Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have indexed names for years, uncertain of their work’s impact on family history research and temple ordinance performance.

But now, they can see exactly how much good their indexing has accomplished.

During the week of Nov. 12, FamilySearch finished launching the Your Impact feature, which shows users how many family trees their indexed and reviewed names have connected. For Church members, the feature goes a step further, showing them how many names went to the temple as a result of indexing and review work that they contributed to.

Ian James, a technical project manager at FamilySearch, said seeing indexing’s impact has made some FamilySearch users emotional.

“[For] people who have indexed for years in faith that it was doing some good, I want them to feel incredibly, incredibly validated,” he said.

How to use the Your Impact feature

James said FamilySearch began developing the Your Impact feature in 2022.

To use it, log in to FamilySearch and click the “Get Involved” tab at the top of the screen. Then, from the drop down menu, click “Your Impact.”

From there, users can explore by country how many names they’ve indexed or reviewed under the “Your Worldwide Contributions” section.

A screenshot demonstrating FamilySearch’s new “Your Impact” feature, which shows users how many names went to the temple as a result of indexing and review work that they contributed to.

Screenshot from FamilySearch.org

If applicable, Church members can also see which temple each name was taken to and when they were taken under the “Your Contributions in Action” section.

A screenshot demonstrating FamilySearch’s new “Your Impact” feature, which shows users how many names went to the temple as a result of indexing and review work that they contributed to.

Screenshot from FamilySearch.org

Additionally, Church members can see if and how they’re related to the people whose names went to the temple.

“It’s actually remarkable how many people, through random indexing, you... are connected to,” James said.

What is the Get Involved program?

The Your Impact feature is connected to the Get Involved program, which James said launched in early 2022 and allows users to verify and correct names indexed by artificial intelligence.

In October 2023, he spoke about the use of artificial intelligence in family history research during the International Council of Archives Congress held in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

A screenshot demonstrating FamilySearch’s Get Involved program, which allows users to verify and correct names indexed by artificial intelligence.

Screenshot from FamilySearch.org

James said that before the Get Involved program launched, indexing was an “all or nothing activity,” with human users completing every step of a time-intensive process. But artificial intelligence now indexes about 80% of names correctly, all of which “can immediately go downstream” to family history researchers.

Of the names that artificial intelligence doesn’t get right, James said the errors usually aren’t significant and Get Involved users clean them up quickly.

Although he can’t yet put numbers to how much Get Involved has improved indexing, “more value gets created and consumed a lot sooner. ... Having the computers go through first and making things findable has replaced decades of volunteer time.”

‘Just give it a try’

James said Get Involved users shouldn’t worry about doing everything perfectly. It’s also OK to skip names they can’t read, because someone else will pick up those names.

“My advice is [to] just give it a try. See how you feel,” he said, adding, “I hope that [this] opens a door to a whole other generation of people who want to be involved in family history... Maybe [they] don’t have their own research to do or that’s too much of a lift for them. But they can say, ‘I can do this, and I can see how it helps people.’”

Paul Nauta, senior marketing communications manager for FamilySearch, added that people who participate in indexing are facilitating communication on both sides of the veil.

Indexers discover family members, helping make family trees whole, he continued. “So I think that’s ... the spirit of what they’re going to experience.”