Indexing

Indexing is looking at old documents that have been photographed and typing out the information
found there. This allows these documents to become searchable on-line.
1. Go to
www.familysearch.org
2. At the top of the page,
choose Indexing
3. Select Get Started
4. Follow the step by step instructions starting with
Downloading the program.
5. Once youve downloaded the program, you can open it
on your computer. Usually it will automatically
download a shortcut onto your desktop.
6. You can login with your FamilySearch login information
or if you havent created a LDS login, you can Register
for a New Account.
7. At the top select Download Batch.
8. It will automatically take you to the project that is the
highest priority, but you can choose whatever project
you would like. (If youre new, I recommend looking for a Beginning level project, and definitely
English, unless you speak another language.)
9. When youve downloaded and opened a project, you will see the image of the document you
are indexing, and bellow, a place to type the information found. To the right, click on the tab
that says Project Instructions to learn about the project you are working on.
10. When you have finished inputting the information, it will ask you to Add Record(s) usually leave
this at 0 and press OK unless there are other names listed on the record.
11. Then youll complete the Quality Check where it will look for possible errors, uncommon given
or last names, places possibly spelled incorrectly, etc.
12. When youve finished that, a box will pop up asking, Would you like to submit your work now?
Press Yes
13. Youre all done and can begin again at step 7
14. On the main page youll
notice several tabs
a. My Goals where
you can set a
goal of how many records you want to index
b. My History where you can see how many youve done this month, year, or ever
c. Arbitration Results each record is usually indexed twice, and then the results compared
to be more accurate. Arbitration is the process of reconciling any differences in the
results, the percentage is your accuracy with arbitrators.
d. Indexing Links gives you links to go to if youre struggling with a project or just want
more information.
15. Under the Help tab, if you select Contact Support, you will see contact information for people in
our stake or ward you can help you with any questions

Basic Indexing Guidelines

Type What you See - Most of the time, you will enter what you see on the record. Any exceptions will be
listed in the field helps and project instructions.
Refer to the field helps and project instructions
Use your best judgment
Do not assume information that is not specifically listed.
Contact your local administrator or FamilySearch support if you need help.
General Guidelines - Abbreviations
Names o DO NOT spell out a name that was abbreviated
o Type the name as it was written, excluding any punctuation except hyphens or
apostrophes.
Places o When a place name was misspelled and you can determine the correct spelling, correct
the mistake unless otherwise directed.
o When a place name is abbreviated and you can tell what the abbreviation stands for,
type the complete name.
o When you are not sure what an abbreviation stands for, index what was written.
Punctuation o No punctuation should be indexed except apostrophes or hyphens.
Corrected and Crossed-Out Information o When information was crossed out and replaced, type the replacement information.
o When information was crossed out and not replaced but the original info can be read,
type that.
o When info is crossed out and is unreadable press ctrl U.
o A document that was marked canceled or Void is the same as corrected or crossedout info.
Ditto Marks o When ditto marks or other signs of repetition appear in a record, type the information
that was repeated, generally found above the ditto mark.
Unreadable Information o If you are unable to read one letter or number, use a question mark to replace that
letter or number.
o For multiple, consecutive unreadable letters or numbers, use an asterisk * to replace the
unreadable group of letters.
o When all information in a field is unreadable, press ctrl U.
o When all information in an entire record is unreadable, press ctrl shift U to mark the
entire record as Unreadable.
o If none of the information to be indexed on the image is readable, select Unreadable
Image in the image type field.
Overlays (handwritten or typed notes that cover part of the original record) o Index the info on the overlay only when it pertains to the record types being indexed or
when the information pertains to the information being indexed.
Type Using Lowercase Letterso Be sure to use both uppercase and lowercase letters.