FamilySearch Photos

FamilySearch recently released FamilySearch Photos, a new tool that enhances the Family Tree program by letting users add photos of ancestors records.

To use the tool, you’ll need a FamilySearch login and access to Family Tree.

Once you are logged in, click on the Green “X”.

Drag photos of your ancestors to the FamilySearch Photos screen. Images you’ve uploaded show below the gray drop field.

Your submissions will be screened for content and their applicability to genealogy before you will be able to attach them to a record in Family Tree. 

Here are the important points to know about this application.  

• This isn’t a Flickr like site.  It is strictly for genealogy.
• Read the upload guidelines before you upload any images
• No nudity, swimsuits or inappropriate images will be approved.
• No landscapes, 4-wheeling photos or similar photos will be approved.
• You must have the rights to upload an image.
• All images you upload will be visible to the public.

Your uploads will show as gray boxes until they are approved or rejected.

Once the images are approved, click on the face in the image and drag the circle to cover the area you want to show on Family Tree.  Note: That space on Tree is very small, so focus on faces only.

Add the full name of the person in the field below the face.  Use the name they were given at birth, no nicknames, no married names.  The name you use in this field is used to search for their record on Family Tree.

Click +Add New Person to set the name.

The tools on the right side of the screen will now populate with the name you just set.

Next, fill in the field at the top right of the screen above the tools.  This field becomes the image caption and is not related to the earlier name field.

Click on the Photos icon and a list of possible matches in Family Tree will appear below the tools section.  If your ancestor had a fairly unique name and their record already exists in Family Tree, their record link will probably appear in the list.  

If it isn’t there or if it is a common name, open a new tab in your browser, go to Family Tree and find their record. 

Copy their record number, which is located below their name.  In this example, the record number is 2VZX-SJT.

Paste the record number in the search field back on the Photos tab. 

When you have selected the record associated with your photo, a green box will appear showing the name, birthdate, birth location, death date and death location listed in the Family Tree record you selected.

Go back to the Family Tree tab and refresh the screen.  The photo now appears on the record.   As you can see in this example, only one photo has been attached to the record.  If there are more than one photo attached to the record, you’ll be able to set the default image using the Photos tool.

Go back to the photos tool and click on the next photo to link to Family Tree.  Note the exclamation mark in red on images that haven’t been linked to Tree yet.

That’s all there is to the process.  There will probably be some tweaks to the Photos site in the future and some additional enhancements associated with the type of files that can be uploaded and linked to the tree.  

Final note:  Read the policies and follow them for the best experience.

The addition of photos to records in Family Tree has been warmly welcomed by the genealogy community.