Combining two Family Files with lots of duplications

[jcapistr]

Somehow I have two Family Files going. I haven't been careful about which of them I occasionaly add newly discovered information into. I have have much of the same information in each. However some of the information has subsequently been updated or corrected. I feel as though I have ended up with a nightmare. I would desparately like to have just ONE Family File that ends up having NO DUPLICATIONS yet all the new data that haphazardly been added to one or the other included. I am quite nervous of tackling this on my own for fear of losing any information. Can anyone help me?

[KirkS]

BACKUPS!

1. Make a backup copy of both your family files.
2. Read the Import section of the manual (Help --> Contents --> Search for Import)
3. Perform your import/merge and evaluate your results

[theKiwi]

I would try to create a tab separated listing of all the people in your database containing for example

ID#
Last Name
First Name
Last Modified Date

Do this from each file and them compare them together in a Text Editor like BBEdit. Then you will be able to see for each individual person which file has the most recent changes to it.

This might let you figure out which of the files has the least amount of changes in it, so you would deal with importing that into the file with the most amount of changes in it.

Of course if you have changed the same individual in BOTH files then this won't work necessarily if you changed Fact A in one file, and Fact B in another file.

This would give you an idea of what to expect as an outcome from Match and Merge - I've found that unless you know exactly what to expect from a Match and Merge operation you're not going to get it - eg you merge to identical parents together, and you end up with one family with twice as many kids in it - so if you're not expecting that to happen, you won't know right away that it didn't happen as you thought it might.

You might be able to Mark the people in the file with the least changes in it and them import only the Marked people into the file with the most changes in it - this would cut down on just how much work you have to do.

But if you're dealing with thousands of people, this is going to be a HUGE job - I find performing and Import of data, some of which I already have and then doing the Match and Merge to be one of the most nerve-wracking things I do on my computer.

Good Luck!!

Roger

[Michael Talibard]

I have been giving this some thought, and I'm afraid I reckon that, unless the Files are huge, you would be best advised to combine them 'by hand'. This could take a few hours, but why not embrace the opportunity to recall it all to mind. I would regularly put the larger file on the right side (let's say) of my screen to receive any new info from the smaller, so that I would always be working in the same direction. I would print out a fanchart on which to cross off those persons who were dealt with. Not an approach that would suit everyone, but then, I actually enjoy doing this stuff.

[A Hougie]

I tend to agree with Michael here - and even if the files are huge. However what might also work is to export small sections of one file, then (carefully) one-by-one import that section into the other file and then use Match and Merge