Lately I’m not getting FamilySearch WebHints - even on persons where I have in the past. I can find those people by searching on the FamilySearch.org website.
Under my WebHint Settings in RM10:
WebHints are enabled
Nothing checked in Ancestry section (disabled)
Family Search WebHints are enabled
FindMyPast hints are enabled
MyHeritage hints are enabled, Show Record Matches and Show Smart Matches are checked; user email left blank; Confidence is set at 7
No difference if I’ve already got a browser open and a tab logged in to FamilySearch, or if I use the FamilySearch icon in the lower left corner of the screen to open a browser and log in (then that opens the FamilySearch Central window). I get FindMyPast and MyHeritage WebHints.
Not sure why it’s being stubborn, but the “already got” way doesn’t facilitate RootsMagic’s comms to FamilySearch. Stick to the little FamilySearch icon becoming colored instead of white.
Ahhh … these little circles?
Invisible in the unselected persons, and only marginally visible in the selected person.
I’ll have to post an enhancement request.
In other words, just having a browser window (outside of RootsMagic) logged into FamilySearch… cannot share it’s authorization/communication with the program.
Ah, ok. I had not noticed that that icon changes its appearance after a successful login.
But sure enough it does! Quite subtlety though… and the background is shaded too.
So the remaining challenge is why is FamilySearch not responding? Is there a setting I’ve missed?
No. None of the hint providers work in the same way. FamilySearch Web Hints act upon individuals found and linked via Find Matches in Family Search Central. Then, their records are searched for potential record hits that might fit those matched folks -and- changes in the data already entered about those linked. The others follow the RM user’s navigation through it’s trees and try looking for matching records/people. Ancestry is gonna be MemberTrees-only match offerings if the paid subscription is current. The important thing is to realize how impossible it would be for the information attached to every person in your database to all be continuously searched through online connections at the same time thousands of other RM-users and non-users are flooding the connections of these online sites.
I’m having the same problem. I contacted Technical Support and was told that RM changed the function in the latest RM 10 update to ELIMINATE this functionality. Now, each person in your database has to be matched in FamilySearch BEFORE you will receive any Web Hints about them. I told the Tech person I thought this made the Web Hints worthless, because I need the Web Hints in order to obtain enough information about a person in order to match them correctly in FamilySearch. I asked why this function was removed and he could not tell me why.
I do not understand why RM eliminated this functionality. It’s been working great as it was since Web Hints were introduced a number of versions ago. It eliminates the need to go to FamilySearch or Ancestry to make a separate search for every person.
Regarding Arby’s statement in the previous post: “The important thing is to realize how impossible it would be for the information attached to every person in your database to all be continuously searched through online connections at the same time thousands of other RM-users and non-users are flooding the connections of these online sites.”
That is EXACTLY the way Web Hints were intended to work, and have worked for many years. There is no good reason for eliminating this very useful functionality. Perhaps Mr. Buzbee can give us a good reason why it was eliminated.
I think you were given inaccurate information or you misunderstood what was said. I had a support agent ask me about FamilySearch webhints today and I told them they didn’t need to be matched to receive WebHints. I will have to research the ticket and check out their reply.
We didn’t eliminate any functionality with WebHints in our latest update. The only part I am aware of being removed was in the rewrite of RM8, when the option “Match person to FamilySearch when hints found” was removed. Adding it is still on the development list. It should still be searching regardless of it being matched or not. There has been some issues with FamilySearch WebHints lately, it’s entirely possible the search on unmatched is not working right now.
Thank you for your message. I may have been given inaccurate information; I did not misunderstand what Jason told me. I can e-mail you a copy of the Chat transcript if you’d like to review it.
I hope this problem can be corrected soon. Web Hints are a great tool, but only when they are available before matching on FamilySearch.
Upon further review… the FamilySearch WebHints themselves clearly say Not Linked:
That wouldn’t seem to be the right message in the case where RM was programmed to search currently unmatched potential matches. That’s just a message that the database info isn’t enough for a possible match.
Confirming a recent FamilySearch update to their Hinting API broke the WebHints working in RM when the person is not matched. Development is now working on this issue, which will require an update on our end to fix. Until then you will need to match the person to someone on FamilySearch in order to receive WebHints. Under Publish, FamilySearch Central there is an AutoMatch option to assist you with this.
