WikiTree Sourcer: FamilySearch Build All Citations

Question

I have released a new version of the WikiTree Sourcer browser extension - version 1.8.0.

One new feature is "Build All Citations" on FamilySearch profiles and the ability to do this automatically when using "Save Person Data" to create new WikiTree profiles.

This feature will create WikiTree Sourcer style citations (using the user's option settings) for all the sources on the FamilySearch profile. There are a set of options controlling the formatting and which sources to include.

This should be useful for the upcoming Connect-a-Thon for people creating profiles from FamilySearch profiles.

The feature is described in detail on this free space page.

Comments

Please let me know if you find any bugs or think of possible improvements.

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Hi Rob,

First, thank you for this fabulous WikiTree extension, which I've found invaluable and use extensively!

I have 2 questions as follows:

i) Although I have the flag set in the Sourcer settings to automatically update, as of today, it has not done so. Is there anything else I need to be doing?

ii) Is it possible for a user to modify the "Build Narrative with Citation" template so that the narrative is crafted somewhat differently? For example, instead of the having the citation appear at the very end of the narrative, I like to have the citations appear immediately after the relevant date, which I like to have in the beginning of the narrative. So, for example, if I was crafting the narrative for the 1940 federal census, then I would craft it as follows:  "In 1940,<ref> citation </ref> John Smith was living in X Township, Y County, Z State as head of household with his wife & children (listed in table below). Then, I'd have the table immediately following that narrative.

To be explicit, I'm not complaining and if the template can't be user-modified as described above, then I understand. Currently, I just edit the narrative crafted by Sourcer to be like I want it; it just takes longer.

Many regards,

Peter F. Hiestand

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Hi Rob, 

I just started using Sourcer this weekend and it is FABULOUS!  I was flying through FamilySearch citations and have been receiving this error message when I try to Save Person Data:
 

Could not save person data because could not build all citations.Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')

Did something change in my settings without my realizing it?  Did I break it?

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Sorry about that Brenda. I introduced a bug in version 1.8.3. It is fixed in 1.8.4. If you don't have 1.8.4 you can work around it by turning off the automatic use of Build All Citations in Save Person Data and running Build All Citations manually.

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Thank you Rob!  Muchas gracias Rob!  Merci Rob!

Danke Rob!  Grazi Rob!

Answer 1

Not only do I love this new feature but I also the speed at which it builds all the citations. This is another great update, Rob!

Answer 2

This is fantastic. Of course you have to make sure that the sources are valid in the first place, and you might have a bit of cleanup to do after.

I have just found it very effective for creating a biography and sources for old GEDCOM imported profiles.

Answer 3

Thanks for more great new features.

The newspapers.com revision doesn't appear to be working correctly as it's not including the template.  As an example, https://www.newspapers.com/article/116219279/tom-turners-sons-visit/ produces 

<ref>

"Newspapers.com", 

Macon Chronicle-Herald (Macon, Missouri) Wed, Jan 16, 1929, page 6.

</ref>

Comments

I will have to investigate why that one is not working. All my test case examples still work. E.g. https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-gazette/121899396/

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Weird.  Your example worked for me as well but I pulled up another clipping at random that also didn't work correctly:  https://www.newspapers.com/article/127546150/sophia-lemeaux-gravel-obit-not-saved/

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I see the problem. I parse the URL to get the clip id but I don't handle that case

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This was fixed in version 1.8.1

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Thanks so much Rob.  It's very much appreciated.

Answer 4

This is very exciting news, Rob! Thank you very much!

Answer 5

Rob! You da Man!!!!! Thank You!

Answer 6

This is awesome! I’m impressed that it even cites non-FamilySearch sources I’d added to the sources section, and even includes a link to any uploaded images.

Answer 7

I love WikiTree Sourcer!  How do I up date my extension?

Thank you

Comments

There are some instructions about how to update or auto-update here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer_Frequently_Asked_Questions#Browser_specific_questions

Answer 8

Thanks!

I love this. And it works on iPad Safari!

Sue Carda

Morey-1961

Answer 9

That is a really useful feature used it quite a lot. Very handy and save loads of time. I like to indent the source reference data and put in italics. i.e. ::''

gets added by me at the end of each source reference. Is there any way to automate that or not in WikiTree Sourcerer?

Comments

I took a look at one of your recent profiles to see what you mean.

Is this an option that you would like for inline citations for all sites? Or just FamilySearch?

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Definitely all.

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I have added some options for this in version 1.8.5

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Amazing. That's perfect - will save me so much time. Tried it on a few sources and works like a dream.

Answer 10

Thank you so much for creating this tool and its features. I found it very useful during the July 'Thon and it helped me be more efficient with my time!

The only thing I would change, is there a way to have it put the Sources/references tag at the bottom of the list, instead of the top, when building all citations.

Thanks again!

Comments

Hi Sally,

I don't quite follow your question. I'm not sure if you are talking about running "Build All Citations" directly from the Sourcer menu or when it is run automatically as part of Save Person Data and then using in the Add Person flow or in Merge/Edit.

