Removal of Data in Merging
Why is it that the request for information on an "Add Person" includes birth date and death date and locations for both but when one clicks "next" and a potential duplicate comes up and I proceed to merge the two all the data that I entered for the individual is deleted? The birth and death dates and locations, the middle initials or middle names, and any other data disappears. Why is there not a facility as on Merge where one can add additional data?
Answers
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When you merge two duplicates, one of them is deleted from the system. The one to be deleted has a reddish background on its upper frame, while the one to be saved has a green background. There is a button that allows you to switch the position of the duplicates, so that the one that remains on the system after the merge is the one you want.
You can also choose which items from the duplicate to be deleted are transferred to the one being saved. This is accomplished by inserting or removing checkmarks, and clicking on the items to be transferred so that it moves from the frame of the duplicate to be deleted to te frame of the duplicate to be saved.
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The other responder misunderstood what you're doing, probably because you said "merging", and that's not what's going on at all.
When you initially input data with which to create a new profile, FamilySearch checks to see if there may be such a profile already existing in the tree. If it finds one that's similar, it offers to link the relationship to it instead of creating a profile from your inputs. If you go with that choice, it means that you're abandoning your inputs in favor of the data on the existing profile.
If you check the offered profile and agree that it represents the same person as you're trying to enter, I can think of two ways to proceed: you can either create "your" profile anyway and then later merge it with the existing one, or you can edit the existing profile to add the information you just typed up, and then abandon your profile-creation inputs in favor of the now-amended existing profile.
I agree that it's unpleasant to lose all of your careful inputs just because there's already a profile for the person, but given how things are set up in Family Tree, I'm not sure how FamilySearch can fix the process. You can try to avoid the experience by checking for existing profiles (using "Find") before you choose "add".
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Thank you Julia. That's correct. Sadly, that means either way that more work is required. Like I said, it would work better if this worked like a merge. Hopefully a change to the programming will be changed in the future.🙂
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If you use Source Linker to add a profile, then the check for preexisting profiles comes before the data entry, using the indexed data. This can be another way to avoid losing your work. Of course, it only works if your people appear in indexed records. If they don't, you're stuck trying to remember to try "Find" before clicking "Add". (And Murphy's Law of course guarantees that FS will cheerily offer a preexisting profile the one time this week when you forgot to look.)
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