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Archiver > TMG > 2008-08 > 1218038548


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Merging Two people
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:02:28 -0400
References: <c8e.275e2851.35c8364b@aol.com><000801c8f7c5$f188ee00$ead06c58@ARTECCLES><A6102FDF554644B9A7EE3C3AB7F49758@HPP3000><000e01c8f7c9$5cee7e00$80f06c58@ARTECCLES>
In-Reply-To: <000e01c8f7c9$5cee7e00$80f06c58@ARTECCLES>


Art Eccles wrote:
>I will only lose data if I exclude the marriage tag that has the spouse's
>details while retaining the marriage tag that does not have the spouse's
>details. What I am asking for is sufficient information on the merge screen
>to allow me to make the correct decision.

While the Merge Two People window may not show the data "on screen,"
you can see the underlying data by selecting a Tag Label and
double-clicking on it to see the full Tag Entry Screen. If that
review shows the candidate pair should not be merged then you should
cancel out of that Merge window.

Keep in mind that a merge of two persons will not merge Tags. Thus a
Marriage Tag with just one Principal and one with two Principals will
both be in the merged person (unless you have de-selected the Tag for
the Merge) and data is not lost. This assumes that the merge
_should_ have taken place. Even then, the only loss of data is that
there _were_ two persons and now there is only one. So if you
determine that the merge should not have taken place then you must
re-create the deleted person. In that case, I would copy the merged
person and then make the copy to be the deleted person. Naturally,
you will probably have to re-assign Tags (event and Repository) to
their correct Primary and non-Primary status and also delete some of
the Tags from the "wrong" persons.

Thus the best option for merging _may_be_ to NOT de-select any Tag in
the Merge Two Persons window. This means that you will have to deal
with "extra or un-needed" Tags in the merged person. But, this only
means you deal with the possibly duplicate or un-needed Tags later
rather than sooner.

Hope this helps -

Lee Hoffman/KY
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)


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