When something does not work the way you expected

The search box at the top of the Dashboard only looks through the records already saved in your own account: your people, sources, questions, archive items and DNA records. It does not search the archives. In a new account it will find nothing, because nothing has been saved yet.

To search the archives for an ancestor, open Legacy Search in the left menu.

1. Open Legacy Search in the left menu.
2. Leave Quick Search chosen for your first search.
3. Type the name in Ancestor Name. This is the only box you have to fill in.
4. Add a birth year, the years to search, or a place if you know them.
5. Click Run Research and stay on the page until the activity box says Done.

The first time you sign in, a step-by-step guide can walk you through this on the screen. You can turn it on or off at any time from the left menu.

Look at the top of the Legacy Search page, under the title. If something in the form needs fixing, a message appears there and the search does not start:

• Please enter an ancestor name. The Ancestor Name box is empty.
• From year should be a year, like 1865. The year boxes take a year written as numbers only, such as 1850. For a rough birth year, use the Birth Year box instead, which takes forms like c.1840s.
• Choose at least one archive, or turn on web search. Every archive under Where to look has been cleared. Click Select All, or tick at least one.

If none of these appear and the button still does nothing, refresh the page and try again. If that does not help, use Report a problem.

Each click of Run Research counts as one research engine search. Follow-up questions about a report do not count. Your plan includes a set number each month, and the counts start again on the first day of each month. Your Dashboard shows how many you have used.

A search that fails before the research engine answers is not counted. When you reach the limit, the search stops and tells you so. Nothing is charged. During the beta, plans are set by Aisha, so if you need more searches for testing, use Report a problem to ask.

A Quick Search takes about 3 minutes. Deep Research takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Newspaper archives can take up to a minute on their own.

While it runs, the activity box under the Run Research button adds a line for each step: each archive searched, each spelling tried, and finally Reading the records and writing the report. If new lines are still appearing, the search is working. Stay on the page and keep your computer or phone awake until the activity box says Done.

The page lost its connection to Krio Griot before the report arrived. This happens when you leave the page or close the tab, when a phone or laptop goes to sleep, or when the internet connection drops. Run the search again and stay on the page until it says Done. If it happens again on a steady connection, use Report a problem.

Each archive is searched separately, and each one reports for itself. The rest of the search carries on when one archive has a problem.

• Search failed means that archive did not answer properly this time. Archives are run by other institutions and are sometimes slow or down. Try again later.
• Not searched means the archive could not be reached, and the reason is given next to it.
• Not searched on the Free plan means you chose an archive that is part of the Basic and Upgrade plans. The archives your plan does reach were still searched.

A search already done in the same archive, with the same words and the same years, is skipped and says so. That keeps you from paying for a repeat of work already on record. Archives do add records over time, so to run it again anyway, tick Search again anyway next to the Run Research button.

Not usually. Searched. Nothing found for this name (absent). means the archive answered, and none of its records matched. That is a real result, and it is kept in the log, because knowing where you have already looked is part of the research.

It does not prove the person was never there. Records for enslaved and newly freed people are often missing, misspelled or filed under someone else's name. Things to try:

• Add other spellings in Other spellings of the name, and leave Krio Griot's suggested spellings switched on.
• Add a birth surname or married surnames, if the name changed.
• Widen the years, or remove them.
• Add a county or state under Known Locations.
• Add a known or suspected enslaver, plantation or estate, and try Deep Research, which follows the trail to the enslaver's family and papers when the ancestor's name disappears.

A search never adds anyone to your tree on its own. Under the report, every finding has a tick box. Tick the ones you want to keep and click Save Selected Findings. Nothing is saved until you do.

To put a person in your tree, add them on the Ancestors page or from the Family Tree. A suspected enslaver is saved as a research lead, never as a member of your family.

When the name you searched belongs to exactly one person in your tree, the search is linked to that person automatically. If nobody in your tree has that name, or more than one person does, the search is not linked. To link it, choose the person in This research is for before you run the search. A linked search appears on that person's profile.

They show where each statement came from. A tag starting with A is an archive record found in this run, and a tag starting with W is a web page. Click a tag to jump to that source in the list below the report. Click any sentence in the report to open its evidence folder: the records behind it, what they prove, and what they do not prove.

The sentence before it does not point to any record from the search. It may be general history, or a reasonable guess by the research engine, but nothing in this run backs it up. Treat it as unconfirmed until you find a record that supports it.

The report mentions a web address that did not come from this run's own searches, so Krio Griot does not make it a link. It may be correct, but check it yourself before you rely on it.

Every finding carries one of seven marks that say how it is known. Documented means a record found in an archive says it. Inferred means it is reasoned from evidence but no record states it. Synthetic means the research engine wrote it, and it is never a record. A web page alone does not make something Documented. All seven marks are explained in the documentation.

The search found a collection that very likely names people like your ancestor, but the collection is described here by ship, date or place, not by each person's name. The message tells you where the names are indexed, so you can search for your ancestor there yourself. Not finding the name here does not prove the person is not in it.

Krio Griot searches the archives it is connected to directly, plus public web pages when web search is on. It cannot see inside FamilySearch, Ancestry, Fold3 or other record databases, even when the record is there. When a record is likely to be in one of them, the report says where to look. The full list of what I search is in the documentation, and the limits are on What I cannot do.

