* Duplicate Names

[goodwin2]

Yes, I know - we've been through this before - several times. And I know there is a plug in to find duplicate names.

HOWEVER - WHY do we have to get the duplicate names in the first place?  I just went through another one of those - same two people - names and dates close enough that it could have been caught with whatever it was - or is - that Family Tree Maker does.

Again if FH can flag me with a strange looking date - it does - but sometimes the date I'm entering is correct.  Rather have it flag me than not.  FH SHOULD BE ABLE TO FLAG NAME ENTRIES THAT ARE OR MIGHT BE DUPLICATES!

PULEEZE Simon - help us out here. With a database as large as mine it would be SO useful. [grin]

ID:6968

[PeterR]

Is this not an existing Wish List item 250: Name picklist when entering new individual?

[goodwin2]

Sort of - but not really.  My wish is to verify before entry.  Yes, one can have many John Smiths to pick from - or not - but just asking 'is this the John Smith b. 1838' should be easy to put in the program.  I don't use diagrams to connect people - not with almost 40,000 in the database.  As the database gets bigger is is even more important NOT to get duplicates and have to merge.  Often merging leaves something out.

Still hoping!!

[tatewise]

I do not understand what you mean by 'verify before entry'.
If you have not entered anything, how can it be verified?

Also, how much data must be verified, and how closely must it match?
Several users of the Find Duplicate Individuals Plugin have reported finding duplicates where Names are not identical, Dates are not exactly the same, etc, etc.
The Plugin finds these duplicates because it employs a complex strategy that does not demand perfect matches, by using techniques such as Soundex name matching.
In order to filter likely duplicates it is often necessary to know family relationships, such as parents, spouses, and children with matching characteristics.
I fail to see how all this can be done before entering an Individual into the tree, without resulting in a list of many false matches.

In my opinion, a button option to check for duplicates supports the above strategy for users who want it, and won't produce annoying popup lists for users who don't want the checks.

[goodwin2]

Explaining 'verify before entry'.  Actually what Family Tree Maker USED to do was:

I enter John Smith
I enter b. 1838 - FTM sees I have a John Smith b. 1838 and asks 'is the John Smith b. 1838 in New York State'.  So now I realize that this COULD be a duplicate and go to my index and realize that it would be a duplicate and I can immediately delete this entry.

When I say FTM USED to do it that way, no more.  I have FTM 2011 but have not used it to enter data - just to input gedcoms from others that I want to look at before adding to my files.  I just put in three duplicate names in that version of FTM and got no warnings.  It does have a built in 'find duplicates' but with a large database it would have taken a VERY long time to go through.

Tatewise mentioned a button option to check for duplicates - I assume that would be to check for duplicates of the data you just entered - NOT check the whole database for ANY duplicates.  That option - check this entry - would do the trick.  Is that what is suggested and possible to get high on the wish list?
[tongue]

[tatewise]

Essentially, yes, I propose that a Find Duplicates button would be added, that compares any one selected record with all other records of the same type.
Clearly this would work for the currently entered record, but could also be applied at any time to any record suspected of being a duplicate, perhaps after adding new data.

This is basically the concept of Wish List Ref 250: Name picklist when entering new individual.

However, I would like to see it expanded to cover all record types, so that duplicate Family or Source or Multimedia records could also be detected.

[goodwin2]

Yes, Tatewise's suggestion that a 'find duplicates button' that would cover all record types would be a big help. Always appreciate his input as it is on the mark.

Hope Simon is paying SOME attention to the wish list and the conversations here.

[smile]

[HYoung]

I'm just wondering if there is any developments with this feature? I have searched the forum and plugin store and only found 'Find duplicate individuals' which was greatly appreciated. A warning such as the one used in TMG is so useful and can be disabled if necessary. For myself, when working with large databases where intermarriage is common across multiple descent lines, the problem of duplicating individual records creates extra work which should be avoidable. Many thanks.

[tatewise]

I have adapted Wish List item Ref 250 Duplicate check when adding new Individual or other record types to accommodate the ideas in this posting.