finished my family history quite some time ago, and I use FindMyPast for a slightly different reason - since my 20s I have collected old books, and now in my September years, being curious about the people who originally owned my books, and many of the books bearing bookplates or inscriptions with the names of the original owners, I research them and write a short biography which I place in the individual books. I like to think that this acts as a small memorial to the original owner and increases the interest value of the book so hat when I am gone and my books find other homes, they will be the more appreciated.
A weird hobby, I know . . . . but then, I was a strange child . . . ha ha
Keep up the complaining . .
Kincaid
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I've just received my e-mail, even though I don't have a subscription but have a few credits left. WOW - IT IS SO EASY to use compared to the new Search on Ancestry. If they had Yorkshire records I would subscribe immediately. The filters work instantaneously, there is no "primary allegiance" to American records, which is always a bonus for me as I have no connections in America at all. Admittedly I haven't tried to save or download anything, but it all looks good to me.
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Hi
Please...can someone tell me how to download an image of a newspaper article from the new FindMyPast? ???
Coco
I opened up the image which showed a full page, ensured that the article I was interested in was on full view on my screen. I then right clicked image and 'saved as' it came over perfectly.
Rosie
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Hi
Please...can someone tell me how to download an image of a newspaper article from the new FindMyPast? ???
Coco
Coco,
You can't download newspaper images. This was the case with the old search as well I believe (although I have only been away from the old esearch for just over a week so I may have a cloudy memory). The only way to save any article you want is to use a snipping tool, or take a screen print. This is ok for small articles but for larger ones and ones that go from the bottom of one column to the top of the next you have to snip several bits, and then, if you then want them as one jpg file, you then have to 'stitch' them together using an image program. The British Newspaper Archive (from where FindMyPast get the newspapers) allows a PDF down load, but that's another pay site.
Simon
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Rosie,
Is this on old or new search? I've tried that on new search but it didn't work.
Simon
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You can't download newspaper images. This was the case with the old search as well I believe
Simon
Oh yes you can - see attached snip.
And just to let you know that I went in to look at the newspapers to check printing options for Coco. Used the old search to get to newspapers and clicked home after said search and guess what ;D ;D ;D
It looks OK to me - but then, I'm a nice polite helpful female.
;D ;D ;D
-
???
and as I was so polite, I went back in and I'm back to the old search ???
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I am also still thankfully on the old search. To get a better resolution I often do a screen print of just the section I need from the Newspaper, paste it into Word and crop it to just the area I want
Kay
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Oh yes you can - see attached snip.
And just to let you know that I went in to look at the newspapers to check printing options for Coco. Used the old search to get to newspapers and clicked home after said search and guess what ;D ;D ;D
It looks OK to me - but then, I'm a nice polite helpful female.
;D ;D ;D
I did say may memory may have faded (looks like I was right).
I'm looking at new search and I have no download button or a save button. However I am using an old laptop with IE8 which may or may not be the problem. When trying to save a newspaper image last week on a windows 8 machine and firefox, I had to fiddle around and snip an article because there appeared no other way. Maybe it's a minor bug that will be or may already have been fixed.
Simon
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Thank you to the chatters who have replied to my downloading query.
Never had any problems saving newspaper articles before!
Will have to play around with it some more...don't recall seeing a download image tab.
Coco
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Will have to play around with it some more...don't recall seeing a download image tab.
Coco
Don't think there is one Coco but they can still be saved by the right click or screen print method.
It looks as though download is still available for original images in Parish Records but I've only been on the new search for a day so I'm a newbie :)
So far I seem to be finding results and did find a death on FindMyPast which I couldn't on Ancestry last night :)
Quite like the search filters myself.
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Seems we're in the same boat Rosie.I too have Windows 8.1,HATE IT.
Daughter NO1 & S-I-L don't like either,so not an age thing
Think I`ll try getting out the other side of the Bed tomorrow :'( :'( :'(
Grumpy omega
I hated Windows 8 so much, I switched to an Apple iMac. Love It!!!! Life has become so much easier now.
You know, I didn't even know there was an old Ancestry search until I saw all the complaints about moving across to the new one. ::) I wish I'd had the chance to use the old one as I've never really fancied the new search interface. I've always hated all the extra "hits" that had nothing to do with my search criteria.
I've found the new FindMyPast search a bit of a struggle, but I find if I keep to the "Search all records" (via the link at the bottom of the home page) and use the filters, it isn't too bad.
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Rosie,
Is this on old or new search? I've tried that on new search but it didn't work.
Simon
New search Simon :)
Rosie
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Rosie,
I have new search, so now a bit confused. When I have opened the image in both Firefox and IE, the newspaper is shown in the new image viewer. Right click does not give the option to 'save as' because the image isn't displayed on the web page as a picture file (jpg) and therefore there is nothing that can be selected. What format have you managed to save the picture?
Simon
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I am using google chrome on Windows 8.1 would that make a difference :-\
Rosie
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Just tried saving a newspaper image for the first time on new FindMyPast and the right click only worked for me if Fullscreen was selected as Rosie99 mentioned
Kay
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Hi again
Have successfully used the Snipping Tool to capture the newspaper article.
The options others have mentioned weren't available on my 'right click' menu.
Wonder why they don't have a download image icon as on the parish register images. ::)
Coco
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Has anyone had any luck with an address search on the censuses?
I found the instructions on the method but every search I try comes up with zero results.
These are all searches that I previously know produced results, so I think the future looks bleak. :'(
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Good morning all . . . just a note to the respondent who switched to AppleMacs . . . well done . . have used nothing else for 20 years - it is so good to be practically virus free and have a fully integrated platformall in which every application is designed to work in harmony . . . a small flickering light in the gloom . . Steve Jobs is (was) a God . . . ha ha
Kincaid
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Has anyone had any luck with an address search on the censuses?
I found the instructions on the method but every search I try comes up with zero results.
These are all searches that I previously know produced results, so I think the future looks bleak. :'(
Grrrrr......sort of worked it out now but it's not good. The specific address I was checking had a bizarre word entered after the street and that was messing up the subsequent results.
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Hello All
I emailed FindMyPast yesterday morning regarding how to delete unwanted " My Records " :'( :'( :'(
Will let you know outcome.
omega
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i found a result on a census on family org..so i had all the information i needed, to search on FindMyPast, NO RESULT!!!!..got my friend to search on Ancestry..RESULT!!
