Refine your searches in fewer steps in new search
After listening, researching and testing with members, we decided to make the hot key experience in new search the default method for refining searches.
This change will happen on Monday, November 9th, sometime during the day.
The information you enter into your original search will appear at the top left of the search results page. Clicking “Edit search” will bring up your search query allowing you to edit your search criteria.
Also, the Narrow by Category panel is now higher on the page, providing easier access for narrowing your search results by types of records (e.g., census records, immigration records, military records, etc.).
These changes are designed to make searching for your family on Ancestry.com faster and more efficient, resulting in even more successful discoveries about your ancestors.
Here’s how it will work:
- Do a search. Let’s say I’m searching for my ancestor, Zebedee Hash. You will see:
- To help refine the search, I now click on “Edit Search”:
- You’ll see a form pre-populated with the original query:
- Add in the information:
- Click on the search button either at the top or bottom of the form. (We put in two search buttons to make it handy to find wherever you are in the form. They do the exact same thing.)
OR
- You’ll now see the summary of your search query in the panel:
- Now let’s say I want to make my Birth Year exact within a range. I click on “Edit search” again, and enter my new information:
- Click on the search button, and see my new result setYou’ll notice in the query summary, that the birth year range is in double quotes, telling you that you’ve marked that field exact:
So look for change on Monday, try it out, and let us know what you think.
Happy Searching!
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Here you will find informational, and sometimes fun, posts from the folks behind the scenes here at Ancestry. We hope you’ll notice just how passionate we are about family history and about the products we're building to help connect families over distance and time.
