Answers to some questions about linking MyHeritage and FamilySearch Family Tree

From my first blog post on this subject, you could probably tell I had several questions. I received some additional explanations from MyHeritage.com that answer some of my initial questions about the ability of the program to search the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. I thought it might help some of the users of both programs to see the answers. I have put the information I received in the form of a question for clarity. I actually got more information than I asked for initially.

You might want to carefully review by previous blog post, "MyHeritage SuperSearch now searches FamilySearch Family Tree."

Question: In my initial searches on MyHeritage.com, I failed to find some of my ancestors I knew were on the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. What is going on?

Answer: MyHeritage matching technologies are currently comparing the huge FamilySearch and MyHeritage trees and generating matches between them that will be sent to MyHeritage users during the next month or two. Comparing about 900 million profiles (FamilySearch tree) to about 1.6 billion profiles (MyHeritage trees) is a substantial undertaking. Millions of users stand to gain a lot of new information from the matches. It will be up to the users to verify the information in the trees that they receive as matches as there are many errors in users' family trees.

My Response: What I think this means is that until the programs are fully connected and operational, which will take some time, we need to be patient about the search capabilities. If everyone on Family Tree is connected to the MyHeritage profiles, that is very large number.

Question: What happens to other partner programs such as RootsMagic and Family Historian?

Answer: As of today (2 February 2015), users of MyHeritage partners such as RootsMagic and Family Historian - these are desktop programs that use the MyHeritage matching APIs - will receive matches also with the FamilySearch tree via MyHeritage (the copy that is on MyHeritage that is) without having to have an account on FamilySearch and even if they are not members of the LDS Church. That's another benefit of the FamilySearch tree being on MyHeritage.

My Response: It looks like Family Tree will be searchable by anyone with an account or connected to MyHeritage through a third-party program such as RootsMagic and Family Historian. I have been using RootsMagic for a while with the ability to look up sources in MyHeritage. I find RootsMagic to be extremely valuable for making sure I have all of the sources from both Family Tree and MyHeritage. I am doing this by attaching all of the sources to my family tree in RootsMagic. The new features can also be used to make sure all of the sources are both in Family Tree and my family tree on MyHeritage.com. To clarify, I am using RootsMagic as a way to move sources from MyHeritage to Family Tree indirectly through RootsMagic. With this new feature above, I will be able to also add Family Tree info directly into my MyHeritage family tree. This may seem redundant, but it really helps me to make sure I am including all of the possible sources with a backup.

Question: What about Geni.com users?

Answer: As of today (2 February 2015), Geni.com users will enjoy matches with the FamilySearch tree too, via MyHeritage.

My Response: Since MyHeritage users already get the benefit of searching the Geni.com family tree, this adds some real depth to the ability of MyHeritage to provide even more connections across the worldwide genealogical community.

Question: Can FamilySearch.org users search MyHeritage.com family trees?

Answer: FamilySearch users cannot search the MyHeritage trees inside FamilySearch.org as they have not been shared with FamilySearch. However, FamilySearch users who are members of the LDS Church are entitled to free access to MyHeritage, so they can log on to MyHeritage and search the MyHeritage trees for free on MyHeritage SuperSearch.

My Comment: This makes a lot of sense since the family trees on MyHeritage are individually owned and maintained, whereas the FamilySearch Family Tree is a unified family tree like Geni.com.

Question: Will the MyHeritage.com Smart Matches be available to FamilySearch Family Tree users so they can connect with more people around the world?

Answer: FamilySearch users will eventually receive matches with the MyHeritage trees and the Geni tree right in FamilySearch.org, but this will take more time and will probably be added later in 2015.

My Response: I think many present Family Tree users will be overwhelmed with the amount of information they will receive from this opportunity. This arrangement makes both MyHeritage.com and FamilySearch Family Tree much more valuable as genealogical tools.