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Finding Help at FamilySearch—A Simplified Menu

The FamilySearch help menu makes it easy to find the help you need when you’re working on your family history. Learn how you can use the menu to get around roadblocks and achieve your goals.

Personalized Help and Suggested Topics

The help menu is available from any FamilySearch web page. Look in the top right corner of the screen, and click the little circle with a question mark. A small menu box will open over the top of wherever you are on FamilySearch.org, which means that you can explore help options without having to leave the page you are working on.

help center menu
help menu

At the top of the menu, you will see a search box. Enter the keywords of a topic or challenge that you want help on, and your search results will appear inside the help menu box. Find the help you need, and apply it to the task at hand—without having to toggle back and forth between screens.

Below the search box is a section titled “Suggested Topics.” The links that you see there have all been tailored to your current page view. Say, for example, that you are on the FamilySearch.org main page but you haven’t signed in.  The suggested topics would be focused on resetting a password or recovering your username and other account-related issues.

Then again, maybe you’re working in Family Tree. In that case, the suggested topics would be focused on the activities or tasks that you can perform on that page—adding information about a family member, for example, or changing the view or perspective of your pedigree chart.

When you open the help menu, we recommend that you take a quick look at the suggested topics first. People often have similar questions, and the articles that appear have been prepared with those questions in mind.

Multiple Help Options to Choose From

Sometimes when you have a question, you just want to talk to someone. Other times, it’s not just a simple answer that you’re looking for but rather an explanation or research article on a topic that interests you. In those situations, the help menu can point you in the right direction.

This time you want to look below the suggested topics to the very bottom of the help menu pop-up box. There you see several items to choose from. Each one takes you to a different kind of help. Use the one you need.

A mother and son look at Family Tree Lite on their computer

Think of the help center as an online library of FamilySearch help materials. If the suggested topics didn’t have what you were looking for and your search query came up empty, check out the help center. Information is divided into categories—Family Tree, memories, and indexing, to name a few. You can choose a topic and begin browsing its contents. From the help center, you can also access our learning center, which offers you free online courses on a variety of family history topics.

Many of the materials available in the help center were originally composed in English. If you’re viewing FamilySearch.org in a language other than English and a particular article hasn’t been translated yet, you may see the English version instead. We apologize for the inconvenience. Rest assured that we are working diligently to translate and expand our library of help materials into as many languages as possible.

help options

The Community option is a tool for interacting with others who have common interests and are willing to share their expertise.

The Contact Us option takes you to a page with information for getting in touch with FamilySearch or locating one of our many family history centers around the world. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will see contact information for their ward temple and family history consultants. In this section, you will also find a list of your current and previous conversations with FamilySearch support.

The Helper Resources option takes you to a FamilySearch page dedicated to those who help others with their family history interests and goals. Choosing this option gives you important information about updates to the FamilySearch website and tools you can use to assist someone else. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will find information about their church responsibilities and can access the Planner.

Help Is on the Way

Thanks for taking a few moments to learn more about the help menu. At FamilySearch, we understand that sooner or later, every family historian—beginner or expert—needs a little assistance. Next time you hit a roadblock in your family history, don’t get frustrated—and for sure don’t give up!

Just go to the help menu. There’s a great chance that it has what you’re looking for. At the very least, it can connect you with volunteers, customer service, and other helpers, all of whom want to see you succeed.

Source: Family Search

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