What's on the card FamilySearch prints
- The name
- Given names and surname. On a couple's card, the husband's and wife's names are stacked, each with its FamilySearch ID underneath.
- FamilySearch ID
- A short code like LB6J-5LN: the person's ID in FamilySearch Family Tree. It's how you find them again.
- The gender box (left edge)
- Male, Female or Couple, printed sideways. It tells the temple who can do the ordinances on the card.
- Ordinance boxes
- Baptism, confirmation, initiatory, endowment and sealing to parents on an individual's card; sealing to spouse on a couple's card. A shaded box isn't part of this card. A box with a date and a temple code shows an ordinance already done.
- An identifying event
- A birth, christening, marriage or death date and place, so people with the same name can be told apart. Individual cards also show the parents' names.
- The long number and QR code
- The card's own request number and its code. The temple scans them to record the ordinance, so they must stay clean and readable.
- The return box
- "Check the box if you need this card after it is recorded." Tick it and the temple returns the card to you, so you can use it for the next ordinance without reprinting.
- Printed date
- When the card was printed, along the left cut line. Reprinted cards say so.
Grandma Ruth's side · 5 gensYour 3rd great-grandmother
Given NamesSurnames
Johanna MariaBerg
yoh-HAH-nah mah-REE-ah BERH
Mom's mom · Berg line
Female
BaptismConfirmationInitiatoryEndowmentSealing to Parents
LB7K-Q2M
Birth: 12 March 1812
Heerenveen, Friesland, Netherlands
Heerenveen, Friesland, Netherlands
4-1287-3361-5492-2464
Your Name · Your City, ST
(555) 555-0142 · you@example.com
Check the box if you need this card after it is recorded.
Expires: 6 Oct 2028
An invented example of a card after TempleKit. FamilySearch's own printing stays exactly as it was.
The printing instructions, in short
- Print on white paper, portrait, at Actual Size (not "fit to page").
- Cut on the dotted line. A card is 3⅛ × 4⅞ inches (80 × 123 mm), and the barcode must be on it.
- The page also prints a Family Ordinance Request number. If you can't print, write it down: temple workers can print the cards for you.
- Ordinances not done by the expiration date in your FamilySearch reservations are shared with others.
What TempleKit adds, and what you control
TempleKit only writes in the empty spaces FamilySearch leaves. It never covers the name, the ordinance boxes or the long number, nothing comes within 6 points (about 2 mm) of a QR code, and every page is checked to make sure each QR code still scans to its own card's number before you can download it.
| Setting | Default | What it does | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who they are to you | You choose | Prints the relationship across the top, bold and as large as the card allows (10–13 pt): “Victor's 3rd great-grandmother”. | The question every patron has holding a card: who is this? |
| Side tag and caption | From your family | A filled tag names the grandparent the line runs through (“Grandma Martha's side”); a caption under the names spells out the path (“Mom's mom · Schidner line · 5 gens back”). Step-families are named after the step-parent (“Joe's dad's side”). | People know their grandparents, not their great-grandparents. Use the name your family used (Nana, Papa…), otherwise Grandpa or Grandma and a first name. |
| Side colour | Always on | Every word we add is all blue (#2F6FC0) on Dad's-side cards or all green (#40775A) on Mom's-side cards. | Sort a stack by side at a glance. The side is also spelled out on the tag, so colour is never the only cue. |
| Gender box colours | On | Recolours FamilySearch's own box, keeping its lettering: male blue, female pink (#F29BC1), couple gold (#F2C744). Off keeps the black and white box. | See who each card is for, so men's and women's names go to the right people. |
| Couple name highlights | On (with gender colours) | A light blue rounded highlight under the husband's name and a light pink one under the wife's, drawn beneath FamilySearch's text and clear of the QR code. | On a couple's card, it's instantly clear which name is whose. |
| How to say each name | On | A black line under each name, like “ROO-lof FLAYR”, with the stressed part in capitals. Skipped when every word reads as English. You can edit any of them. | Many of these names are Dutch, German or Scandinavian. Whoever reads the name aloud says it right. |
| Your contact | Required | Under the long number: your name and city in bold, then your phone and/or email (at least one). | So the temple can reach you if cards sit in the cabinet, and so someone from your stake who knows you can bring them back. |
| Return-box check | On | Ticks “Check the box if you need this card after it is recorded”. It's the only red on the front. | The temple returns the card and you don't have to reprint it for the next ordinance. |
| Expiry line | On | “Expires: 5 Oct 2028” at the bottom-left, clear of the cut line. | Names stop stalling in drawers when the deadline is printed on them. |
| Lettering | Easy Read | Easy Read (Atkinson Hyperlegible), Classic (Source Serif 4), Steady (Lexend) or Compact (Roboto Condensed). | Easy Read was designed by the Braille Institute for low vision. Compact fits long names bigger. |
| Story on the back | Optional | Name, dates, a map of where they lived, a short life story from the facts on the card, and a timeline of world events. Prints two-sided. | A person, not just a name. Nothing about the family is made up. |