Instructions for Archive Owners

Congratulations on becoming a Kindex Archive Owner! Thank you for your work in preserving records in an accessible and searchable archive that will benefit generations to come. As an archive owner, you may:

Invite unlimited people to collaborate on your archive free of charge
Add unlimited records to your archive
Designate and maintain your archive settings, such as:
- Archive subdomain, name, and description
- Archive structure (Collection names and arrangement)

Access Your Archive

You may access your archive two ways:

Go to kindex.org, and click “Log in to my archive”.
If you are already logged in, click “Back to Archive”
Go directly to your archive URL you selected when you signed up (for example, https://smith-clark.kindex.org).
If you have a private archive, and you are not logged in, you will first see a page that looks like this:

Once you log in to your private archive, or if you have a public archive, your archive will look like this:

Manage Your Archive

View and change your archive settings with the Manage Archive tool. Click the “cog” in the upper right-hand corner of your archive to:

Edit your archive subdomain, name, description
View your current upgrade plan
View your archive stats
Invite family
Access archive tools

For example, to change the name of your archive:

Go to Manage Archive by clicking on the cog to the right of your name:
Click on the purple pencil to the right of your archive name to edit the name of your archive, and click Submit.

Invite Collaborators

People you invite to join your archive are called Collaborators.

Collaborators may:

View, search, and read records
Add information to records, such as a description, transcription, or comments
Add records to the archive

Collaborators may not:

Delete records
Move, edit, or delete Collections
Change Record Info (metadata initially added to records)

To invite others to join your archive, go to the Collaborate tab, add their email, and click “Invite”.

Persons you invite will then receive an email notifying them of the invitation, with instructions on how to get started. When a person accepts your invite and creates a Kindex account, their email turns green.

Requesting Archive Access

Individuals may also formally request access to your archive. This may happen if someone sees your archive in our directory, or is directed to the archive by a family member but has not yet received an email invite from you.

If someone requests access by clicking on the “Request Access” button on your private archive landing page, you will receive an email for that request, including a note from the requestor as to why they want to access your archive. If you choose to grant access, go to your Manage Archive, Collaborator tab and invite them using their email.

Collaborator FAQ

I can’t find my email invitation.
If a family member can’t find email invitation, or it was accidentally deleted, you may re-invite them at any time. Be sure they check their spam or junk folders for the email.

How can I remove a person’s access to my archive?
To remove a Collaborator’s access to your archive, click on the “garbage can” icon next to their email.

Where is the archive I was invited to?
If you are a Collaborator, you will be directed to the archive you were invited to. To access other archives you’ve been invited to collaborate, click Archives and choose another archive.

Add Records

Add records from your computer

Click the Add Records button located above your records.
Choose “Upload from my computer”
Select your records. If you don’t know how to select multiple files at once from your computer, hover atop the link “How to Batch Upload”.

Note: Only records 15MB or less are accepted.
Assign your records to a Collection, or add a new collection for them to be placed, and review your upload progress. At this point, you may opt to add Record Info (metadata) as a batch now, or individually later.
Add Record Info to your records (optional but recommended) and click “Update Records”

Add FamilySearch Memories

lick the Add Records button located above your records.
Choose “Share Memories from FamilySearch”
Add a FamilySearch ID and click Search
You may need to log in to FamilySearch using the link
When the Memories are found, click “Add Memories to Kindex”
Your Memories are added to a “FamilySearch Memories” Collection. This Collection may be renamed, or you may move the records from this Collection to another.

Add Collections

To add Collections (folders):

Click the Add Collection button on lower left of your screen.
Name your Collection and choose where to put it. For Collections at the top level, leave it at “– None –”.
To make your Collection a Sub-Collection choose a Collection to put this Collection in:
To rename a collection, hover on the number to the right of the Collection. Click on the purple pencil image. This will allow you to rename or move a Collection.
To move a record from one Collection to another, select the record in thumbnail view and click Record Info. You may also access Record Info from the Indexing window.
Choose the Collection you want to move the Record in and click Update Record

View and Index Records

To view any records, click on a record thumbnail. It will open in the Index screen. When you view a record, you will have the opportunity to add some data to that record that will help make it searchable. Adding data, while encouraged, is completely optional.

Click the < button to view the previous record in the Collection
Click the > button to view the next record in the Collection
Click “Indexed” to read transcriptions only
Click “All Records” to return to the main archive page.

For indexing instructions, see How to Index.

Read and Share Indexed Records

To read, print, and share records:

Go to the Indexed Screen
Open an indexed record to read the transcription

When you open an indexed record, you can:

Read and review the transcription
Edit the transcription or tags if necessary
“Copy Link” to share the record on a publicly viewable page. This is ideal for sharing the link as a source or on social media.
View and download the original record
Print the record to a QR-coded PDF
See who contributed and indexed the record

Search Records

To search your archive:

Type a word or phrase in the search area and click on the magnifying glass. You may filter your search by selecting Collections on the left.
Note: Kindex does not yet search partial words
Word matches in search results are displayed in purple. Select the “glasses” icon to view your record.

Instructions for Kindexers

A Kindexer is a volunteer indexer. Kindexers may be invited as Collaborators on public or private archives, or index public archives as a Guest.

Access Archives

Index as a Guest

Anyone who indexes on Kindex needs a Kindex account. Both Kindexers and archive owners (Cloud or Closet) may index on public archives.

To index a public archive as a guest indexer, log in and go to Kindex Featured Archives. Choose a public archive to browse and index.
Guest Kindexers may only index. To add records to an archive, you must request to become a Collaborator.

Index as a Collaborator

To index in a private archive, you must first be invited as a Collaborator by the archive owner.

If you know the Archive Owner, you may request that they send you an invite. If you don’t know the archive owner, When your email arrives, it will look something like this:
If you don’t know the archive owner, you may access the archive through our Featured Archives directory and request access.
To access the archive, click the “Accept Invitation” link in the email invite. If you haven’t yet created a Kindexer account, you will do this now. If you already have a Kindex account, log in.
If you have a Kindexer account, you will go directly to the archive you were invited to.