Sometimes the answer to a question might be so obvious that we may overlook it. For example, if you want to learn family history step by step, The Family History Guide is a great place to visit. (Of course, I had to mention that!) And if you are looking for a place to connect with others who are working on family history and research, the FamilySearch Community is a great place to check out. Let’s take a brief tour of the Community and learn about the advantages it offers.

Getting There

You can access the FamilySearch community directly at https://community.familysearch.org/ or select it in the FamilySearch Help menu.

There are two basic areas in the Community: asking questions, and collaborating in groups.

Support Questions

Have a burning genealogy question, or just something you’re curious about? Click Support Questions and you’ll see the area for General Questions. You can browse previously asked questions or search for specific topics. You can also join this Group by clicking the “Join Group” button in the upper right. If you would like to ask a question to the Group, click Sign In (upper right) and then click the  Question tab that appears. After posting, your question can be viewed by others in the Community who may offer helpful suggestions. If you would like to add your feedback to an existing question, you can comment on it.

Exploring Groups

Of course, “General Questions” is just the tip of the family history iceberg—there are many more topics to explore. The FamilySearch Community offers nearly 200 Groups, each focused on a particular area of family history. The general categories are

• Research
• About the Community
• General
• FamilySearch Products and Tools
• Community Involvement and Volunteer
• Latter-day Saints
• Languages

You can click the Groups tab at the top, or select a Group from the list at the right of the screen. Each Group has tabs where you can ask or answer questions about the topics of interest. Once inside the Groups area, you can use filters to show Groups that relate to languages or locations you want to explore.

Note: The Family History Guide has direct links to many of the FamilySearch Community Groups for your convenience, usually in the Get Help Goal for country pages.

More

For more information on the basics, read Get Started with FamilySearch Community. There is also a helpful video in the FamilySearch Help Center, Finding Research Help Online with the FamilySearch Community, that you may want to watch as well.

Check out the FamilySearch Community and see the difference family history collaboration can make for you!