Did you see the new "Copy ID" feature?

Question

Hi WikiTreers,

You may notice this new icon on profiles:

Clicking it will copy the profile's WikiTree ID to your clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.

You'll see the icon in the headlines of profiles pages and edit pages, on profile previews, and in your Watchlist.

Let us know if you have questions or spot problems. Also, if you find that it would be helpful to have the icon in additional places, post here and we may be able to add it in a future round of changes.

Thanks,

Chris

P.S. Thank you to those who have suggested this feature in the past. And an especially big hat tip to Steven Harris who included it in his WikiTree Toolkit browser extension. We hope Steve will agree that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Comments

Glad to see it, but it isn't working in Safari 14.0 on macOS.

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It also isn't working in Firefox 81.0.2 for macOS. I hope the feature wasn't implemented using non-standard Microsoft interfaces.

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I'm on Chrome OS Version 85.0.4183.133 

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Its not working for me, either.  :(

Chrome Version 86.0.4240.75 

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It isn't working for me. Chrome Version 86.0.4240.75

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Didn't work for me. :( 

Chrome Version 86.0.4240.75

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Not working on Safari on the iPad.

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Works fine in IE.  Don't know yet about Opera, or Edge.

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Please give us both options.  Having the whole ID and name, brackets and all, made linking very easy. Having just the ID makes more work.

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Please restore the display of the WikiTree id text.   The new copy feature (maybe a useful thing) should be an addition, not a replacement of the id text. I work with duplicate or near duplicate profiles and need to understand "who" by mousing over links and seeing the id's of people.  The loss of the id text is a problem for me.  Mousing over the new icon simply says Copy ID.  If it could show the id text I'd be happy.

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Is there a way to search by ID? I've never been able to find it.

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That's great, now at the top of every profile right beside the nam put a box so you can enter a profile ID rather tan search by name.  I still don't see an easy way to find a profile if someone gives me the ID--It's probably something I have not leared yet.  The section for entering the ID should not be on the second page way down at the bottom.

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I just saw it here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Genealogically_Defined

It's not working on Chrome 86.0.4240.75 on a Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6

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It worked for me using chrome, but I wish it was just the ID and did not include the name.

Now if there was just an easy way to search by ID.

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It works for me and I am on Edge

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I want to echo what a few people said up there. Sometimes, here on G2G, people write the ID of someone, but you can't just click it or put it in a search box.  I would suggest both - have the site automatically convert IDs to links, and have a little ID search box.

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If you have a WikiTree ID, to go to that profile you edit it into your browser's URL box. Not very user friendly, I agree.

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Yeah, I should know that.  Anytime I want to find one of the zillions of category pages and the back-up information I put it in the browser and end up with wikitree and it gives me the link to go right there.
Why do I have to go there?  There is a "search" in the far right drop-down that doesn't take you there.  If it linked directly to google it would on the first try most times.

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I agree with Steve Broyles, the icon should be an addition, not a replacement of the id text in the pop-up previews.  we need to see the ID text in the pop-up.

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Just adding my vote to restore the visible ID. I can see this new copy feature will be useful in some circumstances, but having the ID visible is essential, and having the whole ID with name in the square brackets was useful too (didn't have to remember the format - was it one square bracket or two?)

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But now I can't see the ID when I hover over a profile - I use that feature all the time to make sure I have the right person!

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Wonderful Chris!

I just thought it was cutting something. Scissors cut....... The do not paste anything. Thank you for clearing.

Can we now copy anything back on G2G. My fingertips are dead.

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Now we have two different ways to copy the id # but no way to see what the # is until it is clicked and actually recorded somewhere else.  The id # needs to show in the hover feature.  The id# is essential in determining which profile is the correct person when there are multiple people with the same name. Please restore the visible id #.

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I'm on a mac, using chrome, and it does not work for me either. I do not see if this is looked into or not?

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Update: Profile Previews now include the visible ID along with the buttons for copying the ID, wiki-formatted link, and URL.