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Isn't that the case though, sometimes it isn't on FindMyPast/Ancestry and vice versa?
Cheers
KHP
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Hello All
I emailed FindMyPast yesterday morning regarding how to delete unwanted " My Records " :'( :'( :'(
Will let you know outcome.
omega
Thank you. I hope they don't want us to do it one at a time as before ::)
Rosie
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i found a result on a census on family org..so i had all the information i needed, to search on FindMyPast, NO RESULT!!!!..got my friend to search on Ancestry..RESULT!!
I agree with KHP - that has always been the case. I've often found something on FindMyPast that I couldn't find on Ancestry or vice versa, or something on The Genealogist that I couldn't find on the other two. All have their strengths and weaknesses.
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Hello All
I emailed FindMyPast yesterday morning regarding how to delete unwanted " My Records " :'( :'( :'(
Will let you know outcome.
omega
Thank you. I hope they don't want us to do it one at a time as before ::)
Rosie
I can't see how else we can do them - - there are a few on each page that I would want to keep and some I want to get rid of.
How would they sort them - not by date; or page; or record type; or collection. It would be virtually impossible to do anything other than one by one.
If someone can come up with a suitable algorithm, then I'm sure FindMyPast would be interested.
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If this works out, it will be worth all the present problems:
"DC Thomson Family History has formed a new partnership with The National Archives (TNA) to digitise the 1939 National Enumeration Register and make the scans available on findmypast within the next two years."
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0yoo/
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It was on another thread, yesterday, Jan - will take 2 or more years.
Added - here we are:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=626501.msg5265335#msg5265335
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Thanks Gadget, I missed that other thread. I'm still on the old FindMyPast ;D ;D ;D
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I'm still on the old FindMyPast ;D ;D ;D
So am I - I assume that you are a nice polite female, as well ;D
The 1939 will be interesting - first time my sister wll appear (although she has been spotted on a London electoral roll and phone book). M & D were on the 1911 so.............................. I don't think I'll ever appear apart from BMD, baptism, electoral registers and notoriety ;D
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old FindMyPast = Female Modest Polite. ;D ;D ;D
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Hello All
I emailed FindMyPast yesterday morning regarding how to delete unwanted " My Records " :'( :'( :'(
Will let you know outcome.
omega
Thank you. I hope they don't want us to do it one at a time as before ::)
Rosie
I can't see how else we can do them - - there are a few on each page that I would want to keep and some I want to get rid of.
How would they sort them - not by date; or page; or record type; or collection. It would be virtually impossible to do anything other than one by one.
If someone can come up with a suitable algorithm, then I'm sure FindMyPast would be interested.
You are right of course Gadget ;D ;D
I think that I am just going to completely ignore them. I had 7/8 pages of maybe's and as this is the 2nd time FindMyPast have just put everything we have ever searched as 'my records' I will just save to my computer in future if I feel it's necessary. It was a pain anyway having to clear what I didn't want saved every day, it would make more sense if it just saved what we asked it to.
Rosie
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old FindMyPast = Female Modest Polite. ;D ;D ;D
Groom, If old FindMyPast was female the new FindMyPast must be male ;D
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old FindMyPast = Female Modest Polite. ;D ;D ;D
Groom, If old FindMyPast was female the new FindMyPast must be male ;D
Modesty and Politeness prevents me from interpreting :-X ;D
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Just exchanged emails with FindMyPast re the "new" site with its "improved" features. They confirmed that one improvement is that the Lincolnshire collection ie ALL the parish registers are no longer available....and won't be for the forseeable future. In fact there is now no "browse facility" at all on the image data sets.
I also can't get the Newspapers section to show images. That is both the things I use FindMyPast for most- and you cannot get burial indexes etc to search by parishes ie show in results. Bloomin useless site for me now. Anyone else as furious as me? I consider it a con, I have paid for this!
Anyway, rant. Yesterday as a result of above, I tried to change my account details so as not to auto-renew and found I could not access the pages -"technical" and "temporary" ha ha. Couldn't even log-off, which is ironic, as upto yesterday I was really cross about being randomly logged off all the time!
I've emailed demanding a refund.................
ho hum
-
topics merged
-
alunno-a
I never found the Lincs records on FindMyPast easy to search anyway. I much prefer Lincstothepast.com where at least you can move on to the next page without having to keep going back to the original list. Not only that the Lincs records on FindMyPast were never in order.
Lizzie
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Oh dear - just been changed to new site. I was still on the old one this morning. I've done a search on Census and it wasn't too bad, but then I knew the person I was looking for was on the 1901 census.
-
I've been on Facebook to see all the complaints on there, and amidst them all I found a hint of a better way to search.
Click on Search Records and at the bottom of the list is List All UK Records. Click on that and you get a page with lost of different headings, Birth, Marriage, Death and parish records is one heading and under that are listed Births and Baptisms, Churches and Religion, Deaths and Burials, Marriages, Parish Record Browse and Wills and Probate. Mind you, when I searched under Wills and Probate for my 2 x g.grandmother's will (which I knew was on FindMyPast) the results brought up not only the will but also the 1851 and 1861 census. Not sure why, or why it didn't show the 1841 census.
Try it and see what you think - not as good as the old FindMyPast though but unless they revert to the old site, this is how I'll search until my sub runs out in October. I've already unticked auto renew so they can't just take money for a new sub.
Lizzie
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Hello All
I emailed FindMyPast yesterday morning regarding how to delete unwanted " My Records " :'( :'( :'(
Will let you know outcome.
omega
one at a time always took for ever, just left them to long, so why can't we have at end of each full saved page" little boxes next to entry with the old X " , with 1 option at bottom of page delete all old kisses not wanted, or words to that effect.
Do this with my unwanted e mails, its soooooooooooo easy, perhaps that's why F M P wouldn't even consider it
2mm
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I've been on Facebook to see all the complaints on there, and amidst them all I found a hint of a better way to search.
Click on Search Records and at the bottom of the list is List All UK Records. Click on that and you get a page with lost of different headings, Birth, Marriage, Death and parish records is one heading and under that are listed Births and Baptisms, Churches and Religion, Deaths and Burials, Marriages, Parish Record Browse and Wills and Probate. Mind you, when I searched under Wills and Probate for my 2 x g.grandmother's will (which I knew was on FindMyPast) the results brought up not only the will but also the 1851 and 1861 census. Not sure why, or why it didn't show the 1841 census.
