Monday, April 13, 2026

FamilySearch does it again with "Simple Search"!

 As FamilySearch's biggest (self-proclaimed) fan, they have once again created an AI search tool that is a "must try" for genealogists! I learned about Simple Search from Jennifer Moulder at the 2026 Utah State DAR Conference. I thought I would try it out with searching for a document for my own Chapter Registrar; that she needed for a Prospective Member's application. To use the tool, sign in to your FamilySearch account, or if you do not have one, you need to create one to use the Labs feature. I then located the "Demasters" family that my Registrar needed a document for that tied the father to the son, and as you can see in the image, I just asked it to search for that using their FamilySearch ID numbers. It produced a list of documents within seconds, including one my Registrar could use, and she was quite pleased! Jennifer also mentioned that Simple Search will sometimes produce documents that Full Text misses.