August, 2024
Hammad K.
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your continued support and dedication to exploring your family history with Hope Chest! Your feedback and patience are what drive us to keep improving your experience.
We’re excited to announce the release of Hope Chest Extension Version 12.0.0, bringing several important updates and fixes. We strongly encourage all users to update their extensions to take advantage of these improvements.
In this latest version, we’ve focused on resolving known issues and enhancing the overall performance and stability of the extension, ensuring a smoother and more reliable experience.
We’re also thrilled to introduce the v12.0.0 Dependency & Ancestor search enhancements. These updates address recent changes on Family Search, providing more accurate results and smoother navigation as you explore your family lineage.
If you encounter any issues after updating the extension, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. Your ongoing patience and collaboration are greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
July, 2024
Hammad K.
Family history research can be overwhelming, but Hope Chest Software simplifies the process, making it accessible and enjoyable for everyone. By following three simple steps, users can uncover names ready for temple ordinances.
We are thrilled to announce the release of Hope Chest Extension Version 11.0.5-8, addressing the issues encountered with the previous update. We urge all users to promptly update their extensions to benefit from these fixes.
Step-by-Step Guide:
- Install the Extension: Easily add the free Hope Chest extension to your Chrome browser.
- Login: Access your family tree on FamilySearch.org.
- Start Searching: Use Hope Chest to find names for temple ordinances.
Features:
- Search specific family lines or ancestor descendants.
- Print and share search results.
- Create folders for organized searches.
- Identify ordinances needed for male and female ancestors.
- Unlock advanced features with an upgrade.
Hope Chest Software is a powerful, user-friendly tool designed to make family history research fun and straightforward. Start your journey today by installing the Hope Chest Chrome extension and explore your ancestry with ease!
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
May, 2024
Hammad K.
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your ongoing support and dedication to exploring family history through Hope Chest! Your patience and invaluable feedback drive our efforts to continually enhance your experience.
We are thrilled to announce the release of Hope Chest Extension Version 11.0.5-8, addressing the issues encountered with the previous update. We urge all users to promptly update their extensions to benefit from these fixes.
In addition to resolving known bugs, we are diligently focused on optimizing the performance and bolstering the stability of the Extension for seamless usage.
Moreover, we are excited to introduce v11.0.5-8 Dependency & Ancestor search fixes, addressing recent changes on Family Search. These enhancements ensure smoother navigation and more accurate results when delving into your ancestral lineage.
Should you encounter any persisting issues following the extension update, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. Your continued patience and collaboration are immensely appreciated!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
March, 2024
Hammad K.
ReNae
I have been using Hope Chest for 10 yrs. My experience and others I have introduced it to have been exceptional. It is the best tool available to search ancestors and descendants. I have found it accurate, thorough, and easy to use.
Richard
I have been using the paid version for several years. I use Window 10. There have been times when FamilySearch makes changes which requires the HC tech to make updates. It may take him a few weeks but he always comes through. I have never had a problem in getting my emails answered. The last update made earlier this year (2019) was awesome. HC runs smooth without a problem.
Jill
Any problems we have had were always fixed within a few days and we have sent thousands of names to the temple with the help of the program. I have a new problem. When I click on the icon it will only show my husbands people with his name at the top. I have restarted, signed in and out, changed computers and nothing works. I cannot get my hope chest to show up, only my husbands.
We love hearing from our users! What do you love about Hope Chest? Share your thoughts on our Chrome webstore page or email us at [email protected]!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
August, 2023
Hammad K.
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We are so grateful for your continued love for Family History by using Hope Chest! We appreciate your patience and feedback.
We are rolling out an update for Hope Chest Extension Version 11.0.2 that will fix the bugs with had with previous update. All users are requested to update their extension.
We are continuously working on the performance and stability of the Extension as well!
If you still face the issues after updating the Extension, please reach out to us [email protected]. We appreciate your patience!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
July, 2023
Hammad K.
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We are so grateful for your continued love for Family History by using Hope Chest! We appreciate your patience and feedback.
We are rolling out an update for Hope Chest Extension that will fix the bugs with had with previous update.
We are continuously working on the performance and stability of the Extension as well!
If you still face the issues after updating the Extension, please reach out to us [email protected]. We appreciate your patience!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
May, 2023
Hammad K.
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We are thrilled to announce that the compatibility issue between Hope Chest and the new Pedigree view on Family Search has been resolved! You can now fully utilize the power of Hope Chest within the new Pedigree view. We appreciate your patience and feedback during the transition, which played a vital role in addressing this issue. Please click here to move to New Pedigree:
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
April, 2023
McKay Thomason
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We are so grateful for your continued love for Family History by using Hope Chest! We appreciate your patience and feedback.
