Long question about attatching records, unattatching records.

Betty Wilkerson_1

What to do if FS is telling me to attatch a record but when I go there it says only detatatch and profile (sources) page looks like record is already there, It is too much on my home page not to mention confusing and adding more unnecessary work.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

It sounds as if the record may already be attached to another profile of the same name. If you hover over the "detach" symbol, the PID (Person ID) to which the record is attached will appear.

If that number is not the same as the person you are working on, I would recommend checking to see if the original attachment is correct and if, perhaps, there are duplicates of the same person that need to be merged.

If you want to share a specific example, perhaps someone can help you review the records and profiles.

Gordon Collett

Many sources come from different indexing batches but end up with the same title. For example on a person I was working on recently, a section of her source page looks like this:

These four source look identical from the title but they really are four different sources created when two different parish registers, the priest's copy and the deacon's copy, were both indexed twice.

So the copy of the source you see on your sources page is not the same as the source you see in the hint, even though the title is the same, or else it would not show up as a hint.

Since some of the older indexed records were used to create IGI records which subsequently became Family Tree entries. and those indexed records were attached to the corresponding Family Tree person, you will very often find that hints which show up as already being attached to someone else, really are, as Áine stated above, attached to a duplicate in Family Tree. Which is great! you now have the opportunity to help clean up the tree by combining duplicates. And you may even find that the duplicate has information and extended family that you are missing.

To illustrate, just to be perfectly clear, hover over the warning triangle icon or the detach link to see this:

You can actually right-click on the ID number to jump right to the other person's profile in a new tab and compare the records. Then merge the two records if appropriate or detach the source from the other person if the source is actually attached to a wrong person.

The next question that comes up is usually, why attach so many duplicate source when they have the same information?

My main reason for doing so, and why I encourage everyone to, is because that marks the historical record as being attached to someone in Family Tree. To take my starting example, I want any searches to lead to the correct person profile in Family Tree:

I want any and all of Sara Nilsina's historical records to lead to her in Family Tree, not just some of them.

Betty Wilkerson_1

I am not new, believe it or not, for a long time I didn't have a computer or internet. Everything changes. I hate changes, I know it's necessary, I guess, but I still hate changes. I lost a lot of family photos of all my mother's uncles because of changes. Never to be found. Thank you so much for your help. I really do appreciated it I think I got it if I can remember it.