combining family files

[thall]

As a result of trying to transfer family files from one computer to another and at the same time upgrading from an older version of Reunion to Reunion 9 a few months ago, I now have 2 and 3 versions of the same family files. I have been working on them, but get hoplessley mixed up which one I have put new information onto. I would like to combine the same family files into ONE family file. How do I go about this painlessly?
E.g.I have - SMITH Copy 9 family file: SMITH Copy, Copy 9 family file: SMITH family file:
I.e. 3 family files of the same family.

I messed up several months ago and have been putting up with it, but can't cope with the mess any longer.

Can anyone please help me, I would be so grateful

Tricie

[John Hill]

Re: combining family files

As a result of trying to transfer family files from one computer to another and at the same time upgrading from an older version of Reunion to Reunion 9 a few months ago, I now have 2 and 3 versions of the same family files. I have been working on them, but get hoplessley mixed up which one I have put new information onto. I would like to combine the same family files into ONE family file. How do I go about this painlessly?
E.g.I have - SMITH Copy 9 family file: SMITH Copy, Copy 9 family file: SMITH family file:
I.e. 3 family files of the same family.

I messed up several months ago and have been putting up with it, but can't cope with the mess any longer.

Can anyone please help me, I would be so grateful

Tricie

Oh dear, oh dear, you do have a problem!

How big are these trees? Are we talking hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of people?

I presume that SMITH has the oldest creation date, SMITH Copy is the next and SMITH Copy Copy the latest. I would therefore expect SMITH copy to contain everything in SMITH up to the date of its creation. So, if you open SMITH and use Find/Attribute /Changed Date/After the creation date of SMITH copy, you should find everyone who has been altered or inserted after you made the copy. Mark them and repeat for Couples.

Hopefully, everything that has been changed in SMITH after you made SMITH Copy should now be marked, and you can Import Marked from SMITH to SMITH Copy. It's then up to you to match and merge (manually, I fear) to bring SMITH Copy into synchronism with SMITH.

Then you can repeat to synchronise SMITH Copy Copy with your updated SMITH Copy.

The whole process is fraught with danger, and I strongly recommend you keep back-up versions of all three files before you start - by making .zip archives of them, perhaps - so that if it all goes pear-shaped you have lost nothing and are not in a worse state than you started!

A bit long winded, I fear, but I hope not too obscure. I wish you luck.

I must add that I've never tried a similar operation, and someone else who has may offer a better suggestion.

[John Hill]

Re: combining family files

Oh dear, oh dear, you do have a problem!

How big are these trees? Are we talking hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of people?

I presume that SMITH has the oldest creation date, SMITH Copy is the next and SMITH Copy Copy the latest. I would therefore expect SMITH copy to contain everything in SMITH up to the date of its creation. So, if you open SMITH and use Find/Attribute /Changed Date/After the creation date of SMITH copy, you should find everyone who has been altered or inserted after you made the copy. Mark them and repeat for Couples.

Hopefully, everything that has been changed in SMITH after you made SMITH Copy should now be marked, and you can Import Marked from SMITH to SMITH Copy. It's then up to you to match and merge (manually, I fear) to bring SMITH Copy into synchronism with SMITH.

Then you can repeat to synchronise SMITH Copy Copy with your updated SMITH Copy.

The whole process is fraught with danger, and I strongly recommend you keep back-up versions of all three files before you start - by making .zip archives of them, perhaps - so that if it all goes pear-shaped you have lost nothing and are not in a worse state than you started!

A bit long winded, I fear, but I hope not too obscure. I wish you luck.

I must add that I've never tried a similar operation, and someone else who has may offer a better suggestion.

On second thoughts, perhaps it would be better to mark up SMITH as suggested and transfer the marked items to SMITH Copy Copy, and then mark up SMITH Copy (using the creation date of SMITH Copy Copy) and transfer those to SMITH Copy Copy. Otherwise you may end up transferring some entries twice!

Once you are satisfied you have got SMITH Copy Copy up to date, of course, you will want to remove all trace of previous versions and rename it back to SMITH - and resolve never again to confuse a back-up copy with the original!

It may pay you to move up to Reunion 10, which actively discourages the keeping of copy files

[ttl]

Re: combining family files

[QUOTE=John Hill;37701]
It may pay you to move up to Reunion 10, which actively discourages the keeping of copy files