We are still trying to figure out why the function doesn't work for some members.

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What an amazing place WikiTree is!  Thank you so much for listening and helping.  This new feature is perfect!

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Thanks so much for restoring the visible id #

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Thank you!

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Maybe I don't understand what Profile "Previews" are, but I don't see WikiTree IDs anywhere on the page, including hovering over links of siblings, children, etc. I've flushed my cache. I'm on Safari 14 on Macintosh. It looks the same to me with the scissors icon and the non-functional Copy ID button. On Opera 68, the scissors icon doesn't even appear. ―Ken

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I've sent follow-up messages to the people above that are having issues with the copy function.

If the copy button isn't working for anyone else, please send an email to jamie [at] wikitree.com and let me know what operating system you have and what browser you are using.

Edit: This should be fixed.

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Thanks for bringing back the ID to the Pop-up window.  and adding the "Copy Wiki Link".  But I'm not crazy about adding the (<year of birth>-<year of death>) to the Wiki Link.  I would use this for adding people to a biography.  e.g. "Joe Shmoe was the son of [[Schmoe-17|Jim Schmoe]]".  Having everyone's dates of birth and death everywhere in the bio seems a bit tedious.  I used to just highlight and copy the Wiki Link out of the pop up manually, and that worked just fine.

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Thank You, Chris for adding the Link and URL copy functions to the Scissors icon, thereby restoring our ability to copy them easily to other profiles when editing.

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Thank you for reinstating the visible ID and providing all the ways to copy and paste the person's info. Most useful now.

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is it possible to change the colour on it?  Right now there are a number of such little gizmos showing, all in same colour.

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Alternately, give each item a border or use a button-type icon, for better visibility/separation.

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I don’t understand if it is a lovely feature. Maybe I do something wrong.

I am using the copy ID on my iPhone.

For example I copy and paste. When I paste I get Dagevos-21. I still have to fill in [[ in front of it and add | Carolina Dagevos]].

It doesn’t help that much.

Am I overlooking something?

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No, you're not doing anything wrong. That's how it's designed. As it says, it is to Copy the ID, which it does. But you raise a question that I've been meaning to ask. I've never seen this feature where you can copy the double-bracket thing, e.g. [[Smith-123|John Smith]]. Where is this—or should I ask where was this? I'm thinking it was a browser extension that I haven't installed. From the messages in this thread, it sounds like it no longer works, but I've never seen it in the first place.

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Kenneth, when you hover over the profile, just below the name you see the new scissors.  Just to the right of them are three choices: ID/Link/URL.  Send your cursor over Link and it will say Copy Wiki Link.  This gives you the ID with the name and dates and BRACKETS.  It's very easy to use.  Just click once and it will be copied.  Go wherever and use your keyboard to paste and it's there.

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Thank you Cindy, but that's not what I see. First of all, the  button is to the right of the name in my desktop browser, not below, so we are seeing different things. And there is no ID/Link/URL choices anywhere on the page. Are we talking browser differences? Do you have some extension or plugin installed? Why are we seeing different things?

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Kenneth

Marguerite Bourgeoys, just copied this, it has to be entered as a link in the bio, then you use your mouse to paint it and copy, paste thereafter.

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The new feature is on the Preview, not the main profile for some reason.  If you hover over someone's name you'll get the Preview and you'll see the new feature.

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You have to have the Profile Preview set up in Settings.  Some people don't have that turned on.

In Edit mode, if you hover over the Profile person's 1st name that is a 'link' under the Edit Data section, that will show the Profile Preview window with the 3 different options.

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Thank you Danielle and Steve. Now I understand what is meant by "profile preview". By hovering over Danielle's example in this G2G thread, I understand; however, I don't see this happening in linked names in my own profiles, e.g., Bauder-338. That bio has linked names to her parents, but when I hover over them, all I see is the WikiTree ID, not a profile preview.

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Kenneth, is it working when you hover over the parents or siblings in that profile at the top.  If not, try it from an incognito browser.  It may be a cache issue or timing because I can see the profile preview when I hover over the parents in that profile.

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Thank you, Linda. The problem was that I had previews disabled in Settings. (Didn't know there was such an animal!) I'm good now and done spamming everyone. :-)  ―Ken

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It is a great tool!! Glad you got it figured out.

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I found the answer to my question.

It doesn’t work on a mobile phone.

On the computer it works. However, I was always hovering above the name and able to copy and paste. Also easy.

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Thanks - useful.

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Adding and Building are a Good Thing in genealogy. Thanks!

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Update: The full set of three copy-to-clipboard options (ID/LINK/URL) now appears on profiles.

Our apologies for the confusion caused by having the three options on profile previews but just the one option on profiles. For those who have profile previews disabled this rollout has been especially buggy.

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@Chris... I think you need to move the pop-up link things above the text, because they're covering the text. If you hover left-to-right, you don't get the links for all three.  You may say that we can approach the links from below, and that's valid, but in real life, people often drag their pointer from left to right, just as we read.

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I agree with [[Beacall-6|Ian Beacall]]'s comment.

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Sorry, Ian and Kenneth, that was how we had it originally but it involves some extra complication that is not feasible.

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Chris, you couldn't move it up so that about half of the text is visible?

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Chris, is it not possible to set the .copyWidget:focus:after top to -2em (from -.5em)?

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Thank you, thank you.

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Thank you so much for the Link.

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Hi Kenneth,

It worked on the computer (not on a mobile) when you are in a profile and hoover over for example a father’s or mother’s name. You then saw [[Wiki-ID | Name]]. You could then copy and paste it in the biography. I don’t see it now anymore as it has been replaced by the Wiki copied link.

With kind regards, Carolina

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Could we have

	ID
	LINK
	URL

This way, the other texts (ID, LINK, URL) would be partially visible when hovering-over the texts.

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Just wanted to thank the Team for this addition. I didn't use it right away, but now use it all the time; makes adding links between profile narratives super easy. Thank you.

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Chris

I am sorry to say that I do not know what a clipboard is.  I have been trying to copy but I am expecting the copy to appear on the page I am using.  Can you help?  And thanks for ansering my former question

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Barbara, 'clipboard' is something the 'computer' has but we don't really see it.  If you 'click' on one of those 3 items that is shown in Ruben's image above, it will 'copy' something to the clipboard / notepad in the computer.  Then when you want to use it in your biography, you place the cursor at the place where you want to put it, then you 'paste' it (Use Ctrl key and 'V' key 'on a Windows computer') and the computer will add it to the biography in that location.

Answer 1

It doesn't seem to work...maybe I have to refresh my pages or clear cache. Thanks for adding this.

Comments

Nor is it working for me. I use a Chrome browser as well.

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It doesn’t work for me on Safari or Chome on ios 14. It would be much more useful if it included the full square bracketed link.

Great idea though.

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Doesn't work on Firefox 81.

Update: I was referring to the one at the profile page itself, which is now gone.

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Weird - it doesn't seem to work for me either. I'm also using Chrome.

On another window, I tried it in Edge and noticed something slightly different there. It did work, and when I hover over, the scissors changed to a "Copy ID" at which point I clicked and it changed to "Copied". On Chrome, I never saw it change from "Copy ID" to "Copied". Not sure if this detail helps in any way.

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Apparently, if you have Profile Preview disabled in your settings, it prevents the copy from a Profile or Free-Space page from working. 

I just re-enabled the Profile Preview, and it works now. 

In case someone doesn't know where to find this setting:

• Go to My WikiTree > Settings
• Remove the check from the "Disable Profile Previews" in the first section
• Scroll to the bottom & Save your changes

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Julie, thank you! (And Jamie, who has been emailing me!) Unchecking that box did the trick. The strange thing is, I don't remember ever checking that box in my settings, but I must have, I guess.

