* Merge repositories?

[fhtess65]

Because I used (foolishly, it seems) the RM TreeShare feature for several years, I have many, many instances of Ancestry.com as a Repository. It's annoying. Can I safely merge them? Delete them? Or am I destined to have multiple copies forevermore?

Thanks.

AncestryRepositoryRecords.jpg (331.13 KiB) Viewed 1702 times

[BillH]

You can select the ones that you want to merge and then use Edit > Merge/Compare Records to merge them. You can only merge two at a time.

Bill

[Mark1834]

Curious - are the duplicates identical in all fields, or is there a difference between them somewhere? Were they Ancestry sources that you attached to your tree in Ancestry, or could RM have created the duplicates either on creating the source or subsequently on TreeShare?

It doesn't affect how you fix it in FH, but it would be interesting to understand the root cause in case it happens again with somebody else.

[fhtess65]

I think it was the latter - part of the reason I gave up on TreeShare and RM, so many duplicates created each time I updated a person. Very frustrating.

From what I can see, they all just say Ancestry.com, just linked to different citations - that's what worries me, though, in the end I'm in the process of going through and redoing all my citations using AS or FH templates (for those entries not handled by AS). But how would I know for certain?

Curious - are the duplicates identical in all fields, or is there a difference between them somewhere? Were they Ancestry sources that you attached to your tree in Ancestry, or could RM have created the duplicates either on creating the source or subsequently on TreeShare?

It doesn't affect how you fix it in FH, but it would be interesting to understand the root cause in case it happens again with somebody else.

[fhtess65]

Thanks, Bill - I'd seen that and had hoped there might be a faster way.

You can select the ones that you want to merge and then use Edit > Merge/Compare Records to merge them. You can only merge two at a time.

Bill

[Mark1834]

The easy way is to click on the plus signs next to the name to display all the sub-fields. The slightly more complicated way (but easier to get a full overview) is a Custom Query of type Repository, and add each of the sub-fields in turn using the Query Builder.

[fhtess65]

I tried that custom query, but got no workable results...I'm sure it's operator error, but those expressions just remind me of math class and I freeze. Just adding the fields got me nowhere

Teresa

The easy way is to click on the plus signs next to the name to display all the sub-fields. The slightly more complicated way (but easier to get a full overview) is a Custom Query of type Repository, and add each of the sub-fields in turn using the Query Builder.

[tatewise]

Or simply add each sub-field to a Column in the Repositories tab of the Records Window.
Just keep adding <Other...> and use the <<Insert Data Ref.. button to add each field.

[fhtess65]

Clearly what I tried earlier was wrong and now I'm going to sound dense - what subfields? This is what I get when I click Other and I've no idea what I'm to enter:

Adsubfield.jpg (340.28 KiB) Viewed 1536 times

Thanks...

Or simply add each sub-field to a Column in the Repositories tab of the Records Window.
Just keep adding <Other...> and use the <<Insert Data Ref.. button to add each field.

[BillH]

Enter a column heading you would like to see, then click on "Insert Data Ref...", and then select the data you would like to appear in that column.

Bill

[Mark1834]

Teresa,

IMO, some of the advice here is getting unnecessarily complicated and missing the goal of what we are trying to do. Configuring the Records Window is one option, but that is not the best solution to this problem. All we want to do is create a listing of the actual Repository records themselves, and we are not interested in ancillary information such as how many sources are linked to each one.

By far the easier option is to create a new Custom Query of type Repository. Click on the Columns tab to display the following window:

1.png (20.99 KiB) Viewed 1495 times

Add the listed fields to the query one by one by clicking on the field name, then the right facing arrowhead at the bottom of the screenshot. You will end up with the window looking like this, with all the data references filled in automatically.

2.png (31.97 KiB) Viewed 1495 times

Finally, click on the blue run button to generate the results. Click on individual column headings to sort on that column to easily identify differences. If you want to, you can click on the Rows tab and insert a filter Add if .. %REPO.NAME% matches Ancestry.com so it displays just the Ancestry repositories.

I suspect from your description of what you did and my general experience with TreeShare, all the Ancestry rows will be the same, but this will confirm that.

[fhtess65]

Thanks, Mark - and yes, the result was all rows the same, all saying just Ancestry.com. So I assume that this means if I take the time to merge them, it won't affect the sources attached to each different instance? From what I can see, it won't, but I'm always nervous about making wholesale changes of this nature. I do, of course, have multiple backups of my project, so that can always be restored.

Teresa

Teresa,
<SNIP> All we want to do is create a listing of the actual Repository records themselves, and we are not interested in ancillary information such as how many sources are linked to each one.
<SNIP>
I suspect from your description of what you did and my general experience with TreeShare, all the Ancestry rows will be the same, but this will confirm that.

[fhtess65]

Sorry, Bill - that still made no sense to me, but thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll figure it out at some point.

Teresa

Enter a column heading you would like to see, then click on "Insert Data Ref...", and then select the data you would like to appear in that column.

Bill

[Mark1834]

Yes, they can be merged safely.

[BillH]

Sorry, Bill - that still made no sense to me, but thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll figure it out at some point.

Teresa

Teresa,

Let's say for instance that you wanted to add a column for the email address.

Click on "Other" to get the window in your screen shot. In the Heading box type in a what you want for the column heading, for example "Email". Then click on "Insert Data Ref..." and you get this window:

image1.jpg (35.41 KiB) Viewed 1412 times

Select "Email" in the top pane and click on OK. This takes you back to the "Add column" window. Click on "Add". This takes you back to the "Configure Columns for..." window. Click on OK and the Email column is added to the Repositories tab with a column heading of "Email".

You can do this for any field in the list. You can expand the fields with a "+" sign to get subsidiary fields.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.

Bill

[fhtess65]

Bill,

Thanks for the screenshot and step-by-step instructions. They really help. While I'm good with software, some of the techy talk (expressions, as I mentioned earlier, remind me too much of math) goes right over my head.

I'm bookmarking this topic so I can come back to it later. Really want to get this aspect of FH figured out.

Thanks again

<SNIP>
Select "Email" in the top pane and click on OK. This takes you back to the "Add column" window. Click on "Add". This takes you back to the "Configure Columns for..." window. Click on OK and the Email column is added to the Repositories tab with a column heading of "Email".

You can do this for any field in the list. You can expand the fields with a "+" sign to get subsidiary fields.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.

Bill