Try it and see what you think - not as good as the old FindMyPast though but unless they revert to the old site, this is how I'll search
Lizzie
That's a brilliant tip Lizzie.....thank you so much ;D
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Lizzie
I think there are quite a few cases where you select a record set and you get results from other record sets after a search. This is really a case that thzey have released the new site before it has been properly tested. If I were to release software like this at work, without proper testing, I wouldn't last long in the job. There appears to be no involvement of those who were going to be using this site to get their views before they produced such an unfriendly search engine.
Simon
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I think there are quite a few cases where you select a record set and you get results from other record sets after a search.
It's quite funny really in light of all the complaints about ancestry new search, but if you search a single data set on ancestry, you still get results from just that data set. For once ancestry currently wins on that. ;)
There appears to be no involvement of those who were going to be using this site to get their views before they produced such an unfriendly search engine.
I believe they are claiming a 1,000 subscribers test run the new website and provided positive feedback. However, I've not seen any comments from anyone suggesting they were one of these people which does make you think FindMyPast are just trying to justify the change anyway possible. :-\
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Hampshire Lass - Glad to be of service, it wasn't my tip but I thought it worth passing on.
Lizzie
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I don't understand :-\
If I just enter the surname Archbell (no other information at all) from the home page, then I get a number of results - OK it's an unusual surname :o - and the categories are shown in the filters when the results appear. ;D However, if I then chose the filter from the list, I only get those results. And if I change the filter parameters, then I get different results. And even more importantly from my point of view I only get English results. What more do you want? Or have I lost the plot completely :-X
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Perhaps the FindMyPast filters are working for some people properly but not others?
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Or have I lost the plot completely :-X
Not at all BumbleB.
The problems are not with the general search forms where you reduce your 'hits' by applying more filters on successive searches which is where you have the results that you expect. The problems are with the individual search forms that you get to by selecting 'all search records' and subsequently the specific search set. eg If I select 'all search records' then 'births and baptisms' then the 'Parish marriages 1538-2005' set, put a name in to search, it brings up results from all sorts of sets (rate books, deaths and burial, censuses etc), clearly a fault in the system. If you look at the marriage record collection for instance, it lists sets for burials and baptisms and is a bit of a mess and shouldn't have been unleashed on the subscribers in this state.
Simon
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I see what you mean - but if, instead of "Search All Records", you choose "Life Events" and then choose "Births and Baptisms" you only get results for that section. In the same way you will only get results for "Wills and Probate" if you specify from the drop-down menu under Life Events.
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Update regarding " My Records "
FindMyPast are getting a lot of feed back.It seems there are plenty of people unhappy not being able to delete unwanted searches & it has been passed on to the Technical Team.Time will tell if anything is done.I had also told them I don't like New Setup :'( :'( :'(
omega
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Thank you for the update omega
Rosie
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Good Moaning Rosie :)
Your welcome
I really hate the new FindMyPast format :'(Why couldn't they leave as it was ?
omega
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Thanks for letting us know omega :)
I've also found that you can't view the images of original parish records with IE but they are working on it. You can with Google chrome apparently.
It seems to have good points and bad points and like all changes we have to learn how to navigate.
It surprises me that they haven't corrected everything before we get to use it but perhaps they needed feedback ::) :)
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It seems to have good points and bad points and like all changes we have to learn how to navigate.
It surprises me that they haven't corrected everything before we get to use it but perhaps they needed feedback ::) :)
If you have a look here at the second comment which is for "Improve features to bring in line with the old site" and more specifically the second paragraph of the comment, they claim they had a lot of feedback prior to launching the site - http://www.rootschat.com/links/0yp3/. Although who exactly they got to give feedback remains to be seen as haven't not seen anybody suggest they did this. ::)
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The filtering system when you search all is what drove me crazy on FindMyPast.com.au and was one of the reasons I decided to keep my subscription with FindMyPast.co.uk and not switch as FindMyPast kept urging me to do. ::) :(
Dee :)
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I see what you mean - but if, instead of "Search All Records", you choose "Life Events" and then choose "Births and Baptisms" you only get results for that section. In the same way you will only get results for "Wills and Probate" if you specify from the drop-down menu under Life Events.
Except when I searched like that under Wills and Probate, I not only got my 2 x g.grandmother's will, I also got the 1851 and 1861 census where she appeared. ::)
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I see what you mean - but if, instead of "Search All Records", you choose "Life Events" and then choose "Births and Baptisms" you only get results for that section. In the same way you will only get results for "Wills and Probate" if you specify from the drop-down menu under Life Events.
Yes you are right for this particular example there is an alternative you can use, and it works :) :).
But there are many many examples where going to a specific set under 'search all records' which have been implemented wrongly. We, as paying subscribers, shouldn't have to look for alternative ways if one way of searching has been implemented wrongly.
There appear to be faults in the searches everywhere. I selected 'Live events', 'Births and Baptisms' as you did, and then browsed the record sets available. You would have thought by selecting 'Births and baptisms' that you would be presented with a selection of differet birth and baptism sets, but it gives you a selection of all sorts (including marriages and burials etc). I selected Warwickshire burials to see what would happen. You get no records at all, but why is it there in the first place under births and baptisms.
The record set presentation appears to be a mess as it stands whether using the new top level searches and applying filters, or trying to go directly to a particular set. I'm still of the opinion that it shouldn't have been released in this state.
Simon
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Has anyone tried the individual census search pages?
On first view it looks good. There are search boxes for everything (addresses have been dicsussed previously here).
Unfortunately you are limited to the dreaded filters in many cases. There are search boxes for Birth Town (on some years it is Birth city), and Birth Place. These have preset filters that you are forced to use. The filters include every single entry made in the Where Born section of the census as entered by the enumerator and of course includes transcription error. I haven't worked out why there are 2 boxes, although the Birth place seems to include non UK places, but how they have been split remains a mystery.
I tried an example on the 1901 census for people I knew who were born in Warwick. You type Warwick in the search box and it brings up the first 8 places that have the word warwick in them. Not what I want so you then have to select Browse Birth Town. Opens up filter box, type in Warwick. This gives you 15 names with Warwick in which you have to scroll down, then select more for the next 15 and so on. Warwick was 60th in the list. This is supposed to be a simple way of entering a birth place. However Warwick may have been entered as Warwick town, Warwick City, At warwick, Borough of Warwick, Twarwick etc, so just setting the filter to warwick doesn't find anyone born in these as well and you have to somehow now this and select them in the filters. All I really want to have is a search box that I can type letters and wild cards, but you can't do this.
