My good friend and colleague, Randy Seaver, had one of his readers ask him a question, and his response is here
My approach is slightly different and thought I would share the difference. Please don't get me wrong, Randy will run circles around my research.
His second choice was to use Hints and Suggested Records. Hints, within FTM2017 are my FIRST Choice. Reason, the criteria and data required by the Hints provided in my Ancestry Member Tree are far more accurate from the data on the Generic Search Website.
(I see they have changed the All Records Search screen a bit)
There are many fields that can be filled in, some fields may or may not get the results I might want.
I have mentioned this before, but when I do use the Ancestry Search engine, manually, no hints, I will search in a specific Record Collection, preceded with a specific Genealogical Question. l have learned that the Search Screen fields will be different based on that record collection. Also, I have an Evernote note that I create and update based on that Record Group. I have Citation information, what information I want to gather from that record collection.
For example: The U.S.,Social Security Applications and Claims Index,1936-2007.
Note the fields that can be completed, if know.
And the U.S., Social Security Death Index,1935-2014
The data fields are different.
But, in most cases, I have a specific question, which would lead me to a specific Record Group, I would go to that Record Group and did the search from there.
I generally start very broadly, then refine (Edit) the information in the Fields, but I do start with the Sliders that Randy describes.
But, I let my Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) find the Hints that I will use, within FTM2017. I do ALL of my Data Entry in FTM2017, including the Web Merge Feature. I do not merge any records in the AMT.
But Please read Randy's Blog Post. (link above)
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