Help

Welcome to Living Memories' Help zone. Here you will find help on how to use this platform. Click on one of the titles below to jump to the relevant chapter.

Registration / Sign-up

Living Memories is only available to registered users / subscribers. To create an account, please visit our Subscription Page where you will be asked to submit your details and choose your subscription package. Please note that the email you use will need to be verified, and will become your account's main contact method. A member of Living Memories may need to approve your account; you will be emailed when this happens. You may update your email at a later date if needed - please check the Account / Resetting Your Password section for how to do this.

To manage or cancel your Subscription, please check the Manage Subscriptions page.

Searching & Preview

Searching You will find a search bar on every page of Living Memories. This allows you to search by keywords to find content tagged with those keywords.You may enter more than one term in these search bars.

  • Use " " in your search to find specific strings of text ie "Winston Churchill" (the same search without " " find all instances where each individual word appears in a film record).
  • Use Boolean searches to refine your search  - either Devon AND Cornwall, or Devon Cornwall (assumed and) will find all instances where both words are in the same record; Devon  OR Cornwall will find instances with either word in a record; Devon NOT Plymouth will find all instances with Devon in a record, but not Plymouth.  Please use capitals for Boolean search commands. 
  • Use * as a wildcard in your search to find words beginning with specific letters, for example   Shop* will find Shop, Shopping, Shopkeeper, Shops etc.


    • Filtering After searching for a term, you may further narrow your results by using the options in the left hand column beside your results. These filters allow you to target results matching criteria such as Era, Collection, Year or Type of Media.

    Preview When you see your results, you will see a miniture preview of the document, image or video. Clicking on this will reveal a larger image or direct you to the media's page. Most media previews which you will see in Living Memories are lightweight web-friendly versions.

    Advanced Searching

    Search within certain fieldsets for more precise results To perform an advanced search, click on Advanced Search in the top menu. Once here, you can enter specific terms for each field to be found. Entering a value in a single field will only return results for that field.

    Enabling Subtitles on Videos

    On videos that have annotations (text of the audio), subtitles can be enabled on the video while it plays. Not all videos currently have annotations, we are working on adding them to all content, however, to show only the videos that do have this function, put annotations:* in the search bar


    Once you have selected a video to play, click on the below highlighted button to toggle on/off the subtitles

    .

    The subtitles will now display on the video and can be turned off at any point by using the same button.


    We have created a step by step guide video on how to use subtitles, just press play on the below video.


    Saving Searches & Receiving Notifications for New Content

    Living Memories allows users to bookmark their searches to be able to easily check for new results and receive notifications when new content matching their search is added.

    1. Perform the search for content which interests you

    - Use the search bar to enter keywords, for example 'Tank'.
    - Use the filters to the left of your search results to narrow down your search results by Content Type, Year, Collection, etc.

    2. Save your search

    Once you have found the cross-section of results which interest you (for instance 'Tank' with a Year filter of '1922') click:
    - the star icon beside the number of results () or
    - the wording ' Receive email alerts for this search' to open the options to save your search.

    Here, you may choose to receive email notifications when new content is added, at a frequency of either:
    - As it happens ; as soon as new results are available matching your search criteria, you will receive an email notification with a link to the new media.
    - Daily ; a digest of the day's new additions will be emailed, inviting you to visit your saved search to see new results.
    - Weekly ; a digest of the week's new additions will be emailed, inviting you to visit your saved search to see new results.

    3. Perform your search in two clicks

    From anywhere on the platform, you can quickly run a saved search in two clicks.
    - Click on the search bar, a dropdown menu will appear showing your saved searches.
    - Click on the saved search you wish to run. Results matching your saved criteria will apear to jump to results matching that search.


    4. Updating Your Saved Search

    To update the frequency of notifications and/or stop receiving them, you can manage your saved searches. To access the list of your saved searches to update them:
    - Click on the search bar, a dropdown menu will appear showing your saved searches.
    - Click on the Manage option. This will show you your saved where you may change notification settings and delete them.

    Resetting Your Password

    Reset your Password / Update your Details To reset your password or update your details, visit your Account Page. Once on this page, click the downward arrow to the top right of your email address, and select 'Change Password' and follow the instructions there.


    Forgot your Password? If you have forgotten your password and can no longer log in, use our 'Forgotten your Password' option. You can find this password reset option on the login page, below the email and password login.

    Creating and Sharing Collections

    Creating a Collection To create a Collection, navigate either to search results of your choice or to a media file within the platform. You may add items to a collection (either an existing one or a new one) either:

    • - On a record page (where you can playback a video/view a large version of an image) by selecting the option to Add to Collection which include a bo and a 'plus sign icon  Add to Collection
    • - From search results, by hovering over a result and selecting the three button menu icon in the top right-hand corner of a result and selecting Add to collection'
    • - Whilst clipping a video, after marking up an extract using the scissors tool, you will see the option to  Add clip to a Collection
      • We have created a step by step guide video on how to create collections, just press play on the below video.


    Accessing and Sharing your Collection To access films and newsreels saved in your Collection(s) select your Account on the menu bar.

    To edit or delete a collection, click on the three small squares to the right of the relevant film image in Your collections box to access the Collections options menu.

    All new Your Collections are Private. To share a collection, click relevant film image in the Your Collections box, and then click on the three small squares next to Private to access the Collections options menu including the Share this collection options - you can choose to keep your collection Private; make a collection Public (available to all) or to Share with groups and users (share with specific groups and users by email invitation).

    We have created a step by step guide video on how to share collections, just press play on the below video.