Could you give a bit more detail?

Thanks,
Rob

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When I'm creating new profiles, I identify a person and start the new profile process.

I click on the [1] up in my browser window and go to Family Search. Let's say I find 3 sources for this person.

So I go down the Sourcer menu and choose Build All Citations. It processes and puts the 3 sources as inline sources with narrative on my clipboard.

Then I go into the edit window so I can add the clipboard contents to the profile (this also works in the very first sources window, as part of the initial profile creation) and paste in.

The edit window that was blank, now has the source list from Sourcer.

A Sources/references section is also added, but it's above the Sourcer source list. Those sources have ref tags, so the Source/references section has to be moved to go after the list.

I'm cutting and pasting to move that section to go after the list, because of the ref tags. If Sourcer is not doing this, then I don't know, but it's happening to blank profiles at the same time as I paste in the Sourcer-produced list.

I hope this helps for clarity!

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The simplest thing to do in this case is to set the Sourcer option: "Add/Merge -> Add Person -> Include all source citations after doing Save Person Data on a person profile (if site supports it)" this will run Build All Citations automatically as part of the Save Person Data. So, when you do "Set Fields from Person Data" it will automatically put them in the right place. I would suggest that you also select the option "Add/Merge -> Add Person -> Create an intro in the biography (Notes) field:  Yes with parent info based on all available information". It sounds like you are not doing this because you say the bio is blank.

If you are doing it in two separate steps and pasting the result of Build All Citations into the text box(es) in the Add Person flow then it gets more complicated because of the various browser extension options. It sounds from your description like you may be using the WikiTree Browser option "Add Person Redesign" which puts the Add person flow all on one page and has separate boxes for the Biography and the Sources. If this is the case then where you paste the citations depends on whether you chose the option to generate inline citations or source style citations. The automatic option mentioned above automatically figures this out for you.

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Thanks so much for these instructions!

I see that Sourcer can do a lot more than I know how to request of it, and I'll practice.

Thanks again for creating such an efficient tool to making profiles!

Answer 11

Hi Rob,

I have v 1.8.5 running on Chrome. I am wondering if you have made a change in the last two weeks to the Save Person Data settings.

I used it successfully a few times then, but now it is not working. Build All Citations works as it should and the popup window shows "Saved to Clipboard". With Save Person Data it shows "Saved to Local Storage". If that is the way it is supposed to work, then I wonder if I have forgotten some aspect of 'pasting'.
Is there a chance you could do a quick video on the steps that I could share with the group I am trying to attract, or any who find it challenging?

My add/merge settings under subsection Add Person have the top 5 of 7 boxes checked, with "Yes" for the Died Young option.

Thanks, Jim Beckett

Comments

It sounds like it is working as expected.

Save Person Data does not put anything in the clipboard - it saves some data that you then access using "Set Fields from Person Data" in the add person process or "Merge/Edit from External Data" on a WikiTree profile.

I do plan to make some more videos but I always seem to have work to do adding features and support for new sites so I have not got around to that.

Save Person Data is covered briefly in my intro video at time 10:40.

The process is also described in the user guide here.

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Thank you.

I didn't find it in the video itself, but for anyone else subject to PIC, I did find in the link to the User Guide section 1.1.7 a reminder that I was trying to add a child from the Profile Page, rather than the Edit page. I'll retry that in the morning and I expect it will work.
Thanks for your time, and many thanks for this great feature.

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It should not make any difference whether you go into edit mode to add the person or do it from the read-only mode of the profile. The instructions say to go into edit mode because (I think) the links to add people from read-only mode only show up if you are the profile manager.

If you are specifically interested in using Save Person Data on FamilySearch and automatically building all the citations there is more documentation here (which is linked to from the User Guide).

BTW I don't know what PIC is.

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Thanks for your patient guidance. In the 'second step,' I was trying to paste rather than click on the dropdown again for the 'set fields' option. Moving forward.

Answer 12

Each new tool I discover within the “Sourcer” toolbox is like receiving a gift in my WikiTree day.   As a cacographer, having spellcheck available in edit mode is a godsend. Your citation creator gives me confidence that I am meeting the guidelines. You have enabled me not only to increase what I am able to accomplish, but the quality!  . . . multifold.  Thank You, Rob!!

Answer 13

Great addition to an already miraculous tool! Quick question - is there anyway to get it to "build all citations" without them being inline? Just a list of " * Citation " to go under the sources? Just curious!

Comments

Yes there are options to do that. They are documented here.

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Perfect! Thanks so much, Rob. I'd spent some time digging in options but I didn't dig through the drop downs. Appreciate it!

Answer 14

This is a great tool but it seems to work best when there are only a few records.  Too many and it doesn't work.  I have 1 profile I'm working on and it has 104 sources.  Sourcer will go through each but not fill the paste buffer.   Is there any other way to get the citations besides 1 at a time?  Can it be broken into bite sized chunks or ideally, have the ability to select which sources you want to bring back citations for?