Installation

The “Family Tree Validator” extension is installed in the same fashion as other Chrome extensions.  (Note: I haven’t yet been able to find it on the general extension pages – perhaps because it is in testing mode and not publicly available.)  Clicking on the link provided achieves the same result.  Select the “Add to Chrome” button and then select “Add extension”.  You should now see a page titled “Family Tree Validator” with some basic information about the extension.  At this point, I recommend pinning the Validator icon to make it visible all the time.  Left-click on the puzzle-looking icon in the upper right corner and select the “pin” next to “Family Tree Validator”.  This will make it easier to access the Validator’s functions going forward.

Getting the most from Family Tree Validator

In this section, I’ve tried to create some steps to help you and other users get familiar with Validator and not get overwhelmed.  You can (and probably will  ) just jump in and enable everything but this tries to ease the user in a bit slower.

• First, let’s log into FamilySearch and run the Family Tree Validator against someone in your immediate family (like yourself, father/mother or deceased ancestor). It makes it easier when you recognize the names displayed.  Validator may not find anything with the default options, but you can begin to see how to validate someone and what the Processing page looks like.
  • Log into FamilySearch
  • Select Family Tree, then Tree to display your family tree.
  • Pick someone and go to their “Person” page.
  • You should see the green Validator icon in the upper right corner.  
    
  • Left-click on the Validator icon and you should see a small window like this:
    
  • Click “Validate This Person”.  (Note: if you are not on a FamilySearch person’s page, this icon will not be active.)
  • Another tab will open – we call it the Processing page – showing the information about this individual.
    
• Next, let’s get familiar with the Options menu.
  • Right-click on the Validator icon in the upper right corner.
  • Select Options and the options page will be displayed.  For simplicity, all options default to off on the initial installation.
  • Please do not select any option below “For Internal Testing Only”.  These options are for my internal testing and will not be in the public version.
    
• Enable the option to process the entire family. This will add parents, children and siblings to the validation processing.
  • Repeat the process of accessing the options page.
  • Select the option “Process entire family”
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
    
  • Return to FamilySearch and re-validate your selected person.
  • Note the additional people included on the processing page.
  • Their relationship to the primary person is displayed toward the right side of the page.

• Next, try increasing the number of generations of ancestors to be analyzed.
  • Return to the options page.
  • Select the desired number of generations of ancestors (UP) to include. I would suggest 2.
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
    
  • Return to FamilySearch and re-validate your selected person.
  • Note the additional people located on the processing page.
• Try increasing the number of descendent generations. If you picked one of your ancestors, this may include you as one of their descendants.
  • Return to the options page.
  • Select the desired number of generations of descendants (Down) to include.
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
    
• Try increasing the number of generations to process sideways. This will include the person’s in-laws.
  • Return to the options page.
  • Select the desired number of generations of in-laws (Sideways) to include.
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
• For the next couple of configuration options, you may want to reduce the number of people that appear on your report. These options produce additional messages which can increase the output significantly.  You can do this by reducing the number of generations (up, down, sideways) that are enabled. I suggest reducing them to 1 or 0.
• Enable the option to Display Normalization Differences. This WILL generate a lot of additional messages. The GOOD NEWS is that almost all of them are accompanied with a ‘Fix It’ option to make the suggested changes with a single click.
  • CAUTION: Not all the suggestions that Validator shows are “good”.  Each issue it identifies will show the current and the suggested new value.  IF THIS IS NOT A CHANGE THAT YOU WOULD MAKE YOURSELF, DO NOT SELECT THE “Fix It” BUTTON!
  • Return to the options page.
  • Select the option to Display Normalization Differences.
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
  • Repeat the process of validating your selected person.
    
• Next, we will enable the option to analyze the attached source records. This will compare any source records attached to each person with the information in FamilySearch.  This process may find additional information (such as a better birth or death dates or location).  It may also suggest the addition of alternate names for the different names the person used throughout his life.
  • Return to the options page.
  • Select the option to Display Normalization Differences.
  • Remember to “Save Configuration” after making any changes.
  • Repeat the process of validating your selected person.
    

Using “Fix It”

Again, a word of caution.  Not all the suggestions that Validator shows are “good”.  Each issue it identifies will show the new value.  IF THIS IS NOT A CHANGE THAT YOU WOULD MAKE MANUALLY, DO NOT SELECT THE “Fix It” BUTTON!

• When normalization or source checking is enabled, Validator will offer to correct many of the differences or issues it finds. 
  • Dates are almost always safe. 
  • Some of the locations suggested can be strange or even completely wrong. These changes should be done manually.
• Where appropriate, Validator will make suggestions to add alternate names based on the husband’s (where appropriate) or father’s last name, or if the person’s last name differs from those used in attached source records.
  • If Validator finds a different variation of a person’s first name (ie. John, Johnny, Jon) in the attached source records, these alternate names will be suggested.
  • If Validator finds different spellings of a person’s last name, again these alternate names will be suggested.
  • If Validator finds something completely strange or that doesn’t look right, please investigate why. Common causes are step children not flagged as step children or incorrect sources being attached. If the cause is not obvious, please send me a note and I will be glad to help.
  • In locations where it is appropriate (like in the US), Validator will suggest adding an the husband’s last name as an alternate for his wife. (Note: this person had 3 husbands.)
    
• If Validator finds issues needing manual intervention, it will offer to display the problem record to the user.
  
• A complete list of all of the messages generated by Validator can be found on our website under help

One final request

If you find or see something doesn’t work, please be sure to let me know.  You can send it via email or via the website.  There are still many changes still to be done to complete what Validator is capable of doing.  If you feel that Validator is a useful tool, please give the extension a rating (ie. on Google) or write a quick review (either on Google or on our website).  It will be most appreciated.

Known Issues

• Validator does a good job of identifying issues but does not always explain what the root cause is.  There is more information on our website under Help.  Suggestions are always welcome 
• If Validator stops responding, you can reset the extension by going to the extensions management page (click on the puzzle looking icon in the upper right, then select Manage Extensions), then disable and re-enable the extension.  Please report this if you need to do this.  (This is a known issue with Chrome Extensions)
• Validator will occasionally reset the Processing page. To see the information previously displayed, repeat the validation. The cause of this behavior is under investigation.
• Does not deal with patronymic names