Additional Resource

Fast Facts about FamilySearch Indexing

  • FamilySearch indexing is an online system where volunteers view a digital image of a record, then type in the names, dates and places listed on that record.
  • This digital data is used to create a searchable index that makes it possible for people to quickly find records about their ancestors.
  • There are 350,000 registered indexers in 130+ countries.
  • An average of 400,000 records is indexed every day.
  • Each record is indexed twice. 
  • Volunteers are indexing the 2.4 million microfilms and 18 petabytes of digital data in the Granite Mountain Records Vault.
  • One additional terabyte of digital data is captured every day.
  • Indexed records are available for free on FamilySearch.org.
  • 380 million new images will be published in 2011 by FamilySearch.
  • A record can go from sitting in an archive to being published on FamilySearch.org in as little as two weeks.
  • The FamilySearch indexing software is currently available in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Polish, German, French, Dutch and Portuguese. Japanese will be available in the next few months.

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