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I agree with both - I don't recall selecting that box, but unclicking it seems to have fixed the problem. Very interesting...

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This should be fixed now, even if you have the previews disabled.

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Thank you, Jamie! And for clueing me in on the solution this morning. 

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When profile preview box is shown, There is an option at the bottom that turns off the previews, but I think many people have selected it accidentally and didn't realize it.

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Yes, I was experimenting, and I turned it off. How do I restore it?

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In the drop down under My Wikitree, select Settings. You will see Profile Previews.  Uncheck that option so it is 'not' disabled'

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Got it. Thanx!

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Works in Chrome now..Thank you!

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Very helpful! Thank you!

Answer 2

I used to hovver over someone so their pop up box appeared, then copy and paste the whole id and name already in square brackets, which made it very easy to link them in a relative's bio.

Comments

I know it's working for me because I can no longer see the ID when I hover over the link, just "copy id".  I agree with others.  Please bring that feature back.

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How do we now easily place a link from another bio without needing to re-type what has been removed?  Is the Wiki-ID| Name found in square brackets elsewhere on the profile?

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If you see the 'green scissors with ID', click on that and you will have the Wikitree ID for that profile that you can paste where needed.

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I want to add agreement with all of the above - I frequently use the whole "Wiki ID | Full Name" in brackets to create links in my profiles.  I want to see it in every preview.  But, I also like the Copy ID function!  Please keep it, and bring back the other as well!  (I want it all!)

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Although change is inevitable, not all changes are productive.  While the reason behind making this change may have been to make some things easier and perhaps increase efficiency in some areas, this change is having the exact opposite effect. It now is much more difficult to compare profiles without extra work to find the ID.

This is a serious step backwards.  Please restore the display of the WikiTree Id text. If the scissor copy change is needed, then by all means make that an additional option, not the only function.

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I used to do the same thing, but for some weeks I only get a yellow mouse over box with only relationship and birth date/place. I'm on Firefox 81.

Update: Now I found it. I had disabled "profile previews" in my settings.

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Someone mentioned not being able to see even just the ID now on the hover, and I want to second that problem too.  While trying to work out complicated relationships, you can no longer see the ID (in addition to not being able to cut and paste the ID Name combo), it's difficult not to be able to see the ID either.  This is important when trying to untangle family relationships when many people have the same or similar names.  Which Pierre Cyr is this??

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ID is now visible again, it seems.

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As of today (15 Oct) the "Scissors icon" now has 3 choices and if you choose "Link" it will copy the entire WikiTree ID AND name with the embedded link as part of that copy.  I also see that the WikiTree ID has been added next to the scissors icon so it is visible when "preview" is turned on.

I assume that Chris & his Team have made these changes and so THANK YOU to them.  We now have 3 options, making this change a positive step forward.  Thank you also to all the members who requested these new changes not remove our ability to copy & paste the entire Name & Link when working on related biographies.

Upwards and Onwards, always!

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All of that is great!  I like seeing the ID just when hovering, and thank you for pointing out Copy Wiki Link gives both the ID and name same as before.  You need to hover over the scissors and move a bit to the right to get that choice.  Try it, you'll see it's there but just looks different than before.

Answer 3

Cool Chris! Worked like a charm and I find I am related in two different ways to a new Dillard cousin...always more work to do!

Thanks!

Mags

Answer 4

Thanks, Chris! It works like a charm. I love getting new tools to add to my toolbox 

Answer 5

Love the new function and having it so many places.  You might be able to remove the green box up on top that says ID OPTIONS.

Comments

Cindy, the ID OPTIONS box comes from a Chrome extension, not WikiTree. If you find you don't need it anymore, you'll need to disable or uninstall it from your browser. However I would wait to see how the dust settles on the WT feature before removing the extension.