We are working on adapting Hope Chest to the new Pedigree view rolled out by Family Search. We hope to have it resolved soon! In the meantime, make sure to switch back to the old view by clicking this in the corner and Hope Chest will continue to work.
We are also working on some performance and stability improvements as well! Stay tuned and we appreciate the support!
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
January, 2023
McKay Thomason
Hello Hope Chest Users,
We are so grateful for your continued love for Family History by using Hope Chest! We appreciate your patience and feedback.
We have had some exciting changes within Hope Chest recently. We are implementing more up to date tutorial videos as well as better optimization of the tool.
There is one change that is fundamental to us as a business. In order to support the development of this tool that we all love, we are going to start limiting the basic plan (the free plan) to a total of 5 searches. You will then be prompted to upgrade to a higher version.
Again, we thank you for the passion you have with Hope Chest. As this tool does require support and development to make Family Search easy! :)
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
May, 2021
Rachel Chipman
A search with no results can be frustrating and disappointing. If this happens to you, here’s what to do:
If your search was:
*Less than sixty seconds long *Didn’t end in a notification that the search was complete *Ended in an error message or *Never showed any signs of moving through the tree
Refresh the page and try again. Also, make sure you have opened the tree of the individual on whom you’d like to start the search. If you click back through your own tree and only highlight the person, Hope Chest will still recognize you as the person whose tree is open and start the search on you.
If you’re still not getting any search results, your next step should be the Hope Chest log. The log shows in (almost) real time each name Hope Chest checks, whether or not the name was saved, and (if not) why. The log is a fantastic, highly underutilized Hope Chest resource. You should check your log right away if you ever have any questions about your results.
When you’re adjusting your settings before your search, make sure the log box is checked:
Then, after starting your search, open your Hope Chest menu and click Open Log:
Here’s what you’ll see:
The name and Person ID make it easy to find and check specific individuals, and glancing over the log can make it easy to spot trends: too narrow a date range, names with duplicates, etc. If there’s a certain setting eliminating lots of possible results, you can adjust the search settings and try again.
Questions? Email us at [email protected]!
April, 2024
Rachel Chipman
“I LOVE Hope Chest. Mostly I am using it to find out if everything is correct with my distant relatives records. I find duplicates (by the dozens) to merge for my cousins. Lol. I add sources, locate dates and places for them, connect more folks that weren't already in Family Search. It’s interesting to know that someone I'd never heard of is my 4th cousin 5 times removed. I'm a Family History Library leader and I use Hope Chest when teaching. I recommend that everyone download it at home.” -- Beth
Thanks Beth! We are so happy to hear Hope Chest has been useful to you in your family history work.
We love hearing from our users! What do you love about Hope Chest? Share your thoughts on our Chrome webstore page or email us at [email protected]!
January, 2021
Rachel Chipman
As local guidelines have discouraged in-person interaction, it has been hard to know how to fulfill our calling to minister to each other. There are only so many times you can leave cookies on the doorstep! If you have exhausted the baked goods options, try family history as your next socially distanced act of service! With Hope Chest Pro, you can search lines you have in common with a family member or friend, export the results, and easily send him or her the list to help their family history research.
Learning how to do family history can be intimidating. If your friend is just starting out, you can answer questions about Family Search, teach them how to use Hope Chest (hint, hint ;D), and offer to be their on-call expert. Shake up the banana bread-ministering and add family history to your ministering tool kit!
November, 2020
Rachel Chipman
2020 has been a tough year for all of us, so we're bringing the holiday cheer early! We're starting our Black Friday sale TODAY, so upgrade now to get 25% off any Hope Chest subscription! For the person who has everything, a Family Edition upgrade is a gift that will bless the whole family all year. For the person who loves family history but is new to Hope Chest, a Hope Chest Plus subscription is a great way to take their research to the next level in 2020. This is our last sale of the year, so don't wait! Upgrade your Hope Chest account today!
November, 2020
Rachel Chipman
We were honored to be invited to present at the Family Roots (virtual) conference this year! If you missed our class, you can watch it here with the other classes. For those of you who have asked for a new Hope Chest video tutorial, this is a great one for both beginner and intermediate Hope Chest users. Watch to the end for a surprise! Thank you to Family Roots for welcoming us to the conference!