The only alternative is to use the optional keywords field, although I see this is not available on the 1901 census form (I despair :()
Incidently in the 1901 census the only person born in the little known town of 'Not Known (try Warwick)' was Henry Packer, if the filter was set to just Warwick, it doesn't find him.
Aren't a considerable number of searches based around birth place? If so it's not easy.
Simon
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My problem is with getting a legible cutting from newspapers...I use the snipping tool... but if the article is in a long column and I snip it from the downloaded page then I can't read it when I zoom in....it's okay if the article is a short one and I snip it from the small screen view....answers on a postcard please :P ;D
Carl
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Hi Carl ::) Carole ;D
Have you tried screen save and then saving it to your photo gallery and then cropping the image?
The rest of the postcard reads " having a lovely time, wish you were here" :-*
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Hi HL....I haven't tried that...I have been playing about trying to get the best resolution...the images are PNG but changing to Jpeg makes it smaller...I am "Saving as" to my pictures...cut and paste into word doesn't seem any better...it all seems a bit hit and miss at the moment :-\
Thanks for the postcard ;D
Carol aka Carl
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Zoom in and snip in bits. Here’s a way that only requires windows snipping tool and the free image editor Irfanview (a small and easy download). I’ve just tried it on an article in a newspaper column and it is effective and gives a clear image. It can be a bit of work with a long article.
Step1 : Open up the newspaper you want and zoom in at the start of the article. On my screen it was about 4 columns wide but you could zoom in closer.
Step 2 : With Windows snipping tool select as much of the article as you can with the rectangular snip, the width of the column and end it between 2 lines of text (I got about 35 lines). In snipping tool select edit then copy.
Step 3 : Open Irfanview, and select edit Paste. The snipped bit will appear.
Step 4 : Go back to newspaper, and keeping the same zoom level get the next part of the article on screen. Select the next 35 lines and snip. In the snipping tool select Edit Copy
Step 5 : Go back to Irfanview and select Edit/Paste special/To Bottom. The second snipped bit will be attached to the first and looks like a seamless article
Step : 4 Keep doing this until you have the full article, then save as JPG.
Alternatively as you have Word, you could do the snipping in bits as above but instead of pasting it to Irfanview paste it into word, and then move the bits underneath each other.
Of course the best way would be if FindMyPast put the save button back. :)
Simon
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Bless you Simon for taking the trouble to guide me through it....I'll need to lie down in a darkened room now ;D ;D ;D...or...as the sun is over the yard arm...I'll give in and just have a glass of the red stuff ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for your help.
Carol
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If FindMyPast knows that there is a 'newspaper download' issue, I'm sure they will correct it in the fullness of time.
Yes, I know it's pain in the meantime, but I'm sure they will resoleve the issues as and when they can.
It is not in their best interests to have this many disgruntled users whose subs will be due for renewal at some point in time.
I'm still on the old system so can't recreate the new problem at the moment.
Dawn
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Dawn - the problem is that FindMyPast should not have moved everyone on to the new FindMyPast site before it was working properly. It's very shortsighted to just release it and then when everyone complains say that they will resolve the problem or put it right, or bring back such and such. What they need to do is put everyone back on the old system until they get the new one right. Do you know anyone who has tested it? Has anyone on here tested the new system. FindMyPast have said that they had 1000 regular users testing the new system before release, but I've yet to hear of anyone who was one of the 1000.
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I used to frequently use the advanced search facility in a particular census year to restrict the search to a specific Registration District, which was extremely useful. Does anyone know if this facility still exists?
Kay
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Kay,
Yes you can. The individual search forms for each year are available under the 'search all records' from the Search Record Tab.
It is not available under the general search all censuses form, where the search selections are limited to where, other household member and address.
Simon
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Brilliant! Many thanks. I only moved across on Friday and it takes a bit of getting used to!
Kay
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Hi All,
I logged on today to find that I have been 'shifted' to the new format. I wanted to search the census records and found that not only did I not like the new format (bad luck for me), but after searching for my person and selecting the correct one from the list presented, I could no longer view the transcript for the household. I can only view the transcript for the person I selected. Does anyone know if the transcript for the household is still available?
In addition, because my person could not be found in the 1891 census, I tried to search for the 1881 address in 1891 (something I could do on the old format) to see who was living there and whether it was my person. However, that facility also seems to have been removed as I could not do it. There is a box for an address but I think that is assuming you have already entered a name but if I tried to search the address without a name, I couldn't get it to work.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but on face value, the 'improvements' they have made to this site seem to have removed some of the features I used. I think Ancestry may well profit from FindMyPast's improvements.
Regards Eliza.
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Every day I log on with bated breath to see if I've been changed over. I'm trying to be as good and as polite as I can and so far it is working - I'm still on the old site.
Do they let you know by e-mail that you are being switched, or do they just do it?
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Hi Jan....I had it saved as a short cut and there was a banner at the top telling me the new version was on it's way...and one day I opened it to find it changed ::)
Carol
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Same here!!
I now find I cannot access the new FindMyPast at all. It seems it won't work with my Internet Explorer set-up. I have emailed FindMyPast asking for refund and NOT to auto-renew ( cannot now sign in to cancel this myself!!) but they havent responded.
What an appalling con trick.
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Same thing happened with me, Jan. One day it was the old system, then suddenly it was the new set up.
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I have been on the new FindMyPast, for about a month, and have complained, to there support team. with issues, and problems, with the new format...i found there repose to my issues, VERY PATRONIZING .
you cannot have a refund, because you have accessed the site...I for one will not be renewing my subs
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From their Terms & Conditions
Cancellation and your right to a refund: If you buy a subscription or PayAsYouGo credits, you can contact us and cancel within seven days of receipt of our confirmation email and we will happily give you a full refund as long as you have not viewed any records. Sorry that we're strict about this, but you can use a Free Trial to see what the service is like before you decide to buy.
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I had FindMyPast bookmarked and "keep me logged in" checked. But now my bookmark takes me to the new version and I'm not logged in anymore. When I try and log in, I always get a message saying "Internet explorer cannot display this page". I have emailed FindMyPast support a few days ago - but no response from them. I use IE 9. I know there are newer versions available and I have looked into upgrading but find they're not compatible with Windows Vista. So now I am stuck paying a subscription for a service I can't use and not able to log in and stop my subscription from being automatically renewed.