Also keep in mind that there is a more recent version of the extension, with additional features. Once you remove the old one, you would need to install the newer version if you decide you want it back. They look a little different but essentially perform the same functions plus some.

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That's very interesting because I don't use Chrome but I have that box (on Firefox).  The new ID clips are great and they seem to replace that green box (even more reliably).

Answer 6

Thanks for adapting/integrating Steven's Chrome add-on (?) functionality into WikiTree, Chris/Team. As a heavy user of this functionality at FamilySearch.org, I am sure to find its addition to be indispensable here, too!

edit: corrected name; added question mark in parentheses

Answer 7

It works great for me and is very convenient

 I noticed when it first appeared I thought something was wrong. It looked like a dark box with funny symbols. Then a few minutes later it looked the way it does now.

Answer 8

It was so funny when I saw that symbol by the name as it looks allot like the DNA symbol.

I wasn't sure what it was, but as I had went to press it, I was thinking to myself "I hope this isn't a panic like button" LMAO!!! :-)

It was really cool to see what it does and it could come in handy when needed.

Thanks a bunch WikiTree "Geek Squad" Team! :-P

~Brian Kerr

Answer 9

The dynamic tree isn't working.

Answer 10

This is a good idea, thank you!  Unfortunately though it is not yet working in Firefox for Windows, v. 41.0.2 (64 bit).  I can see the scissors icon and when I hover over it get "Copy ID" Clicking on the "Copy ID" does not copy the ID to my clipboard.

Comments

My Firefox browser for Windows claims to be v. 81.0.2 (64-bit). This new feature works for me, but not every time I click on the link....

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Sorry, typo - that should have been Firefox 81.0.2!

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I found a solution that made it work for me. Maybe it will help you, too. See: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1122047/did-you-see-the-new-copy-id-feature?show=1122922#c1122922

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This should be fixed now.

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Thank you! Yes, it works! Fantastic new feature, I love it!

Answer 11

Thanks Chris.  I'm using this much more than I thought I would.  I usually got the ID from the url, but that is not very easy to do with an iPad.  Copy ID has improved my experience.

Answer 12

It works great for me on Chrome 86.0.4240.75. I like the feature and see no reason to roll it back.

I do see one place where knowing the ID can be of use - when tagging photos. I have many "John Smith" -type names that I manage and I use the ID to identify which one needs tagging in a photo. Perhaps displaying it on the profile page in edit mode solves that problem?

Answer 13

Please give me back the Wiki ID on the Profile Preview. I have used it a great deal and, while I appreciate the convenience of this latest change, it does not substitute for the ability to see the Wiki ID at a glance.

Answer 14

I agree with others who want this to be an addition not a replacement for the  whole ID Link that looked like this. I like to copy and paste that in my biography narratives. It looked like this

[[Cox-27929|Nancy Wilson]]

Comments

I, too, agree with the both-options crowd.

I'm sure many of my fellow WikiTreers are visually oriented and prefer to have a profile's ID displayed in an easy-to-access location on the various profile pages.

If it is technically feasible, then we should continue to provide the older functionality options that have been proven to be useful whenever we add newer and presumably improved functionality.

edit: I just noticed that the preview popups now have a Copy Formatted Link link.

Thanks for listening, Tech Team!

Answer 15

This is helpful, but please consider my plea to also have a visible ID# number in the profile previews.

Last evening I composed an email message regarding a confusing mess of profiles for people in the same family with the same name. While writing the message, I had a couple of profiles open in different tabs and I was using profile previews to make sure my references were pointing to pointing to the correct profile ID, but I had a devil of a time keeping the IDs straight because I could not see the IDs in the profile previews.

On top of that, the copy-ID feature was useless for my email-composition task because it was an email, so I needed to embed URL links (not just IDs) into my message.