On the Basic and Upgrade plans, every run is saved to the Research Log with every search it made, including the ones that found nothing. Under the report you will see This run, with every search, was saved to your Research Log.

On the Free plan, runs are not saved to a log, and you will see This search was not saved to a research log. To keep a report, click Download PDF or Copy Report before you leave the page, and save the findings you want with Save Selected Findings.

The search finished, but saving it to the log did not work. A Save Report to Research Log button appears under the report. Click it to save the report by hand. If that also fails, use Report a problem.

The Archive Scanner only takes pictures (including iPhone photos and TIFF scans) and PDFs. Other files, such as Word documents or ZIP files, are left out without a message. Each file can be up to 20 MB.

Yes. On a phone or tablet, the Archive Scanner has a Take a photo button that opens the camera. Lay the page flat in good light, hold the phone straight above it, and fill the frame. You can also choose photos you already took.

iPhone photos (HEIC) are turned into JPEG for you, and a photo taken sideways is turned upright for reading. The original file is what is saved.

The scanner could not read the file. It reads JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP and PDF, and turns iPhone photos (HEIC) and TIFF scans into JPEG for you.

An iPhone HEIC photo can only be turned into JPEG by a browser that can open it: Safari, on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. On another browser, such as Chrome on Windows, you will see This is an iPhone HEIC photo, which this browser cannot open. Scan it from your iPhone or in Safari, or save it as a JPEG first. On an iPhone you can also choose Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible, so new photos are saved as JPEG.

A scan that fails is not counted. If a JPEG, PNG or PDF also fails, use Report a problem.

The suggestion is a starting point for you to check. It reads clear, sharp, high-contrast scans best; faded, blurry or hard-to-read handwriting gives weaker results. Scan at 300 dpi or higher if you can.

Correct any field before you save. Regenerate reads the page again, and counts as another scan. The original file is never changed.

One scan is one image, or one page of a PDF. A five-page PDF counts as five scans. Your plan includes a set number, and your Dashboard shows how many you have used.

Nothing is saved until you click Save to Archives. The item then appears on the Archives & Collections page. If you chose a person under Connect to a person, it also appears in their Gallery.

If you ticked the box to add it to the timeline, it needs a date, a place or details. Without them you will see Add a date, place or details for the timeline, or untick it.

Yes. Choose or drag in several files and they wait in a queue. Click Process All to read them one after another. Each result shows its picture and can be connected to a person, the same as a single scan.

The tree is drawn from the people you have saved and the parent and spouse links between them. Add a person on the Ancestors page first, then link parents and spouses on the tree.

The tree only shows people who are linked, by parent, spouse or child links, to the home person. Nothing is guessed from names. Click Unlinked people to see everyone not yet connected, and use Add relative on a person to link them.

Click your own card and choose Make home person. The tree, the trail along the bottom and every relationship are then worked out from you. It is saved with your account, and the Home button always comes back to you.

That person is not marked Documented and has no saved record yet. They may well be right, but nothing you have saved backs them up so far.

A person can have biological, adoptive, step, foster or guardian parents. On the person's profile, under Relationships, you choose which set the tree shows.

Drag the tree to move it and scroll to zoom, or use the zoom buttons. Find looks for a person by name. The Home button goes back to the home person. Switch view changes between left to right and ancestors above.

Describe them instead, for example: female, age 14, Alabama, 1860. Krio Griot will not invent a name for an unnamed person. You can change it when a record gives you the name.

On the Ancestors page, click Find Duplicates. It groups people who may be the same. A merge keeps one of them and moves everything linked to the other onto them.

Before anything is removed, you are told exactly what will go with it, such as its links to people and questions, and any file uploaded with it. Nothing is deleted until you confirm, and it cannot be undone.

Open their profile and click Run research. The search is linked to them, so it shows on their profile with every other search done for them.

The automated research log and the sources database are part of the Basic and Upgrade plans. On the Free plan, searches still run, but they are not saved to a log. During the beta, plans are set by Aisha.

That is how the PDF is made. In the print window, choose Save as PDF as the printer, then save.

Your browser did not allow the page to copy text. Use Download PDF instead, or select the text and copy it yourself.

On Research Questions, click Add Question, write the question, and choose the person under Person This Question Is About. It then shows on their profile.

On Archives & Collections, tick the box on each item, choose the person, and click Save. The items then appear in that person's Gallery.

Images and PDFs, up to 20 MB each. To have the description suggested for you, use the Archive Scanner instead of adding the item by hand.

Not yet. This part of Krio Griot is a work in progress. For now, enter each test and match by hand on DNA Testing & Matches, or from the DNA tab on a person's profile.

A sign-in lasts 7 days on each browser. After that you are asked to sign in again. If your account's access has ended, the sign-in page says so. Anything you had already saved is still there when you sign back in.

In the left menu, click Step-by-step guides to turn them on or off. Turning them on starts every guide again from step 1. Each guide also has Exit guide, and Turn off all guides.

Refresh the page. After Krio Griot is updated, your browser may still be holding the old version, so use a full refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, or Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac. If records are still missing, sign out and sign back in. Use an up-to-date version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox.