Duplicate people...

[mrstucci]

Hi-I am running Reunion 14 on my M1 MBP. It is probably just me but thought I would post about an issue I am having regarding duplicate people. When I enter a new person into my tree I don't always get the popup that indicates the same person is already in my tree. The only way I catch it usually is when I go to enter a child and the popup says that it is already a child in a family with the same names.

Case in point this morning... I thought I had found a new person, Phillip Alexander Pulliam. Nothing popped up when I added him to say he was already in my tree so I added him. Come to find out he was already in my tree, entered in 2020. The name is spelled the same, same wife. So why didn't I get a popup saying he was already in my tree?

I am guilty sometimes of being too quick and ignore the popup indicating a possible duplicate person but not this time.

It's probably just me but I wonder... It's been happening since I upgraded to 14 I think. Not on Sequoia yet.

Thanks!

[Deb]

...I thought I had found a new person, Phillip Alexander Pulliam. Nothing popped up when I added him to say he was already in my tree so I added him. Come to find out he was already in my tree, entered in 2020. The name is spelled the same, same wife. So why didn't I get a popup saying he was already in my tree?

I am guilty sometimes of being too quick and ignore the popup indicating a possible duplicate person but not this time.

It's probably just me but I wonder... It's been happening since I upgraded to 14 I think. Not on Sequoia yet.

I recommend verifying the box to "Check for duplicates when adding new people" is checked in the Reunion -> Settings / General panel...
Screen Shot 2024-09-20 at 1.55.25 PM.png

If not, check that box.

If it was already checked, let me know what "Duplicate Check Settings" are selected (by clicking the brown gear icon).

Thanks

[mrstucci]

Hi Deb-Yes, it was checked. The settings for first and middle name is set to Medium and the last name is set to High.

[Deb]

What build of Reunion 14 is running on your Mac? I.e., to check this, open your family file and choose Reunion -> About Reunion.

[mrstucci]

I am running 14.0, build 240912.

[Deb]

Try rebuilding cache files in the family file. This is done by opening the family file and choosing File -> Rebuild Cache Files and click Rebuild. If problems continue afterward, try saving a backup copy of the family file and using the backup copy in moving forward. (I.e., open your family file and choose File -> Save a Backup Copy and click Save. Then, close the family file that's open and open the backup copy just saved.) Note: if problems do not continue in the backup copy, and you have the other family file syncing with ReunionTouch on an iPad/iPhone, remove that file from ReunionTouch and download the copy into ReunionTouch to continue using in moving forward.

[mrstucci]

Hi Deb-If I understand you correctly I rebuild the cache file (did that) and make a backup copy of my tree and use that. If it works fine then I delete my tree that is in Dropbox and keep using the backup file. Do I have that right?

[Deb]

Hi Deb-If I understand you correctly I rebuild the cache file (did that) and make a backup copy of my tree and use that. If it works fine then I delete my tree that is in Dropbox and keep using the backup file. Do I have that right?

Yes

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

This is an issue I brought to Leister's attention (sorry Leister) a couple of years ago when I was entering large numbers of people and couples into my database. Leister spent more time than I expected on this issue, but I guess, as some point, you have to move on. It was not in this forum but directly to support.

As near as I can tell, it happens about 5% of the time that when you enter a name the duplicate finder does not find it in the database. It is only when you enter it as a new person THEN enter the spouse. It then finds the spouse and you find the exact first spouse's name had already been entered. You then have to do a merge of the two exact names. I even made a couple of videos showing this behavior (that I have since deleted) just to show that I wasn't doing something really bone-headed in the process. It would happen once or twice a week for me at that time period.

Leister sent me one or two updates to the software to try, but the problems persisted. That said, I don't think it has happened to me since the last major upgrade, but I am doing different types of work now, so not a fair comparison.

[mrstucci]

Thank you so much for posting, Blaise. I really thought that what I was seeing wasn’t really happening and hesitated to post my observation. So I guess I wasn’t imagining things.