Ancestry.com has informed its members that the Quick Links feature will be discontinued starting November 1, 2024. We were given an early warning last year when the ability to add new links to the Quick Links widget was disabled. Yesterday, I learned that less than 1% of Ancestry users took advantage of this feature.[1] As one of that small percentage, I didn’t wait around when last year's announcement came through. I made sure to back up my favorite links, which included Public Trees shared by other users and all Federal Census Records. These links are a huge time-saver for me.
Within a few hours, I had transferred all of these links into my personal genealogy "Toolbox," a file I keep handy on my Chrome toolbar.
I soon realized that having the links in my Toolbox was even more convenient than relying on the Quick Links on my Ancestry.com homepage. It’s much easier to pull up census records and those family trees now, as I no longer have to navigate away from the page I’m working on—saving clicks in the process. I found it so useful that I’ve created a separate file of links to Federal Census Records at FamilySearch, which I turn to whenever I can't locate someone in the Ancestry.com records.
Diana
© 2024
Source:
[1] Timothy J. Barron, "Ancestry Users," Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/469269581613668 : posted 14 September 2024).
I did the same thing a couple of years ago when Ancestry first let us know that at some point Quick Links would disappear...like you, I quickly discovered the folder method on the toolbar was much easier :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it really keeps you focused on the task at hand. Thank you for reading my post!
DeleteI was not aware of this at all. I'm not certain where to begin.
ReplyDeleteHi Carol, Do you use Quick Links? If so, look at the next comment. I just added the instructions. If this does not answer your question, go to my "About Me" page (see the tab at the top) and send me an email from the link on the page - I can help.
DeleteLooks fantastic, but I don't know how to create such a folder on my Toolbar. Can you give the recipe please? I have Census records on my Quick Links: can I copy them as a group and move the group to a Toolbar folder or is this a one link at a time effort?
ReplyDeleteFor the Chrome toolbar, right click on the toolbar and choose add folder. Name your folder and then add your links from Quick Links. You will have to add them one at a time. Click on each link in your Quick Links, then right click on the toolbar and choose add page as you are adding a Bookmark. You will see a drop-down for places to add the page, your folder will be in that list. I hope this was helpful.
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