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I had FindMyPast bookmarked and "keep me logged in" checked. But now my bookmark takes me to the new version and I'm not logged in anymore. When I try and log in, I always get a message saying "Internet explorer cannot display this page". I have emailed FindMyPast support a few days ago - but no response from them. I use IE 9. I know there are newer versions available and I have looked into upgrading but find they're not compatible with Windows Vista. So now I am stuck paying a subscription for a service I can't use and not able to log in and stop my subscription from being automatically renewed.
Why not just download another browser, such as Chrome or Firefox, and use that to log in to FindMyPast? You can have as many different browsers as you like on the computer.
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LizzieL.....
That is exactly the problem I have, or so it appears. For some reason my Vista set up has real problems with Chrome and Firefox too- so that is not an option. But anyway it is not the point- why change the site so some can't use their subscription, without any forwarning or advice, and no response when you contact them??
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In addition, because my person could not be found in the 1891 census, I tried to search for the 1881 address in 1891 (something I could do on the old format) to see who was living there and whether it was my person. However, that facility also seems to have been removed as I could not do it. There is a box for an address but I think that is assuming you have already entered a name but if I tried to search the address without a name, I couldn't get it to work.
Regards Eliza.
Eliza,
You are able to put in an address without a name. Getting it to work as you want is an entirely different matter.
Did you just try to type an address into the 'Street name' box? Just typing the name in doesn't work as it only allows you to select the preset set of street names/roadnames etc as a filter. You have to select 'Browse street' and then after starting to type the name of your street/road etc and after some scrolling through names you don't want, you may find the one you do want. Once selected it does give you all the names of everyone in the street of that name. You have to set filters for Town name or city name in the other boxes, again using the same method to narrow it down, but getting it down to house number seems impossible.
Apart from being a tedious way of setting up the search form, the major flaw is that you have to know the exact way that the names were entered by the enumerator. Was it Street or St, Crescent or Cres etc. It's the same for all the filters.
Try it and start tearing you hair out. :) :) :)
Simon (now bald)
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I've just tried to find someone on a census, who I know is listed, but after a couple of goes, I just gave up and went to Ancestry. I put in the same info, name and year of birth and Ancestry came up with 1851, 1861 and 1871 census listings, as well as many others for people with the same name but my man was listed first.
I have unticked auto renew and unless things alter drastically, I certainly am leaving FindMyPast. Very sad, as I always found it the better site to use.
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I've just e.mailed FindMyPast asking if they will consider not automatically 'migrating' over those members who are still using the old format at least until the problems and concerns of those members who have been are resolved. Lets see if we get a reply.
Suey
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Thanks for the pointers Locksmith, I've had a go and could not find the family I want, but don't really know if that's because they just weren't there or because of the new FindMyPast.
You are right, it's a very tedious method of trying to find something compared to the old method.
It is very hard to understand why FindMyPast would expose itself to the wrath of its customers by switching to the new format before it is foolproof and also put itself in the position of encouraging people to switch to Ancestry or not renew their subs.
It's not too often that one finds such a shambles made of something which was in essence, although it still had its glitches, a very useful site. The glitches in the old site I could live with, but the new one is a maze which is hard to navigate.
Regards Eliza.
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My annual subscription expires on 13th April so I chose to migrate to the new site to check it out and I'm so glad that I did. There's no way I'm renewing my subs - the new site is a complete disaster area.
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Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh
I've just had an e-mail welcoming me to the new FindMyPast - dare I click on my quick link.
Is it an early April fool, I ask ;D
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I'm obviously still being good. ;D ;D ;D
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I think they forgot to move me - I've just popped in and it's still the old one :-X
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The glitches in the old site I could live with, but the new one is a maze which is hard to navigate.
Regards Eliza.
It's even worse than that. If it was just a maze that is hard to navigate, we could get used to new ways of navigating through it - we're all intelligent people! There are so many things that you could do on the old site that you just can't do now. I used to subscribe to Ancestry and FindMyPast because some searches worked much better on FindMyPast but that is no longer true and there's no point now in subscribing to both. Their feedback forum and their Facebook site make for amazing reading at the moment!
Mike
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Ugh. I was doing so well at hanging on to the old site, then just now made the mistake of logging in to update account details (new email address and cancel auto-renew) and it's tipped me into the New Regime which I now cannot escape.
For those still enjoying Old FindMyPast, my advice is to leave well alone, let your cookies take you there and don't fiddle with your account!
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Their feedback forum and their Facebook site make for amazing reading at the moment!
Just been reading the FB site - I couldn't help feeling sorry for the people from FindMyPast who have been told to answer all the complaints on there. I doubt if they have had anything to do with the new site, yet they have to face the flack. It looks as if they have been given stock replies and just been told to alter the wording slightly. Their answers all seem to be along the line of "We are listening to your feedback and are working hard to improve things." No mention of how or when though.
Thanks for that advice avm - I never log out, so am keeping my fingers crossed. It would make sense to me that as they are getting so many complaints they stopped moving people over until it was fixed. I wonder why they have had to do it like that anyway, when Ancestry were just able to switch off their old search and update the site?
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Surely the men (it can't possibly have been women who caused this mess ::) ) at the top must have read some of what is on Facebook, not to mention their own site and know that they are in danger of losing hundreds of subscribers. Obviously, they don't care, because there'll always be more people signing up who've never known how good the old site was.
The same company owns Scotlandspeople, I hope they don't go and mess with that site too.
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??? They've got me now even though I was logged in, they asked me to re-enter my User name/E mail address and password, now to see what everyone has been concerned with!
Keyboard86
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The same company owns Scotlandspeople, I hope they don't go and mess with that site too.
They don't own ScotlandsPeople. ScotlandsPeople is a Scottish Government website that BrightSolid are contracted to operate on the Governments behalf.
Andy
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??? They've got me now even though I was logged in, they asked me to re-enter my User name/E mail address and password, now to see what everyone has been concerned with!
Keyboard86
Same has just happened to me. Yesterday evening (up to 8pm when I stopped) I was still on the old site, this morning selected the URL in my IE address cache and found they'd managed to log me out (definitely didn't logout last night) and on logging back in, I'm presented with the new site. :-\ Just be interesting to see whether it works in IE10 in light of some comments I've seen recently.