Comments

I agree.  I don't use the wikitree ID in the preview to copy, as much as I need it to verify what wikitree profile I am looking at. Most of us have multiple wikitree IDs open at the same time, sometimes with windows 'partially' on top of each other, so the 'right' side is not visible, so the menu line is also not visible. Not having the ID visible above the Biography or in the URL line, when we are in Edit Mode on a page, makes it much more difficult to know what profile we are looking at and working on.  As seen in the comments, people use the ID in different ways, but not having it 'visually' is a problem.  

As an example, comparing 2 profiles side by side when a merge is being considered, we cannot determine if the parents, spouse, and / or children are the same without the Wikitree ID being visible in the profile preview.  There is no reason to do a 'copy' of the ID or the formatted ID and name when profiles are being compared.

Answer 16

It's not working for me.
Which doesn't matter all that much to me, as long as the Wiki-ID is part of the profile URL in view mode.

But when I try it out in edit mode, to pick up the IDs of relatives shown in the column to the right, something buggy happens: my click on the CopyID symbol is interpreted as an attempt to save. If I have not made any changes to the profile, I just get the "You have not made any changes" popup. If I have made a change I get the reminder that I have unsaved changes - do I really want to leve or do I want to stay. If I choose to stay, I get the green SAVING popup - but the save goes into a spin and never stops. Well I shouldn't say never. I've only had the patience to wait for a few minutes before closing the tab.

Firefox 81.0.2 (64-bitars)
MacOS Sierra 10.12.5

Comments

Same behavior for me- FoxPro 81.0.1

However in my case, when I was finally able to get back to the profile, all the profile data was GONE.....that big text box with the text and references was wiped back to the very original text.  BEWARE this new feature, if you haven't saved yet it can cause a lot of work to be lost.

(great idea in general though, I was copying the bracketed code from the pop-up box)

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Looks like it's been fixed.
This gadgetry seems to be mostly working for me now.
Thanks.

Answer 17

Please bring back the visible link!!!!!  The copy-id is a nice addition but not at the cost of having the link visible and available for copy-paste.  Ideally, there would be a visible link, a copy-LINK action, and the copy-ID action.

Comments

I agree Thom, I also want to see the link.  Not to belabor the point, but I often copy just a portion of the Link for use in my profiles.  When a name is just the way I want it in the text (e.g. with middle name(s), and/or without LNAB) I copy the portion that contains the double brackets, the Wiki-ID, and the "pipe" and then paste that in front of my name, and put the double brackets after.  It just saves me typing about three keystrokes separated by a cursor move.  Granted, its a small convenience, but it was available to me, and if there is no compelling reason to take it away, I'd like it back!  Please?

And having the click to copy ID and LINK are cool features too!   Please keep them as well!  I want it all!

I am impressed with how quickly WikiTree responded to everybody by adding the Copy LINK function!  Thanks!

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I think a bunch of do the same thing with grabbing the open brackets to pipe.  I sometimes also grab more or all of it depending on what will end up being the fewest keystrokes.

And, , ,  yes, kudos to WT for adding the copy link so quickly.

Answer 18

This is a useful addition, but I would like to see the link that was shown before added back, so that we have both options.

I often used the links shown in the right column while editing to add relatives in biographies, and now have to do more work, ie, 1-copy the link, 2-type in the name, 3- create a wikitree embedded link format. Before this change, all I had to do was copy the handy embedded link format and paste.

Answer 19

Encounter a problem that is likely due to this new feature, which is great but. . .  when working on merges, used to be able to hover over the profile name of family members and see the ID #, letting me know if they were different profiles and which direction to propose those merges.  Now have to actually open each profile to see the ID #'s  and write them down, with some sort of clue as to who is who, if there are several, as can no longer peek at the ID #'s

eta:  and will also be a problem when adding links to children and other people in the biographies, as used to be able to copy/paste the link that was below the name, but it is gone and I don't see it anywhere, so will have to type/create them from scratch.  

Answer 20

Yay! This evening we've got the 'copy formatted link' too, that is a brilliant addition. Thanks :)

Comments

I agree. Now the link also has birth and death dates. Great improvement.