How do I review, accept or reject hints?

When we show you hints about your ancestors on your Findmypast family tree, you choose what to do next. If the information is useful, you can add it to your tree. If not, discard the hint and keep going.

Review hints to discover information

First, locate your hints in one of three places: on your dashboard when you first log in; within the orange ‘Hints for this tree’ button at the top of your family tree view; or the little orange circles next to your relatives.

On each hint, you’ll see a brief description of the record set we sourced it from and a preview of some of the information it contains. If it looks like it could be relevant, review the hint to see the information in full.  

You’ll see the most important information from the record side-by-side with what you already have on your tree. As you compare the two, we’ll show you what’s identical, what’s new information, and what’s different from what you have. 

Accept a hint to add it to your tree

If you’re happy with the information, accept the hint to add the information to your ancestor’s profile along with its source.  

Each fact has a checkbox next to it so you can choose what you’d like to add and what you’re happy to ignore. All facts are selected by default so you don’t miss anything. 

If there’s anything in the record that you don’t want to keep, you can simply uncheck that piece of information – whether it’s a fact or a whole person – to prevent it from being added to your tree. 

Tip: We recommend adding as much information as possible – you can edit or delete information later, and it helps to keep track of all the information that’s been recorded about your family across different sources as they can become useful research leads for you later.

Reject an irrelevant hint, or save a hint for later

If it doesn’t look like the right person after all, or you’re just not interested in this record, you can reject the hint, or if you’re not sure you can save it for later by selecting the bookmark icon. You can access saved and rejected hints at any time from the top of your list of hints.

Edit and organise facts from a person's profile

You can view and edit all facts and sources about anyone on your tree at any time from their profile. Make quick changes to basic facts about someone in your family tree by selecting them and editing essential details like name, gender and dates of birth and death. For more detailed updates, select 'View all facts and events' to be taken to the 'Facts' tab of that person's full profile. There, you can change all of their details, add new facts and even sort them alphabetically or chronologically.

When you have a few different versions of a fact from different sources, you can choose which one to set as the preferred fact – the version that you decide is the most important. 

Tip: The preferred fact is the version we show on their profile summary, and what we use to look for hints, newspapers, and searches from your tree – so choosing a different preferred fact from your collection can sometimes bring new discoveries.

Ready to start digging into your hints? Your tree will be flourishing in no time.