And, unlike Gadget, not been sent a "welcome" email which is polite of them. I suspect that means most, if not everyone, have now been migrated whether we like it or not. ::)
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I can now see what all the fuss is about, although wasn't in any doubt.
Having been merrily amusing myself saving copies of some of the un-watermarked Lincstothepast images over the last few days (as I had read the access was removed on the new site), and finding a few I couldn't read on the site because of the heavy watermark, I now find I can't use the data set as it's now unavailable. Although laughingly they give you a search form for the Lincolnshire Collection, mentioning images from Lincstothepast, but nothing is accessible. While FindMyPast had made a pigs ear mess of uploading the images, it was nice not to have the watermark on everything.
Unlike some comments I've seen, the image view is working in IE10 thankfully. However, the amount of filters that have to be applied to make the site useable is ridiculous. I gather from an entry on the feedback forum that they may be considering separating BMD and Parish Records again, although it's unclear whether their "planned" comment relates to that or the facility to search on parent's names.
The only positive I've so far found is the fact you can enter parent's names in the keyword box on parish record searches (and probably others, haven't tried it) and it does seem to work if you filter to a particular data set. Now should they separate BMD and Parish Records into separate search sets, it may become more useful.
I'm just glad I wasn't migrated until now ....
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It happened overnight ::)
I've tried a few searches and so far it seems OK - the records I was looking for came up OK. I think I'll get used to it and not as bad as some of you suggested but it takes longer to enter details.
Attached is a reminder of the olden days - it will be an antique one day
Gadget
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So it's all round to Jan's for a spot of trouble free research then... so... get the kettle on ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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I've already sent them a "complaint" about the fact it's not showing some of my previously viewed images as being previously viewed and sarcastically said if it had been provided for a corporate environment they'd probably have had the contract cancelled for breach of contract. ;D ;D Also suggested that aiming the site at ancestry's newbie market probably wasn't a good business case since many don't last very long and the rest of us don't need our hand's held or want heaps of results, just what we're looking for. ;D ;D
However, I've been having a little play on there in conjunction with ancestry and have actually managed to find some census entries on there that wouldn't appear on ancestry. Also checked out some Birth Index entries and they have appeared putting the mother's maiden name in the keyword search box. You can't use wildcards in the keyword search box which is a bit of a pain if they've indexed them incorrectly but they did appear. It's just the number of filters you have to apply to restrict the results that's annoying, rather than before when you could just select the appropriate search form. ::)
At least the "clock" is appearing now when loading images in the new viewer, rather than just a black screen as was happening on the British India Office images on the old site. At least you know it's trying to load ...
As Gadget says, like with ancestry new search, we'll get used to it, just preferred the old site. :-\
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Don't think this has been mentioned before on this thread, but I love the way the Record Collection and Record Set aren't connected on the search form for "Life Events", so if you change one and forget to change the other it just returns no results. :-\ So it would seem you can use them separately and don't need both selected to reduce the results ;)
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Still hanging onto the 'old site' here in the wilds of Northumberland ;D
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Down town Newcastle is now wired up ;D ;D ;D
It's ever so long winded doing the searches and ever so slow to give results ::)
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Could do with a keyword box on the Census search page.
While it's possible to restrict to the Census years you want through the Record Set filter, the lack of separate birthplace and residence box isn't helpful. ::) At least if they introduced a keyword box you could try entering both places.
Agree with Gadget, it's a bit of a long winded to search.
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Not sure what the situation is here at the moment. The iPad is asking me to log in to the site, but it often does that. I'm not doing anything until I switch the laptop on - watch this space.
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Could do with a keyword box on the Census search page.
While it's possible to restrict to the Census years you want through the Record Set filter, as others have said the birthplace location boxes aren't working.
If you go to the individual census search forms found under 'search all records' instead of the 'all census search' where you set Record Set Filter, they have a keywords search field. All except the 1901 census which for some reason doesn't.
Simon
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I don't normally mind change and I'm sure that the underlying architecture of the site needed a good sorting out.
The worst features (for me) so far are:
The lack of displaying all household details in one simple table
Inability to do a straightforward database search such as "all Edward Joneses, born in Oswestry, living in Shropshire in 1861"
Inability to search using known census references
Inability to search for a birth using maiden name
Lack of the old "marriage finder"
I'm sure some of these searches may still be possible using keywords but, whereas a nil result from the old search engine was sometimes a useful result, it now won't be.
Mike
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If you go to the individual census search forms found under 'search all records' instead of the 'all census search' where you set Record Set Filter, they have a keywords search field. All except the 1901 census which for some reason doesn't.
Simon
Thanks for the heads up Simon, although 1911 isn't showing one either. It would be better if they had a keyword search box on the All Census Search as it's more likely to be the one used.
I must have edited my original post re this while you were typing reply. ;)
The site is soooo slow, wonder if they're tweaking things in the background.
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Inability to search for a birth using maiden name
Lack of the old "marriage finder"
I'm sure some of these searches may still be possible using keywords but, whereas a nil result from the old search engine was sometimes a useful result, it now won't be.
Mike
If you put the mother's maiden name in the keyword box on the Birth Index search form, it does work as I've tried it this morning. Similarly with the marriage index search form, again if it's in the keyword search it does seem to work.
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Am in total agreement with this post from TM on the FindMyPast Forum
"The clown in charge of this new search engine should have stuck to throwing custard pies for a living." ;D ;D ;D
H
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Oh dear, I was moved over a few weeks back but managed to hang on to the old version. Like others on this thread I have been logged out overnight so now need to grapple with the new search.
Barbara
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Still hanging onto the 'old site' here in the wilds of Northumberland ;D
It's creeping northwards >:( >:(
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Inability to search using known census references
Mike,
The ability to enter the known census references is available on each individual census year's search form. Select 'Search All Records' from the Search Records tab and select Census from the resultant page. Each individual census is available and the reference fields are available to search on.
Simon
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Took the plunge and entered my log in details on the laptop, and I'm still on the old site - perhaps it started in the middle of the country and is working outwards. ;D
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All jokes aside, from reading the 234+ posts on their forum and this one, there are a lot of very sad disappointed people. One poor person has lost access to their tree, along with a lot of information relayed by their now deceased father which was apparently not backed up anywhere else. FindMyPast has apparently responded that they will find it or return the subscription.
