I have just completed a very large, complicated file merge with many hundred records, marked compatible, needing examining and sometimes research to solve the conflicts. FH is brilliant for this; so much handier than working with paper printouts. But I have a worry that I might lose the mark up work half way through.
The examination and detailed marking up of the fields of the overlaping records between the two files took over 5 hours, which was a long time to go without a back up. It would be brilliant if one could save an intermediate state of the merge marking up, and reload and resume if necessary, but I suppose this might be a major mod to the programme.
So how do other users tackle merges that are going to take many hours to mark up?
ID:523
* Saving a half completed merge?
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SimonOrde
- Program Designer
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Saving a half completed merge?
You're right that saving a half-completed merge would not be a minor modification. There are workaround strategies that might help though. In fact, there is a tip in the Help about how to merge large files over multiple sessions. Cliick on Help > Contents > Principal Dialog Boxes > Merge/Compare Dialog. Then follow the link to 'Features of the Merge/Compare Dialog'. Its the last tip:
>> Tip If you have a large file, you may not want to merge it all in one session. In that case, make a copy of the file and use 'Split Tree Helper: Delete Unwanted Records' to delete any records you are definitely not interested in. Then merge the resulting file over several sessions. During each session, check as many files as you have time for, and discard all the New File records that you don't have time to check. In the next session, merge the same file again. This time you should have considerably more 'Null Merges' than you had the first time. Repeat as necessary. You may not end up with nothing but 'Null Merges', but you should find in practice that the merging process gets simpler each time, until you can finish it in one session. <<
I might add that you could alternatively use Split Tree Helper to split your 'source file' down into smaller more manageable files before you start.
>> Tip If you have a large file, you may not want to merge it all in one session. In that case, make a copy of the file and use 'Split Tree Helper: Delete Unwanted Records' to delete any records you are definitely not interested in. Then merge the resulting file over several sessions. During each session, check as many files as you have time for, and discard all the New File records that you don't have time to check. In the next session, merge the same file again. This time you should have considerably more 'Null Merges' than you had the first time. Repeat as necessary. You may not end up with nothing but 'Null Merges', but you should find in practice that the merging process gets simpler each time, until you can finish it in one session. <<
I might add that you could alternatively use Split Tree Helper to split your 'source file' down into smaller more manageable files before you start.
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SimonOrde
- Program Designer
- Posts: 352
- Joined: 18 Nov 2002 10:20
- Family Historian: V7
- Location: Calico Pie
Saving a half completed merge?
P.S. The tip solution is not perfect of course. It works best if you are basically happy with the contents of the file you are merging in, and don't frequently find the need to 'discard' (i.e. not bring in) records and fields from it. If you do, they will of course re-appear the next time you try to merge the same file in.
On the other hand this way you can at least work on your file between merge sessions (i.e. on matters unrelated to merging) which you probably couldn't if you were storing a half-merged state. I don't know what the ideal solutin is.
On the other hand this way you can at least work on your file between merge sessions (i.e. on matters unrelated to merging) which you probably couldn't if you were storing a half-merged state. I don't know what the ideal solutin is.