Is there a limit to amount of text that can be entered into a Merge Reason Statement?

Carolyn Rueb Wheeler

I am trying to complete a merge, but it keeps failing without any stated reason. I have entered a large amount of text into the reason statement. Could it be that I have added too much text? And if so,

1) Why doesn't it give an error message as to why it is failing?

2) What is the maximum amount of text that can be entered?

Anitra Whittle

Helly Carolyn,

Good question. Things are always changing.

I didn't know the answer but thought I would try the Help Center.

• I found this: Be concise. Reason statements have a limit of 2,000 characters.
• https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/what-are-reason-statements-in-family-tree

There is a great feature on FamilySearch.org. Sign in and use the little question mark on the upper right near your picture. Click on it and click on Help Center and put your question in.

Please let us know if this is helpful.

Thank you,

Anitra, Group Leader.

Carolyn Rueb Wheeler

Thank you, this is helpful. The problem is that the Merge Reason Statement field does not tell you how many characters you have entered or when you have reached the max. This is an oversight and should be written into the program. Hopefully the FS software engineers will fix this. Thank you again!!

Anitra Whittle

Hello Carolyn,

I think I forgot to mention that you can give feedback to the Tech folks.

Go to the bottom left of the page, click on Feedback, and choose Report a Problem. Please explain your thought. And send it on.

Anitra