They have really messed up this move big time without apparently one word of apology. Very bad PR in more ways than one. As my search is over, I had already decided my current sub was the last one - now I'm thankful that I got the bulk of it over with before both Ancestry & FindMyPast "improved" their search engines.
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I'm within the M25 and I was got at 04.44 on the 1st April, April Fool's joke - not!
I've settled down with a cuppa to see what I can and can't find.
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on facebook 19 minutes ago
We've just launched our first set of user requested improvements including a better census address search, a better list of all records and spouse names on marriage search/mothers maiden name on birth records. We'll keep working on further improvements until we're the best we can be.
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I think they're just switching people over randomly. I live in Hampshire and suddenly got switched over a few days ago. :'(
Thanks for the update dawn - you wonder why they bothered to change FindMyPast at all, it was working perfectly well in the old format.
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Not sure about the working outwards.......I am in West Cornwall. :)
I have been having a play and so far so good. I can filter records and download images and still get to the Welsh and British India collections easily. I now need to check the newspapers I think.
Fingers crossed.
Barbara
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Perhaps they are listening then - time will tell.
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I phoned them today twice, and twice was told that I was second in line, then first....and then invited to leave a message.
It used to be possible to get a list of births quarter by quarter, but it seems this is no longer possible. While one can still order the years, the quarters are mixed up and so it is necessary to click around to find first Q1, then Q2 etc. This is rather similar to Ancestry, who display their results in the same sloppy fashion.
When will these people realise that people like to browse the records instead of just relying on transcriptions that are often wrong?
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It's April the first & I have just been switched to the new site but I can't even sign in, my e-mail or password are not being recognised & I'm not happy.
Has any one else had this problem.
Maddie
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I've just tried to find my g.grandparents on the 1911 census. I put in their names and county, which is what I would have done in the past for people I didn't know. Guess what I got 0 results for both of them. This is just ridiculous, as their search page only seems to work if you know the exact name shown as transcribed, plus their age and their address and place of birth. Most of the time when searching for new ancestors people haven't got all that info.
Yes, I have sent them a message.
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It used to be possible to get a list of births quarter by quarter, but it seems this is no longer possible. While one can still order the years, the quarters are mixed up and so it is necessary to click around to find first Q1, then Q2 etc. This is rather similar to Ancestry, who display their results in the same sloppy fashion.
I don't remember FindMyPast ever displaying results quarter by quarter which is why I use freebmd whenever I can.
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I have just had the switch :(
Oh dear 245 pages of "my records" instead of the 2 that were originally saved by me!! [to look at in depth later]
I haven't had time to do an in depth search but I did prefer the old layout where it itemised how many records at a glance.
Let's hope they do some tweaking, it seems to be the norm nowadays to put out a half tested sytem and sit back and wait for the proverbial.
Not the only website that has changed the search engine either, my local newspaper has changed also and instead of one click for this weeks hatches, matches and dispatches it takes 4.
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If I remember correctly - because it's the kind of thing I did automatically, like dialling a phone number - but I used to select the births from 1700 and something to the present, then within that I would narrow down the years to, say, a block of five years, and then search by surname. A list of results would appear and on clicking the first name on the list, all the quarters would be indicated. This gave an alphabetical list for e.g. Q1 1950, then Q2 1950 etc. If the names continued on to a new original image, one simply found a name further down the alphabetical list and clicked on that to obtain the rest of the births. In that way I could be sure that I had seen every birth on the original images.
BTW, it does seem possible to obtain a list of births by mother's maiden name by inserting the maiden name as a keyword optional extra, likewise by inserting spouse's name in the same box one can obtain marriages between those two surnames, though whether these lists are as complete (or incomplete!) as they were, I don't know.
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April 1st and find I am on new format but cannot log in???
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Thank goodness it isn't just me or my computer. :)
I have contacted their support team but unfortunately what was suggested didn't work, I'm awaiting another reply, hopefully......
Maddie
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BTW, it does seem possible to obtain a list of births by mother's maiden name by inserting the maiden name as a keyword optional extra, likewise by inserting spouse's name in the same box one can obtain marriages between those two surnames, though whether these lists are as complete (or incomplete!) as they were, I don't know.
That's my point - entering it as a keyword will bring up irrelevant stuff as well as what you want - and I have no confidence it will work correctly.
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My gripe is that I can't view the images of the census or parish records.
I can view them on my Kindle but not my laptop.
I contacted them about this at the weekend and they replied that they will work on the problem but that it wouldn't happen any day soon....or words very much to that effect.
I have IE 11 and obviously the images aren't compatible with that. However if you have google chrome you're fine. What do you all have, if you are one of those able to view census and parish records?
I feel stupidly wary of too much reliance on google. This situation makes me feel there is some "agenda" to make us all change over to google chrome to be able to enjoy the full benefit (??) of FindMyPast. ::)
I guess I'll get used to the filters but do wish they'd just left it alone.
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I find with births that if I put maiden name as keyword, click browse record set, click births and baptisms and click apply filters, then I seem to get rid of the irrelevant stuff.
I have IE 11, ordinary browser and can see images.
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My gripe is that I can't view the images of the census or parish records.
I can view them on my Kindle but not my laptop.
They work fine on Firefox
I guess I'll get used to the filters but do wish they'd just left it alone.
I'll vote for that!
Gadget
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Sorry I meant browse record collection.
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I'm using IE10 and have no problems with the site.
At least if you apply the filters and search for results, then then amend your search, at least the filters stay switched on unlike on familysearch. ;D
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I have IE9 and couldn't log in at all - got a message saying IE couldn't display the page. FindMyPast suggested I clear the cache. This is on their FAQ and I had already done it, so I knew this wasn't the problem. As suggested earlier in this thread, I have now downloaded a different (Google chrome) browser and have managed to log in at last and managed to download a census image. I did try downloading Firefox first, logged in OK and viewed images OK, but they wouldn't download.
Another thing - Has anyone tried a census address search? The method on their FAQ does NOT work unless 72,000 people really did live in a street of 30 houses in 1901. Oh, of course its April 1st!
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At least if you apply the filters and search for results, then then amend your search, at least the filters stay switched on unlike on familysearch. ;D
But they're so ploddy - I'm used to doing my own filters, not their new rubbishy ones :(
(I did work in computing for about 10 years and have used computers since the late 1960s when it was punch cards or nothing, so I'm fairly comp literate ::) )
PS - if I'd have let a system go live without testing it to destruction and getting user feedback, I'd have been hung up!
