Find Duplicates

You can find and merge duplicates in a gedcom file in a similar manner to finding matches in data between two files - for more details, see HowTo: Merge/Compare data between two files.

Choose Find Duplicates from the Tools menu to open the Find Duplicates dialog. If the current file has been edited and not saved, you will prompted to save it: if you do not, your changes will be lost, as the file will be reloaded for the purpose of finding duplicates.

If your file contains multiple instances of the same individual, it may be necessary to run the merging routine more than once. After merging is carried out, any remaining duplicates found will be re-listed as 'matched individuals'.

As with matching data between files, the process of identifying duplicates is not a certain one, but depends on probability, that if two individuals are sufficiently similar in the context of a gedcom file, they are probably the same. There is no certainty that the program will identify all duplicates in a file, nor that all the duplicates it claims to find are correct. You should ensure your data is backed up before carrying out merging.

After merging has been carried out, data which has changed will be flagged by coloured icons in Document views. When you save the file, you will be offered the option to preserve this information by inserting markers in the file. After the file has been unloaded from the program, and then reloaded, you will be offered the same option when saving it again: once you decline the option, the markers will be removed and the information lost.

It is also possible to Merge duplicates manually. To do this, the duplicate individual must first be removed from any family that is not also duplicated, and replaced by the original individual.

For instance, John Chumley, appearing with wife and children in one family, may be the same individual as John Cholmondeley, appearing only with siblings and parents in a second family. If John Cholmondeley is the only duplicate, removing him from the family and replacing him by John Chumley will allow him to be deleted, albeit with the possible loss of some personal details.

A duplicate family can be deleted - this will not delete the individuals it comprises. Once a duplicate individual is not linked to a family, he or she will be listed under 'Unlinked individuals' in View/Edit mode, and can be deleted; but any personal information - birth, death, pictures etc - relating to the duplicate that is not displayed for the original must be copied manually if it is not to be lost.