October, 2020
Rachel Chipman
If you tried to upgrade your account last week, you may have noticed our payment page was down for a few days for maintenance. Our developers added some features to help our support team serve you better, and we are ready and excited for all of you to upgrade. We appreciate your patience as we finished our transition away from PayPal and to our own payment system!
September, 2020
Rachel Chipman
If you’re new to Hope Chest Pro (or even if you’re not), the many options for your search can be overwhelming. Which settings will give you the best results? More important, which settings will ruin your whole search?
The vast majority of settings issues we come across come down to this box right here:
The purpose of the “Save Individuals Regardless of Ordinance Status” box (hereafter referred to as the SIROS box) is to allow users to search for and save names that don’t have available ordinances. For example, if you want to find all the names in a line with record hints, the ordinance work is irrelevant-- you can get useful information from a name with some, all, or no ordinance work available. The problem comes when you combine one of the ordinance status options (Request Ordinances, Needs More Info, and In Progress) with the SIROS box. These settings cancel each other out, and Hope Chest just ignores the ordinance status option you selected. You’ll probably get thousands of results, for sure, but not of the kind you wanted. If you’re searching for one of the ordinance statuses and you’d like to save names with any ordinance available or incomplete, check all the ordinance boxes, like this:
Happy searching! Questions about this post? Suggestions for future blog posts? Email us at [email protected]!
August 31, 2020
Rachel Chipman
As of August 31, 2020, 139 temples will be in Phase 1 (living husband-wife sealings only) and 68 temples will be in Phase 2 (all living ordinances). While we are thrilled to see steady progress, we are with you all in missing the opportunity to perform proxy work in the temple.
Without the ability to take family names to the temple, though, you may be wondering if Hope Chest can still help you with your family history research. The answer is a resounding, “YES!!”
Hope Chest can help you get names ready for when the temples re-open, or simply help you in finding work to do on your family tree! Hope Chest Plus and Pro can find: *Individuals born within a certain time frame (i.e. 1820-1970, 1700-1910, etc.) *Individuals of a certain gender *Names with record hints *Names with research suggestions *Names that need more information *Names with data problems And more!
We all miss serving in the temple, but there is still much work we can do while the temples are closed. Hope Chest is still here during the closure to help you with your family history research! If you have any questions about using Hope Chest, you can check the FAQ page here or email us at [email protected]!
August 8, 2020
Rachel Chipman
Chrome has recently made some changes to the toolbar that affects how extensions are displayed. The puzzle piece icon is your new extensions menu.
When you click the puzzle icon, you’ll see all your extensions, including Hope Chest. You can use Hope Chest as usual by clicking the chest icon in this menu, or you can click the pin (as I have done above) to “pin” the Hope Chest icon in its old place next to the URL bar.
It looks like a big change, but Hope Chest is as ready as ever to help you with your family history research!
June 4, 2020
Checkout out our new Promo video!
May 1, 2020
Come like our Facebook page!
We are starting our Facebook page so that we can start to communicate with you! Send us a review, or post a feature suggestion, or just say hi!
Feb 21, 2020
Hello Hope Chest users,
Wow, it has been a BIG month here at Hope Chest!
A few weeks ago, Eric made the painful decision to put Hope Chest up for sale. Between his full-time job, his calling as a bishop, and his family responsibilities, he felt he could no longer give Hope Chest the time and attention it deserved. Many of you saw his announcement and reached out with love and support— thank you.
When Eric decided to move on, we seriously considered calling it quits, but your passion for Hope Chest helped us realize there is still a demand for quality family history programs. We are thrilled to announce Spencer Thomason, Eric’s longtime friend and colleague, has decided to take over Hope Chest. Spencer is an experienced programmer and businessman with a wonderful vision for Hope Chest. With his leadership, we anticipate Hope Chest will be around for years to come.
Spencer has completely revamped Hope Chest. There will be big changes— most we know you’ll love, and a couple that may be less popular. We ask for your patience and support as we work to bring you a sustainable, polished program.
We have turned off all traffic to the Hope Chest server. You won’t have access to your saved names and labels. Hope Chest will be unavailable for the rest of Monday (February 24, 2020). On Tuesday (February 25, 2020), please restart your computer so Chrome can update Hope Chest to version 10. After the computer reboots, you’ll be able to log into Family Search in Chrome as usual and check out the new and improved Hope Chest!
We know we would have never gotten this far without the support of our Hope Chest users. Thank you again for your excitement, your love, and your support. We feel honored to be hastening the work with you.
Sincerely,
The Hope Chest Team
