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Supplemental Computer Checklist #6
Match/Merge Feature
Do you think you may have entered the same person twice into your computer? This is easy to do if you are entering from different documents, if a person married more than once, if enough information was not available to help recognize the duplications at first, or if data entry was done in sessions several days apart as time was available. In other words, almost everyone eventually ends up with duplicate individuals. Find out if you have duplicates in your file by making a "Possible Duplicate Individuals" list. Click the "print reports icon" (the little printer) on the PAF home page. Select the tab labeled "Lists," and click the button in front of the "Duplicate Individuals" option. (Advanced options for duplicate individuals lists are provided on the next page.) ALERT: On the bottom left of the Lists menu screen is an Options button. When you indicate which list you would like, watch the options button. If it becomes active (text becomes dark), click on this button to see what options are available. Click the Preview button to the right. If No data to print! OK comes up, you have no duplicates. If the Possible Duplicate Individuals list appears, the computer has found some matches. Check the individuals on the list to see if they each have their own RIN number and perhaps different spouses, BUT their birth and death dates and places are the same. This would indicate duplicates. TO FIX DUPLICATES close the print option and go to TOOLS and then Match/Merge. When the WARNING! window comes on, click YES to back up your file. Then, if you make a mistake, you can quickly go back to where you started by restoring your backup. In the Match/Merge Options window match primarily on "Names with exact spelling." On the Merge options (below Match) click on the button in front of "Combine notes," and "Confirm when Merge button pressed." Click OK. Click the FIND button across from the words "Primary Individual." Using your "Possible Duplicate Individuals" list, enter the first RIN#. Click OK. Now enter the second RIN# after clicking the FIND button across from the words "Duplicate Individual." Click OK. The Primary Individual is the RIN number that will remain. The Duplicate Individual RIN number will be eliminated and freed up to use again in the future. Become familiar with the various options before you merge the two together. For example, click the tab "Marriage Information." You will see the Primary Marriages for the Primary Individual, and the Marriages for the Duplicate Individual. This might help you determine if these two people are duplicate, or if the information is missing from one person. Now do the same with the Family Information tab. Return to the Individual Information tab and click on the Edit button. Here you can look closely at all information entered first for the Primary Individual including notes by clicking on the note pad with the pencil icon. Click Cancel as you back out of the information and then do the same on the Duplicate Individual's notes. If after doing so, you determine these are NOT the same people, just click the button at the bottom "Next Match." After looking at the two individuals, side-by-side, if you want to reverse the two and keep the other RIN number as the Primary Individual, click the "Switch" option on the bottom of the screen. If, on the other hand, you determine you want to merge the two people as they now stand on the computer screen, click the button Merge on the bottom of the Merge Individuals screen. Please note that when you merge some people, you might disconnect them from others. Use the Unlinked Individuals instructions below to fix that problem. Unlinked Individuals This lists the names that have been entered into the database and not linked to a spouse or a parent. These are names of individuals that you suspect belong in the family tree, but you don't know where. It is good to enter names into your data base and have them not linked to any family until you have the sources to do that linking. At some point, you may find out where the individual belongs, and when this happens, all you have to do is link the individual to the appropriate parent(s). Click on the screen below to see a sample Unlinked Individuals list. 
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