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I logged in yesterday, typed in a search and I had the "We're too busy" message yet again.
I sent them a message in no uncertain terms telling them to sort it all out, this isn't what I'm paying for. They say I need to clear the cache...I do this every day and whenever I log out of a website.
I told them I wanted a proper reply not a standard one...it was a standard one. They are taking the "Mickey" and our money!!!!
rayard.
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At least if you apply the filters and search for results, then then amend your search, at least the filters stay switched on unlike on familysearch. ;D
But they're so ploddy - I'm used to doing my own filters, not their new rubbishy ones :(
(I did work in computing for about 10 years and have used computers since the late 1960s when it was punch cards or nothing, so I'm fairly comp literate ::) )
It was more a tongue in cheek attempt to be positive about them.
I quite agree they're a poor replacement for decent individual data set search forms which we had on the old site. The poor attempt at the individual Census search forms doesn't resolve the problem. Now even ancestry new search is less cumbersome to use than FindMyPast's new site.
PS - if I'd have let a system go live without testing it to destruction and getting user feedback, I'd have been hung up!
I suggested in an email to them this morning that if they had provided the site to a 3rd party company, they'd have had their agreement cancelled as breach of contract implementing the site as it is. ;D ;D I also suggested they wouldn't have dared if it had been for a company and not individual subscribers. In 15 years on and off working in relatively high level of IT support, I've seen a few c***ups in IT roleouts but this one probably beats all those I've seen and that is saying something. :-\
(PS. Should mention I wasn't the developer or the person implementing those aforementioned systems, just some poor mug who had to help pick up the pieces.)
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They are taking the "Mickey" and our money!!!!
They won't be taking my money and that of 100s of other subscribers once their subs have run out, but I don't suppose they care, there'll always be new mugs oops subscribers.
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Right, this is really stupid (or else I am ;D ;D)
further to by last post and your subsequent comments I thought I may download chrome or firefox but first of all I decided to delete cookies and reboot and then I deleted the old FindMyPast from my compatibility settings and added the new......all of which I know makes no sense but it kept me amused for 5 mins ;D
So.....then I went to FindMyPast and clicked on one of the records in "my records" and I did get to view the census. I tried a parish record and again I could view it.
So.....I searched for a census record and tried to view the image.....and I couldn't ???
So......I went to "my records" and clicked on the last search, to view the image and I did manage to view it. ::)
Hope you're following this. In other words if I want to view the image of census or parish record I can manage it on the second attempt, via "my records"
What a palaver. :(
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on facebook 19 minutes ago
We've just launched our first set of user requested improvements including a better census address search, a better list of all records and spouse names on marriage search/mothers maiden name on birth records. We'll keep working on further improvements until we're the best we can be.
I have tried the 'improved' census search address on the all census search page using 38 Smith Street Warwick (as I am familiar with the occupants). Its not clear what's changed, I still had to scroll through 5 separate lots of 15 names with the words smith street in before finding what I hoped would be the right one. Only results for 1881 and 1901 came up. So either the Street name appears as something else in their index, or they haven't indexed the numbers in all the censuses where numbers are shown on the actual image. The example I was looking at has the number on the image for at least years 1871 to 1901. You still cannot put a house number in the individual census year forms.
The 1911 census form now appears to allow text and wildcards. But it wouldn't find Smith Street in Warwick and I eventually gave up.
The presentation of the search page and results appears to have been improved for IE8 although the image viewer still doesn't display correctly.
Not sure I understand what they mean by a better list of all records. The ones that were seemingly in the wrong place in the All records list, are still in the wrong place (Marriages lists appearing under births, Deaths in lists of marriages etc.)
Simon
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What has happened to the crew lists? All that shows up is Merchant Navy but that's not the same thing.
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I am thinking of making a Freedom of Information request to Find My Past. It seems the quickest way of searching the site. ;D
Who designed this easy-to-use people finder? Lord Lucan?
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As for "My Records", I have 1201 pages with 20 images per page. ;D Mind you I never have used the facility so that's why there are so many.
However, it's interesting to note I have no entries after 16 March until today. And the vast majority of those showing for March are only the transcripts when I know I viewed the images. So they've made a mess of that too. ::) Be interesting to see if they bother to respond to my complaint about the missing previously viewed images that I noticed this morning.
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I've just checked "My records" - big gap between 21st March and today. Just contacted FindMyPast about it as well.
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On the old address search I could enter simply (for example) Lanchester (County Durham Registration District) or Iveston (village within that RD) and get a list of addresses appearing in any particular census.
Can someone explain to me, preferably in words of one syllable, how I can do that now?
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I'd be interested too!
Any one tried clicking on 'Getting started with the census' at bottom right of the Census page?
They can't even get their own links correct _
I get :
Sorry, we couldn't find the page you were looking for.
This is not a valid address on findmypast.co.uk.
If you have typed this address manually, please check it and try again. If you have clicked on a link to get here there might be problem with the link. We always record information automatically regarding errors like this and actively try to fix them.
What can I do now?
You can use the following links to go back or you can carry out a new search on the left.
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On the old address search I could enter simply (for example) Lanchester (County Durham Registration District) or Iveston (village within that RD) and get a list of addresses appearing in any particular census.
Can someone explain to me, preferably in words of one syllable, how I can do that now?
Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible. You are restricted to whatever the numerator put in the address on the census form. This is then presented to you as preset list of street or road names etc. You cannot put anything else like a village name or district.
The result of the search is just a list of names, not households.
Simon
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On the old address search I could enter simply (for example) Lanchester (County Durham Registration District) or Iveston (village within that RD) and get a list of addresses appearing in any particular census.
Can someone explain to me, preferably in words of one syllable, how I can do that now?
Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible. You are restricted to whatever the numerator put in the address on the census form. This is then presented to you as preset list of street or road names etc. You cannot put anything else like a village name or district.
The result of the search is just a list of names, not households.
That sounds like extremely bad news. I've emailed them asking for clarification, and asking not to be fobbed off by being directed to their FAQ's, but I somehow doubt I'll get a coherent answer.
Moderator Comment:
Topic locked (as it was getting so long) and continued here:
The new FindMyPast (Part 2) (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=682699.0)